Spicy.Sausage.Three.Cheese.Casserole

I’ve been such a bad blogger lately.  I get busy and my blog suffers.  Here is a delicious breakfast casserole I made weeks ago…but was completely a hit at work.  And I really hesitated on calling it a casserole, because it gives it such a Grandma connotation.  But then a wise person told me...there’s nothing bad with being compared to Grandma when cooking.  Total Fact.

::Spicy Sausage Three Cheese Casserole::

With Jalapeño ranch topping

The original recipe was found here…but definitely added to it and made some tweaks to make it a bit healthier.

[Ingredients]
3 links turkey sausage, de-cased, rolled into small chunks
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cups sliced, fresh mushrooms
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups egg substitute (one small egg beaters carton)
2 cups shredded Cheddar (reduced fat)
1 ½ cups small curd cottage cheese (non-fat)
1 ¼ cups shredded Swiss cheese (1%)
4 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
1 can spicy rotelle

[Directions]

1. In a large skillet, cook sausage. Set aside.

2. Sauté onions in drizzle of olive oil until soft/clear. Set aside.

3. Sauté bell peppers until partially cooked…add mushrooms and continue cooking until soft. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine eggs, egg beaters, cheese, and hash browns.

5. Add all cooked ingredients + rotelle (drained well) and mix together.
6. Add salt and pepper.
7. Transfer to baking dish (13-in x 9-in x 2-in) and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 min to an hour (or until cooked all the way through). Can also let sit over night in fridge and cook in the morning.

Top with salsa and/or jalapeño ranch dip (recipe below).

This breakfast turned out really really well. I made a double batch and had a variety of baking dishes. The smaller, shallower dish cooked better. Prefer the edges that are crispier. Some of the center pieces were a little less firm than desired. But think part of this was due to not draining the rotelle well enough/too much liquid. Overall, was really delicious. And the jalapeño ranch dip was an insane hit (as you can see by the almost-empty container pictured above).

::Jalapeño Ranch Dip::

The desire behind making this was two-fold. 1) thought it would be a good topping for breakfast 2) was going to a UT football game watching party later that weekend and thought this would be good to bring. The recipe was a combination of a few I found online, majority of it was based after the dip from Chuy’s in Austin.

[Ingredients]
16 oz. Sour cream (of course I picked the fat free)
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip powder
1 handful of cilantro leaves
1 cup of pickled jalapeño slices (keep adding more if not spicy enough)
1 tomatillo (this was found on a different recipe…really don’t think it’s a must-have but if you don’t have or want to buy a tomatillo then I’d prob throw in some lime juice…roughly half a lime)


[Directions]
Throw in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender (first time to use…love) or throw in a blender.

Completely delicious as topping or as dip with carrots/bell pepper/etc. Literally might have been more enjoyed by my pod at work than the actual casserole.

Hook 'em Horns!