Hearty hash brown breakfast casserole

20-24 ounces prepared hash browns, frozen

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

6 eggs

1⁄2 cup milk

11⁄2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese*

1⁄2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1⁄2 cup green bell pepper, chopped

1⁄2 cup onion, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Meat optional:

6 slices bacon, crumbled

or 4 ounces spicy breakfast sausage

or 4 ounces ham, diced

*Cheese choices are limitless here. We’ve used cheddar as well, but like the spicy flavor the pepperjack adds. Since the eggs set into a quiche-like consistency, the vegetable options are also limitless. We’ve tried all three meat options listed above and like the spicy breakfast sausage the best. My wife is also a big basil fan, and uses it in many of her egg dishes. A few leaves of chopped fresh basil work well in this dish as well.

Place butter or margarine and hash browns in an 8-inch by 8-inch, or 9x9 microwave safe glass baking dish. Cook on high for 10 minutes.

Prepare meat of choice and set aside.

Chop vegetables and set aside.

In a large bowl, crack six eggs, add milk, salt, pepper and whisk these together.

When the potatoes are done in the microwave, add bells and onions on top of hash browns. Crumble meat into dish. Layer with pepperjack cheese, and mix lightly, leaving the hash browns mostly intact on the bottom. Pour egg mixture over the top. Take a fork, and make sure to work egg mixture into the corners.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until the egg mixture has set and lifts away from the sides.

If you want to give the cassarole a cheesy top, remove dish from oven with three minutes to go, sprinkle cheese over the top and place back in the oven to finish cooking.

Makes four large servings.

Here are two of the easiest vegetable recipes you can find:

Baked green beans

11⁄2 to 2 pounds fresh green beans

1⁄3 cup olive oil

Garlic salt

Salt and pepper

1⁄2 teaspoon sesame seeds

Snip off stem ends only of green beans. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl. Place in a single layer on a large, foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. (Beans will brown some on the bottom and shrivel up a little bit, but this is expected.)

Baked beets

Six medium-sized beets, skin on

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash beets, wrap in foil and place in a baking dish.  Bake in oven for 35 minutes. Remove foil and peel beets (the skins should practically fall off at this point). Salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Larger beets will take longer in the oven. My mom got her hands on some enormous beets back in Michigan that were the size of grapefruits and said they took nearly two hours in the oven.