Cheesy Sausage, Egg & Potato Casserole

Eggs are very popular with my kids. I have modified a crockpot recipe that a friend gave me & come up with a casserole. It is perfect for a special breakfast or brunch. The ingredients can be put into the crockpot at night before bed & it will be ready to eat in the morning, or the more popular version at my house gets cooked in the oven in an 11X13 baking dish. This recipe can easily be halved & cooked in an 8X8 pan to feed 4 adults.

Ingredients

2 lbs ground breakfast sausage

2 lbs frozen diced hash browns

1 dozen eggs

1 1/2 cups milk (2 cups if cooking in crockpot)

1t dry mustard

salt & pepper

small chopped onion (optional)

4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Brown the sausage in a frying pan. Spray the 11X13 baking dish (or crockpot insert) with non-stick spray. Spread the frozen diced hash browns evenly in the bottom. Drain the grease off the cooked sausage. Spread Sausage over the frozen hash browns. In a medium size bowl, scramble the eggs, add milk (1 1/2 cups for baking dish, or 2 cups if using crockpot), spices & onion (optional), mix well. Pour over hash browns & sausage.

If cooking in baking dish, cover with foil, cook in oven at 400 for 50 minutes. Remove foil & add grated cheddar cheese over the top. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted & golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

If cooking in crockpot, add cheese, cook on low for 8 to 10 hrs.

Menu Plan Monday

I'm new to menu planning and still tweeking it. I found this cool site from my friend's blog from last week & couldn't wait to participate!!! I'll be posting recipes for most of the things on this weeks menu later in the week.

Monday...Chicken & rice stir fry

Tuesday...Chili verde with grated cheese & flour tortillas

Wednesday...Spaghetti & meatballs

Thursday...Red beans & rice with cajun sausage

Friday...Hamburgers & fried potatoes

Saturday...left over chili verde

Sunday....navy bean soup & corn bread

Italian Sausage & Penne Pasta....sort of a casserole

I have picky eaters, so it is rather rare to find something that everyone likes. This is one of those rare recipes. Hubby used to order an Italian dish when we would go out & from it we came up with this idea.

Ingredients:

1 lb bulk Italian Sausage (hot or mild, depending on who's eating it)
box of Penne Pasta
Can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce (Garlic & Herb is my favorite)
grated Mozzarella cheese
oregano
basil
parmesan cheese

I start by browning the sausage in a frying pan and boiling the pasta until it is tender. Once the sausage is cooked, add the can of Spaghetti sauce, then add the extra herbs and the parmesan cheese to taste. Once the pasta is done, drain it & pour it into a 9x13 baking dish. pour the sauce & meat mixture over it, mix lightly just to cover all the pasta with sauce. Last, add the mozzarella cheese over the top & put it in the oven to bake at 400 until the cheese is light brown & bubbly. From start to finish this shouldn't take more than an hour to have on the table.

This is GREAT with garlic bread & a green salad. If your family will eat it, you can also add green peppers and black olives to the sauce before adding it to the pasta. Other variations: Link Italian sausage works too, I slice it into thin rounds. I've also used ground beef or plain ground pork seasoned with extra garlic, oregano & basil.