sausage bake

I love sausage. I love sausage and cheese. I love sausage and cheese and pancakes. I love sausage and cheese and pancakes and maple syrup.

Only in my wildest dreams would all of these ingredients come together in one dish.

Oh my goodness. My dreams should come true more often.

Actually, no. Last night I dreamt of giant bats taking over the planet. They could only feed on chocolate chip cookies and they hired me to bake them. I had to keep one million bats up to their ears in chocolate chip cookies. It’s a scary, scary world, my brain when it’s asleep.

I digress. Let’s talk about Sausage Bake.

This is a recipe from an old friend, and unfortunately, we’re not friends anymore. There were a lot of sad things about the ending of that friendship, and one of them was the loss of this recipe. I had never written it down and I couldn’t exactly call her to ask.

Then last week at the grocery it came to me.

It all starts with a big yellow box.

Then you throw in some eggs.

And a big ‘ol block of jack cheese.

And more cheese, of the cottage variety. THIS is the one ingredient I could not recall. An odd choice to use in baking, but it manages to keep this dish really moist.

Plus, I’m never one to say no to more cheese.

Finally, sausage. Oh, how I love breakfast sausage.

The end result is a pancakey-type casserole with big pockets of cheese and sausage. Deeeeelish.

Alright. Let’s make some Sausage Bake, because it’s been way too long.

First off, throw those little piggies in a pan and get ‘em browning.

Next, grab a big bowl. I mean really big. Lucy could probably curl up in this thing.

Crack those eggs (eight of them, to be exact) and give ‘em a wisk.

Poor little naked eggies. They never asked for it.

Measure out 2 cups of Bisquick and mix it in with the eggs.

Give Lucy a biscuit. She’s getting antsy.

Pour the container of cottage cheese into the Bisquick/egg mixture and stir it up.

Right about now this mixture should be looking like something your dog puked up.

Do not panic. This is normal.

Now open up that big block of cheese….

…and chop it up into 1 inch cubes. Half-inch if you’re feeling ambitious. I am not.

Let the cheese join the party.

Now that the sausages are nice and brown let ‘em hang out on a paper towel for a while.

Once they’re nice and cool, chop them up and let them join the cheese.

They want to be with the cheese. It’s their destiny.

Give the whole thing a good stir.

I promise it will look appetizing once it’s out of the oven.

Grease a 13″x9″ pan. Do not get butter on your camera.

Pour in the mixture and stick it in a 350° oven for 40-45 minutes. It should be a little brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean (unless you hit a chunk of cheese, in which case it will be a cheesy toothpick and it must be licked immediately).

Oh, Sausage Bake. How I have missed you.

I love eating you plain, fresh out of the oven…

…but I REALLY love eating you with a little maple syrup on top. Sausage bake, I need you in my world. As Al Green would say, “let’s stay together.”

And old friend, if you’re out there…I miss you.

-RDG

Sausage Bake    printable pdf

This is such an easy breakfast or brunch dish for company. Yield: One 9×13″ pan, or about 12 servings. 

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 8 eggs*
• 1 pack breakfast sausage (14 links), cooked and chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 16 oz. package cottage cheese
• 2 lbs (32 oz) jack cheese cut into 1″ cubes

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine eggs and Bisquick in a large bowl. Mix well (batter can be a little lumpy). Stir in cottage cheese, sausage and jack cheese.

2. Pour into greased 13″x9″ pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*Please note: If you’d like your Sausage Bake to be less “bready” and more dense, use 12 eggs and 2 packs of sausage.