Breakfast Christmas Casserole

Searching breakfast Christmas casserole?  We are excited to share our breakfast Christmas casserole with you today, yummy, easy, and the perfect start to your day.

This recipe for Christmas breakfast casserole is easy to make.  It does not have to be served for breakfast, you can also make this as a Christmas brunch casserole recipe.  

The scent of citrusy freshly squeezed oranges wafting through the air, warm soft buttery biscuits coming out of the oven, the aroma of homemade hot chocolate, and the dining room table adorned with all of the fixings for the perfect breakfast.  We cannot forget the star of this breakfast, a breakfast Christmas casserole gracing our table being shared with loved ones.  

Family gathered around the table sharing a lazy breakfast, still in our P.J.'s, good conversation, surrounded by loved ones, ready to share a wonderful beginning to the perfect Christmas day.  Our pup running to and fro, begging from each person sitting down to breakfast.  Him knowing Grandma is a sure thing for scraps.  

Sound idyllic, doesn't it?  

This is how I always thought my Christmas' would begin, but when you celebrate Christmas with a large meal on Christmas Day, breakfast gets pushed to the way side, or it does in our family anyway.  How about your family?  Do you make breakfast Christmas morning?

Having a smaller family, we have just never taken the time out for breakfast Christmas morning.  What a shame.  I call that a missed opportunity, another reason to gather around the table together, enjoy each other's company, and the perfect way to begin the celebration of Christmas.  

I know many celebrate with some sort of casserole early in the morning and then go about the rest of their day.  Growing up, we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Each side of our family had their designated day.  Christmas morning consisted of us unwrapping our Christmas presents, having warm cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven, and then getting ready for church, and off to grandparents house we went.

There was no dilly dallying on Christmas day, looking back I feel like it was very regimented.  As we know, following a schedule is not something I am particularly fond of during my down time.  Don't we have enough of that with our regular day to day lives?  The tick tock of the clock dictates what we must do through the work week so in my down time, I really enjoy sharing unplanned time with loved ones.  

As a child, we did not get a chance to play with our toys which always seemed like such a tease.  All of those new toys left on the floor under the tree, since there was a schedule to keep.  

As an adult, I think Christmas should be enjoyed to the fullest, toys played with, lots of laughter, cheerful children running amuck, wagging tails running about, and enjoyment throughout the day, all beginning with a breakfast like this one I am sharing with you today.

If you would love to begin your day with Christmas morning breakfast, we have a very easy recipe for you to try!  Might I add yummy too...

Breakfast Christmas Casserole 

What you will need:

Crust:

1. 1 c gluten free bread crumbs
2. 2 T olive oil
3. Salt & pepper to taste

Filling:

• 2 potatoes chopped into bite size pieces
• 6 eggs & 1/4 c water, whipped
• 1/2 of a green pepper
• 6 slices of ham cubed
• 1/4 c sliced cheese cut into small pieces 

What you will need to do:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Grease pie plate, if you have a larger family, you could use a larger baking dish
• Add olive oil, and gluten free bread crumbs, mix well, and begin patting in bottom of dish to create a crust 

TIP: You may think you do not need to coat the baking dish, but you do, I have made this twice now, and you need the extra coating to keep the crust from sticking to the dish

• Chop up potatoes, place into small bowl, add 2 T of water, cover and place into microwave for 5 minutes on high
• Chop ham, you can add more ham, I am not a big fan of it so I only used 6 slices from our small ham for our casserole
• Chop up cheese into small cubes, or you can use shredded cheese
• Chop up green pepper into small pieces
• Whisk eggs and water together
• Add ham, green pepper, cheese to baking dish on top of crust
• Add whipped eggs into the dish
• Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes
• Remove from oven, and serve

More Tips:

• You could make this after Christmas with leftover ham
• This dish can be made with sausage (1 package of Bob Evans original sausage patties, cooked and substituted in place of ham) I actually liked the ham better
• My husband thinks ham and sausage sounds great together, me?  Not so much.
• If you have a large food processor, you can use the cube cut out to save yourself all of the cutting (day late and a dollar short on that idea for me)
• You can save time on Christmas morning by preparing all of the items ahead that need to be cut up so all you will need to do it create your crust and whisk your eggs
• I am thinking this would be excellent with crumpled bacon in place of ham
• Use whatever veggies you have left over, this recipe is very forgiving, but the green pepper is spot on!

