Thursdays Are For Cooking
The following is a simple recipe for what is usually described as baked eggs, or a breakfast casserole. Yes, I have posted it before, but it seems like a simple. economical way to stretch what may be a tight budget, especially right now.
I’ve also included a second recipe for a Denver Egg Casserole from Spend With Pennies, for those who like something a little more hearty in this wonky weather we’re having: warm and sunny one day, cloudy and snowing the next. Remember to include those breakfast meats like ham and bacon, and hash browns are always welcome with something like this.
Baked Egg Casserole
1 cup of shredded cheese – cheddar is suggested, but choosing cheese is a personal thing
6 beaten eggs
2 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons milk (whole milk is creamier than 2%)
6 slices of bacon, diced
½ teaspoon of minced garlic (less if you don’t like garlic, or Mrs. Dash Garlic-Herb is good for this, too)
Salt and pepper to taste (you can substitute Mrs. Dash here, as noted)
2 slices of bread, cubed
1/3 red bell pepper, diced (I’d make this an option)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F
Stir the cheese, eggs, milk, bacon, onion, chopped pepper, and seasonings together in a bowl. Mix them thoroughly.
Pour into a 9″ x 13″ prepared baking dish. (“Prepared” means lined with foil or greased with butter to keep it from sticking. Your choice.)
Bake in the preheated oven until the eggs are set, 20 to 25 minutes. You might want to put the baking dish on a cookie sheet to keep spills from messing up your nice, clean oven.
Let it sit on the stovetop for a few minutes before you cut it into portions. Add toast, bacon, juice, tea or coffee, and jams and jellies.
Next is the Denver Egg casserole, below, from Spend With Pennies https://www.spendwithpennies.com/denver-egg-casserole/
The recipe is as follows:
Denver Egg Casserole
- 9 large eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup white onion finely diced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 1/3 cups ham diced
- 1/2 cup green pepper or red
- salt & black pepper to taste
Instructions:
-
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
-
Cook onion in butter over medium heat until softened. Cool.
-
Whisk eggs and cream. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
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Pour into a greased 9″ x 9″ casserole dish.
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Bake 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Looks great as usual, Ex. Thanks!
The breakfast burrito is almost a religion here. For simplicity:
Sea Dragon’s Deconstructed Breakfast Burrito
2 frozen hash brown patties
1/2 lb sausage, crumbled
10 oz refried beans
3 eggs
1 cup salsa, or roasted chopped green chile
1 cup shreaded cheese
Place hash brown patties in the bottom of a 5×7 inch baking dish. Cook in the microwave according to package directions.
Scramble the eggs. Cook and drain the sausage.
Layer the sausage over the hash browns. Spread the refried beans over the sausage. Cover with the scrambled eggs, then salsa, then cheese.
Microwave until the cheese is melted. Serves 4.
Can be made in a larger quantities, just bake at 350 until the cheese melts.
num num num num num!!!! Side order of Grits with cheese and shrimps along with a few cat heads and we are good to go. I likes me some breakfast casseroles. Baby Girl usually makes her Papa some when he comes a visiting. Gonna have to give that thar breakfast burrito a try too. HT to Sea Dragon.
Tanks Ex. The cold is pretty much gone here, but Graybeard keeps sending them heavy rains and tornados towards us. Raining all day and supposed to get real nasty again tonight. Y’all be safe.
Speaking of breakfast –
I had the best breakfast of my entire life at a ranch in Texas. I’ve never been able to perfectly capture the flavors, probably because I’m not cooking on an open grill, on the open range, with a mix of mesquite and peach tree woods, in Texas Hill Country. I asked the cowboy cook for the recipe and here’s what he said.
“Brown ground beef, the good stuff, with taco seasoning and chopped onions. Cook up some black beans. Scramble eggs, and put it all together”.
From those clues, this is what I’ve come up with –
YMMV, and I’m reporting the simplest way.
To the Texas TAH crowd, my apologies for using or suggesting McCormick Taco seasoning.
I believe there is a name for this, no idea what it is…if someone does, please share.
1lb ground beef
6 eggs
1 can of black beans
(or ½ lb dried beans, soaked overnight)
1 packet McCormick taco seasoning
couple dashes liquid smoke
¼ tsp cumin
½ cup finely chopped onions
½ tsp bacon grease
salt & pepper to taste
In skillet, melt bacon grease, add onions and cook til soft/translucent. Add ground beef, brown.
Drain most but not all of fat/grease into cup. Add taco seasoning to cup of grease, stir til dissolved, add back to ground beef and onions. Simmer very low.
In separate skillet/pan, cook black beans with liquid smoke and cumin.
In third pan, scramble eggs, add salt & pepper to taste.
Plate beans, add ground beef, scrambled eggs on top.
Leftovers (if any exist-they usually don’t around here) of all three pans store well in the frig for a couple days.
My sincerest apologies – I forgot to add hash browns or some type of potato on the side! Often, they end up getting mixed up on the plate with all the rest.
I’ve never tried grits on the side, but I bet that would be yummy, too. I always forget about grits, being a Yankee and all.
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=96085
Scroll down. Cheesy Shrimp Grits will make you a believer after the first bite.
Can I get a “Hell yes!” Gun Bunny?
*grin*
HELL TO THE YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Also see my comment above!
Only Army Mom, I guaarrauntee, them Cheesy Shrimp Grits will make a puppy pull a freight train; will make a bad man good; a good man bad. Put a bowl of them rascals on your head and your tongue will beat your brains out trying to get to them.
We make something similar at the house and just call it “Egg Mess.” And don’t dirty up all those pans. You can use either burger, bacon, or sausage. Brown it up. Remove from the pan. Then either fry up some tators or warm the beans (usually pintos ’round here) with chopped onions. Add whatever seasonings you want (we usually use Pace picante sauce or something similar) to the eggs plus a bit of water. When the taters or beans are done to your taste, add back the meat, sprinkle on some cheese, dump in the eggs add plenty of fresh cracked black pepper and finish it off however crispy you want it. Serve with biscuits. Grits optional with or without shrimps.
But this evening it was a frozen pizza. And it was pretty good.
You had me at “..don’t dirty up all those pans.”
MrsAW1 and I are big fans of one pot/skillet cooking.