Guest Post: The Hungry Mom: Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

**UPDATE: 12/20/16** The Hungry Mom blog is no longer an active site. All links to the site have been removed as per the owner's request.

Hello! My name is Lindsay and I'm the author of The Hungry Mom blog. I have known Shani since I had the good fortune of being in the same 5th Grade class as her almost 2 decades ago. We quickly became best friends. She moved away before the school year was over, but we kept in touch by being great pen pals (I still have all her letters. She was a great writer even then). Luckily she was still in the same state, so we still were able to get together from time to time. She would spend a few days at my house every now and then and I would have a sleepover at her house. We would also go on vacations with each other's families. Shani moved back home when we were in high school and we were able to share an English class together and bond over our shared dislike of our teacher ;). Here we are almost 20 years after we first met and still friends. Both of us with two adorable kids close in age. Its been a friendship that has endured through the ages!

I started my blog, The Hungry Mom, because I have recently become a self-published author and it was recommended you have one. I decided to utilize this blog to share almost everything in my life! I have lots of yummy recipes, my personal mommyhood advice and lots of other topics on my blog including fitness, depression, and more. It has become a wonderful outlet for me and a great way to share my story with "the world".
Now to the Hungry Mom Breakfast Casserole Recipe:

I received a fabulous new Crock Pot Casserole Slow Cooker for Christmas! It's neat because it is in the shape of a casserole dish and it is oven safe! I can't wait to try lasagna in here. I looked through what seemed like THOUSANDS of recipes and decided which ones sounded the tastiest to this hungry mom :). This recipe I came up with is a hybrid of a recipe I found in my 12 Days of Christmas Six Sister Stuff cookbook and another one I found for Casserole Crock Pot Recipes along with a few twists of my own. It turned out really tasty!

Ingredients:

3 cups of croutons
1/4 cup of melted butter
8 oz. of cream cheese cubed
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (I used a mixture of sharp and a colby jack blend)
6 eggs
1 3/4 cup of whole milk
1 Tb. olive oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 of an onion diced
1/4 cup of diced green onions (optional, I threw them in last minute, You could also do some sliced grape tomatoes)
1 Tb. of Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste
12 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon

Oven Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325* F. Coat a 9 x 13 dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Heat a skillet to medium high and coat with olive oil. Saute bell peppers and onions until golden.

3. Spread the croutons evenly on the bottom of the prepared dish and drizzle the melted butter over them evenly. Place cubes of cream cheese throughout the croutons. Top with cheddar cheese.

4. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, green peppers, onions, mustard, salt, and pepper until combined. Pour egg mixture over cheese in baking dish and sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Bake 40 minutes. Make sure eggs are set and cheese is all melted through.

Crockpot Directions:

1. Spray Crockpot or Casserole crock Pot dish with nonstick spray.

2. Evenly spread the croutons on the bottom, drizzling the melted butter over the top. Next spread cubes of cream cheese throughout and then top with shredded cheese.

3. In a medium skillet saute peppers and diced onions (not the green onions) over medium high heat until golden.

4. Whisk together eggs, milk, green pepper and onions, green onions, mustard, salt, and pepper until combined. Pour egg mixture over the cheese and sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

5. Cook on high for about 2 and 1/2 hours until eggs are set and cheese is melted.The cream cheese may not be melted, but will be soft and warm and delicious :).

I brought this dish to my niece's homecoming brunch. I was able to cook it at home before we left and then I stopped at my sister's house to plug it in before going to church to hear her talk. It was nice to plug it in and set it to warm! When all the guests went to my sister's house after, it was ready to eat and it was eaten extremely quickly! I think that makes it a winner!

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you'll stop by my blog sometime: thehungrymom.com. You can also follow me on Instagram by searching for thehungrym0m (that's a zero for the o) or by liking and following my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hungrymom/

If you missed hearing from Shani today, she posted on my blog today with some amazing ways for your kids to play with paint!