10/19/2025 – Inspired by the recipe at Southern Living by By Katie Rosenhouse, updated on July 29, 2025. Took it to the Fellowship SS class after precooking the day before at 350° about 45 minutes. See extensive notes below for what happened and what we want to try next time as this dish has a potential. Mary also said after the stress of this cook that next time she wants to try a “tater-tot” version.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 (1-lb.) pork breakfast sausage roll. Tom bought mild italian by mistake at Publix but it was still good.
• 1 (8-oz.) green bell pepper, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 12 ex-large eggs at room temperature
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 tsp. onion powder – Next time use fresh yellow onion.
• 2 tsp. garlic salt, divided
• 1 tsp. black pepper, divided
• 8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups) at room temperature
• 8 oz. pepper Jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups) at room temperature
• 24 oz. frozen shredded hash browns (about 10 cups, from 1 [30-oz.] bag)
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions (1 large scallion). Top Dressing at serving.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 13×9-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add sausage, and cook, stirring often to crumble, until browned, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
3. Do not wipe skillet clean.
4. Cook bell pepper: Add bell pepper to skillet, and cook over medium, stirring often, until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to plate with sausage.
5. Make egg mixture: Whisk together eggs, half-and-half, onion powder, 1 teaspoon of the garlic salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper in a bowl until fully combined; stir in sausage, bell pepper, Cheddar cheese, and pepper Jack cheese.
6. Pour egg mixture over hashbrowns: Toss hashbrowns with remaining 1 teaspoon garlic salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in prepared baking dish; spread in an even layer. Pour egg mixture over hashbrowns. Press to fully submerge hash browns in an even layer.
7. Bake breakfast casserole: Bake in preheated oven until eggs are set in center and hash browns are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with scallions.

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The saga of getting it done enough and how well it was recieved.

When pulled Saturday evening before it went the full time there was a small center area (~4″ dia.) was still liquid/soft. The idea was to finish cooking the next morning so we would be taking a freshly baked dish.

Stored in the refrigerator overnight. At 6:30 AM removed to warm up for one hour on the counter and it got to about 55° IT before putting it into the preheated convection oven set to 300°. About 20-min later, inserted the oven’s temp probe set to turn off at an IT of 160° per what Tom found on the internet (165°) for a casserole with these ingredients. When the probe was inserted it read 100°.

The IT did not rise but a few degrees initially so turned the oven up to 375°… then 400°. Still little IT rise and the time to leave was getting very close. Mary cut it into squares and I dug one out with the spatula. It was firm near the pans edge but a bit runny along the inside edge. Arrived at SS barely on time. It was still a little runny in the center.

BUT, of all the dishes and treats, it was the one that was almost completely eatened.

NEXT Time:

• Allow more time for ingredients to come to room temperature.
• Brown the Hash Browns to remove moisture and add color and taste. Add more S&P.
• Do this to avoid starting with a pan of cold ingredients.
  • Remove eggs from refrigerator at least an hour early so they are room temp.
  • Brown the meat/bellpepper/onion and the hash browns (in seperate pans, of course) at the same time, while whisking the room temperature eggs.
  • Combine the room temperature eggs, warm meat misture and warm hash browns with everything else and bake.
  • Consider partially preheating the heavy glass casserole dish.
• Ignore the USAD min IT of 165° as I had found on the internet. I bet that temp is due to the dish have pork and 165° was the recommended temp years ago when pork was not as well cared for as today. Just cook until the center is set and top is brown.
• If planning to reheat then fully cook the night before.