Drawing yet again from my fantastic, yet fattening, family cookbook, will be this weekend’s superstar brunch menu item: Aunt Loretta’s Breakfast Casserole. If you picked up my family’s cookbook, you would see Aunt Loretta has more than one winning recipe. The lady is inspiring (and quite frankly a big influence) as she appreciates fantastic food, but finds it a drag to slave over the stove while other people are enjoying the party. In fact, her description of this recipe in the book is “easy breakfast if you have overnight guests and hate cooking bacon and eggs for everyone.” Who doesn’t hate cooking bacon and eggs for everyone? Right on, Loretta.

So this breakfast casserole of sausage, eggs, bread, and cheese has been a brunch staple at my house for quite some time. But now, alas I must make it gf with that whole celiac thing. Lucky for me, it wasn’t hard.

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage (pork, chicken, turkey, faux — whatever floats your boat)

6 eggs

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

6 slices gf bread, broken

1 1/2 cups cheese (I use either sharp cheddar, or Cougar cheese — which rules!)

Directions:

Brown sausage, drain and cool. Beat eggs and milk together. Add salt and mustard and beat again. Add bread and stir until it softens. Stir in shredded cheese and sausage. Pour into greased 9  X 13 glass baking dish and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

I haven’t tried all the gf breads out there yet, and I hear fab things about the mixes. Once I get my own bread machine, I’ll check them out. But for now, I’ve been using Rudi’s gf white bread for this recipe. You’re going to love Aunt Loretta’s Breakfast Casserole. Almost as much as you’d love my Aunt Loretta, if you ever had the pleasure of meeting the lady.

Image via theogeo/Flickr