Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

Michael is three weeks old and he has already developed opinions about food. Specifically: he has opinions about the pace at which food arrives. The pace should be immediate. The gap between hungry and fed should be zero. Any delay — any pause, any fumbling with bottles, any adjustment of temperature — is met with a cry that starts in his toes and exits through his face with a force that defies his seven-pound body. He is, in this regard, a Henderson.

Kayla is nursing and supplementing with formula, a combination that works for her and Devon and that I support completely because fed babies are the only kind that matter and the method is nobody's business but the mother's. She comes to my kitchen — Denise's kitchen, my kitchen — every Saturday now, with Michael in the carrier and Devon trailing behind with the diaper bag. Saturday mornings are ours. Mine and Kayla's and Michael's. Devon drops them off and goes to the gym or the grocery store or wherever men go when their wives tell them to leave for a few hours, and Kayla and I cook.

We cook with the baby. Michael sits in his carrier on the kitchen table — far from the stove, close to the supervision — and he watches. Or he sleeps. Or he cries and Kayla feeds him and then he watches again. He is three weeks old and he is already being marinated in the smell of onions and garlic and the sound of a cast iron skillet being placed on a flame. He doesn't know what he's learning. He's learning everything.

I taught Kayla to make cornbread this Saturday. Not the recipe — she knows the recipe. The technique. The cast iron technique. Hattie Pearl's technique. You heat the skillet with butter until the butter browns. You pour the batter in and it sizzles and the bottom crust starts forming before the oven even sees it. You bake at 425 for twenty-two minutes and not a minute more. You flip it onto a plate and the crust is golden and crispy and the inside is tender and the whole thing is a circle of cornbread that holds the history of every woman who's made it in this skillet.

Kayla's cornbread was perfect. Michael slept through it. The skillet remembers.

Now go on and feed somebody.

The cornbread was the main event, but a Saturday morning kitchen doesn’t stop at one thing — not in this house, and not with Kayla sitting across from me while Michael dozed in his carrier and Devon was wherever Devon was. While the skillet did its work, we had this casserole in the oven too, because Hattie Pearl always said you feed people in layers, and a kitchen that smells like one good thing should smell like two. This is the recipe that filled the table around the cornbread — simple, warm, and exactly right for the kind of Saturday morning you want to remember.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 lb ground breakfast sausage
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
8 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 (32 oz) bag frozen tater tots
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or green onions, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Cook the sausage. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground sausage, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks, about 6–8 minutes. Add the diced onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 4 minutes more. Drain any excess fat and set aside.
Whisk the egg mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper until well combined.
Layer the casserole. Spread the cooked sausage mixture evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle 1 cup of the shredded cheddar over the sausage layer. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the top.
Add the tater tots. Arrange the frozen tater tots in a single layer over the egg mixture, covering the surface completely.
Top with cheese. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar evenly over the tater tots.
Bake. Bake uncovered for 40–45 minutes, until the eggs are fully set, the tater tots are golden and crispy, and the cheese is bubbling. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Garnish and serve. Top with chopped chives or green onions and bring it straight to the table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole — Because Saturday Mornings Were Made for This Kitchen