Sausage and Bacon Breakfast Casserole

This was originally going to be a crustless quiche (or frittata, or whatever you want to call it). But by the time I got done adding all the stuff I wanted to use, there was no way this was fitting into even my deep dish 9-inch glass pie plate, so I went for a casserole dish instead. Which works, because nutrition wise this isn't all that healthy, and a casserole lends itself to more servings better than a quiche.

I served this with some steamed fresh vegetables, but a salad would be even better. Maybe some cottage cheese. Or just eat it by itself, that works too.

I started with a pound of mild breakfast sausage and some bacon. Then I decided some green pepper would be good. Then I noticed I had a can of the new caramelized French's fried onions, so I decided to use those instead of dicing some onion. Garlic, eggs, cheese, evaporated milk, and some seasoning (I used Caribbean blend from Spice Merchants), and I was onto something good.

The whole pound of sausage went into the pan, but I only used three or four slices of bacon because once I saw how much meat that was going to be there was no way we were eating that much. So the bacon became more of a flavour enhancer rather than a main taste.

Anyway, I browned the sausage and bacon over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, until the bacon was getting crisp and there was no more pink showing in the sausage. Then I scooped the meat into a bowl with a slotted spoon and poured off all but about a tablespoon of grease.

I added the diced green pepper to the remaining grease in the pan and sauteed it over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes, stirring pretty frequently to prevent burning. If I had been using fresh onion instead of the canned ones, I would've added them in here as well.

For the last minute, I added the garlic so it would soften but not burn.

I added the green pepper, the fried onions, the cheese, and the seasoning to the meat mixture in the bowl, then stirred to combine well. The cheese may start to melt a little at this point depending on how hot your meat still is, but it won't be enough to bother. Mine didn't really melt at all.

Apparently I didn't take a picture of this mixture in the casserole dish, but it looked exactly like this. Well, except it was in the casserole rather than this bowl. I suspect that's why there's no picture.

In a separate bowl, I whisked together the eggs and the evaporated milk until they were frothy and well-combined.

Then I poured the egg mixture evenly over the casserole, making sure the entire surface was covered and allowing it to work its way through to the bottom before popping it in the oven.

About an hour later, out came perfectly browned, delightfully tasty dinner! Which of course would work well for breakfast or lunch or whatever meal you eat between any of those. It did come out a lot greasier than I was hoping, so I'm adding into the instructions to drain the meat mixture on paper towels when you remove it from the pan. That should help a great deal. I ended up blotting the edges with paper towel after it came out of the oven, and that's just no good.

That looks like a lot on the plate, but it really isn't. It's only two scoops using a standard serving spoon. And we got eight servings that size out of the casserole, so that's what I'm writing it up as. If you eat less at a time, then you'll get more servings and the nutrition information will change accordingly.

Sausage and Bacon Breakfast Casserole

Serves 8

1 pound mild breakfast sausage

3 slices bacon, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

3 ounces (about half a can) French's caramelized fried onions

8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese (I used triple cheddar)

1 teaspoon Caribbean seasoning (I used Spice Merchants)

3 large eggs

1 (14.5 ounce) can evaporated milk

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

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and bacon and cook, stirring and breaking up clumps occasionally, 10 minutes or until bacon is crisp and sausage is no longer pink. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Pour off all but a tablespoon of grease.

Add green pepper to pan and cook, stirring frequently, 3 minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking, stirring frequently, 1 minute more.

In a large bowl, combine meats, green pepper mixture, onions, cheese, and seasoning blend until well-mixed. Spoon mixture into prepared casserole dish and smooth top.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and evaporated milk until frothy and well-combined. Pour evenly over casserole dish, making sure to cover entire top. Let stand a couple of minutes to allow mixture to seep to bottom.

Bake, uncovered, for one hour until top is lightly browned and casserole has set. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serving Size: 185g

Calories: 477

Total Fat: 37.8g

Saturated Fat: 17.4g

Trans Fat: 0.1g

Cholesterol: 159mg

Sodium: 845mg

Total Carbohydrates: 11.8g*

Sugars: 6.2g

Protein: 23.0g

*I don't know why the fiber wouldn't come up in the nutrition analysis... I ran it three times, and not once did it show any fiber.