If I have friends up to the house and they stay over, (I have lots of extra bedrooms and 3 couches!) sometimes the last thing I’ll want to do the following morning is even think about breakfast, let alone make it. The following recipe is perfect for those debaucherous occasions. You make it the day before, so all you need to do is throw it in the oven and wait an hour. (Of course, you have to be awake and “with it” enough to preheat the oven first!) It’s basically all good stuff — bread, milk, cheese, eggs, cooked sausage (or bacon) and some spices all mixed together in a casserole dish and put into the fridge until needed the next morning. There are several versions of this recipe that you can find on the internet, but, as usual, I tried a few of them and then came up with my own by taking a little bit from this one and little bit from that one. This will serve 4 really hungry people, so you may need a few of these if the trombone section decides to show up.
INGREDIENTS
- 6 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp dry mustard
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp paprika
- A generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 6 or 7 slices of bread, lightly toasted and cubed
- At least 1 cup of Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, grated
- 3 or 4 mild Italian or Oktoberfest sausages, cooked and cut width-wise into ¼ inch slices (like pepperoni).
- OR
- 10 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
THE DAY BEFORE:
Grease a 9” by 13” oven-proof casserole dish. (I use butter.)
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, salt, dry mustard, red pepper flakes, paprika, nutmeg and minced garlic.
Arrange the bread cubes in a layer in the bottom of the dish. Evenly spread the sliced sausage (or chopped bacon) and grated cheese on top.
Pour the egg mixture over this and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
THE NEXT MORNING:
Find coffee!
Preheat the oven to 350F!
Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes.