Ham n Cheddar Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast casseroles often seem unappealing to me.  I like eggs and the things that go in them, but sometimes casseroles are just too mushy for me to eat them in the morning.  This recipe was based off  this one: Ham-n-Swiss Breakfast Pie.   It uses uses grits.  It sounds promising but grits are fickle in that you must eat them while they are hot – and immediately. I needed something that could sit for a bit and preferably something I could freezer in individual portions for weekday breakfasts.  I thought about it for a few minutes.

I had ham, cheddar, hash browns.  I made my own casserole – it was excellent, could be eaten straight out of oven, reheated later for those not around at breakfast and was perfect for cutting up into individual portions for freezing.

I tend to eyeball amounts on recipes like this.  I used my 5 x 81/2 Pyrex baking dish so did not need the whole bag of hash browns nor the whole amount of liquid mentioned in above recipe.  In fact, I probably did not use as much liquid as the recipe below mentions but if you use a whole bag of hash browns, you will need this much (and you’ll need a 8 1/2 x 11 baking dish). Also, you can use a can or two of cream of chicken soup instead of the milk and chicken broth if you like.  I liked it better this way – plus this way is gluten free and less fattening.

• Butter, 2 TBSP, melted
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• Garlic, 1-2 cloves crushed
• Chicken Broth, 1/2 cup
• Hash browns, 3/4 bag frozen, refrigerated or freshly shredded
• Milk, 3/4 cup
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Cheddar, Shredded 1 1/4 cups
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 6 eggs, beaten
• Ground Mustard, 1/2 tsp
• Ham, 1/2 lb diced
• onion, small, halved and diced

Preheat oven to 375.  Put butter in baking dish and put in oven until melted.

Add pressed garlic, salt and pepper, handful of shredded cheese, 2 beaten eggs.

Add hash browns enough to fill baking dish and stir til coated in mixture and cheese is spread around.

Pour milk/chicken broth over hash browns until about container seems half full.

Cover and bake for 20 minutes.

Add ground mustard and salt and pepper to taste to 6 beaten eggs.

Cook diced ham and onion in skillet just until onions translucent.

When 20 minutes are up, remove

Turn oven up to 400.

add ham/onion mixture to top of hash browns.

Pour eggs and mustard over ham.

Top with remaining cheese.

Bake 35 minutes.

I left mine covered.  But you could take the  cover off the last few minutes of baking if you wanted.