Monday, May 8, 2017

Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Spring has definitely come to the Black Hills!


But before we get to that, let me share this great recipe I tried for our church's annual Easter brunch. It's kind of a breakfast sandwich-gone-casserole, and Josh, my son-in-law, gave it two thumbs up.

One great thing about this recipe is that the casserole doesn't need to be refrigerated overnight. Perfect for those holiday weekends when you're short on refrigerator space!

Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole

ingredients:
note - I made this in an 11 x 17 baking dish. If you are using a 9 x 13 dish, use the smaller amounts of the ingredients in parentheses.

8 (5) eggs
1/2 (1/4) cup milk
6 (4) green onions
13 (8) large refrigerated breakfast biscuits (aka "Pillsbury Grands")
1 1/2 (1) cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound sausage, browned (optional for non-meat lovers)

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a large mixing bowl.



Cut each biscuit into six pieces. I find that my pizza cutter works great!


Put the biscuit pieces in the egg mixture and let them soak for 10-15 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.

Clean and slice the green onions and add them to the mixing bowl.



Brown your sausage (I did this part the night before), measure your cheese, and mix everything together. Pour it into your baking dish. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top.


Bake at 350° for about 25-30 minutes, or until done (center is solid when you jiggle it).

Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then serve.


Delicious! And so easy! A definite plus on a busy morning. :)

So here's what else is happening around here.


My dear husband and I are back into our "get up in the Hills and hike every chance we can" routine. On Saturday we did a couple miles on the French Creek trail in Custer State Park.


French Creek is where gold was first discovered in the Black Hills back in 1874, but we didn't find any on our hike. :)

But we did discover one fun thing about this creek - it disappears. At one point in the trail it will look like this...


...but a few yards later...


We found the spot where the creek disappears. It just goes underground! The water follows an underground passage just below this dry stream bed. There is water here sometimes, but only when there has been a lot of rain.

Another piece of great news this spring is that the pine beetle is finally under control.

The pine beetle can devastate a forest, leaving it like this -



And when a fire comes, like it did in the Argyle area last year, it leaves the forest looking like this -


But for several years now, rangers and loggers have been cutting the beetle killed trees and breaking the life cycle by giving the beetles nowhere to go. We see piles of cut logs like these all over the forest -


So now the new, healthy forest can grow, and it's a beautiful sight.

And speaking of new growth!


This little one was brand new - maybe a day or two old! But the next one was a bit older. See the horn buds?


The cows and calves stay together in huge herds, but the bulls either stay alone or in groups of two or three.


Look at that shaggy coat! The birds love to line their nests with the buffalo hair!

And finally, I have to share this with you:


A new bird sighting to add to my life list. A burrowing owl!


We saw two of them, and I was thrilled!


So yes, Spring is definitely here!

What signs of spring are you seeing around your place? or are you already looking for signs of summer?


Oh! Before I forget, the e-book editions of Hannah's Choice and Mattie's Pledge are on sale at your favorite on-line retailer! Stop by my website for the links: www.JanDrexler.com







Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

9 comments:

  1. I am in love with these pictures and that you guys take time to go into the hills... I lift mine eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from????

    Ah, this is beautiful, and I might be in love with this casserole. I might just go buy some rolls so I can make breakfast for dinner, a favorite around here!!!!

    And I haven't had time to lose myself in these books, but I'm hoping when the weather breaks and I have a baby to watch (read: KEEP FROM DROWNING IN PONDS OR RUNNING IN ROAD) I shall relax on the porch and read to my heart's content... but we're so cold and rainy here that the side porch is a mud-fest, Jan!

    Soon? Warmth? Sun? Maybe????

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    Replies
    1. Spring comes slowly in the North, doesn't it? I can just see your side porch strewn with mud-crusted muck boots and doggy foot prints all over!

      And we take time to go into the Hills for a reason. Six and a half years ago, when my husband started working here, he vowed that he would never take the Hills for granted. It's too easy to get so focused on the every day tasks that we never take time to focus on the beautiful gifts God has given us. So we take time. Yes, sometimes the every-day jobs suffer, but we don't. :)

      I hope you enjoy the books when you get a chance to read them. "Peace in the Valley" is staring at me from the top of my TBR pile!

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  2. Jan, those owls are so cute!!

    This recipe looks so good!! Almost like a combination of casserole and monkey bread. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seeing those owls was the high point of my Saturday afternoon! And I almost missed them. They live in old prairie dogs holes and they blend into the surrounding area just like the prairie dogs do. We had driven past them, but I had to go back to see if I had really seen what I thought I had seen!

      Yes, almost like monkey bread. But savory instead of sweet!

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  3. Casserole sounds yummy except for the sausage. LOL I'd just add more veggies,

    Signs of spring. Ugh. Try snow! Poor little robins must be shivering in their nests wondering on why they flew so far north. We've had horrible flooding here -- tons of heavy rain and all the melting snow from our record winter has contributed to overflowing rivers. A friend from church (single mom with two little boys) is living at a hotel courtesy of the Red Cross right now. The lower level of her apartment is submerged and she's lost a lot. So heartbreaking. People are boating down the streets to their homes trying to salvage what they can. So that's what spring has been like up here this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The sausage is optional, so substitute away!

      Every few years, we have flooding like that around here. It is awful. Praying for safety!

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  4. Just lovely, Jan. I do miss seeing all of that during our days in the Black Hills. We're lucky to find a hill here in North Texas.

    Now this casserole is interesting. I've seen/made many a breakfast casserole, but none of them with biscuits. Just lots of eggs, sausage/bacon and cheese. Might need to investigate this further.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The biscuits really gave this casserole a different texture. Super yummy!

      Delete
  5. Ahhhh, that breakfast would make me a lovely dinner.

    Still hungry!

    ReplyDelete