DI'S SAVORY BREAKFAST BAKE

*Basic Recipe, see Notes following recipe*

12 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 lb or more shredded cheese
1 lb. roll cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage
1 large can Flaky Layers Grands biscuits
26 oz. pkg. frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375*

Generously grease or spray with cooking spray a 13x9 casserole or baking pan and set aside. This makes 1 LARGE casserole or 2 or more smaller ones, so you may need to prepare more than 1 pan according to the size and depth of your pans. See *Note following recipe.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs and milk till well blended.Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cooked sausage, thawed potatoes and all but 2 cups of the shredded cheese. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces and add to potato mixture. Sprinkle mixture with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Place mixture in prepared casserole or pan and distribute evenly, taking care to separate biscuit pieces so they will cook evenly.

Pour beaten eggs and milk over potato mixture and sprinkle evenly with the remaining shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375* for 40 minutes for one large pan, removing foil for last 20 minutes of baking time to allow cheese to brown slightly. If baking in 2 or more pans, bake for 30 minutes and remove foil, then bake for 15 minutes longer or until cheese is lightly browned. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Let set for 5 minutes, then serve piping hot. Promptly refrigerate or freeze leftovers.

Makes approximately 20 servings.To reheat from frozen, thaw in the refrigerator first and then bake at 350* for about 30 minutes, covered with foil.

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*Notes:

I use a disposable aluminum deep lasagna pan for this if I'm preparing it for a large crowd, but it's also ideal to make it in 2 pans so you can freeze one for later.

Substitutions:

With all these choices you can make this different each time, and tailor it to your own preferences.

I use the precooked sausage crumbles for this to shorten preparation time. You may also use cubed or diced ham, polish sausage or cooked, crumbled bacon for the meat portion.

You may peel and dice about 4 medium potatoes, use frozen O'Brien potatoes, crumbled hash brown squares or tater tots in place of the shredded hash browns. Thaw frozen potatoes before proceeding.

You may use any egg substitute instead of whole eggs. Just use the equivalent of 12 whole large eggs.

I use shredded Italian blend cheese for this, but any shredded cheese or combination of cheeses is good, including plain cheddar, Swiss and Colby Jack.

You may use refrigerated crescent rolls for this, cutting the raw dough into 2 inch strips. Any kind of refrigerated biscuits may be used instead of the flaky Grands, using 1 large roll or 2 regular sized rolls  of biscuits.