Sunday, August 12, 2012

Road Trip Recap and Breakfast For Dinner



We headed out last Friday for a road trip to see family last weekend. I was concerned about travelling with Hayden but in reality he was wonderful and I could not have asked for a better travel companion. We did have some hiccups along the way, but surprisingly they had nothing to so with Hayden. We loaded up the truck and piled everyone in. We got about two hours out of town and started having issues with our vehicle. Out of nowhere it overheated and we found ourselves on the side of the road in the blistering heat, with white smoke pouring out the tail pipe and fluids bubbling under the hood. Not good. 

My brother and Mr. H saved the day and we barely made it to the nearest Ford dealership, only to be held up there for 3 hours. We had lunch, the service department diagnosed the problem and we tried to track down a rental car to get us to our destination. Long story short, our 9 hour strip turned into 13. Hayden got (understandably) restless about two hours out so we stopped, stretched our legs and got some dinner. Once we got back on the road he passed out and was peaceful the rest of the way, though we were all crammed into a minivan and uncomfortable. We made it to my grandma's house nearing midnight and had a great weekend. We ended up staying an extra day than planned but we got to visit family that we hadn't seen in years, including my new cousin that's only 3 weeks old. Love. 



The trip back home was a little less exciting but we were all so tired, hot and easily agitated. I don't think I've ever been so happy to back in my own home- I forgot how good it smelled and how great the A/C works :-). All this to say, that we survived our first road trip with the boy. And don't tell Mr. H, but I'd do it all over again just to spend more time with my family. I guess now it's time for me to talk about this breakfast casserole. It's delicious and I've made it several times over the past few months. I've made it with different meats and cheeses and it's always a hit. I make the full recipe and we eat on it for about 3 days, for either breakfast or dinner, and never tire of the leftovers. That's a rarity. 


  • 1- 20 oz. bag  Simply Potatoes shredded hash browns
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 lb. sausage, cooked and crumbled (ham or bacon works well too)
  • 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 cup half n half or heavy cream
  • A few dashes of hot sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place potatoes in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over potatoes and stir until well-combined. Line  anungreased 9x13-inch casserole dish with buttered potatoes, and press to make a crust. Bake 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are just crisped and brown on the edges. Remove dish from oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk eggs, half n half or cream, hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Sprinkle sausage over potato crust then sprinkle the cheese over sausage to create even layers. Pour egg mixture over ingredients. 

Bake 12-20 minutes or until the eggs are set in the center and the edges are golden and bubbling.

22 comments:

  1. Your little guy is absolutely precious!

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  2. LOVE Hayden's gorgeous red lips. So precious. So glad that your trip turned out okay, despite the truck problems. Yikes! I'm making this breakfast casserole. It looks so comforting!

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  3. Never made a breakfast egg bakes like this, sounds tasty though so it may have to be next weekends dish!
    Sorry to hear you broke down, but at least you weren't too far way from help. Hayden is growing fast!

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  4. Love breakfast for dinner! It is a favorite here... Have a great day!

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  5. OMG, that Breakfast Casserole looks so so sooooooooooooooo good.. WOW want it badly :D

    XoXo
    http://abudhabifood.blogspot.com

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  6. Perfect timing! This is just the dish to feed our hungry group this week as we spend our vacation in the northern Minnesota woods at our family cabin. Love cooking up hearty dishes - especially now that the heat wave has broken and we're having nice cool mornings at last. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. I'm not a huge fan of casseroles, but this looks dern tasty!

    Congrats on surviving the roadtrip. I always find that the return is /always/ much more relaxed than the arrival because you're not stressed out about having to be there at a certain time.

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  8. Yay! Glad you love it! I should try it with sausage - that sounds great, too. Hope the car troubles stay far away from now on! They are the pits.

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  9. I love love love love that last photo of Hayden! He is too freaking cute! Those eyes are BEAUTIFUL!

    I think I could actually make a variation of this casserole. It is hard to find the same ingredients here that you have in the States, so I've been missing U.S. food. I would have to make my own hash browns/fried potatoes, which is fine with me, and I would have to use a different type of cheese, though. Anyway, it looks good! YUM!

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  10. Love this recipe! I make mine using a crescent roll bottom (1 tube pressed into the bottom of 9x13 pan). With the crescent crust it tastes like Burger King Croissandwiches.

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  11. I love eating breakfast for dinner. Richard

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  12. Good you got to visit another day and your sweet angel Hayden was a dream passenger! He looks so cute, the casserole sounds wonderful and looks even better, I will be making it a lot, in the early mornings, we got the only sunny and heat now, but I wrote down your instructions and will be making it sounds easy peasy and delish..take care, hugs to your sweet angel son Hayden, he is growing up fast..take care!!!!!!!

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  13. Oh no what a crazy trip! At least you'll have a great story to tell Hayden about his first road trip! Glad you had a good time with your family. Road trips are always long but I always love the bonding time and good conversations! Oh and this casserole, I have never been a fan of the breakfast casseroles with bread but maybe I would like this version with hash browns.

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  14. I've been so out of touch this summer and your little guy has gotten so big! What a road trip, oy! The breakfast casserole sounds amazing!

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  15. My family makes something similar that we call funeral potatoes. Basically it's an egg cheese and shredded potato dish that you can add onto in anyway that suits you.
    I like mine with ham and green onions!

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  16. This recipe looks delicious and so easy! I will definitely have to give it a try. I'm glad nothing worse happened on your trip! phew!

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  17. Congratulations on surviving your first road trip with Hayden. That is quite an accomplishment. And the casserole looks delicious. I love that it uses hash browns instead of bread like most of them do.

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  18. That casserole looks yummy and reminds me of Christmas Day. We always have an egg dish like that but I've never thought of making it for dinner. I'm going to have to give it a try.

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  19. i love breakfast casseroles like this, it looks wonderful!

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  20. That casserole looks sooo good... And your baby is adorable! I always think he looks just like you... but in this shot he looks JUST like daddy! :)

    Thanks for sharing!

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  21. You have such a cute baby boy! Thanks for all the yummy recipes! I can not wait to make this! We love breakfast for dinner!

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  22. Thanks for sharing this one!! Made it this am for a back to school breakfast and it was a success!

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Thank you for your supportive comments. I appreciate each and every one of them!