From Pucks to Potlucks: Hockey Moms Stick Together
It’s hockey season and I live in Minnesota, the State of Hockey. That means a lot of team meals and potlucks.
Even though my kids played hockey in South Dakota where’s it’s not school-sanctioned, there’s one thing we have in common across the sport—once a hockey mom, always a hockey mom, even after our kids have shot their last puck in high school.
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We may not wear our player’s photo button on our puffy winter coats anymore, but we’ll always proudly wear the “hockey mom” title.
It’s been a few years since my guests, Kathy Lesnar and Julie Pederson and I screamed from the bleachers together. I thought it would be fun to swap a few stories and share the recipes that our hockey players loved at team breakfasts and potluck dinners.
Like caramel rolls, biscuits and gravy, crockpot spaghetti at the hotel, egg bake, pancakes and butterscotch muffins. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Midwest if we didn’t include Casey’s breakfast pizza on that menu.
Listen to Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens Season 2 Episode 14, on all major podcast platforms and on YouTube.
From hotel hallway knee hockey, parent bonding over beer in the lobby, and driving to games in blizzards, lifelong friendships were formed on and off the ice—among players, parents, even grandparents.
Recipes for Team Meals and Potlucks
It seems like every family, not matter the sport, has their favorite go-to recipe for team meals and potlucks.
What’s a good slow cooker for transporting hot food to a potluck or team breakfast? My sister Kalli and my stepmom Margaret use the Presto Traveling Slow Cooker. (affiliate link)
In this episode, we talked about the Wednesday morning breakfasts that the parents served to the boys varsity and JV teams at the rink. It was right after their 6 a.m. practice, before they headed off to school.
Kathy would triple or quadruple her recipe for caramel rolls made from frozen bread dough. The recipe is from a Sioux Valley Hospital (now Sanford) NICU community cookbook.
The hungry hockey players loved when Kathy and Julie served biscuits and gravy. They’d use Pillsbury Grand Flaky Biscuits, Heinz Homestlye Country-Style Sausage Gravy, and add Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage.
And if you really want to win the hearts of hockey players, follow Julie’s reputation for the mom who brings 2% chocolate milk and Casey’s breakfast pizzas. We LOVE Casey’s breakfast pizza in the Midwest!
On my team breakfast menu was hash brown and sausage egg bake, and butterscotch muffins. I shared those recipes below, along with my butterscotch monkey bread that we talked about.
Even more fun, my son, Sajen, brought up some of these meals in his podcast episode. Check out Season 1, Episode 11 below.
At a team dinner at the Bouchard’s, Michelle (Luc’s mom) made Alfredo pasta for a team potluck. It was very tasty and my son Sajen asked me to get the recipe. I did. It’s a jar of Prego Homestyle Alfredo.
Even though I have my sister’s delicious Alfredo recipe, to this day, I stock the Prego sauce in my pantry. Because it’s unrealistic to think we have time to make everything homemade all the time.
Sleepover Breakfast Recipes
As if they didn’t get enough of each other on the ice and in the locker room, when our boys were young, they often had teammate sleepovers.
Kathy shared a beloved pancake recipe from her husband’s grandpa.
One year, for Sajen’s birthday sleepover, I made cake batter pancakes. It takes a lot of sugar to recuperate after an all-night knee hockey tournament.
Hockey Families Stick Together
Between the three of us, we had seven hockey players in our families. Seven! Nine, if you count the one season each that Julie’s daughter, Colleen, and Kathy’s daughter, Grace, played. There’s no way you can spend that much time together and not become friends.
Julie’s sons Joseph and Sean.
Kathy’s sons Logan, Hunter and Austin.
The Lesnar family has a long, long history of serving in the United States Military. Thank you for your service and may God continue watching over your soldiers.
In addition to the three boys, their daughter, Grace, played hockey for one season.
My son, Sajen, and my daughter, Kalani.
Whatever sport or team your kids are, or were, involved in, I think you’ll be able to relate to our amusing and heartwarming recollection of our time as Brookings Ranger Hockey Moms. Not to mention, the recipes are good for all the potlucks you’re cooking for.
Good luck to you all this hockey season!
Sweet wishes,
Butterscotch Monkey Bread
Equipment
- 1 Bundt pan
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1½ sticks
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 3.5 oz cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix, NOT instant pudding mix
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 30 oz refrigerated biscuit dough, 4 (7.5oz) tubes
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease Bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl stir together dry pudding mix, sugar and cinnamon.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and brown sugar together. Whisk until bubbly.
- With kitchen scissors, cut each biscuit into four pieces, letting them drop directly into pudding mixture. Toss pieces around to coat fully and drop into Bundt pan. When half of the biscuits are in the Bundt pan, drizzle a few tablespoons of the caramel mixture onto the coated biscuit pieces.
- Finish cutting and coating all the biscuits and adding to the Bundt pan. Evenly pour the caramel mixture over the pieces.
- Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit 10 minutes. Invert pan onto a large baking sheet and lift Bundt pan off.
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
Ham and Cheddar Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 oz breakfast sausage links
- 4 oz diced fully cooked ham
- 9 eggs, large
- 3 cups milk, whole or 2%
- 1½ teaspoons dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt, optional
- 1 tablespoon onion flakes, optional
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, optional
- 30 oz frozen hash brown potatoes
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, reserve ½ cup for topping
Instructions
- Using kitchen scissors or sharp knife, cut sausage links into bite-size pieces. Cook over medium-low heat until fully cooked. Drain grease.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter or grease 9×13 pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs until well beaten. Whisk in milk, dry mustard, pepper, and optional garlic salt, onion flakes, and liquid smoke.
- Stir in 1½ cups shredded cheese, sausage, ham, and hash browns.
- Pour into baking pan. Top with ½ cup shredded cheddar. Cover with foil. Let sit overnight in refrigerator, or bake right away. (If refrigerating overnight, remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking.)
- Bake at 350°F for 70-85 minutes, REMOVE FOIL AFTER THE FIRST 40 MINUTES of baking. Dish is done when the center is set. Remove from oven. Let rest 10 minutes. Slice and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
Butterscotch Muffins
Equipment
- muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 3.4 ounce package instant butterscotch pudding mix
- 1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 18 muffin cups or line muffin pan with cupcake papers.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, instant butterscotch pudding mix, instant vanilla pudding mix, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, water, and pure vanilla extract.
- Gently stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture just until combined with some flecks of flour still visible.
- Scoop muffin batter into cups about 2/3 full.
- Stir together the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon. Spoon the topping onto each muffin cup, lightly pressing down with the spoon, just enough for the topping to slightly stick to the batter.
- Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Store in airtight container up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
