Breakfast Casserole

C.,

This one always gets rave reviews:

Farmer's Casserole

3 cups shredded hash brown potatoes
3/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese with peppers; or cheddar cheese (I usually use a Mexi-blend of cheeses)
1 cup diced fully cooked ham (sandwich meat is fine)
4 beaten eggs or 1 cup frozen egg product
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped green onion
12 ounce can evaporated milk or evaporated skim milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

Grease a 2 quart baking dish. Arrange potatoes evenly in bottom of dish. Sprinkle with cheese, ham and green onions.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, pepper and salt. Pour egg mixture over potato mixture in dish. At this point, you may cover the dish and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 350* and bake 1 hour. If you bake it immediately, give it about 45 minutes.

For a nice, easy accompaniment, make these delicious, easy tiny cinnamon rolls:

One 8 ounce can refrigerated crescent rolls
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk
1 drop vanilla extract

Unroll crescent dough and separate into 4 rectangles; pinch seams to seal. Stir together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over rectangles. Roll up, jellyroll fashion, starting with a long side; press edges to seal. Cut each log into 5 slices, and place in a lightly greased 8 inch round cakepan. Bake at 350* for 12 minutes. Combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, stirring until smooth; drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls. Yields: 20 rolls.

Add a fresh fruit salad, and you have brunch! Mimosas for the adults...OJ with a little ginger ale for the kids...little umbrellas in the drinks...

Enjoy!

Another great website to check out is mrbreakfast.com.

I always get rave reviews when I make a recipe from that site.

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law and everyone loves it! It's very easy, too. Personally, I prefer to add a couple more eggs, even than the 9 my mother-in-law uses, but it just depends on your preference. Also, be sure you get the cubed stuffing. The other won't cook properly and it will just be all crumbly. I have never tried freezing this, but I'm sure it would work well.
Good luck!
T.

Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg. (in the bag) Pepperidge Farm Cubed Herb Seasoned Stuffing Mix
1 lb. Hot Sausage
8 eggs (I use 9)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can milk (a little more if you use the extra egg)
Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Spread stuffing mix in 13”X9” pan. Brown and drain sausage. Sprinkle sausage over stuffing mix. Blend together the eggs, soup and milk. Pour egg mixture over sausage. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake uncovered 40 minutes. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serves 10-12

Hi C.,
Here's a breakfast casserole I've been making for years, and our family LOVES it. It's simple, too. We try to be health conscious, so I've included my healthy modifications in parenthesis. Truly, the healthier version is my fave. We like to serve this with hash browned potatoes & fresh fruit. If you'd like my hash brown recipe, just let me know!

Enjoy!
K. :o)

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

8 regular (or whole wheat) English muffins, cut into cubes
1 lb. crumbled and cooked breakfast sausage (or 1 lb. ground turkey breast, cooked in 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil, and crumbled; seasoned with a little Morton's Natures Seasonings and about 1/4 tsp. sage and 1/8 tsp. cayenne during cooking...this gives the turkey breast a similar flavor as the sausage seasonings, but minus the fat & calories & grease...or you could use actual turkey or chicken sausage, too...either would be great)
2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese, or cheddar, or whatever cheese you like
10 large eggs
2 cups whole (or lowfat) milk
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper

Spray 9x13-inch glass baking dish w/ non-stick cooking spray. Place bread in prepared dish. Top with turkey and cheese. Beat together eggs and next three ingredients. Season with pepper. Pour over turkey mixture. Bake casserole at 350° until puffed and center is set, about 45-50 minutes. Cut into squares.

(Can be prepared and stored in fridge 1 day ahead, or frozen for later use.)

This one is super easy.

1pk of spicy breakfast sausage
Lots of tator tots
1 cream of mushroom soup
Cheddar cheese
salt
pepper

Cook the sausage crumbled on the stove. Mix in a bowl with cream of mushroom, tator tots, salt, and pepper.

Top with cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

YUM~!

Check out either www.kraftfoods.com or www.recipezaar.com Both have great quick and easy recipes as well as make ahead recipes. The kraftfoods.com site has fewer recipes so they are easier to look through, but recipezaar has almost anything you can think of and lots you wouldn't ever think of. Hope that helps.

Hi C.~
I didn't have time to type out the recipe but I wanted ot share a GREAT website that you can find absolutely ANY recipe under the sun. The great thing is, you can type in a key word, like "egg" or "sausage casserole" and it will bring up all related recipe's.
www.epicurious.com It is a GREAT tool. Hope this helps for many recipes to come!

O my mother-in-law makes this amazing sausage egg casserole thing that I just adore, I was just telling my husband yesterday that I was craving it (6.5 mths preg) I don't have the exact recipe in front of me but if you would like it let me know and I can get it for you. It goes something like this:

1 thing of regular sausage
like a dozen eggs (prob. more like 8)
colby cheese
monteray Jack cheese
1 can green chilies
and some paprika

Like I said these are just guess-tamates, I would be happy to find the recipe and get it to you tomorrow if you would like.

Hi C.,

I made this breakfast cassarole on Sunday morning for my Cajun relatives who came into town last Saturday (7/28) to stay with us for a week. It's a very simple recipe and it really tasted great. I served it with fresh fruit salad (cantelope, red grapes, green grapes, strawberries and apple slices) and the relatives could not stop raving about it.

Below is my version that I've changed up a little from the original version. I've also included the link to the original recipe that I found on recipezaar so you can read all the reviews and decide for yourself what to change and what to keep the same.

Easy Breakfast Casserole
1 box dry chicken stove top stuffing mix
2 cups milk
1 pound (roll) Jimmy Dean Regular Sausage cooked, drained well and crumbled
8 eggs beaten
2 cups shredded colby/jack cheese divided
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray (vegetable oil spray)
2. Mix all the ingredients, except 1 cup of cheese, together in a large bowl
3. Pour into prepared baking dish
4. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until set.
5. Sprinkle top with rest of cheese and let cook until cheese melts (about 5 minutes)

I should have made 2 casseroles for my relatives as it was gone in a flash. I'm so glad I had the fruit too.

Here is the link to the original recipe on recipezaar as promised: http://www.recipezaar.com/38065. Recipezaar has a lot of great recipes and I've tried a couple of the breakfast cassaroles. This one is my favorite though.

Another great breakfast dish is the Creme Brulee French Toast. I've not made it myself, but my sister-in-law made it for us when we stayed at her house in Houston for the weekend. She used Light Karo syrup instead of honey and Grand Marnier for the orange liqueur and it was fabulous. Here's the recipe for that. http://www.recipezaar.com/13388

Good luck and I hope you enjoy!
N.

Putting hashbrowns in the bottom of your casserole dish and top with eggs and any mix in is always a great one!