Breakfast Casserole

Obviously I don't normally have the time to cook anything for breakfast. On this cold, somewhat lazy (we were up before 6:30) Saturday morning, however, I had time.

So, when the heathen son mentioned he was hungry for something hot and oatmeal wasn't going to cut it, I told him I'd see what I could come up with. I mentioned that I'd seen a lot of recipes for tofu scrambles but they'd never really appealed to me. None of us are big tofu fans so I'm sure that's the reason. I told him I had some frozen hashbrowns so perhaps I could do something with those. His eyes lit up. Then he said it would be great if I had some of the "Gimme Lean" vegan sausage and I could make some kind of breakfast casserole with that and the hashbrowns. That's when I told him I DID have some of the Gimme Lean. You should have seen his eyes then. It was pretty cute. :)

So off to the kitchen we went.

First thing I did was saute some red onions in a little veggie broth...



I'm still amazed at how easy it is to cook without using oil.

Then I added the sliced Gimme Lean sausage...



And chopped it up in the pan as it cooked...



I added a little garlic and some fennel seeds to give it even more of a sausage flavor but I didn't add any other spices.

I steamed a couple of cups of broccoli florets and made sure the frozen hashbrowns were separated instead of in clumps. Added that to the sausage onion mixture...



Then I put it all in a 9x13 glass baking dish I'd lightly sprayed with Pam and topped it with a layer of bread crumbs. The bread crumbs came about because I'd accidentally left some bread we'd had at dinner in the oven overnight. It was so hard the next morning when I discovered it that I almost threw it away but then it dawned on me I could throw it in the blender and get some really good bread crumbs. Worked like a charm!



I cooked it in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes and this is what it looked like when it came out.




Sweet hubby and heathen son both declared this a big winner. Hubby said he'd like it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - he didn't care which. We all had two good size servings and there's still a bit left so it makes a good batch.



Now I'm thinking I could substitute squash for the broccoli next time and that would be yummy... or I could substitute brown rice for the hashbrowns and have a really good broccoli rice casserole. Maybe add a little daiya cheese (which we use only sparingly) even. Oh, the possibilities. :)

Who knew a plant-based diet would be so versatile? :)

- Posted by Jennifer

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