Busy Morning Brunch For Vegetarians

Christmas morning is always fairly hectic around my house. Yesterday morning was an exception. My kids slept in until 10:30 am. I’m serious. Santa’s special treats were waiting under the tree and they just kept on sleeping.  I took advantage of the break to make sure the tree looked extra pretty, then I chatted with some friends, talked to my sister on the phone, and checked on the kids. Again. And again.

Finally, they were up, the presents were opened and the time for breakfast was past - we were well into Brunch territory.  I decided to whip up a casserole dish – I could clean up the wrapping paper while it baked. Multi-tasking – something I do whenever possible.

My recipe featured this….

Yum! I love Morning Star Farms Sausage Patties, but you can use any meatless sausage that you like. This is a vegetarian, not vegan recipe, as it includes eggs and cheese.

Vegetarian Sausage and Egg Brunch Casserole

I package meatless sausage, thawed and broken into small pieces

1 cup onion, chopped

2 Cups cheese (I used Sharp Cheddar)

1 TB Dijon Mustard (a brown mustard would work great, as well)

6 Cups bread, torn into pieces (I used sour dough)

11 eggs

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350

Saute the onions in a small amount of olive oil. Lay the torn bread into the bottom of a rectangular baking pan that has been greased with oil. I used a 13×9 in cake pan.  Lay the onions over the bread. Lay the cheese evenly over the onion layer. Lay the sausage pieces over the bread. Whip the eggs, the mustard,  the salt and pepper with a wisk. Pour the eggs over the whole thing, then push and smush it around a bit so that you are certain that all the bread has soaked up the egg mixture.

At this point, you can put plastic wrap over the casserole and refrigerate for up to 12 hours, or you can lay a strip of foil loosely across the top and bake it for 45-50 minutes.

Serves 6-8

My kids and my mom, who was visiting at the time, loved it! No leftovers whatsoever. Sleep the first part of the day away and you wake up hungry.

Good morning image: All Posters.com

Morning Star Farms image: Morning Star Farms.com