Breakfast Casserole

Oooohhh, I'm all excited tonight. I found a new recipe that (almost) everyone likes. One of the nurse I work with was talking about "Breakfast Casserole". I had never heard of such a thing - casseroles are for supper, right? Anyway, Google to the rescue, and sure enough I found a bunch variants on the theme. The all consist of a crust (either hash browns, rolled dough, or day-old bread), browned meat (usually sausage), and an egg mixture (sometimes including vegetables, spices, and cheese). You could probably make one-a-day for a month and never repeat the combination. My middle two children (girls aged 4, and 10) are rather picky about texture and flavor combinations, so they did not really like it but everyone else LOVED it. It seems to me like a combination of an omelet and a quiche. Here is the recipe I used last night to feed our family of 6:

Breakfast Casserole

6 small/Med potatoes

1/2 stick margarine

1 lb smoked sausage - chopped into small pieces

1/2 onion - chopped

1/2 red pepper - chopped

1lb spinach leaves

8 eggs

1/8 cup soy milk

Grease a 9x13 pan. Peel and grate the potatoes. Mix with margarine. Use this to line the bottom and sides of your greased pan (this will be the crust). Put in oven and turn to 375 while you continue.
cook sausage, onion, and pepper together in a fry pan until onion is translucent and sausage is cooked. Place spinach on top, toss, cover and cook until spinach is thoroughly wilted. Meanwhile, beat eggs with soy milk.
Drain fat and liquid from sausage mix, and add sausage/spinach to eggs. Stir to combine and pour over the partially cooked potatoes. Return to oven for 35-45 min (eggs should be set and toothpick inserted in center will come out clean). Let cool 5 minutes, and serve.

We did have some left-overs since two did not eat their share, but they cut-up and stored nicely (like a quiche would). This only took a few minutes to whip together, and the day-old bread version you fix the night before and let soak bread-pudding style. I can't wait to try it with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, or asparagus and soy-cheese.
Yum!