Sausage and Potato Breakfast Casserole

Whew!  These past couple of weeks have been busy!  School has started back up and it has left very little room for sitting down and spending too much free time on the computer posting!  It's hard to believe I just ended the second week of my second year of grad school. Oh how the time flies!

Because things have definitely picked up around here, I've been trying to think of recipes I can make on the weekend that Chris and I can eat throughout the week. Chris is also attending classes to earn his Welding Certification (so proud of him!) and working full time, so we both have pretty crazy schedules. A couple of weeks ago Chris's parents gave us some sausage (mmmMMMM!) so I took advantage of it and used it in my first ever breakfast casserole!

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm an avid breakfast eater.  If I don't have breakfast, my stomach is growling by 10 and then the hanger sets in. There's no sense in being hangry when it's completely preventable. This breakfast casserole was very filling, with potatoes and eggs, and usually ate with a piece of toast for good measure.

Yields: 12 servings   Points+ Value:  7 per serving
Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes
1/2 medium onion
1/2 green pepper1 lb. sausage
9 eggs
1 cup 2% milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Brown sausage over medium heat in a small frying pan.  In a separate pan, cook the cubed potatoes, onion and green pepper until potatoes are slightly tender (covering with a lid definitely speeds up this process!). In a medium mixing bowl, whisk eggs and milk together until all yolks are broken and mixture is light and frothy.

 Once the potatoes are a little tender remove from heat.  In a casserole dish, cover the bottom with the potato and veggie mixture.  Next, layer the sausage. Pour the egg and milk mixture evenly over the other layers.  Finally, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the dish.

 Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  
  

This dish got us all the way to Thursday without having to make anything for breakfast. I took that as a success!  When I make this again I'm going to try switching ham out for sausage, or possibly even using turkey sausage (mind you this will change the Points+ values).  We've been budgeting hardcore, so with the sausage being free from Chris's parents, it was a pretty inexpensive dish! 

This is my first month keeping track of every receipt.  And also trying to be smart about when/where we buy groceries.  I love Kroger's website and the fact that they have coupons you can load right to your card. I also want to start couponing... but I feel like it's going to take time to get those mad skillz built up.  If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears!