My Favorite Breakfast Casserole

Last week I was in Utah for my brother's wedding. It was so nice to be with my family for such a special occasion.

I flew out by myself and stayed with my mom and dad. It was strange to not have my kids or husband with me, but it was fun to be just a daughter and sister for a few days.

One of the nicest things was enjoying my mom's wonderful cooking. I miss it! We had this awesome breakfast casserole the first night I was there. I quickly took advantage of this very photogenic and scrumptious opportunity.


I highly recommend this casserole for a special brunch or holiday breakfast. It is WONDERFUL!

Note: It needs to be prepared the night before it is to be served.


My Favorite Breakfast Casserole

1/4 cup butter
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus - 1" pieces
1 small/medium red bell pepper (chopped)
1 small/medium onion (chopped)
1 loaf French bread (cubed - 8 cups)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham

Beat together:
1/3 c. honey
8 eggs
2 1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Saute:
Asparagus, pepper and onions for 3-5- minutes.

Grease 9 x 13 pan.

Layer:
bread, ham, 1 cup cheese and sauteed vegetables. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes (or until golden and puffed), uncovered.

Buon appetito!

A special thanks to Megan at Shabby blogs for the brand new blog design. Isn't it cute? You need to check out her site and blog for lots of free layouts and cute extras for your blog!


Isn't my new signature cute too? Love it!

Mini Breakfast Quiche

These little babies have saved me for the last couple weeks! I had kind of stalled in my weight loss and decided that I needed to shake things up a little bit. I decided to do Phase 1 of the South Beach diet. That means no bread, fruit, milk and, well......anything tasty that you could conveniently grab and eat. I needed to find something yummy (because you have a green light on all meat, cheese and eggs) that I could prepare quickly before I accidentally ate some frosted circus animal cookies! These mini quiche were easy and delicious! And guess what. You don't have to share! Make a batch the way YOU like it, freeze it, and you have a quick breakfast or a "It's 4pm and I'm having a meltdown" snack. The best thing about this recipe is that your imagination is the limit! Use this recipe as a guide and add or subtract ingredients as you see fit! I adapted this recipe from Our Best Bites. Let's get started!

My recipe makes 24 standard muffin size quiches

Mini Breakfast Quiches

10 oz. spinach thawed and squeezed dry
16 oz. pork sausage (use crumbled cooked bacon, Canadian bacon, finely diced ham)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
18 eggs (can use 8 eggs and 2 cups liquid egg substitute)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 1/2 c. sharp cheddar, shredded (can also add part Swiss, Parmesan, cottage cheese, low fat cheese or pepper jack)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350

Thaw spinach (you can put it in the microwave) and squeeze out all the liquid. I put it in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze the heck out of it. After it is drained, you can chop it up a little more.

In a skillet, saute the onions and green peppers in some olive oil. I like the onions and peppers caramelized so they are browned and sweet.

In a bowl combine the ingredients and stir well.

Place foil cupcake liners in muffin tin and spay with cooking spray. Fill the muffin liners with 1/4 cup of egg mixture. Keep stirring the egg mixture in the bowl to evenly disperse the ingredients.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until tops are just barely set. You can store the quiches in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. When reheating in microwave, make sure to remove the foil liner. When I want to reheat from frozen, I try to take a few out the night before and put them in the fridge to defrost a little.

I don't have calorie counts. Sorry! But this is a great breakfast or snack that is high of protein to keep you satisfied.

And just in case you were wondering, I lost 8 lbs in two weeks on the South Beach diet.