Hi Suzannesl, it is a yummy casserole you make the day before, stick in the fridge overnight and then bake up the next morning. It has sausage, but you could very easily replace with turkey breakfast sausage. It is made with cheese croutons, sausage, cheese and a mix of eggs, milk and cream of mushroom soup (and I put in a dash of sherry--yum). If you'd like the official recipe I'd be glad to post. We also served a baked French toast dish that is made with French baguettes. Makes it's own "syrup" as it bakes. Nice combo--savory egg dish and sweet French Toast dish. And so easy since you just bake in the morning--the work is all the day before. :)

Sounds yummy! Recipe, please. I have the Chocolate Bread from last week just about ready for the oven.

For those of us who are in the middle of a remodel and won't have a "working" kitchen by Christmas, does anyone have a recipe for a breakfast casserole that could be done in the Crockpot?

Suzanne - another idea could be a couple of different quiches (maybe a veggie one and another with meat) with fresh fruit salad and muffins...fairly simple.

Breakfast casseroles are really easy and can be made with a number of filler ingredients. The one from Sum5463 sounds tasty!

In my house it wouldn't be Christmas without gingerbread pancakes.
So here is a simple inexpensive recipe:

Easy Gingerbread Pancakes

3 cups of 'complete' buttermilk pancake mix (see note1)
1 cup brewed coffee cooled to room temperature (see note 2)
1 cup water
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Maple syrup for serving

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients except maple syrup. Batter will be thin. You may add more of the buttermilk pancake mix 1 tablespoon at a time for thicker pancakes.

Coat non-stick griddle or large skillet with vegetable oil cooking spray and place over medium heat. ( if using electric griddle heat to 375 degrees.
When griddle is hot, using a 1/4 cup measure, pour batter on to griddle. Cook until bubbles appear and edges start to dry on first side, about 2 minutes. Turn pancakes and cook until second side is golden brown, another 1 to 2 minutes
Remove pancakes to a warm plate and cover loosely with foil or place in a warm draft free location. Repeat with remaining batter until all pancakes are cooked. Serve immediately with syrup if desired. Makes 8 servings (about 24 medium size pancakes.

Notes:

1. I used Aunt Jemima Butter-milk Complete Pancake and Waffle Mix. You may choose any mix that is labeled "complete" (i.e., requires only water).

2) you may use an equal amount of instant coffee mixed according to package instructions instead of brewed coffee. However brewed coffee offers a bolder presence.

I have been doing the egg breakfast casserole for years...it's baking while we open presents. I use croissants in it instead of regular bread. The kids are all grown, but my name would be mud if I didn't make it. I usually serve it with a mixed fruit salad and coffee cake.

I have been doing the egg breakfast casserole for years...it's baking while we open presents. I use croissants in it instead of regular bread. The kids are all grown, but my name would be mud if I didn't make it. I usually serve it with a mixed fruit salad and coffee cake.

We have the family gathering on Christmas Eve with a full complement of appetizers, dinner, and dessert, so there has never been time ... or room in the refrigerator ... for the breakfast casserole, strata, etc. So we have "Eggs McStef" named for our family chef, basically scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheddar on English muffins, fruit medley, mimosas, and cookies :)

Our Christmas breakfast tradition is very simple, but very special to me. We always have tangerine-cranberry scones on Christmas morning. My favorite, and a big indulgence (white flour, butter, sugar!). I indulge since it's also my birthday.

I do some of the prep work the day before, but do the final mixing and shaping and baking that morning (while the kids play with their gifts and my husband assembles or finds batteries). If I was pulling together a large meal, that might seem like a lot of added work. But since we pretty much just eat the scones, I get to enjoy it as a leisurely baking project, which I love.

We brew a really nice pot of tea (American Classic Charleston Breakfast Loose Tea -- also a favorite -- very smooth), nibble on scones, and use the Christmas china. Usually, just my husband and I enjoy this quiet, relaxing breakfast in our sun-filled dining room. After a while, the kids stumble in and join us. They're not all scone lovers, so I have some kind of baked goodie on hand for them, too. Or sugar cereal.

