Company breakfast

The last few weeks have been busier than usual. Stephen has been traveling, my in-laws have been traveling, my parents came to stay for a week, and I stayed right here.

I had a nice visit with my folks. We stayed very busy doing all the fun beach things around here. Even with all the fun we were having we missed Dad. Lucky for us Steve is home to stay for a while and his folks rolled back into town a couple days ago too. Steve was more than a little jealous when he learned I made both of these dishes for other people while he was away. To make amends I got busy in the kitchen and invited his parents over this morning for a big Welcome Home breakfast. 

On the menu were Cinnamon Rolls (Thank you Jan, for this awesome recipe) and Egg Cassarole. The best part about this menu is that the prep all happens the day before so all I had to do this morning was turn the oven on. 

The Egg Cassarole is a breakfast staple in all the Hand houses. It's another one of those recipes that has been passed from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. You've probably eaten something like this before. We're not reinventing the wheel or anything. But here's how the Hands do it. 

What you need: 

Glass 9x13 baking dish

Non stick cooking spray

6-8 slices white bread

1lb breakfast sausage

1 dozen eggs

4 cups milk

Black pepper

Yellow mustard

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

What to do:

Brown and drain sausage. Set aside. Spray your baking dish with non stick spray and set aside. Cube the bread slices and spread them evenly in the bottom of your baking dish. Spread the sausage in another even layer on top of the bread. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and break the yolks with a fork. With a hand mixer beat the eggs on a med-high speed and slowly add the milk. Continue beating the egg mixture and add a good squeeze of mustard (I've never measured this but it's probably a healthy teaspoon). When the egg mixture is well combined pour it over the bread and sausage evenly. Sprinkle black pepper evenly over the top and cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Stick the covered dish in the refridgerator overnight. In the morning preheat the oven to 350 degrees and take the Cassarole out of the fridge 30 min prior to baking. Top with two cups shredded cheddar cheese and bake until golden brown and puffed up (about one hour). Let it stand 10 min before cutting. It will deflate as it cools. That's okay. 

Make sure a the bread gets nice and soaked

This is where the magic happens right here. 

On step closer 

Bake it until it looks like this! 

This is great to take to a brunch. I made one last weekend and stuck it in my pyrex portable straight out of the oven with the hot pad. Two and a half hours later it was still steaming! It would be great for Easter breakfast too though I'm a little late with that tip:-) Give it a try!