A Couple More Breakfast Casseroles

You may recall that I made a couple of casseroles to eat for breakfast while my girls were in Florida and I decided nuking a piece of casserole vs cooking something every morning was a good way to go for breakfast and now, I was ready for another one.  I searched through your recipes and settled on one from Dave at eRecipe Cards called Best Damn Cheesy Tater TotBacon Breakfast Casserole Ever.  Dave’s recipe makes two dishes so the first thing I did was cut it in half and then I amended the ingredients and directions a little to get this.

Cheesy Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:

6 oz thick cut bacon, diced

12 oz breakfast sausage

1 cup diced sweet pepper

½ cup diced onion

1½ Cups Cheddar Cheese plus an additional 1 Cup for topping

2 Cups Whole Milk

6 Large Eggs

2 Green Onions, green and white parts chopped, Plus an additional 2 Green Onions sliced saved for garnish

1 tsp Salt

1 TBS Pepper

½ tsp Onion Powder

½ tsp Garlic powder

32 oz. frozen Tater Crowns (or Tots)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook sausage on medium high heat and break up into small pieces, then add bacon and cook until most fat is rendered. Remove to paper towels.

2. Pour off most of the fat, add onion and pepper to skillet and cook until tender.

3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, and spices together

4. Mix in meat, veggies, and 1½ cups of cheese into the eggs.

5. Add the tater crowns to a prepared 11x13 baking dish.
6. Pour the egg mixture over the taters and stir around to mix everything.  Bake immediately or cover and refrigerate for the next morning.

7. When ready to bake, set oven to 350F with rack on middle position.  Once oven reaches 350F, place casserole in oven for about 35 minutes or more if casserole is cold from the fridge.

8. Turn off oven, top casserole with additional one cup of cheese and green onions and return to oven for about 10 minutes to melt cheese.  (Would you believe I forgot to add the cheese and green onion).

9. Let rest at room temp 10 minutes, and serve.

I really liked it and Bev said she liked the taste but not the texture from the potato crowns so I'll make it next time when she's traveling (she also doesn't like the texture of gnocchi - go figure).  I've found that hash browns, tots, and crowns make a great foundation for breakfast casseroles - grits also.

After this casserole, I decided I should make another one for our trip and I used ideas and portions from several recipes to come up with this:  

Ham, Cheese, and Bacon Grits Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound diced ham, about 3/8"

½ pound bacon, cut in half lengthwise then into ½“ pieces

1 cup onion, diced

1 cup mixed color sweet pepper, diced
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced about 1/4"

2 garlic cloves, pressed

3½ cups chicken stock

3 cup milk

Tiger seasoning – just shake some on each component and taste before salting.

2 cups quick-cooking grits

½ cup butter, cubed

8 oz Velveeta, cubed

4 oz sharp cheddar, shredded

5 large eggs, lightly beaten

Sliced or shredded pepper jack cheese or cheddar to cover the top (or your favorite)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 11"x11" (or10”x12”or 9”x13”) dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium low heat, cook bacon until it releases some fat then add onion, pepper, and garlic over medium heat and cook until veggies are tender and bacon is a little browned, season with Tiger, S&P- remove to a large bowl with diced ham.

3. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until most moisture is gone, season with Tiger, S&P – add to the bowl.

4. In a large saucepan, add chicken stock and milk; bring to a boil. Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, 5 to 7 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. 

5. Slowly stir in Velveeta cheese, butter; cheddar cheese and stir until everything has melted. Slowly stir in eggs until blended. Season with Tiger, S&P  Add to the bowl and mix well. 

6. Transfer grits mixture to a prepared dish.

7. Bake, uncovered about 45 minutes then add cheese topping and bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese melts.  Before adding the cheese, check center of casserole to be sure it is plenty hot.

8. Remove from oven and let rest about 5 minutes before serving.

Among all of the activity to get ready for our trip, I forgot to get a pic of the whole casserole but here is one of my piece on a plate after nuking.

Bev and I thought it was a very good keeper-meal and I got the liquid amount such that the casserole stood up when cut.  As a bonus, I now have one less package of quick grits in the pantry - maybe only three now.  Not sure how we got all of these as I much prefer whole kernel stone ground grits.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/5 & 1/9/19 event date