Easy Potato and Bacon Breakfast Casserole

So I’ve been a mother for 6 years and 4 months now and I’ve never had breakfast in bed. As time goes on, I’m pretty okay with that–I love, love, love my husband, but most of you know about my egg aversion issues (by the way, after Sara posted her egg-blowing tutorial, my brain recovered a horrible repressed memory from a 4-H activity  when I was 10 and I blew out an egg for the first time and then promptly lost my lunch) and breakfast in bed usually involves eggs and eggs really aren’t his forte.

But for all you ladies who would love breakfast in bed, I think you should email this post to your significant others. Or create an anonymous email address to send the link to plant the idea in their brains. And maybe the anonymous email should include that this recipe needs to be assembled the night before, so you would also need a People magazine, a pedicure, and dinner alone on Saturday night while he whips this together. Just sayin’.

This recipe is beyond easy. Minimal chopping. Pre-cut potatoes. Incredibly delicious (seriously, when our family ate this for the first time, my pickiest eater, who is also a potato-hater, yelled, “THIS IS AWESOME!”) and, like I said, can be made the night before and then popped into the oven in the morning.

You’ll need Southern/country-style hash brown potatoes (the cubes, not the shreds), eggs, milk, bacon, green onions, pepper jack cheese (I promise, this doesn’t come out too spicy), cheddar cheese, and a little salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the bacon. All of it. The whole package. This is how you know things can’t go wrong. You can either cook it in the oven or on the stove top; the oven is my favorite way to cook bacon, but you’re going to be using the bacon drippings a little later, so if you’d rather just do it all in one pan, that’s up to you.

While the bacon is cooking, place the potatoes in a 9×13″ or a deep-dish 9″ pie plate. Mix together the cheeses and sprinkle those on top of the potatoes. When the bacon is done, place it on a paper towel to drain and reserve about 2 tablespoons of the drippings.  Cook the chopped green onions in the drippings over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until they’re tender and fragrant. Spread them on top of the cheese mixture.

Crumble the bacon and sprinkle that on top of the green onions. Um, in case you guys ever doubted, I love bacon so much.

Look at it?! How could you not love it? Carly, you know I’m talking to you.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and a little salt and pepper. If things are going to get tricky, this is where because you don’t really know how salty the bacon and cheese are and you can’t taste the mixture. But I think about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt is probably good (you can always add more later) and about 10 turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Whisking constantly, pour the egg/milk mixture all over the potatoes and bacon.

Cover it up and refrigerate it overnight (or, if you’re making breakfast for dinner, do this first thing in the morning and then it will be ready by dinner time).

When you’re ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 350. Bake it up, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly but not burned. Remove from the oven and let it stand for about 15 minutes (if you cut into it sooner, it will be a little runny and icky looking). Serve with fresh fruit, orange juice, a jelly jar full of flowers from the yard, and lots of hugs and kisses. Serves 6-8.

Boise Fans! Sara will be doing book signings in your area this week!
Deseret Book on Eagle Road (see map here).  This Friday, 5-7 pm
This Saturday (5/7), Nampa Costco, 12  noon – 1:30pm