Breakfast Revisited (Again)

Cooking and enjoying breakfast together is something we try to do most days, and we're always on the lookout for new ways to enjoy old favorites.  Not too long ago we revisited our standard breakfast offerings to try new things like bell pepper toad in the holes and french toast breakfast sandwiches.  Today we'll revisit breakfast again to try a few twists on our normal early morning meals.

With all the vegetables and sausage we use for things like skillets and breakfast sandwiches, we frequently have small amounts of leftovers at the weekend. One great way to use all these different ingredients nearing the end of their usefulness is to put together a sort of casserole we call the breakfast bake. Here we've layered crumbled sausage, tomato, onion, and a variety of peppers with a layer of shredded cheese in a small casserole dish.

Next we pour in a few eggs whipped together with a little milk or sour cream and pour it over top the ingredients, creating something between a casserole and a quiche, but still using all the basic breakfast ingredients.

If you have some leftover day old biscuits, these can also go fantastic by placing them over top along with another layer of shredded cheese. Pop the whole thing in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Just like with any other breakfast, a slice of this bake can be served up with buttered wheat toast and some cottage cheese. Some hot sauce or even a little gravy further jazzes up this little-bit-of-everything meal.

We've done a few in-depth looks at different kinds of breakfast skillets based around meals we'd had at diners. What can be an interesting twist is to actually use leftovers from the diner in a new skillet. Here we've got some potatoes, steak, and broccoli leftover from a Denny's breakfast.

Cooking these up with eggs, mushrooms, and a variety of veggies we've got a nearly ready-made skillet that still has a homemade touch.

We did this same thing again a few weeks later with a Denny's meal that had diced chicken and potatoes.

Get the coffee flowing and the hot sauce lined up and you've got a delicious restaurant style breakfast at home.

The almighty breakfast burrito is another favorite that gets any given day started right, and we've covered a variety of ways to make it with guacamole, salsa, and other ingredients. If you want something a little more heavy and hearty though, you can swap out the avocado and extra veggies and instead throw in cooked sausage and white gravy.

Here's the finished sausage and gravy burrito, complete with some shredded cheese, hot sauce, and a steaming mug of coffee. For this one we used large spinach wraps to add in a different flavor outside the standard tortilla.

Gravy goes surprisingly well with any of our egg-based breakfast meals, like topping an egg and veggie breakfast skillet.

Here's another look at a different breakfast burrito creation, this one using sliced turkey sausages, several different bell peppers for color, and some jalapeno for heat.

Mix up a few eggs with a little milk and some pepper before adding it so they end up smooth and uniform in texture.

Pour the eggs in with a little butter into the cooked meat and vegetables and start cooking until the eggs begin to set.

Cheese is of course a necessity for the breakfast burrito, and just about anything works well. Cheddar and mozzarella are old standbys, but provolone, pepper jack, or pretty much anything your heart desires is suitable.

For these burritos, we're using tomato-basil flatbread found on clearance at the grocery store bakery topped with sour cream, sliced avocado, and cherry tomatoes.

If you couldn't tell, a selection of hot sauces is a vital finishing component to anything breakfast related for me :)

For more breakfast ideas, check out our avocado eggs benedict here, and be sure to come back soon for more amazing dinner creations. We'll soon be resuming our culinary world tour with a look at a traditional soup from Greenland, as well as recapping the end of grilling season with more ribs, chicken, and pork.