I hope you are like me and will have all of your family with you at some point during the holidays. With Christmas in the middle of the week this year, we are delaying our big Christmas meal until Thursday evening when Holly and Parker can make it in from Dallas. My parents and Bobby will also join us that day. I can’t wait to have everyone there.

I’ve been planning different meals for the holiday week and weekend since my house will be full for a few days. One meal I never change is our Christmas morning breakfast. I think Matthew might stop believing in Santa if that meal were to change.

But with everyone there for a few days, I’ll have several more breakfasts to serve whatever I please and I think I’ve found some wonderful additions.

This first recipe is as close to the hashbrown casserole at Cracker Barrel as I can get. I made it the other night and baked it the next morning, and it was delicious so it is definitely on next week’s must have list.

 

Hashbrown casserole

2 pounds frozen hash browns (I like the shredded ones for this)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 can cream of chicken soup

16 ounces sour cream

1/2 cup onion, chopped finely

2 cups cheddar, grated

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 11-by-14 baking dish with nonstick spray. Mix all of the ingredients together, pour into your dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until brown on top.

Next up on my new breakfast list are these little individual omelets. This recipe is very flexible. When I made them, on about three of them I added some fresh spinach that I had sautéed briefly with very finely chopped onion. Naturally I had several of these left over when I experimented with them, so I just let them cool and then put them in Ziploc bags in the refrigerator. All I had to do was barely heat them in the microwave over the next few days, and I had a super quick breakfast. So I’ve decided the morning we make these I will set up a little make your-own omelet bar. I will cook some sausage or bacon ahead and crumble it into small pieces, sautee some spinach, put out cheddar and parmesan cheese, and some sautéed onions and bell peppers, so everyone can pick whatever they like.

 

Muffin omelets

8 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

6 slices ham, cut into pieces

1 tomato, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Add eggs, milk, salt and pepper to a bowl. Beat together. Mix in the ham, tomato, onions and parmesan cheese. Grease muffin pan and pour mixture evenly into muffin cups, so they’re about 3/4 full. Cook for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until egg is set. Don’t let them overcook, remember the egg will continue to cook a little when you remove the pan from the oven.

 

Christina Hall writes a food column for The Democrat. She can be reached at christina.hall@natchezdemocrat.com.