Easter Brunch Casserole

This is one I haven't made, but thought it might be an idea for those who are having guests for Easter morning. It looks hearty enough to "stick to your ribs" until Easter dinner. Plus, it is a make-ahead dish, which is a bonus. Do you have a traditional Easter dinner? Ham and scalloped potatoes, lamb, or perhaps go out to dinner or brunch?

I saw a fun idea while searching for a recipe for this week. Everyone has their favorite deviled egg recipe, but in this recipe, they took the hard-cooked eggs, cut in half, emptied, like one does for deviled eggs, but dipped them (the white part) into colored water (using food dye) for 30 minutes. Then continued filling them with the yolk mixture, making a tray of blue, green and red deviled eggs I also have seen deviled eggs made to look like little chicks with a hat on. Cute ideas.

Honestly, this casserole only qualifies as an Easter casserole because they suggest making a cross on top. It could be a Mother's Day brunch casserole by making a heart on top. And it certainly could be added to or subtracted from based on your tastes. Some of the reviews suggested a few more eggs and milk. One said she substituted turkey sausage.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound bacon

1 pound bulk pork sausage

¼ c. bacon drippings

1 large sweet onion, chopped

¼ c. chopped garlic

1 (4.5 oz) cans diced green chili

peppers, divided

6 eggs

2 dashes liquid smoke flavoring

½ tsp hot pepper sauce

(such as Cholula)

½ tsp seasoned salt

(such as Lawry's )

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried basil

3 pounds frozen hashbrown

potatoes, thawed

Salt and pepper to taste

1 c. shredded pepper Jack cheese

1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 (4 oz.) can chopped black olives

DIRECTIONS:

Place the bacon in a large deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Place sausage into the bacon grease and cook until crumbly and brown, about 10 minutes. Place the sausage on the plate with the bacon and pour off all but ¼ cup of the bacon drippings

Reduce heat to medium and stir in the onion, garlic, and one can of green chilies. Cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl with the liquid smoke, hot pepper sauce, seasoned salt, white pepper, parsley and basil until smooth. Crumble the bacon and stir bacon and sausage into the eggs with the remaining can of green chilies, hashbrowns, and cooked onions. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and stir until evenly mixed.

Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Scoop the hash brown mixture into the prepared dish and smooth the top. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees.

Bake the cover dish in the preheated oven for 1 hour

Remove the casserole from the oven, uncover, and sprinkle evenly with pepper Jack and Monterey Jack cheeses. Sprinkle the Cheddar cheese in the shape of a cross and outline with black olives. Return to the oven and bake until the cheese is hot and bubbly, 20 to 30 minutes more.

MY NOTES:

It seems like it would be a bit spicy, but many like it that way. The recipe does say ¼ cup chopped garlic so I'm not sure how many cloves that is. I don't think you would want to substitute the chopped garlic in a jar but that is more of a question, not a statement.

In my opinion, all this needs is fruit served on the side.

ENJOY, and HAPPY EASTER :-)