easter brunch :: sausage and cheese casserole

it was awfully convenient that general conference fell on easter sunday this year.  my in-laws were able to join us for brunch without having to miss their sunday services.

we had a nice morning and since this is a food blog, i'll focus on my version of brunch.

i'm not a big fan of traditional breakfast foods.  for the most part, it's all just a bit too heavy for me.  but, i wanted everyone to enjoy their brunch so we had a few different options to choose from.  my focus was the lighter fare which consisted of fruit, yogurt, banana muffins and a yummy sausage and cheese casserole from here.

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their picture was a lot prettier than mine but, mine tasted just as good (i'm sure).

Prep this the night before for an easy breakfast or brunch. Find turkey sausage in the freezer section of the supermarket with other breakfast meats.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 12  ounces  turkey breakfast sausage (available at whole foods)
• 2  cups  1% low-fat milk
• 2  cups  egg substitute
• 1  teaspoon  dry mustard
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 3  large eggs
• 16  (1-ounce) slices white bread
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) finely shredded reduced-fat extrasharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4  teaspoon  paprika

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring and breaking sausage to crumble. Remove from heat; cool.

2. Combine milk and next 6 ingredients (through eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

3. Trim crusts from bread. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes. Add bread cubes, sausage, and cheddar cheese to milk mixture, stirring to combine. Pour bread mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking or 3-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray, spreading egg mixture evenly in baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350°.

5. Remove casserole from refrigerator; let stand 30 minutes. Sprinkle casserole evenly with paprika. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until set and lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes.


Nutritional Information
Calories:  184
Fat: 6.8g (3.2g saturated fat)
Protein: 15.9g
Carb: 14g
Fiber: 0.6g
Cholesterol: 76mg
Iron: 2.2mg
Sodium: 636mg