Ham and Cheese Breakfast Bake

Happy Thanksgiving! If you've noticed I haven't posted any traditional Thanksgiving day recipes.  Fortunately for me, this is one holiday that I don't host and cook for!  My sister, down in Maryland usually hosts the family, but she's due to have her second child any day now!  When we don't go down to Maryland we head up to my husband's aunt's house near New Paltz for Thanksgiving dinner, so that's where we will be this year.  I did earn a free turkey from Shoprite that's sitting in my downstairs freezer, so eventually I will be using some of the tasty looking recipes I've been seeing on the blogs.  So for you today I have an Apple Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Bake.  We had this for breakfast for dinner.  However, this would make a great weekend brunch dish.  We all enjoyed this a lot, although almost all breakfast type dishes go over well with the kids. 

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Bake
recipe adapted from Confabulation in the Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 20-ounce bag frozen, shredded hashbrowns, thawed overnight in fridge
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
4  Apple Chicken Sausage links, diced
1.5 to 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
A few dashes of hot sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Squeeze moisture out of thawed potatoes then put them in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over potatoes and stir until well-combined. Line ungreased casserole dish with buttered potatoes, and press to make a crust. Bake 10 minutes or until potatoes are just crisped and brown on the edges. Remove dish from oven and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl whisk eggs and cream.

4. Sprinkle sausage over potato crust. Then add cheese. Pour cream and egg mixture over ingredients.

5. Bake 30 minutes or until set and gold and bubbling at edges.  Sprinkle with hot sauce to taste.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!