Easter morning, 2010.  It was 4:00 in the morning...

    Yes, 4:00 am.  Perhaps I should explain.  Both Mike and serve at church on Sundays.  I set up and run lights (my college degree being put to good use) and Mike plays guitar on the worship team.  Easter,  not surprisingly, is a bigger event than your usual Sunday service.  Mike and I have to be at church by 6:30 a.m. most Sundays.  Easter Sunday it’s 5:45.

    Sidenote: I find it somewhat interesting that the Sabbath, the day of rest, seems busier for people involved in the church than any other day.  I don’t even get up at 6:30 for work!  Easter Sunday, a day that is, not more holy, but definitely more auspicious, is even busier for those folks.

    Anyway, I decided that, since everyone at church works so hard and has to come in so early, I would make everyone breakfast.  The easiest thing would be some kind of egg-casserole-thing.  A quick look at Taste of Home’s website (my go-to website for new recipes) found today’s recipe.  Now, I will be the first to admit that, when I cook, I am not always good at planning ahead.  Okay, I’m never really very good about it.  This time was not much different.  Thankfully, my creativity saved me.

    First I cooked the bacon in the oven.  Yes, I cook my bacon in the oven.  Mike says that this is wrong.  I do not care what Mike says.  That is the way my mum did it and it’s fine.  Anyway, I also do not always have the right equipment, so to speak.  For instance, I only have one baking sheet.  I’m working on fixing the equipment issue slowly.  Well, I had to cook an entire pound of bacon, so I put some on my one baking sheet and the rest in a 9x13 baking dish.  Once that was done, I read on my recipe that I needed a greased 9x13 baking dish to cook the whole thing.  This was somewhere around 9:00 or 10:00 at night, so here was my first reaction.

    “Crap.  I need the baking dish cleaned and I don’t have time for the dishwasher to run.  Maybe I can get Mike to clean it for me.”

    Then my creative juices began to flow and I realized that the bacon fat in the dish wouldn’t hurt my food.  In fact, I could use it to my advantage.  I then poured out almost all the grease and used a paper towel to spread the remaining bacon fat all over the pan.  Brilliant!  Fat and flavor in one go!

    After that it was easy to combine the ingredients and set it up to just wait in the fridge till the next morning, which is why I was up so very early.  I needed about an hour and a half total to cook it.

    All in all, it was very good and very well appreciated, though apparently our pastor and I were doing double duty because Pastor Kevin bought everyone McDonald’s too.  Oh well.  At least no one went hungry.

    This is a really good, down home kind of recipe, though I will say it was a little on the greasy side.  There are six cups of cheese in it!  Definitely not for anyone on a low-fat diet.  I do not think I will make it again because of the grease factor and because this is not actually my favorite breakfast application.  I don’t generally like eating heavy foods for breakfast.  Like I said, though, it was very tasty.

Cheesy Egg Casserole

From: Taste of Home

12-16 Servings

Prep: 10 min. + chilling Bake: 40 min.

Ingredients

4 cups (16 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled

12 eggs

1 cup milk

Directions

    Toss Monterey Jack cheese with flour; place in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with cheddar cheese; sprinkle with bacon. Beat eggs and milk; pour over all. Cover and chill for 8 hours or overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

    Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 piece) equals 382 calories, 30 g fat (17 g saturated fat), 235 mg cholesterol, 592 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 25 g protein.