I made brunch this morning for my friend Shelley. She’s one of my life long pals. Even though she lives out of town, every time we get together it’s like we’re still in high school (except we talk about more grown-up things like weddings and babies! Well, and boys. That hasn’t changed).

First was this breakfast casserole concoction. Tyler’s mom made this last year for breakfast on Christmas Day, and I did a recipe search using the ingredients I remembered, then made my own version. It’s nice to prepare it the night before, clean up the kitchen, and just pop into the oven in the morning.

Sunday Brunch Casserole

1.5 cups chopped fully cooked ham
5 slices bread, cubed
2 potatoes (about 1.5 cups when cooked, for hash browns)
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs
1.5 cups milk
1.5 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch of salt and pepper

Drizzle some oil into a skillet and high over medium-high until shimmery. Grate potatoes and pat dry with a paper towel. Toss into skillet and add a bit of salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes or until starting to brown, and then flip to cook the other side for 5 more minutes.

While the hash browns are cooking, slice up bread and ham, and grate the cheese.

In a greased pan 8 x 8 pan, put in half of the bread cubes, then half of the hash browns. Sprinkle half of the cheese, then add all of the ham. Layer the rest of the bread, then potatoes, then cheese on top.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and add millk, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and a bit of salt and pepper. Beat until combined, and pour mixture over the bread/potato/ham/cheese dish.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, take it out of the fridge and let it get to room temperature, about half an hour. Then bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 60 minutes. It’s done when a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.

I also made these Pecan pie muffins that I had recently spotted at She Wears Many Hats. They were easy and SO GOOD! I copied the recipe from Tasty Kitchen, but added some cinnamon and vanilla. Make them. They are amazing!

Pecan Pie muffins

1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (I only had about ½ a cup and it was fine)
⅔ cups softened butter
2 whole eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

In a medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and pecans. In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon until smooth. Stir into the dry ingredients just until combined. Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups. Cups should be about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. This made 7 muffins for me.

Added some strawberries, raspberries, juice and coffee and we were ready to roll!

Here’s Shelley, my guinea pig.

Our verdict: Both recipes are keepers. And now I’m going to go eat another muffin.