Accepting the Past

Recipe: Jamie's Breakfast Casserole with Ham and Cheese

Truth be told... I saw this going differently.

It's just that you might say I grew up on eggs. And not in the sense of living in the country, gathering your own farm-fresh eggs every morning... but moreso that they were so cheap, we turned them into breakfast, lunch, and dinner (which, I must admit, mom, I completely get it now, being one of those crazy adults who has a grocery budget of her own, etc.). It seemed like not a week went by where eggs didn't star in something on our menu - ranging from fried egg and ham sandwiches, to scrambled eggs and hash (out of a can!), and at its height, scrambled eggs with chili on top (which got a family's worth of raised eyebrows... only to be forgotten with the first bite).

Yes, I did just say "hash (out of a can!)" but make no mistake, my mom spent considerable amounts of time in the kitchen preparing healthy, well-rounded meals, for us, every night of the week, and she also made sure that in the midst of everything else, we prioritized eating together as a family. Or should I say... eating eggs together as a family.

So as fate would have it, nowadays, not only do eggs play a prominent role in my own weekly menu (with special thanks to a just-as-cheap-as-me husband who loves breakfast anytime of the day), but I actually like and even crave them (it's true).

To say this Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole* was a no-brainer is stating the obvious. Cheese? Breakfast meat? And, eggs?! Yes, please. And if I hadn't had a great reason to serve it at brunch, you can bet it'd have been right at home on our any-night-of-the-week dinner menu.

So I guess I owe a(nother) thank you to my mother-so-dearest...without whom I would never have known the joy of eggs, or how many different ways you can serve them.

*I substituted smoked Kielbasa for the ham and used our favorite cheesy bread to up the cheesiness.