Leftovers No More!

When you wake up on the morning of a Holiday, you typically think about whether or not you're ready for said holiday. However, the one thing it would be bad to remember is what you're going to eat for breakfast. If you have a long day ahead of you, the smart thing would be to make an overnight casserole, or even let something sit in the Crock Pot all night. This spur of the moment recipe comes from me forgetting all about the breakfast I wanted to make. Those same holidays tend to leave you with a lot of leftovers as well. I've seen a lot of ways to get rid of your leftover Christmas ham. That meat piles up every year and sometimes it just gets to be too much, especially when someone decides they suddenly want to be a vegetarian, the day of Christmas. Not only do we see this on Christmas, but on Thanksgiving and even Easter. Holiday meats seem to always be in an over abundance once the actual holiday is over.

The number one way I've seen it used is for sandwiches, but there are also recipes for quesadillas, omelettes, and even certain meaty casseroles/pizzas that seem to make good use of it. There are hundreds of recipes out there that utilize it in ways I had never dreamed of, but my idea came in the form of a breakfast casserole. I always like to start mornings with a good hearty meal, so here I am put together something new since I very much forgot to leave something in my crock pot overnight. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a reason.

I used:

• 1/2 bag of frozen tater tots
• 5-6 eggs (depending on people)
• 1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded cheese of choice
• A pinch of salt and pepper
• A pinch of oregano
• As much leftover ham as you want, and I really mean it, as MUCH as you want.

I preheated my oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. I recommend at least a two inch deep baking pan to put it in. I lined mine with aluminum foil and sprayed the bottom just in case. It made it very easy to cut and separate—that way I wasn't eating aluminum foil.

Start with putting down the tater tots in even rows, then mix your eggs and flour together. I chose to put my seasonings in my egg mixture and also mix my ham in just to soak it a bit. Alternatively, you can just put those things on top, but I prefer getting it all mixed in. Mine was a tad bit clumpy so don't feel bad if you can't make it perfectly smooth. Then I poured that mixture on top of my tater tots.

At that point, you can go ahead and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. After you pull it out, sprinkle your cheese on top and put it in for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is at its desired ultimate melt. I used cheddar, because it's my life, but I also think this would have done well with pepper jack, or even a Mexican style cheese. Then you could wrap some in tortillas and turn your casserole into breakfast burrito filling.

You could also double this recipe if you are cooking for a big family during the holidays. Just make sure you are careful with how much flour you use since it does tend to clump. Feel free to also add any desired seasoning or sauces, like Cholula.

And boom! You suddenly have less holiday ham AND a bomb breakfast that hardly took any work. You go, Glen Coco.

End Result