Breakfast Bread Pudding

This is essentially an egg casserole, but with fewer eggs and more bread. When it is cooked it is just like an egg-y breakfast-y spicy bread pudding. I came up with this when I (accidentally) volunteered to host an Easter brunch for five hungry boys. As I discussed in Baked Oatmeal, the problem with eggs is that they sort of come out one at a time and get cold very quickly, which makes it difficult for everyone to eat together (the best part of brunch in my opinion).

This casserole takes care of your egg, toast and breakfast meat all in one go – and everything comes out at once so everyone can heat a hot breakfast together.

Breakfast Bread Pudding

1 loaf white rustic (crusty) bread – from the bakery section in the grocery store

1 lb spicy breakfast sausage

16 eggs (for a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish) - 12 eggs for smaller dishes 

2 cans diced green chilies

½ finely diced onion

1/3 cup whole milk

1 bag sharp cheddar or jack cheese

 Preheat oven to 350. Slice the loaf of bread into thick slices, and then cut the slices into about 1 inch cubes. Line the bottom of your Pyrex casserole dish. Then evenly spread around the chilies, then the onions. 

Cook the sausage on the stove top, breaking the meat into lots of pieces (not patties like we are all used to). Add the sausage to the bread, onions and chilies.

 Sprinkle the whole mixture with cheese.

In another big bowl mix together the eggs and milk. Whisk well. When I am adding eggs, I crack them  individually in a separate small bowl before adding them to the big bowl – this is because if one egg has gone bad, you haven’t ruined the whole mix of eggs and milk by cracking it in directly. Season the egg mixture with lots of salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread layer in the casserole dish. 

Dish should be about 2/3 full, with all of the dry ingredients barely submerged in the egg mixture. Allow to sit for as long as you can – up to overnight in the fridge.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the eggs have cooked. I added more cheese on top of the eggs for the last five minutes.

I couldn't even stop myself from trying a couple of bites before I took a picture of it: