Food = fond memories

This, of course, is our first Christmas without Mom and it's been an interesting time. We're dealing with the ups and downs of grief and figuring out communication and responsibility distribution along with the extra hullabaloo that Christmas brings. We've still had fun with the holiday, but it does bring up memories and it's been difficult with such a huge, obvious vacancy in the family and preparations.

Anyways, while trying to plan some of our plans.... :-) I thought it might be nice to make the breakfast casserole that she would often cook for Christmas breakfast. I'm sure there's a million other recipes out there like it and it's not that uncommon of a dish (it's pretty much a glorified egg bake), but this casserole was delicious and pretty much a Christmas tradition. So, after checking to see that there weren't any other breakfast plans that I would be disturbing if I made this, I determined to find the recipe and have it for tomorrow's breakfast! Well... I didn't realize exactly how well loved the cookbook that contained the recipe was until I finally located it and had to pull it out of the cupboard in sections. It had once been a very nice spiral-bound book, but after much use the binding had broken, reducing it into a bunch of loose pages of which now some were missing. Including most of the index. :-p Well, I was determined. So I spread the pages across the table, sorted them into numerical order, and started flipping through them one by one by one...... Hmmmhmmmhmmmm.......... And eventually found it!!! I was so happy I had to share it. :-) Well, I also put it in a document for easier access in the future, so it was easy to put up on my blog.

So, with no further ado, here is the breakfast casserole made famous by Jeanne Hazleton (and submitted to the cookbook by a Martha from Muskogee, Oklahoma) :-)

1 lb sausage
8 slices bread, cubed
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (we occasionally omitted these)
3/4 cup half and half
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard
5 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown sausage in skillet, stirring until crumbly; drain. Sprinkle bread cubes in an oiled 9x13-inch baking pan. Layer sausage, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, and mushrooms over bread. Combine half and half, milk, eggs, salt and pepper in bowl; mix well. Pour over layers. Chill overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes or until set.
Yeild: 15 servings

Works very well to prepare Christmas Eve then throw in the oven before stockings on Christmas morning (we usually do stockings, breakfast and cleanup, the presants). It makes an easy, filling, warm breakfast with practically no prep on the actual day.