sausage, bread and cheese breakfast casserole

Ever since I discovered the joys of breakfast casseroles, my Sunday mornings have been brighter and happier. No more waking up at ungodly hours to make breakfasts, no more smelling like a fry-shop!

This week, I decided to try something a little different. Working along the lines of a bread pudding, I figured that if I allow the bread in my casserole to soak up the custard, then I should end up with a pretty tasty brekkie.

And to save time, I used sausages again. Sausages come already marinated, so all I had to do was to take the meat out of the sausage casing and brown the meat in a little olive oil.

Once the meat was cooked, it was placed onto some kitchen towel to drain.

I cut off the crust of the bread - I used simple sliced bread, and cut the slices into cubes. The bread was placed into the bottom of a greased casserole dish.

The cheese and the meat were sprinkled on the bread.

I whisked the eggs, milk and mustard powder.

The custard was poured over the bread/cheese/meat and the casserole dish was covered with cling film and placed in the fridge overnight.

An hour before breakfast, I mixed a can of cream of mushroom soup with milk, and poured this over the casserole.

This was baked for an hour, uncovered.

And served, hot!

The cheese had melted, the bread was soft and delicious as it had soaked up the custard, which was beautifully cooked.

Delish.

RECIPE
Sausage, Bread and Cheese Breakfast Casserole (Serves 8)

Ingredients:
300g sausages, meat removed from casing
8 slices of bread, cubed
4 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups milk - I used low-fat milk
2 cups cheese - I used shredded cheddar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 can (10.5oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup, mixed with 1/2 cup milk - I used low fat milk

Method:
1. Brown sausage meat in a skillet with a little olive oil. Drain and set aside.
2. Butter a 13x9-inch casserole dish. Place bread cubes in dish.
3. Sprinkle cheese and browned meat.
4. Whisk egg, milk and mustard. Pour over bread/cheese/meat mixture.
5. Place cling film on casserole dish. Refrigerate minimum 5 hours.
6. Pour cream of mushroom and milk mixture over bread/cheese/meat.
7. Bake, uncovered, at 180C for 1 hour, or until top turns golden brown.
8. Serve hot.