Christmas Breakfast '09

For a few weeks before Christmas, I was told "If you're bringing an egg dish, like the one from last year, bring enough! It was good and we ran out!" Well, no one could tell me what it was I'd brought. So, I picked something new and decided that would be our Christmas morning breakfast egg dish. OMG, it's yummy! It's not heart-healthy, but it's good! And easy! Mix up the night before and throw it in the oven in the morning!

From Allrecipes: Sausage Egg Casserole

• 3/4 pound ground pork sausage
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1 (16 ounce) container low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 2 (4 ounce) cans diced green chile peppers, drained
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, and set aside. Melt butter in skillet, and cook and stir the green onions and mushrooms until tender.
2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and chiles. Stir in the sausage, green onions, and mushrooms. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the melted butter. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
5. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Spicy Meatloaf

This is what it says...unless you use mild sausage of course! I found a recipe on Allrecipes for meatloaf that contained beef and sausage. I thought "Yum! I have some spicy sausage leftover, I'll try it!" It was delicious. My husband, who grew up hating meatloaf (and many, many other things) really likes this one. If I remember, I will make meatloaf with sausage from now on. It doesn't actually make it spicy, there's just a hint of a burn to it. Really, really tasty!

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/2 C Italian bread crumbs

1/4 lb ground pork sausage, spicy if you want

1 egg

1/2 C milk

1 small onion, diced

Dash (or 2) of Worcestershire sauce

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients until just mixed evenly. Do not over-work the meat. Form into a loaf and place on a sheet pan. I made 6 individual loaves with this, to speed up the cooking process. Bake at 350 until meat is no longer pink in the middle. It was about 40 minutes (possibly less) for the mini loaves, probably about an hour for a large loaf. Enjoy!