Yummy brunch idea

Since yesterday was Halloween and we did our Trick or Treating the day before, I wanted to mark the holiday with something fun and traditional. I did some research on Samhain and came up with some great things to do with my family and some great recipes to boot. The meal would be excellent for brunch.

I made both things (recipes below) and opened up a couple of jars of fried apples I put up last fall. The meal was delicious and I wanted to share the recipes for the Sausage Egg Bake and Pumpkin Bread.

Sausage Egg Bake

This was a recipe from Ann Burrell of Food Network. I changed it around a bit due to ingredient availability, personal tastes, holiday traditions and expense.

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 pound Mild breakfast sausage
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon rosemary, crushed
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 eggs
6 ounces Swiss cheese, grated

Directions
Special equipment: 8 (6-ounce) ramekins
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat a large saute pan with olive oil, add the garlic cloves and bring to a medium heat. When the garlic has become golden brown and very aromatic, add the sausage and brown. Drain.
Once, nicely browned, season with kosher salt then add in the rosemary and white wine. Cook until the wine has almost been absorbed. Turn off the heat and reserve.
Brush 8 individual ramekins with olive oil. Divide the sausage mixture equally among the ramekins and press gently into the bottom. Top each with an egg. Sprinkle each egg with a couple drops of olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Sprinkle each egg lightly with Swiss cheese and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbly and the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

I found this recipe online somewhere and can't remember where. I altered it a bit adding more nutmeg than the original recipe called for. Makes two loaves.

2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup melted butter
¾ cups water
4 eggs
3 2/3 cups flour
2 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ c raisins (opt)
1 cup chopped walnuts (opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Blend pumpkin, butter, water and eggs until well-mixed. Add sugar and mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking soda. Add to pumpkin mixture in small batches, mixing well to combine. With a wooden spoon, stir in raisins and nuts. Pour into two loaf pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 for one hour, or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean.

Delicious meal and looks so nice served.