Italian Sausage, Peppers & Onion Breakfast Casserole: Perfect Dish To Share With Friends

TGIF!!!! Are you excited about the weekend? I am! Yesterday I had a moment of panic when I could not remember if I made any fun plans, and then it occurred to me that I'm going to Seattle to visit my family: fun indeed! :)

Whether you are visiting friends and family this weekend, hosting a brunch, or just need to use up leftover bread, you've got to make my Italian Sausage, Peppers & Onion Breakfast Casserole. It's a perfect dish to share with friends, or make and eat for breakfast throughout the week.

Last weekend I went to visit my friends Evi and Sam to bring them food because they became parents to a beautiful little girl. But it's weird to come over and bring food and then have to be fed, right? So I decided to whip up a quick little brunch dish. This is a very easily changeable recipe: use the sausage or don't, use whichever vegetables you like, play with the amount of bread depending on how much egg to bread ratio you want to end up with.

Also, why just make one breakfast casserole? Make one to share and one to keep! Also, I finally got to use the pretty baking dish I found in Marshalls months ago. It's a gorgeous way to serve this breakfast casserole.

Sausage, Peppers & Onion Breakfast Casserole
Makes 2 loaf sized casseroles

Ingredients
1 pound sweet Italian sausage (the one that comes without casing...like ground beef)
olive oil
3 peppers, chopped (I used orange, yellow and green)
1 onion, chopped
10" round Italian bread, cubed (you want 8-10 cups)
10 eggs
1 cup milk
salt & pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. In a large skillet, brown the sweet Italian sausage, breaking it into pieces. Remove from the skillet.
3. Add a bit of olive oil to the skillet if necessary and sauté peppers and onions for 15-20 minutes.
4. Add back the sausage and bread cubes and mix to combine. If your skillet is not large enough, you may want to mix the ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Whisk together eggs and milk with salt and pepper. Add 1 cup of shredded cheese. Don't worry, you'll use the remaining half a cup in a bit.
6. Once the pepper/onion/bread/sausage mixture cools, divide it between two loaf sized baking dishes. Or you can use one large casserole dish.
7. Cover with the egg mixture and sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese.
8. Bake the casseroles for 30-40 minutes depending on how gooey you want them to be. Make sure the cheese on top is golden brown and bubbling.
9. Serve!

This dish is great served with mimosas and freshly brewed coffee. It feeds a crowd but is also great as leftovers heated in microwave. I bet you could even freeze it.

Have you ever made a breakfast casserole? What do you put in yours?

Have a great weekend! Come back next week to see a recipe for Kimchi Fried Rice with Pineapple and Chorizo!! You don't want to miss it.