Those scones are pretty darn yummy, and so that breakfast holds us til mid-afternoon, when we eat Grandma's homemade vegetable beef soup with the extended family. Dinner will be a spiral-sliced ham, lots of sides, and several desserts.

Suzannesl, I love how you embraced a new tradition with the latkes! That must make your son's SO feel very welcome. I don't think my scones would necessarily complement the latkes, but they couldn't hurt. So here's a link. They are moist and yummy -- if you've ever had a dry, crumbly scone and been turned off, they're not like that at all, I promise. Dried cherries in place of cranberries make them extra yummy.

Back to the latkes...I would think about some simple scrambled eggs with them, rather than the more involved casserole.

I also love your flexibility in moving different parts of your traditional favorites to other parts of the week. Those baked apples sound tasty with that naughty-delish sausage-cheese breakfast casserole. Do use turkey sausage, it's really good.

Homemade sweet rolls? Yes!! Sounds good. I'd also break out some cheese fondue on some evening during the week. You all sound like a fun, hands-on group, and that can be lots of fun to prepare and eat together.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cranberry-Tangerine Scones (Bon Appetit via Epicurious.com)

Back from the Christmas party where the Chocolate Bread was a huge hit. Love all the suggestions! Thanks!

Christmas breakfast here is a buffet for the entire family. Usual suspects:honey lime kissed fruit salad, homemade granola and freshly made ice cold almond milk, tofu fritata or scramble, roasted potatoes, maple pecan brussel sprout apple hash, vegan banana blueberry muffins, assortment of bread and bagels for toasting. Although my husband without fail always adds a side of leftover cold fried eggplant from Christmas eve to the side of his tofu frittata

Latkes sound like a great morning tradition.

Suzannesl, sorry for the delay on the recipes--yesterday was one of those busy days. :) Here you are:

Christmas Breakfast Casserole

Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish or pan with cooking spray and then layer in order:

2 1/2 cups cheddar croutons (5 to 6 oz box/bag; can use other flavors)
2 cups grated cheese (cheddar, Monterey jack, etc)
1 lb. cooked sausage (sliced links or crumbled; maple sausage is great, turkey sausage works well too)

Mix together and pour over sausage and cheese:

8 eggs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3 cups milk
1 to 2 Tbs. sherry or white wine (optional, but wonderful flavor)
3/4 tsp. dry mustard
pinch of salt, pepper to taste
couple shakes of paprika

Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning heat the oven to 325ð and bake for 1 hour, uncovered. Left-overs will freeze nicely if wrapped tightly.

Baked French Toast

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbs. corn syrup (light or dark--can use maple syrup instead if you'd like)
1 loaf French bread/baguette, cut into 3/4 inch slices
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
cinnamon

Count on 2 slices per person, plus a few more for hearty eaters. In medium saucepan over med-low heat, mix and melt brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Meanwhile, spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick vegetable oil. Pour the butter and sugar mixture into the bottom of the dish. In a blender mix eggs, milk and vanilla. [You can also just whisk it together.] Arrange pieces of bread in baking dish. Pour egg mixture over bread slices, not missing any areas and using all the mixture. The excess will be absorbed by the bread (or will cook up sort of soufflé-like). Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Cover the baking dish and refrigerate over night.

Next morning preheat oven to 350ð. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes and serve directly from dish. Enjoy!

From Secrets of Entertaining from AmericaâÂÂs Best Innkeepers.

I started baking at 325 for the eggs, then upped it to 350 when I put the French Toast in. Worked just fine.

Just thought I'd throw in a healthier less processed French toast casserole for those who may want a slightly healthier dish on their breakfast table:

Not sure where I found this originally. Although the sweetest vegan has a great you tube channel . Not my recipe obviously, but goes over well with a crowd. Perfect when topped with high quality grade b vermont maple syrup.

