Amish Breakfast Casserole —rsquo; The Kind of Dish That Holds a Family Together

Christmas season in Memphis, and the house on Deadrick Avenue is full of the smells and sounds that make December bearable: Rosetta\'s cooking, the choir rehearsals at Mt. Zion, the holiday mail that makes my bag heavier and my heart fuller. I am 60 and the year is ending the way years end — with counting, with gratitude, with the knowledge that time doesn\'t negotiate.

The week\'s main current was december. The family moved through the week the way we move through all weeks — together even when apart, connected by phone calls and text messages and the invisible threads that bind a family across distance and time. Rosetta held the center, as she always does, the organizing principle of the Johnson household, the woman who knows where everyone is and what everyone needs before they know it themselves.

I cooked this week the way I cook every week: with intention, with the ingredients at hand, and with the understanding that food made in a home kitchen for people you love is fundamentally different from food made anywhere else. The recipe doesn\'t matter as much as the hands that make it and the table that receives it. I stood at my stove or sat beside my smoker and I made peanut brittle and smoked ham prep, and the making was the medicine, and the eating was the communion, and the cleaning up afterward was the humility that every cook needs — the reminder that the meal is over but the feeding continues, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Sunday at Mt. Zion, the choir sang and I added my bass to the foundation, and the sound rose through the sanctuary the way smoke rises through the air — upward, always upward, seeking something higher than itself. After church, I drove to Whitehaven or I called Mama or I sat in the backyard and thought about the things I always think about: family, fire, food, and the faith that holds them all together. The week was done. The next one was coming. And I would show up for it, as I show up for everything, because showing up is the only skill I have that never fails.

After a week of choir rehearsals, holiday mail, and standing beside the smoker getting the ham right, Sunday morning called for something that could hold everybody — something you slide into the oven before church and pull out when the whole house is ready to sit down together. That’s exactly what this Amish Breakfast Casserole is: smoky ham layered into eggs and cheese, the kind of dish Rosetta would approve of, the kind that asks nothing of the table except that everyone show up hungry and grateful.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb smoked ham, diced
• 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 6 large eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 cups frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
2. Cook the aromatics. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the diced onion and green bell pepper until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Build the base. Spread the thawed hash browns evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Layer the diced smoked ham, crumbled bacon, cooked onion and pepper, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar cheese over the top.
4. Mix the custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika until fully combined. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the layered ingredients in the baking dish.
5. Top with cheese. Sprinkle the Monterey Jack and remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese evenly across the top.
6. Bake. Place uncovered in the preheated oven and bake for 45–55 minutes, until the center is set and the top is golden and bubbling. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
7. Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, straight from the dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 890mg