Egg Casserole

We went to Houston for C's sister's wedding this weekend. The day after, C's mom had everyone over for breakfast. I made egg casserole and fruit salad, and she had bagels, lox and cream cheese as well. I wanted to make an asparagus frittata, but there was enough eggy stuff already to go around.

The egg casserole is, to me, traditional to Christmas breakfast, and there are few other opportunities to make it. If we ever have brunch we could do this dish, but I also just tried baked eggs and think they'd be a wonderful brunch dish also.

The recipe, this time:

8 eggs
1-2 c milk
multigrain bread - about 6 large pieces
two cans (7 oz) green chilis, chopped
butter spread
mild 2% milk cheddar, 2 c
sharp 2% milk cheddar, 1 c
dry mustard
garlic powder
oregano
white pepper

cover bottom of a 9x13 and a 8x10-11 glass dish with the bread. butter the bread on one side.
mix eggs, milk, chilis. IDEALLY should add spices to this - 1/4-1/2t mustard, 1/2 t oregano, 1/4 t white pepper, 1/4 t garlic powder (approximate measurements). Pour egg mixture over bread, sprinkle cheese on top, and cover. Refridgerate overnight (or 4-6 hours might do it).

Preheat oven to 400, bake for 45 minutes.

Issues to correct:
This made a nicely browned dish, but also some plasticky material on the bottom - a black bubbly layer (<1 mm) that didn't taste burned, exactly, but I think should be avoided if possible. Some people seemed to like it, though. I think the solution is to bake at 350 for an hour, and 10 minutes before the end if it's not browned, then up the heat to make it pretty.

Someday I will post a picture of this, should I ever make it again, but I neglected to at this time, due to lack of sleep.

The taste of the dish is nice, though I prefer the cheese sharper. The chilis give it a nice flavor but very very little heat. The eaters of the dish were from NY and FL, and I believe not accustomed to the spicy foods, and had no trouble with it at all.