Southwest Breakfast Egg Casserole

I found this delicious dish in a cookbook called Geckos and Granola, published by a terrific bed and breakfast in Sedona Arizona where we stayed some years back. We thought it was brilliant that when we arrived after a full day of travel, there was a bread machine at work filling our room with the most welcoming aroma, along with an assortment of butter and jams.

This was my contribution to last weeks wonderful reunion of girlfriends in Palm Desert.  We of course talked non stop, and about half of it was about food! Just one more wonderful thing to have in common…..It turned out that a hearty Sunday morning meal was welcome since the Margarita recipe from the night before at Armando’s restaurant seemed to be “fill a large glass with tequila and add a squeeze of lime.”  I was happy to have such an easy recipe to follow the next morning!

24 ounces frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

1 pound chopped ham, bacon or sausage, cooked and crumbled

8 ounces chopped green chilies

14 eggs (or a dozen Jumbo eggs)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Salsa, sour cream and cilantro for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Layer the potatoes, then the meat and the chilies in the dish.  In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, salt, pepper, dry mustard and milk.  Pour over the top of the meat mixture.  Sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake for 1 hour.  Garnish with  the salsa, sour cream and cilantro. Serves 10.

Note: If you use ham, this takes only 15 minutes to put together.  I would probably cook the sausage or bacon the day before.  The frozen hash browns work fine, but if you have time I prefer to layer the potatoes in the bottom of the dish and then pop it into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, and then let it cool a bit before proceeding with the other ingredients.  If the center isn’t puffed after an hour you may need another 10 minutes cooking time.