Christmas Egg Casserole

It has been far, far too long since I posted anything useful on this blog. To get my creative juices flowing again (if they exist), I'm going to post a recipe of my mom's.

We have a long-standing tradition of having this casserole for breakfast the morning of Christmas day. It's very flexible and easy to customize, and hard to screw up. When it was decided that Dan's family would come over for brunch this year around Christmastime, I figured it was time to get this recipe from my mom.


Christmas Egg Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c butter
• 1/4 c flour
• 2-3 c milk
• 18-24 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  
• 1-2 lbs cheese, sharp cheddar or your preference, shredded
  
• 1-2 lbs bacon, sausage, and/or ham, cooked and crumbled
  

Directions:

1. Put butter in a medium saucepan to melt over medium heat. Whisk flour into butter, and cook 1-2 minutes to form a roux. Add milk, whisking to blend flour lumps, and heat until thick to form a white sauce. If you have cheese ends leftover in the fridge they can be melted into the white sauce.
2. Spread some of the white sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Layer eggs, cheese, and meat until you run out, and then top with the remaining white sauce and one last layer of cheese. I like adding bacon on top of the cheese, but best to do this after it's been in the oven for a while so the bacon doesn't get burnt.
3. Casserole can be stored in the fridge for at least a couple of days without coming to harm.
   
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until hot and bubbly.

When I made this for Dan's parents I used 24 eggs, 30 oz of sharp cheddar, 1 roll of bulk sausage, and one package of bacon for the topping. My mom usually uses a mixture of ham and pre-cooked bacon bits, which is also good. Really, it doesn't matter what you use, it all turns out okay somehow.