Hospitality

1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way

We are having musical guests for worship at our congregation this Sunday. The University of Texas Trombone Choir will be providing special music at both services. [I will only confess here the struggle I face to abstain from the myriad "brings a whole new meaning to Hook Em Horns" comments that arise so naturally from their visit. I am supposed to be a better person than that, so I'll let them all go undocumented in this setting. Just know they are out there.....]

In response to their spending the morning with us, beside an honorarium, we are offering them breakfast. "We" being members of the Senior Choir.

As these things go, the more experienced among us in feeding large groups spoke up first, determining what would be reasonable to offer. There will be 27 musicians, their director and however many guests they bring. Probably in the neighborhood of 30, mostly college students, and mostly male. Although many of them are currently unfamiliar with breakfast as an early morning experience, I've no doubt their appetites will adjust accordingly.

So, sure, breakfast casseroles. One woman offered to bring a version featuring ham, another with bacon. A third said she will bring one with sausage. I offered to bring a 4th, an "in case of large appetites" buffer zone of sorts, and in the spirit of variety said I'd bring a meatless casserole, something with green chiles.

Thus began my search for a meatless breakfast casserole. Not vegetarian really, these casseroles all are egg/cheese concoctions, but I wanted to offer something filling, satisfying, deliciously interesting in taste and texture.

I came up with the following. I test ran a version for dinner last night and based upon that will make two additional tweaks to the recipe which I will then prepare and share Sunday. Here's the final Agrodolce Approved Version:

Cheesy Potato Green Chile Breakfast Casserole
8-10 servings

1 -16 ounce package shredded potatoes
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 - 7 ounce cans diced green chilies
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
3 cups shredded sharp cheese, divided
large bag (8-9 ounces) jalapeño potato chips
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350º.

Lightly spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium skillet, sauté onions in oil until translucent.

Sprinkle sufficient chips over bottom of casserole dish to cover well, gently crush in place with potato masher. Add chips as needed until you have an even 1/4 inch layer of crushed chips.



In a large bowl combine potatoes with sauteed onion, two cups of cheese, and one can green chiles. Season to taste. Mix well and gently spoon potato mixture over chips in baking dish.

In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, milk and the remaining can of chiles. Pour over the potatoes and top with the remaining cup of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Check the center for doneness by inserting a knife. Serve warm with picante sauce.