Quick and Easy Brunch Recipes to Make This Weekend!

 

I seriously love a good breakfast casserole, but I don't love spending Saturday morning in the kitchen frying meat and chopping veggies.  I want something that can be assembled by the time the coffee is made because not much else happens around here until momma gets her coffee. 

These recipes are my favorite tried and true recipes that can be made with precooked meats, mixes and canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls. 

This Sweet Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Casserole has over 22,000 pins and is one of my go to breakfast recipes.  I lightened it up a bit with egg substitute.

Because it was so popular, I came up with a Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Casserole which uses pumpkin butter and pumpkin spice coffee creamer.  I actually prefer it to the original.

Another sweet breakfast favorite is Monkey Bread.  This version is simple and quick, using canned biscuits.

This Bacon, Egg and Cheese Casserole goes together in a flash and tastes a lot like your favorite breakfast sandwich!

If you like a good, hearty breakfast, you'll love the Farmer's Breakfast Casserole with hash browns, sausage, bacon, cheese and eggs.  Everything is premade so you just have to assemble it. 

If you're trying to cut back on calories, these Sausage and Egg Muffins are perfect.  They're full of flavor and can be made ahead.

Now that I've shared some of my favorites, I'd love to hear about yours!  Leave a comment below to share a recipe or link!

Farmer's Breakfast Casserole

I'm a sucker for a breakfast casserole whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner.   My most popular post, Sweet Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Casserole is testament to that.

Since bub #2 was born, one of my favorite things to do is to make a breakfast casserole for dinner or for a weekend brunch so I can have the leftovers the rest of the week.  It makes for a quick and delicious breakfast.  

The original recipe that I found at Food.com had nearly 3 pounds of meat and cheese in it which seemed a bit over the top for me.  I cut it way back and used precooked meats because I don't always have a lot of time to prep meals.  Egg substitute cut out a few more calories.  I think it works better in casseroles anyway because it's easier to mix up and bakes well. 

The end result was delicious and filling with a calorie count that I could live with. 

If you like this recipe, give my Bacon, Egg and Cheese Casserole a try! 

Ingredients
3 c. shredded hash browns (like Simply Potatoes)
9.6 oz. pkg. Jimmy Dean fully cooked Turkey Sausage Crumbles (or 12 oz. cooked and crumbled sausage)
1 pkg. precooked bacon slices (12-15 slices), diced
2 c. (8 oz.) cheddar/jack cheese blend
2 1/4 c. egg beaters or 12 eggs
2 c. milk
1 1/2 tsp. season salt or Lawry's
3/4 tsp. pepper

Directions

1. Spray 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.  Layer the following in the pan: hash browns, sausage, bacon and cheese.
2. Mix a medium bowl, whisk together egg substitute, milk, season salt and pepper.  Pour mixture into baking dish, tilting dish gently from side to side to evenly distribute eggs.
3. Refrigerate overnight.
4. Bake 50-55 minutes at 375 degrees.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Since October is the month of all things pumpkin, I decided to try another take on my most pinned recipe, Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Casserole.  I added pumpkin butter, pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin spice coffee creamer.   The result was even better than the original. 

This casserole is special enough for Thanksgiving Day breakfast, but easy enough for any morning of the week.  The leftovers reheat wonderfully.

Ingredients
2 (12.4 oz) cans of refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing like Pillsbury (can use light cinnamon rolls)
1 3/4 c egg substitute like Egg Beaters (or 6 large eggs)
1/2 c pumpkin spice coffee creamer or half and half
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 c pumpkin butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease an 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish.
2. Cut each cinnamon roll into 8 pieces and place in dish.  
3. In a medium bowl whisk together egg substitute or eggs, coffee creamer, vanilla, pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice.  Pour over rolls.  Give the whole thing a good stir.  Sprinkle with pecans.
4. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 10-15 minutes (if you can wait that long!!)  Remove covers from icing and microwave 5-10 seconds or until it's the perfect consistency for drizzling.
5. Drizzle icing over top.   Serve with light syrup and powdered sugar.   

 Linked to:

Link Party Palooza - Strut Your Stuff Saturday - Super Sunday Linky Party - Munching Mondays - A Pinch of Joy - Mouth Watering Mondays - A Southern Fairytale - Gooseberry Patch Recipe Round-Up - Lady Behind the Curtain - Cast Party Wednesday -

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

 My favorite meal of the day is breakfast, no matter what time of day it is served.  Even my hubby who never cared for breakfast gets up on Saturday and looks around for his eggs and bacon.  He's more of savory breakfast man, but I like it all as is evident by my obsession with Cracker Barrel and IHOP.

This recipe is a slightly moister, eggier version of a recipe I found on the Pillsbury site.  I love using canned biscuits, cinnamon rolls and crescent rolls in recipes even though I don't care much for them on their own.  Adding fresh ingredients takes away the canned flavor.

My other shortcut is to use precooked REAL bacon bits, keeping the prep time under 10 minutes.  Would freshly cooked bacon be better?  Probably, but it's not worth the time and mess to me while trying to keep up with a newborn and 3 year old wild child. 

You can save a few calories by using egg substitute which works great in casseroles, low fat cheese and turkey bacon or ham in place of the regular bacon.  Throw in any of your favorite breakfast meats, cheeses and veggies to come up with your own version.

Recipe
Adapted from: Pillsbury

Ingredients
4 eggs or about 1 c egg substitute
1/3 cup milk
salt and pepper
16 oz refrigerated breakfast biscuits (I used GV Texas style biscuits.), cut into 4 or 8 pieces
4 green onions, diced
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 pkg Oscar Mayer real bacon pieces or bits (the kind you put on salad)

Directions

1. In an 11 x 7 dish, whisk together eggs, milk and salt and pepper.  (You don't need a ton of salt because many of the ingredients are salty.) 
2. Add biscuits, onions, cheese and bacon.  Toss to coat with egg mixture.
3. Bake 25-28 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown and cooked through.

Linked to:

Gooseberry Patch Recipe Round-Up - Lady Behind the Curtain - Cast Party Wednesday -

Egg and Sausage Breakfast Muffins 2 Pts+ !!

These are an answer to my dieting prayers!  I found these on Nutmeg Notebook.  She has tons of healthy, Weight Watchers recipes so be sure to visit her site.

I fiddled around with the recipe to keep the points at only 2 which makes these not only a fabulous breakfast, but also a great snack item!  I am thrilled that I can eat 2 of these for breakfast and still have a piece of toast or some yogurt or I can have one of these for a quick pick-me-up in the afternoon.

I opted to leave part of the eggs in the recipe because eggs are an incredibly healthy food, filled with protein and nutrients that you can't find other places.  They also help me stay fuller longer and that is super important when you're dieting!

Customize this recipe however you choose.  Add whatever veggies you like and leave out the ones you don't.  Use all eggs or all egg substitute.  Add cheese.  Mmm...  Don't leave out the Baking Mix though as it gives these guys a little heft and makes them sort of quiche like.

I plan to refrigerate the leftovers and have them throughout the week.  I love the idea of prepping/cooking/cleaning once, yet stuffing my mouth for days with eggy, meaty deliciousness. 

Recipe
5 eggs (I use Eggland's Best)
3/4 c egg substitute (or 3 more eggs)
2/3 package Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles
1/4 c bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 c onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 c spinach, chopped
3/4 c Bisquick Heart Smart Baking Mix
1/2 c 1% milk
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 12 cup muffin pan liberally with cooking spray.
2.  Combine ingredients until well mixed and pour into muffin pans. 
3.  Bake 20-25 or until cooked through.  Mine were done in 20 minutes.
4.  Remove from and run a knife around the edge to help loosen muffins.