Herbs of choice(oregano works really well in this dish)
Crushed red pepper(to taste, another option if you like spicy)
Salt and pepper(to taste)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F
Prep and Saute the Vegetables
Thaw out the frozen veggies and use a colander or other method to squeeze out all the excess water. In liue of thawing and draining, you can also add them frozen to your saute in Step 4, and cook longer until all the liquid has cooked off.
Chop/slice the other veggies you plan to use, i.e. mushrooms, bell peppers, jalapenos, onion, garlic, etc.
Saute the veggies from Step 2 with a dash of salt until all their water has released and they are fully cooked down.
Add in the thawed veggies to the saute pan. Mix and cook until they are warmed through and any excess water is evaporated.
Taste and adjust for seasoning: salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, herbs.
If adding sausage, it should be browned ahead of time, then added in at this step.
Whisk up the Egg Mixture
Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, cheese, and greek yogurt if using.
Season the egg mixture with salt, pepper, and any other desired herbs/spices (sometimes I'll use a little here of whatever also went in the veggies). I've found that when using breakfast sausage as part of the protein, dried sage adds a nice flavor here. For salt, I use kosher salt and add 1 pinch/serving - this seems to be about right, since it's a bit hard to taste at this step!
Combine the Ingredients
Mix the sauted veggies in with the egg mixture, and stir to combine thoroughly.
Bake the casserole
Poor into a greased (oil-spray works well here) baking dish. For 4 servings, I use a small 9"x6" rectangular baking dish. 6 servings fits well into a 9"x13" dish. If you're going smaller, a 9" pie dish will work nicely for 3 servings.
Bake at 350°F. For a 4 serving sized egg bake, 45 minutes does the trick. For larger/smaller adjust by 10-15 minutes up/down. Bake until the egg bake is firm in the middle and the edges are slightly browned.
Let cool, and slice into pieces - I typically cut 2 pieces per serving. So for example, I would cut the 9"x6" pan into 8 pieces.
Notes
Nutrition calculations are based on a no-sausage version of this recipe.If these recommendations seem like too many veggies for you and your clan, no problem! Just cut back a little, maybe add an extra egg or two to make up for the lost volume of vegetables, and it will still be a tasty and healthy breakfast!Other protein ideas:
Try different flavors of sausage to change the flavor profile of the dish, or add in extra heat with a spicy Italian sausage.
Mix in some Greek yogurt - replace up to half of the shredded cheese by weight with Greek yogurt. This makes the texture of the casserole a little lighter/almost fluffy.
Other vegetable ideas:
Broccoli florets instead of riced broccoli
Other greens instead of spinach, like kale or swiss chard
Eggplant
Cauliflower
You can even try roasting the vegetables instead of sauteing them, to get a different flavor profile.