Potato and Egg Breakfast Bake

DSC_0025-1smTo be honest, David and I have become the team to beat at our local bar’s trivia night. A few weeks ago a question came up about the movie “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” a pretty campy movie starring some kinda (but maybe not really) big-name actresses (Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Amy Adams…) about a beauty pageant in small-town Minnesota. Having gone to high school in a fairly small town in Minnesota I got a kick out of that movie’s take on the Minnesotan accent, hunting, and small-town life. Looking back on my actual experience growing up in a small (Lutheran) community in Minnesota, though, I remember the egg bake casseroles brought to church potlucks. Fondly. I wonder how I’d react to them now, but as an 8th grader, I loved the cheesy, eggy squares stuffed full of sausage and glistening with grease. Seriously, I think back in the late ’90s, egg bakes were one of my favorite foods.

DSC_0018-1smBut times and taste buds have changed. As with grilled cheese sandwiches, I think one of the secrets to a really good egg dish is a more minimalist approach to cheese: restraint helps refine the dish. And my more adult take on the egg bake dials down the grease and replaces it with healthy simply roasted bell peppers, broccoli, and potatoes. As we enter the season of holidays where breakfast comes more into focus – Mother’s Day, Easter, or the kegs & eggs of St. Patrick’s day – this transformed version of a former childhood favorite brings the ease of a make-ahead meal with some of classic notes of the egg bake: a hearty just-cheesy-enough breakfast entree that isn’t a complete nutritional wash, either.

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