Mexican Breakfast Casserole

There is a proverb attributed to Buddhism that goes something like this: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Recently, I was reminded about how true this is. You see, ever since I moved to North America, I've been wanting to learn how to quilt. The US has an incredible quilting tradition, so I wanted to learn at least the basics of this beautiful craft. Well, quilting was yet another entry on the long list of "Someday I want to {insert exciting activity here}" that I (and most of us, I think) seem to carry around in our heads.

Two years ago, I managed to buy a sewing machine. A year later, I even learned how to thread the darn thing. Yeah, it has been one of those learning curves.

And then I was fortunate enough to meet a lovely person named MP. We stayed at MP's home when we were house-hunting here in GA, and I basically wanted to move in with her. Every wall was covered in incredible quilts, all made by her. I mentioned my long time aspiration of learning to quilt. A few weeks ago, she called me and said, come over to my place tomorrow at 10 AM, we're going to quilt. And along with another friend, I found myself getting a beginner quilting lesson. MP is serious about teaching- she assigned us homework (sewing strips of fabric together with precise 1/4 inch seams). I am equally serious about learning- I stayed up and laboriously completed the homework, and held my breath the next morning as my teacher pulled out a ruler and measured my seams down to the fraction of the inch.

And that's how I find myself finally, finally working on first quilt using this easy pattern. Here's a quick look at my quilt top in progress:

So, anyway, the quilting teacher and us two quilting students have formed a nice little trio. We meet once a week or so, something for quilting sessions, and other times for knitting sessions since we're all knitters too. This Saturday, I hosted the knitting meet at my place and it was the most wonderful way to spend the day, sprawled out in the living room surrounded by yarn and patterns and knitting needles in the company of two creative and intelligent women. If our schedules allow us to keep this up, life is going to be very exciting indeed.

To fuel our crafting session, I made a big breakfast casserole with Mexican flavors. This recipe is something I made up, but it is inspired by many such recipes on the Internet. The nice thing is that the casserole is assembled and them set aside for several hours before baking, making it an ideal make-ahead recipe when you're feeding a crowd. If you have a large enough pan, the vegetables and beans could all be cooked together. This casserole easily makes 8 generous servings.

Big Breakfast Casserole With Mexican Flavors

 1. Tortillas: Cut 8 to 10 corn tortillas into six pieces each.










2. Cheese mixture: Mix together 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar, 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese and 3-4 minced scallions (green and white parts).

 3. Egg mixture: Whisk 8 eggs and add a splash of cream, salt and pepper to taste.

4. Vegetable mixture: Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and saute 1 diced onion, 1 diced green pepper, 2 diced yellow squash and 1 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned). Season with Mexican spice mix or chili powder.

5. Bean mixture: In a pan, briefly saute sliced vegan chorizo (optional) and 2 cups cooked black beans.

6. Assemble the casserole in a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish by layering the tortilla pieces, cheese mixture and veggies and beans. Once all the layers are made, pour the egg mixture evenly over the whole dish. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake (minimum 2 hours, at most 8 hours).

7. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 60 minutes or until the edges are bubbling and an inserted knife comes clean.


I served big squares of the casserole with a side of quick homemade chipotle salsa.

Blender Salsa

This salsa takes 5 minutes to make if you have a toddler dangling off your leg and 2 minutes if you don't. All the ingredients are pantry staples for me so this is a good salsa to throw together at the last minute.

Add the following to a blender jar:
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
2 tbsp. minced onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
Large handful cilantro, roughly chopped (I used half a large bunch, stem and leaves)
1 canned chipotle chili, chopped and 1 tbsp. adobo sauce
Juice of half a lime/lemon
Salt to taste

Let the blender whirr and your salsa will come together in no time!

As I was typing this post, I noticed that Kalyn just posted a recipe with similar flavors- a vegetarian bean and chile casserole- doesn't that sound good?

PS: 20 swappers have signed up for the Spice and Something Nice swap so far. If you live in the US and would like to join us, see this post for details. You have until Sunday to sign up. Sign ups are now closed.