Breakfast for dinner!  Laurie made this as an experiment.  We had it for dinner with the idea that if it scored* well we’d serve it to the kids for breakfast when they came to visit over the weekend.  

It was terrific for dinner and a hit  for breakfast,... but how could anyone expect otherwise? It combines basic good food: eggs, sausage and/or bacon or ham, hash browns, and cheese all in one casserole dish.  And include some onion, tomatoes, and bell peppers for veggies, and you've rounded out the food groups. 

Bake it all in a 8 x 12” pan (we used glass) and you’re good to go.  The recipe started with what's at  https://cafedelites.com/breakfast-casserole/and Laurie made a few modifications (see notes and modifications below the directions).

[*We gave this recipe 4 out of 5 stars. Maybe if we try it next time with the hollandaise sauce option, it will get a 5.  But 4 is plenty.  It means in our minds that the recipe is good enough to cook and enjoy again.]

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound diced bacon or ham, chopped (or uncooked sausages, casings removed)
• 10 large eggs
• 1 cup milk (half and half or heavy cream)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (or thickened cream)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt to season
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 Roma tomatoes seeded and chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 28 oz shredded hash browns, frozen
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8x12-inch baking dish.
2. Cook the diced bacon and/or ham, or crumbled sausage meat in a non-stick skillet until crispy and browned. 
3. Add the onion and cook until soft and approaching translucent.
4. In a large bowl use a whisk to combine together eggs, milk, cream and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in the bacon (or ham or sausage) and onion mixture, tomatoes, bell peppers and cheddar cheese.
5. Add a layer of hash browns to the base of the dish.
6. Pour the egg mixture over the hash browns.
7. Top with the mozzarella.
8. Bake until eggs are cooked through (ovens will vary, but likely to be 45 to 50 minutes).
9. If desired (we did not do this) add hollandaise sauce. Here's a simple recipe, also from cafe delites: https://cafedelites.com/hollandaise-sauce/ 

Notes and Modifications from Laurie:

• I used 1¼ c. EggBeaters + 5 eggs instead of 10 eggs.
• For Peter, I left out the tomatoes.
• Since I didn’t have a whole bag of frozen hash browns available — 21 oz. instead of 28 oz. — in the interest of not having MORE leftover frozen hash browns were I to have bought more, I made do with 21 oz. It was fine!

O3149530-LR-2 As served for dinner, with some frozen veggies from Trader Joe and a dinner roll.