Brunch Egg Casserole

by Ann

Wow!  Wedding weekend has come to a close.  It has been a marathon of events, most of which I had no responsibility other than to show up and have a great time.  My sister, Susan, the mother of the bride may drop from exhaustion, but we all had a fabulous weekend to remember! Everything went like clockwork, the wedding was perfect. Thursday my sister, Linda and her family arrived in the late evening from Virginia.  From that point on things got crazy.  Here's the abridged version of the schedule:

Friday - 

• Lunch in Old Town Scottsdale with Linda and her gang
• Happy hour at my Mom's awaiting the arrival of my aunt and uncle
• Off to the rehearsal dinner, which was absolutely fabulous at a lovely southwestern restaurant

Saturday - 

• Get up to get casseroles started for the brunch the following day (the recipe included in this post)
• Hubby squeezed a gallon of juice from the oranges from our trees
• Make dessert for following day and for a treats for a night class I am teaching on Monday
• Off to sit in the sun by the pool (don't tell our dermatologists) at the hotel where my sister was staying
• Back home to get ready for the wedding
• Pick up my mom, aunt and uncle to head off to the church for the wedding
• On to the reception filled with celebration, dinner and dancing

Sunday -

• Up early to finish the casseroles and get them baked -- make fruit salad as well
• Go to brunch that my sister and her husband put on for at least 40 people after a crazy-fun-exhausting late night the evening before
• Go home to scramble to clean up all of the messes at our house to host a somewhat impromptu one-last get together before out-of-towners go home and we get back to reality
• Early dinner for 14 at our house -- Pizza, salad, and dessert  -- the pizza was from a pizza joint -- hey, the guests were lucky the house was clean! (well, sort of clean....)

Monday - (yesterday)

• Back to work and the real world -- that's not a bad thing, but where's the wine??

The recipe I am sharing in this post is wonderful in many ways.  It is tasty, feeds a crowd, and can be pre-prepped to get everything together the day before to bake the following day, which is convenient, especially on busy weekends like the one we just had.

Yum  -- The great thing about this casserole is that it is tasty piping hot out of the oven, or only slightly warm if you take it to a potluck.

The ingredients are simple -- Don't let me confuse you with only 2 eggs -- There should be 8 -- I wasn't adding them until the next day, and there were only two left in the container that I grabbed for this photo opp.

If preparing a day ahead, add all ingredients except the egg and  milk on day one.

Omelet Hash Brown Casserole 

Ingredients:

6 T salad oil

2 c chopped onions

1 package (about 6 cups) frozen hash browns (the cubes of potatoes)

¼ c butter

1 - 2 chopped bell peppers – any color

¼ c chopped fresh parsley

2 c milk

8 eggs, beaten

2 c grated Swiss cheese

12 oz – 1 # cooked crumbled sausage, chorizo, bacon, ham, etc.

2-3 teaspoons salt or seasoning salt, depending upon how salty to meat used is

ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 375º

2.      With oil in the skillet sauté half of the onions.  Add potatoes and 1 t salt.  (I had to do this in two batches – you’ll need a large skillet to do all of the potatoes at once.)

3.      Cover and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

4.      Pat cooked potatoes into 9 ½ x 13” pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.

5.      Melt butter in frying pan.  Add bell pepper, remaining onion, and parsley and sauté until tender.  (you can add mushrooms if desired)

6.      Combine milk, eggs, 1 t salt, and pepper to taste.

7.      Sprinkle crust with bell pepper mixture, cheese, and meat.*

8.      Pour egg mixture over the casserole.

9.      Bake for 45 minutes to an hour.  It will be done when it starts to get golden brown around the edges and the middle is no longer runny.  (If made the night before it will take longer to cook starting out cold from the fridge.)

*  If making this up the night before, wait until the morning to pour the egg mixture on the casserole.

If using chorizo, cheddar cheese would work better than Swiss cheese.

This makes a huge batch which would serve 10-12 people.  You can easily cut it in half and use a 9-10” pie pan.