Last Thanksgiving, a friend invited our family, along with a couple other families, to their home in Pennsylvania for the weekend. Their home and surrounding land was so beautiful, especially with a fresh few inches of snow. It was a fantastic weekend of great company, good food and wine and a nice change of pace from the city.

We were treated to this breakfast casserole Sunday morning. Everyone raved about it all throughout breakfast. It is a wonderful dish to make for groups, my friend is a clever host. We loved it so much we made it twice over the winter break for family visiting at various times.

Nice and hearty in the winter, yet, really great any time of the year.

This recipe is adapted from one published in Southern Living in 2003.

Ingredients

1 pound mild ground pork sausage

1 pound hot ground pork sausage

1 (30oz) package of shredded frozen hash browns

1 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

6 large eggs

2 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

If you could only get sausage in casings, that is fine. Simply make a slit down the side to remove the casing and crumble the sausage into your pan. Cook sausages in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink. Use a slotted spoon to move sausage to a plate covered with paper towels to remove excess fat.

Prepare hash browns according to package directions using 1/2 teaspoon of salt. We cooked ours in a pan until some of it was crispy.

Combine hash browns, sausage and cheese and add to a lightly buttered 13x9" baking dish.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and 1 teaspoon of salt. Pour evenly over the potato mixture in the baking dish.

Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes.

Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.