Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole (Recipe Included)

I honestly hadn't thought of making breakfast in my crock pot until last night. I was going to play Bunko with some friends today at noon, and it was a potluck. So rather than picking up the "standard" stuff on my way there, I thought "This is a great opportunity for a crock pot adventure!" So I got out my cookbooks, and although there were breakfast/brunch sections, the choices were few. So I checked out this other crock pot blog that one of my friends recommended, and I'm SO EXCITED to try out a bunch of her recipes. (I definitely recommend her blog: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/)

So...from that, I set out to make my first crock pot breakfast...

This recipe actually sounded like something I baked once when my in-laws were visiting. Who knew you could "bake" in a crock pot? Here is how it all went down:

Found the following recipe on Stephanie's site: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/08/crockpot-hash-brown-breakfast-casserole.html

Here are the listed ingredients:
--30 oz package of plain frozen hash brown (shredded) potatoes
--4 already-been cooked sausage, or leftover diced ham (I used chicken and apple sausage)
--1/2 onion, diced
--1 green bell pepper, diced
--1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
--12 eggs
--1 cup skim or fat free milk
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1 tsp black pepper

I opted to skip the bell peppers (just because I'm not a huge fan of bell pepper burps) but other than that, followed it pretty much exactly. Oh, learning from other cooking blogs, people like to see pictures. So here are all the ingredients I used:

Here are the directions (with my commentary in blue italics):

I used a 6 quart Smart-Pot for this recipe. (ummm...I had to look up with a Smart-Pot was. FYI, it's a brand of crock pots)

Spray the inside of your crockpot with cooking spray. (I didn't realize until later that I seemed to overlook this step.) Dump in the whole package of hash browns. Spread them out with your fingers, and break up any clumps. (Tip: It is not easy to break up the clumps with your fingers. I put the biggest clumps back in the bag, one at a time, and banged it against the counter multiple times until it broke apart. Good way to work out some aggression.)

In a mixing bowl, mix the dozen eggs with the milk, salt and pepper, cheese, cut up sausage, and diced vegetables. Pour everything on top of the hash browns. (I woke up early to get this in the crock pot, and thought it should only take 5 minutes or so to get everything together. Give yourself 15 minutes to get this all together...especially since you have to cut up some stuff. Either that, or I was just really slow since I had to set the alarm on a Saturday morning.)

So...when I dumped all this in, I didn't think it looked all that great. The eggs went all the way to the bottom and the rest of the ingredients stayed on top. The hashbrowns sort of strained and separate the ingredients.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4. This is done when the eggs are fully cooked and the edges start to brown a bit. If you want the cheese to brown and get a bit crispy on the sides, cook it longer.

Well, it was time for me to leave and it wasn't done after 3.5 hours. So, for me at least, it was closer to the 4 hour mark. This on a day that it was pouring rain here in Houston and I didn't want to be running late and rushing with this weather (yes, I was late).

Oh and yes, I kept checking on the pot to check the progress. I did not take off the lid or stir it though (despite my strong urges), letting the eggs just do their thing.

But thankfully it finished up and I made my way out the door. My group of bunko friends was going to be my guinea pig for this recipe. By the way, the eggs do come back up through the hashbrowns as it starts cooking, so my earlier fears were unnecessary. Here is the finished product (with one scoop already served).

The verdict: My friends were kind and said they liked it. I thought it was okay but I was thinking about what I would do differently. First of all, I think that the Smart Pot style crock pot is wider and shallower, which I think would have suited this recipe much better. My 6 qt pot was deep...so the bottom 2/3 was hashbrowns and eggs, and the cheese/sausage/onions were in the top 1/3. Next time, I think I'd maybe cut the recipe in half and use a smaller bowl so that maybe it would be a little more even.

I also thought that it could use a little more flavor - maybe some salsa, or add green chiles to the recipe? Maybe that's what the bell peppers would have done. And, the onions weren't too strong, but I still feel like I should saute onions before adding them. I don't know why I'm stuck on that. And one of my friends had a great idea - that this would be great as breakfast burrito filling, so next time, tortillas!

So, not a bust but not my favorite yet. I'm warning you now though - some really yummy sounding recipes coming next week that I've found on Stephanie's blog. I'll post tomorrow with some of the recipes I think I'm going to try and the grocery list in case any of you want to cook along with me. :-)

P.S. Now that I have a blog, I feel much more inclined to use the crock pot more frequently. This is a good thing, even though it feels like cheating to have meals made this easily. But, somehow the stress of not messing up has moved into my subconscious. I woke up from a dream last night that I had mixed up the ingredients from two different recipes. Thankfully my husband always knows that he has the back up option of eating a sandwich or going out for a bite to eat if I mess it up that bad in real life.