"Vegan Praline French Toast Casserole Recipe
adapted from The Sweetest Vegan

Ingredients:

16 ounce French loaf of bread
1 ripe large organic banana
3 cups organic plain unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
pinch of salt

Topping :
1 cup organic chopped pecans
1 cup organic raw sugar
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup organic oatmeal
20 or so fresh raspberries blackberries or blueberries

Directions:

Slice the bread into 1/2 inch slices ( or can cube it)

Cut the banana into 1/4 inch slices.

Spray a 10x10x2 inch casserole dish with non-stick baking spray

Layer in the bread and banana slices.

In a large bowl, whisk together almond milk, flaxseed, agave nectar, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.

Pour or spoon the custard over the layered bread.

Let the casserole sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees F.

In a medium size bowl, stir together chopped pecans, raw sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and water.

If the mixture is too thin, i.e. not thick and almost syrup like, add in oatmeal. If the consistency is spot on dont worry about the oatmeal.

Evenly distribute the pralines over the custardy bread.

Bake your Praline French Toast Casserole for 50 minutes to an hour. It may be necessary to place a baking sheet underneath to catch an overflow.

When is done, it will be golden brown, bubbling, and puffed up."

We used to have Christmas breakfast/brunch of waffles. Usually we had eggs and sometimes other items (fruit, etc). I personally love waffles, so this suited me well. Waffles would also work well for a family without a working kitchen since you can plop a waffle maker down on any table really.

I would have the baked apples with the latkes instead of applesauce. I always loved them with a dollop of sour cream too.
Instead of pork, but to convey that same taste, there are kosher, maple-smoked poultry, turkey "ham", turkey or chicken sausage, even smoked fish -- like salmon.

Savory egg dishes are great with them too.

Is there any concern about mixing dairy and meat?

Lox is a classic accompaniment. You don't have to have it with bagels and cream cheese. Some creme fraich (fancy sour cream) and dill or some capers. Right on top of the latkes, yum!

Turkey ham is a nice alternative. There are some very good chicken sausages, but they're often in pork casings.

For those with crock pots, my mom has "Little Smokies" sausages in BBQ sauce every year. I think there's an all beef version, too. The guys especially, all seem to love them! :)

Such great ideas! Love the vegan additions as our daughter's DH is recently vegetarian (fighting back on MS, and maybe it could help - he's actually doing well and wants to keep it that way). I may not make them right now, but they are going in my idea box.

raee - no concern on the meat-dairy thing. SO has an idiosyncratic set of observances/non-observances and is the only non-pork person in her family. To each her own. She fits right in with the no-beef part of our family w/the vegetarian father, and the lactose intolerant member in another branch. I have no issues with accommodating whatever for whatever reason. I like the idea of sour cream for the latkes and baked apple on the side - think I'll float that one by them.

Thanks for the pork alternatives too. It really helps to know what is good when I haven't had it first.

LL - yikes! I might not have thought to look for pork casings on chicken sausages, but it makes sense now that you mention it.

Thanks, everyone, for all your terrific ideas. I plan on spreading these things around the menu for the next week!

On Christmas morning my sister always makes homemade cinnamon buns that make my mom's house smell heavenly. It's the only day of the year that she makes these because they are filled with butter, sugar and incredibly decadent--but hey, it's Christmas :)

I am a fairly healthy eater, so while I eat a bun sometimes, I much prefer things like the quinoa egg bake listed below, and I add spinach to it. However, my kids eat a ton of bacon, bagels, and other "fun" food besides cinnabuns that morning too. Freshly squeezed OJ and grapefruit juice is another must do!

Here is a link that might be useful: Gluten free--Quinoa Egg Bake

Great ideas on this thread!

Growing up, we never had a formal Christmas breakfast, because Mom was always fussing with the meal (25+lbs of turkey with all the fixings) and didn't want people in her way in the kitchen. I've carried that on in my house: when DH and I celebrate Christmas at home, we do an easy breakfast like yogurt, fruit and toast. Saves our appetite for the big meal to come!

DH's mother always did eggs Benedict when he had Christmas with her and it was a pro-DUC-shun, believe you me. I was there one year when she was pretty much ragged out after fussing with poached eggs, trying to keep the hollandaise from breaking, and toasting but not burning a panful of English muffins (she wanted no help, she did it all herself). It was good but I wouldn't put myself through that kind of split-second timing for a heavy breakfast, especially with a rich meal following later.

