Easy-Morning Egg Casserole to Make the Night Before

Have something ready to pop in the oven in the morning when you have overnight guests. Leave out croissants, muffins, bread near the toaster and coffee-maker for early risers. Serve the casserole a little later, for brunch or lunch, with a salad and crusty French bread.

Assemble this the night before--especially easy if you've served a ham for the evening's dinner. Mince the ham in a food processor or use leftover slices.

To serve this the morning of a Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner, buy an extra roll of the pork sausage meat used in the turkey stuffing, cook both rolls, drain the fat from the meat and use 1 cup of the cooked meat in this breakfast casserole. (See the sausage stuffing recipe on this site under "Turkey Dinner.")

To use frozen sausages, defrost them, slit the casing, remove the meat and cook, crumbling the sausage with a fork. Use chorizo if you want a spicy breakfast brunch casserole.

If you don't have fresh sliced mushrooms on hand or do not like them, omit them and double the amount of meat to 2 cups. If you are fond of other vegetables, like green pepper or zucchini, you could chop and sauté these with the onion or use a mixture of cooked vegetables that add up to 2 cups.

• 1 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 1 small chopped onion
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped ham, cooked sausage meat, or 8 strips bacon cooked and chopped
• 8 eggs
• 1+3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, or a mixture of what you have left-over)

1. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
2. In a frying pan melt the butter, then add onion and mushrooms, cook only until onions are soft.  Stir in the meat. Remove from heat.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, flour and salt.
4. Shred a cup of cheese over the bottom of the well-greased baking dish. Over this, spread the onion/butter/mushroom/meat mixture. Shred 2 cups of cheese on top. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and put in the fridge overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and cook uncovered for 40 minutes.
5. If you are making this in the morning and want to cook it right away, place uncovered in a preheated 375 degree oven and cook about 35 minutes. Check it around 30 minutes, you want it to cook until it looks golden and the eggs are cooked in the middle. If you have to leave it in the oven a few extra minutes, cover with foil and turn off the oven so it doesn't dry out. Serve as soon as your guests are at the table.