Heavenly Homemakers

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Christmas Casserole Recipe

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It’s our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Christmas Casserole Recipe!

You are going to love this Christmas Casserole recipe! It is simple, hearty, flavorful, and you can make it ahead of time for ease.

How easy is it? Well, it’s easier if we cheat just a little bit.

Yes indeed. I buy a package of frozen peppers and onions and dump it right into my skillet instead of cutting fresh veggies. It doesn’t cost much more and let’s see…what else is there to do this time of year?? THERE’S SO MUCH TO DO, I don’t have time to make a list.

Therefore…

TIP: Buy the frozen veggies.

Or cut them fresh. I’m fine with whatever you decide.

Mmmm, brown those veggies with sausage.

Add eggs, shredded cheese, and frozen hashbrowns. (Yes, frozen hashbrowns. Do I need to whine about the 38 presents I still need to wrap? I buy shredded cheese and frozen hashbrowns even when it ISN’T Christmas. So, of course I buy them in December for survival.

TIP: Mr. Dell’s frozen hashbrowns contain only one ingredient: potatoes. Amen and thank you.

Put that casserole all together, then cover it and refrigerate it or freeze it until you’re ready to bake it. Oh how wonderful it is. Do you see why it’s called Christmas Casserole? The lovely red and green peppers (that we bought in the freezer aisle to keep our season merry and bright) have made our casserole so pretty!

Christmas Casserole RecipeYum

Christmas Casserole Recipe
 
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Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 1-pound ground sausage
  • 20-ounce bag frozen pepper and onion blend
  • 12 eggs
  • ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups frozen shredded or cubed hashbrowns
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 cups shredded cheese
Instructions
  1. Brown sausage and vegetables together in a skillet until sausage is no longer pink.
  2. Allow mixture to cool while preparing the rest of the casserole.
  3. Crack eggs directly into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  4. Add cream, hashbrowns, salt, and cheese.
  5. Stir in sausage/veggie mixture and mix well.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven 45 minutes or until the middle of the casserole no longer jiggles and is golden brown.

Did you try the Holiday Spice Muffins and Quick Bread recipe I shared to kick off our brunch? These are perfect with our Christmas Casserole.

Up next in our 2024 Christmas Brunch: Hot Cocoa Punch

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How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

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I’m planning Christmas for our tribe and I thought it would be fun to process “out loud” while I work out details!

You know I love to go all out at Christmastime. But how I used to do Christmas when there were only six of us does not work now that there are 14 of us.

I’m looking for ways to have a lot of fun without spending as much money this year also. Here’s how I’m hoping to get away with spending very little out of pocket this year.

How I’ve been saving/earning “free” money for Christmas this year

  • I’ve spent time earning Swagbucks during the past few months and made my way up to $100 free dollars in gift cards! I decided to redeem them all to use at Sam’s, so now I have $100+ to use for gifts there!
  • I got a “check” from Costco as part of their cash-back program. I plan to redeem that for free gifts.
  • I’ve been saving the cashback that we earn from our Discover card and I can use that at Amazon for gifts.

Meanwhile, I’ve found some great deals here and there and have been buying and tucking away stocking stuffers for a few weeks.

How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

  1. I’m looking into games that our entire family can play (which is a challenge since our kids are ages 1-25!) This Saran Wrap Ball Game is perfect though.
  2. I’m putting together these Christ-Centered Christmas gifts for our entire family, which will be the main part of our Christmas day.
  3. I’m focusing on consumable gifts again so that we don’t pile more STUFF into our house. :) Here are ideas for consumable gifts (not just food!).
  4. We’ll plan a day after Christmas to enjoy with “just the grown-ups.” So much of our life is focused on the little ones, which is exactly as it needs to be. But two years ago we started a tradition of hiring sitters for all the littles for an entire afternoon and evening. We bigs all head to our church fellowship hall where we eat and play games for hours together. It is much needed and so much fun!

What about the FOOD?!

You might remember that our traditional Christmas dinner for the past several years has been Lasagna. I’m changing that this year because 1 out of 14 of us refuses to eat lasagna. NEVER do I ever cater to one person’s pickiness on a regular day. But this Christmas I’ve decided to. Why? Because our Christmas meal is supposed to be special, and if my daughter can’t possibly put lasagna into her mouth and it causes a fight at mealtime? No thanks. Not on Christmas. (This is my gift to me.)

So we’re having a Nacho Bar. Everyone can fix their bowl or plate the way they like and everyone wins. Plus, by the time we’re hungry enough to eat Christmas dinner after a big breakfast, it’ll probably be time to pull out games anyway. So we can munch on nachos and play games in the afternoon. It’s perfect!

What about that big breakfast? I’ll make an Easy Breakfast Casserole ahead of time and bake it while we dig into gifts that morning. I’ll serve it with fresh fruit and one or two of the following (I haven’t decided yet!):

Here are a lot of great Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast Ideas to look through!

Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Do you have fun Christmas traditions or some that you’re starting this year? I’d love to hear!

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Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

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I love baking, but who wants to spend all day in the kitchen when there’s hot chocolate to sip, family memories to make, and stockings to open? I am all about doing the work days earlier so you have a stress-free, peaceful holiday with your family. That’s why I put together this list of Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas, to encourage you to get that baking done ahead of time so you have more time with your family.

Just in case you, too, are looking for ways to spend less time in the kitchen this holiday season, here are a few of our favorite tried and true Christmas make-ahead breakfast ideas!

Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Mix and Match Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

1.Make-Ahead Pumpkin Donuts

We can mix up the pumpkin donuts, roll out the dough, cut the shapes, then freeze the uncooked dough on parchment paper or silicone mat-lined cookie sheets. We transfer the frozen dough into freezer bags, then any time we want fresh donuts (and when would we notwant fresh donuts?), we can grab some out of the freezer and fry them up fresh to eat while sipping a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate!

2. Yogurt Parfait Bar

Simply purchase the ingredients beforehand, make the granola or other add-ins a few days beforehand, chop up the fruit the day before, and you are set!

Here are some of my favorite toppings:

3. Make-Ahead Muffins

I have to know:  Is this “freezing muffin batter” a brand new idea to you, or have you tried it before?  Once I tried this and learned how well it worked, I went on a muffin freezing frenzy (as confessed above). I now have Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin batter, Blueberry Muffin batter, Chocolate Chip Muffin batter (recipe in Kids in the Kitchen eBook), and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffin batter in my freezers. What a time saver!

Looking for a few new recipes to try for Christmas morning? Check out this list of 23 Muffin recipes!

4. Frozen Yogurt Cups

This recipe is easy enough for your kiddos to make! Invite them into the kitchen, and whip these up together!

5. Homemade Poptarts


I love to make these poptarts and freeze them before I bake them. On a day I declare to be a Poptart Morning, I pull a few out and bake enough for each person to have a couple with our eggs and fruit. So good!

6. Giant Breakfast Cookies

Make the dough ahead of time, scoop the cookies out unto cookie sheets, freeze the cookie dough balls, and you’re set! Hot breakfast cookies on Christmas morning! Serve with fruit, and bacon (of course).

7. Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite special breakfasts. Make your biscuits ahead of time, and pop them in the freezer then make your gravy the day before, and heat it up in the morning. Easy peasy!

8. Cinnamon Rolls

I couldn’t make a list of Christmas breakfasts without including Cinnamon Rolls! These are deliciously easy, and mostly low in sugar! They kind of resemble those frozen orange rolls you can buy in the freezer section – except that these have a little bit of nutritional value and not nearly as much sugar, so we can all rejoice.

What is your favorite breakfast to make for Christmas morning?

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