LOL suzannesl, the Jewish side of my family never strictly or properly kept kosher -- they would all eat a cheeseburger -- either but wouldn't eat pork or shellfish. I just look for the K or Pareve mark on anything that I use to substitute.

For the kitchen-less, I have made a french toast casserole in my crockpot. Just google crockpot breakfast recipes and many will come up.

I just did a trial run tonight on a recipe I found for baked Monte Cristo sandwiches using puff pastry. They were so nice and looked just like the picture in the recipe! I will be serving these for my Christmas brunch along with a nice colourful bowl of fruit salad. Here is a link to the recipe

Here is a link that might be useful: Baked Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Not necessarily Christmas breakfast but something I always like around the holidays . . . French toast made with eggnog. Yum !!

A coworker gave me this easy idea last week . . . Spread nutella on crescent rolls, roll up and bake. Spread about the thickness you would do peanut butter on a sandwich. I am looking forward to trying this. Yum, yum.

Silken, try putting dijon mustard on the inside of those Monte Cristo sandwiches. Serve with maple syrup.

angela12345, We did eat them with maple syrup tonight and it really goes well with the ham in the sandwich. The mustard sounds good too. They were so tasty as is, but I might try a bit of Dijon in 1/2 of them for Christmas brunch. Thanks!

firsthouse_mp, that recipe for Quinoa-Egg Bake looks delicious! Six servings is too much for my needs, but I wonder if it would work if I halved the recipe and baked it in individual ramekins?

I love to serve this Blueberry French Toast bake that can be made the day before. It is delicious. : ) It's very rich, though, so I wouldn't recommend it if you have a heavy meal coming up later in the day!

Here is a link that might be useful: Overnight Blueberry French Toast

I'm going to surprise my family with a couple of these recipes for Christmas morning. We don't normally have a nice breakfast on Christmas morning as I'm too stressed out getting everything ready for Christmas dinner for 30. Because of our reno, we're not hosting Christmas. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes.

The traditional Christmas breakfast at our house is loaded Belgium Waffles (we use the Waffles of Insane Greatness recipe w/added beaten egg whites til stiff). Strawberries and whipped creme, real maple syrup, powered sugar and anything else the kids can think of. Homemade sausages and scrambled eggs. Oj, cranberry juice and fresh ground coffee. Unfortunately it is not a leisurely breakfast. Family and friends will be stopping by early afternoon so we have to be done and ready before they show up. NancyLouise

Our traditional Christmas Breakfast began when the kids were smaller. I tried for a few years to make something special for breakfast--something that could be done and finished by the time we needed to head out to the Grandparent's houses for family celebrations. They didn't care--they wanted to open toys, and then they wanted to play with toys, and they'd snacked on the candy in their stockings when they were mousing around before we woke up, so heck, they weren't even hungry.

So one year I made some Chex Mix and put it out for breakfast. It was a hit, and now that they're older teenagers, it's still our traditional Christmas breakfast.

The recipe is on any box of Chex. I like to add Cheeze-Its.

:-)

Cj

Chex Mix - that's hilarious! When I was a kid, it was the days when you couldn't eat before Communion, so we went to early Mass, opened presents, and then we were really ready for some food even if we'd been snitching out of the stockings. Here's a photo from those days: This is my grandmother on Christmas morning, must be around 1962 or so. I believe that is an early dishwasher. The fine photo quality is surely from my Brownie camera and excellent photography skills at 11 or so, but I left it large so you can admire the dishwasher. Hey, I like those cabinets, had forgotten all about them.

Love the picture.

I love that picture, too! Those cabs are great, and so is the dishwasher. :-)

I want that toaster!

I remember that dishwasher! The toaster, too. And is that a yellow Pyrex mixing bowl? (Come to think of it, that looks like my Grandma, too. Seriously. But she wasn't Catholic, so it isn't.)

That's an early Kitchen Aid dishwasher.