Egg Casserole

This is a delightful and versatile casserole you can serve at holidays or any time. Make it on the weekend and have during the week for an easy and nutritious breakfast. You can also be creative and add cooked vegetables (leftovers are good) in place of the mushrooms or in addition. I have used seasoned stuffing bread cubes instead of potatoes as the bottom layer and it works great too. You may also top the warm dish with some shredded cheese when it first comes out of the oven and let it lightly melt as you let the casserole cool for ten minutes. You might even make this as the day-after-the-holiday breakfast when you can take advantage of some nice leftover options such as diced turkey or ham, green beans or asparagus as add-ins.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 2 dozen free range eggs
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)
• 1 large russet potato (or sweet potato), shredded
• 2 parsnips, shredded
• Two cups sliced mushrooms
• Three cups spinach or baby kale
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• Rosemary leaves, fresh, stripped from two stalks
• Fresh sage, minced about 1 tablespoon
• Bacon, four to six strips cooked
• Bacon fat, 2 - 4 T reserved from cooked bacon
• Dried basil flakes, about one T

Directions:

1. Cook bacon until just crisp and set aside on paper towels to drain. Leave at least 2 tablespoons bacon fat in skillet.
2. Lightly grease a 9x12 oven safe baking dish with some of the bacon fat
3. Shred potatoes and parsnips and spread evenly over the bottom of the baking dish
4. Sauté onions and garlic in bacon fat until just tender and slightly translucent 
5. Add sliced mushrooms to skillet and sauté until tender
6. Add chopped fresh herbs to skillet and continue to sauté for about one minute then spoon all into the baking dish evenly over the potatoes and parsnips. 
7. Add the greens (spinach or kale) to the skillet and sauté until the greens begin to wilt to about half volume and the layer into the baking dish.
8. Crack eggs into a large bowl.
9. Add the cream or milk to the eggs and whisk together.
10. Pour the egg mixture over the ingredients in the pan.
11. Crumble the bacon over the top of the eggs.
12. Sprinkle lightly with dried basil flakes.

Cook in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Eggs should be firmly set and lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool for about 10 - 15 minutes. Slice and serve with a fresh fruit salad.

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