Community Corner

Three Easy Recipes for Christmas Morning Breakfast

Monkey bread, breakfast casserole and hash brown casserole are crowd favorites.

By Kristi Palmer

Christmas will be here before you know it. Christmas trees are up, stockings are hung, Christmas cards are in the mail and before long we will all be making our lists of what to cook for our big Christmas dinners.  If your family is anything like mine, you probably have all the tried and true recipes that help make your Christmas dinner a familiar and warm time for loved ones to gather and enjoy the holiday together.

But what about Christmas morning? You know the time I am talking about - before the big dinner at Grandma's house. Everyone wakes up excited to see what Santa has left under the tree, your family is busy unwrapping presents and completely immersed in the Christmas excitement and then you hear it: "What's for breakfast?"

Now I don't know about you, but, as the mom, I don't really like to miss the festivities to play chef in the kitchen.  Even if you don't have kids at home, maybe you have out of town guests. You could head to Waffle House on Christmas Day, but, if you want a simple, home cooked breakfast, check out my favorite Christmas morning breakfast recipes below. You can have them all or just your favorite one. Prepare these dishes evening before and pop them in the oven in the morning. Then you'll have the prefect answer when they ask, "What's for breakfast?"

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE
1 lb. sausage fried and drained
6 slices of bread cut into small cubes
1 tsp. of salt
6 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

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Directions: Mix all ingredients, refrigerate overnight and bake at 350° uncovered for approximately  1 hour.

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE1 (30 oz.) package frozen hash browns (shredded style) thawed
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
1 (10.5 oz.) can condensed cream of chicken(or celery) soup
2 cups shredded cheese
½ cup chopped onion
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 cups cornflakes

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Directions: Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine hash browns, sour cream, soup, cheese, onion and about 2/3 of the melted butter.  Spread in the pan.  Cook for 30 min. Re-melt reserved butter and combine with cornflakes; spread over casserole.  Return to oven and cook an additional 15 minutes, until topping is lightly browned.

MONKEY BREAD3 cans buttermilk biscuits (1o per can)
3 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup raisins (or more if desired)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick margarine or butter
½ cup or more of chopped pecans

Directions: Place white sugar and cinnamon in large Ziploc bag.  Cut biscuits into fourths and place a few at a time in a bag and shake to coat.  Mix chopped nuts and raisins in separate bowl.  Layer sugar biscuit pieces into well greased tube pan (without removable bottom).  Sprinkle half of chopped nuts and raisins between layers.  Melt brown sugar and margarine and boil for 1 minute. Pour over biscuits.  Sprinkle with remaining nuts and raisins.  Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before removing from pan.  Pinch off pieces with fingers.


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