Sausage and Egg Casserole

I don't know how most of you create recipes, but more often than not how it happens at my house is, "Oh, hey, I have (whatever) and it's really close to going bad. I should do something with that!"

Which is what happened with the eggs. Before she had surgery, my mother used to eat a hard-boiled egg every day for breakfast. So before she went to the hospital, she bought a couple dozen eggs so she'd have them when she came home. But then something happened with her sense of taste (we think it was the anesthesia) and she hasn't eaten any since. Eggs are good for far longer than the date on their carton, but there is still a limit... and we'd reached it. I've been eating egg salad and fried eggs and scrambled eggs and making quiche until eggs are coming out my ears, but I still had six left.

And so a recipe is born.

Hard boiled eggs, smoked sausage, mushrooms, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, crackers, and seasonings. All simple ingredients, all ingredients I always have on-hand. The seasoning blend I used in addition to pepper and garlic and onion powders was the Great Lakes Blend from Spice Merchants. It really goes well with egg dishes, providing subtle yet amazing flavour.

Side rant: Remember when a package of smoked sausage was a full pound? Now they're all 14 ounces, and they cost more. I hate that.

Since I use packaged smoked sausage a lot, I knew how very much grease it produces. To remove a bunch of it, I sliced the sausage and then microwaved it on a plate for 1 minute, flipped the slices, and microwaved for another minute. Then I removed the sausage to a bunch of paper towels and wiped the grease off the plate with more paper towels. Put the sausage (on paper towel) back on the plate, and folded another piece of paper towel to press the grease off the top.

For the sauce, I softened a brick of cream cheese (well, neufchatel, but you know) in the microwave for 15 seconds, then combined it with onion powder, garlic powder, the Great Lakes seasoning, some black pepper, and enough milk to thin it about how I wanted it. Then I set the bowl aside while I started assembling the casserole.

I only crumbled eight Club crackers, then tossed them with a tablespoon of melted butter. It's not so much of a crust as it is something to provide a base for the casserole, and buttery cracker crumbs add dimension to the flavour without adding a bunch of empty carbs.

First layer is about half the smoked sausage, mostly in a single layer without overlapping. The world will not end if they overlap, since you're going to scoop it out with a spoon to serve anyway.

Second layer is half of the eggs, sliced. I was in a hurry so the slices aren't very thin and barely made a layer, but it doesn't really matter. You could even just slice them in half if you want, but then it would probably take more eggs since they wouldn't fill up the space.

I then spread about half the grated cheese. You have no idea how tempted I was to use all the cheese in this layer and then grate some more for later. But cheese is my downfall, and it's the culprit most of the time when my recipes end up with ludicrous fat content, so I restrained myself.

The next layer is scattered canned mushrooms. You could use fresh if you want, but I'd saute them first to make sure they don't release too much liquid into the casserole.

My intention was to pour half the sauce over top, but I hadn't added enough milk for that so I had to spread it instead. After I saw how thick it was, I added some more milk to what was left in the bowl so I could pour it over the top at the end.

I then repeated the sausage, eggs, and cheese, then topped it with the remaining sauce. You'll notice the entire thing isn't covered in sauce... that was on purpose. When I tasted it, I noticed how incredibly rich it was, so I didn't want to have too much. From here, it went into the oven to make sure everything was heated through and the cheese melted.

About 30 minutes later, out came a cheesy, rich casserole that was fabulous for dinner but which would also be wonderful for breakfast or brunch. You could probably also assemble it the night before and bake in the morning, although it might take a little longer to heat through if everything is cold. I'd say about 45 minutes, maybe longer.

Sausage and Egg Casserole

Serves 6

8 butter crackers (Club, crushed)

1 tablespoon butter

14 ounces smoked sausage, sliced

6 large hard-boiled eggs, sliced

4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated, divided

1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained

8 ounces neufchatel cheese, softened

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon seasoning blend (I used Great Lakes Blend from Spice Merchants)

3 tablespoons skim milk

Preheat oven to 350F; spray a 3-quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Spread sausage on a dinner plate and microwave on high for 1 minute; flip slices and microwave 1 minute more. Remove to paper towel and press with additional paper towel to absorb excess grease.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, seasonings, and milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the consistency of a thick sauce. Set bowl aside until needed.

Combine crushed crackers and butter and spread in bottom of casserole dish. Spread about half the sausage in a layer, then half the egg slices, the mushrooms, half the cheese, and half the sauce. Repeat sausage, egg, and cheese layers and spread remaining sauce over top.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until everything is heated through.

Serving Size: 336g

Calories: 528

Calories from Fat: 379

Total Fat: 42.1g

Saturated Fat: 18.4g

Trans Fat: 0.2g

Cholesterol: 295mg

Sodium: 926mg

Total Carbohydrates: 7.0g

Sugars: 2.5g

Protein: 28.5g