Breakfast for dinner!!!

Breakfast...it's not just for breakfast anymore!  I don't know about you, but I love breakfast foods...eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns...even toast somehow tastes good.  Yes, dried up bread, but slather on some creamy butter and top it with some yummy jam and somehow it's a meal-completer!  And don't even get me started on pancakes and French toast!  The downside to breakfast, though?  It's MORNING!  Full on pots and pans cooking before a decent cup of coffee is enough to make me want to stay in bed until lunchtime.  But those buttery eggs, the smokey bacon, the crispy hashbrowns...good God, the hashbrowns...they beckon to you!  They make crazy thoughts pop into your head.  Thoughts like:  "It's ok to cook in your pajamas!" and "Who cares if everyone likes their eggs different ways and you have to use at least 3 frying pans to make this meal and then be the last one to sit down to eat as everyone else is finishing, leaving you with maybe a few bacon strips (cool or soggy from being on WARMHOLD in the microwave) and a pile of dishes in the sink, ketchup congealing with egg yolk because it's easier to leave them stacked on the counter than in the sink with some water.  Who cares?  Isn't breakfast worth all that?"  SIGH!  It is...until one day when you are at a loss for what to make for dinner and those thoughts that you've tried to bury deep within you resurface and say, "Hey!  Why not eggs?  And bacon?  And hashbrowns?"  And you consider yourself a genius because it's a meal everyone likes.  And you've had enough coffee to get you through the day.  And you were most likely going to use several pots and pans for dinner anyway, so this is nothing new!  And when you are asked that inevitable question, you proudly answer, "Eggs!  We are having eggs for dinner!"  And your children look at you in wonder as they open their mouths to say what you can only imagine is going to be the highest of praises and you hear:  "Is Dad not home for dinner?"  And so yes, they see right through your genius to the cop-out that it really is...breakfast for dinner...because you've run out of ideas.

KARI'S DO-IT-THE-NIGHT-BEFORE BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

(and hashbrowns)

1 pound pork breakfast sausage; cooked, drained, and crumbled

8 eggs; slightly beaten

6 slices white bread; cubed into 1-inch cubes

2 C. milk

1 C. grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 tsp. dry ground mustard

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

Place the bread cubes in a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.  Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour over the bread cubes in dish.  Cover and refrigerate at least 12 hours or overnight.  Bake in a 350 oven for 35-40 minutes or until browned and set in the middle.  Serves 8-10

HASHBROWNS WITH ONIONS & CHIVES

2 pounds russet potatoes

2 medium onions; halved lengthwise and cut into thin strips

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 C. unsalted butter

2 T. olive oil

2 T. finely chopped chives

Cover the potatoes with salted cold water by 1 inch in a large pot.  Boil until just tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain and cool completely.  Wrap potatoes in plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

Quarter the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch pieces.  In a skillet over medium-low heat, cook onions with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in 1 T. unsalted butter; stirring occasionally until pale golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.  Place onions in a bowl.  In the same skillet, heat 1 T. unsalted butter and 1 T. olive oil over medium-high heat until foam from butter subsides.  Saute half the potatoes with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.  Stir until golden, about 8 minutes.  Add half the onions and saute 3 more minutes.  Transfer to serving dish.  Repeat with remaining potatoes, onions, 1 T. unsalted butter, and 1 T. olive oil.  Return all potatoes and onions to skillet and toss gently with 1 T. unsalted butter and chives.

***These dishes are great for breakfast since you make them the night before (and just cook the hashbrowns while the casserole is baking), but they're also good as breakfast for dinner.  If you wake up early enough, have your coffee or whatever gets your day rolling, and prepare them, you can put them in the fridge and bake them up that night for dinner!  I still say it's a genius move...genius!!