Egg and Hash Brown Casserole

Happy Monday! This weekend went by fast as always. We spent the weekend with friends and family. Friday night we caught up with our college friends at Cody and Amber's house. Saturday we spent the dreary day at home and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Buckwalter's house for a chicken pot pie dinner =) Look at the adorable picture below of Leah sleeping on her Great-Grandma. She slept over an hour snuggled up on her shoulder. Then on Sunday, we had the Ranck Easter dinner after church and Leah got to meet all of her extended family for the first time.

I tried this new Cooking Light recipe last week as breakfast for dinner. It was delicious and would be really good for a brunch or weekend breakfast as well. It's basically like an omelet in casserole form. I adapted it slightly to fit our tastes.

Egg and Hash Brown Casserole

4 bacon slices
3/4 cup chopped onion
8 oz. sliced shitake mushroom caps
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups shredded hash brown potatoes
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 cups fresh baby spinach
2 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
1/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. pepper, divided
3 oz. swiss cheese, finely chopped
1/2 cup milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Clean pan. Add 1 Tbsp. of butter to pan. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to pan; saute for 6 minutes. Add potatoes and stock, cook 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add spinach, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts.

2. Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon and cheese. Place mushroom mixture in a 9x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and refrigerate overnight (I didn't do this).

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper, milk and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour egg mixture over mushroom mixture. Bake for 28 minutes. (mine took more like 35).

4. Preheat broiler to high; remove dish while broiler preheats. Broil 3 minutes or until top is browned and just set. Serve.