I had left over ham and created this casserole hoping to use a good portion of what was left over.  I served this breakfast casserole for dinner one evening, sometimes I enjoy breakfast for dinner.  Do you?  Hubby enjoyed this one since he loves ham.  

We have found a small Kentucky Ham that we both like, I have found it at Walmart and GFS.  It is not too salty like some hams can be, but not sweet either.  In my opinion, it is the perfect balance.  They are also sold in 1.5-2.5 pound sizes which is plenty for our small family.   

We made one of these small hams for Thanksgiving and took it over to my mother's house.  We had leftovers even with five people attending dinner.  I love a good leftover recycle, don't you? I always find using leftovers really makes me feel good about not wasting food, plus sometimes I just get plain sick and tired of the same old, same old. 

Since I am not a huge fan of ham, after two dinners, I am done with it.  We always have more left over than we can eat for two dinners so this is how this recipe came about.  I was so happy to have something more to do with my left over ham.  Plus on this particular evening, I had half of a green pepper left over that I wanted to use.  I love making dinner with left overs when I can, it makes you get creative.        

If your family celebrates on Christmas Eve, this would be the perfect breakfast since you can use ham from your evening dinner.  I enjoy celebrating on Christmas Eve.  We always celebrated with one set of my grandparents on Christmas Eve, 6:00 PM sharp, dinner would be ready and my extended family would gather around the extra large table my grandfather made for their basement.  He made this table for special occasions and holidays so we could all gather and enjoy dinner with one and other.  

He even made a buffet that attached to their basement wall to support all of the goodies my grandmother would make.  Oh my goodness, there was enough food for an army on those evenings.  One of the joys my grandmother has always had was cooking and baking for loved ones.  She always showed her love through feeding our family.  If you turned down her sweets, you would have thought it was the worst thing in the world, or maybe just the worst thing in Rosezella's world. 

I can recall those family dinners in their basement now.  The buffet would be covered, tins of various kinds of cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, candy cane cookies, cookies with cherry icing, seven layer cookies, snowball cookies, pinwheel cookies, crinkle cookies, gingerbread men, cherries in the snow, pies, sometimes cake, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, noodles, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cranberry, ham, rolls, and always iced tea.  Makes me smile thinking back to those simpler times.  

I recall playing with barbie dolls under the table with my cousins once the table had been cleared from dinner, running in the basement, twirling around the support poles in the basement, going back for dessert, more tea, laughing, and listening to my grandfather tell stories.  When you think back to those times, do you get all warm and fuzzy inside?  I know it always does that to me.  

Once the adults finished dinner and dessert, then it was time for Christmas presents, and we would all gather in the living room where a mountain of gifts could be found.  We always exchanged gifts with each member of our family, and did so for many years.  Once our family began to grow, we only purchased for the littles since it should always be about children during the holidays.  Now, even my grandmother's great-grandchildren are grown.  No more littles running around, just pups who love spending time with their grandma.  

How do you spend your Christmas morning and day?  Do you get to enjoy the day, or is it rush, rush, rush?  

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Questions you may have:

Do you have to refrigerate breakfast casserole before cooking?

• No, you do not need to refrigerate breakfast casserole before cooking.  You can make it all the same day, or you can prepare the filling prior to making this dish.

What to serve with breakfast casserole?

• You can serve biscuits with this breakfast casserole
• Orange juice
• Coffee
• Hot tea
• Fresh fruit

Should egg casserole be covered when baking?

• I did not cover this casserole while I baked it.  375 degrees and 45 minutes was the perfect amount of time to bake this dish, and 375 degrees was just the right temperature.

Do casseroles need to be refrigerated?

• Yes, since this casserole has egg in it, if the entire casserole is not consumed, you will want to put any leftovers in the fridge.
• This warms well for the following day if you have left overs.