Sausage and Potato Breakfast Casserole (with homemade cream of chicken soup)

For my last post, I shared how to make your own cream of chicken soup-- specifically for making recipes that lists "one can cream of chicken soup".  This version is so quick, and so simple to do. So what did I make with this? I made a sausage potato casserole. I sure did.  It was triggered by a company potluck, where someone made a  casserole similar to this, and I had to see if I could create my own recipe.

I finally did it, after two attempts to get the recipe tweaked to just the way I wanted it.  The first go-round, I didn't have canned cream of chicken soup, so I tried some other ingredient. It turned out watery, and while it tasted okay, it didn't rock my world.

On my next attempt, I made my own cream of chicken soup and decided to add sour cream.   I filled a large bowl with with frozen shredded potatoes.  On top of the potatoes, I piled some cooked Italian sausage (with a little red pepper flakes tossed in for some zip).

Next, I sauteed onion, red bell pepper, garlic and a little thyme, and piled that on top.  I also added sour cream.  Let's keep layering more gooey flavor, shall we? Shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack Cheese...

... then the homemade cream of chicken soup (I won't judge, if you go with the canned stuff).

I added the filling into a baking dish, sprayed with olive oil, then added some more cheese on top.

I baked the casserole for about 45 minutes, until it was hot, bubbly and the cheese was melted.

Will you look at that?!  Creamy, gooey, delicious hot breakfast, and the aroma was making the two of us very hungry. This is perfect on a lazy, chilly,  Sunday morning.

TASTING NOTES:  I had to quickly write down how I made this, because I know this will be Christmas morning breakfast for my men...and for me!  I love hash browns, anyway.  Combine that with sausage, onions, bell pepper-- and the tang of sour cream, and plenty of melted cheese... it's a hearty and very satisfying breakfast dish.  To make things go fast, for Christmas morning, I'll cook the sausage and veggies ahead of time, then assemble the casserole in the morning.    This made about 8 servings, and can easily be doubled to feed a larger crowd.  This reheated so well, that we enjoyed it for a few more breakfasts.

Okay, so I have Christmas morning breakfast figured out.  Over the next week, or so, I hope to share some Christmas treat recipes that I've made.  My Winter Break vacation starts in one week, so I'll have more time to do more baking and to share more posts with you.

Even better, my son is flying home (from Texas) for Christmas!  Mama is very happy about that. 

Here's the printable recipe: