Not only do I love August for the long hot summer days, but it is also peak hatch chile season! I am usually one of the first people in line for Hatchfest at Central Market and will spend the rest of the month adding hatch chiles to every dish I make. Creating a Hatch Chile Breakfast Casserole was as easy as swapping potatoes for tortillas and adding hatch chiles to my classic recipe. I used fresh chiles this time, but I am headed back to Central Market for some roasted chiles to throw in next time. Enjoy! xoxo

Print Hatch Chile Breakfast Casserole Recipe.

1 pound turkey breakfast sausage

1 white onion chopped

2-4 Hatch Chiles, seeded and diced (roasted or fresh)

10oz can of no salt Rotel

8 large eggs

2 cups of low-fat milk

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons paprika

9-12 Flour Tortillas

1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

In a large skillet, cook the sausage until browned. Add onion, hatch chiles, and Rotel to sausage and cook until vegetables are tender. Whisk together the eggs, milk, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika in a separate large bowl.

Line a large casserole dish with flour tortillas and top with half of the sausage and vegetable mixture. Pour a third of the egg mixture over the sausage and tortillas, then top with another layer of flour tortillas the second half of the sausage mixture, and another third of the egg mixture. Finish with another layer of flour tortillas and the remaining egg mixture, and top with Monterey Jack cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let the cheese brown for another 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Looking for more breakfast recipes? Check out my posts here:

Breakfast Casserole

Avocado Toast Four Ways

Banana Bread

Sausage Balls

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Mini Frittatas

During our trip to Chicago, we ate dinner at Fig & Olive and I had the best scallop risotto with mushrooms and truffle. It was so good, that not only did I completely scrape the plate, but I order the same dish at Fig & Olive when visiting New York. After realizing how much effort goes into making delicious risotto, this dish has been reserved for special occasions or our next trip. If you do not enjoy cooking or spending time in the kitchen, this scallop risotto recipe is not for you. Seriously, you have to stir the risotto for about 30 minutes and it is a tedious process. Carnaroli rice is a little bit more difficult to find but works way better than sushi rice when making risotto. I usually find carnaroli and good scallops at Central Market or Whole Foods. If you do not like mushrooms or truffles, you can use the risotto recipe as a base and add vegetables and flavors of your liking. Enjoy! xoxo

Images via Alex Phillips.

Print Scallop Risotto recipe.

1 tablespoon salt

6 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 shallot, chopped

2 cups carnaroli or Japanese sushi rice

1 cup dry white wine

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 1/2 cups finely grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon truffle oil

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 pound sea scallops

Combine 1 tablespoon of salt and 10 cups of water in a medium pot, and bring to a simmer. Heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven and cook shallot until translucent and soften. Add 1/2 cup of water, stirring often, until water evaporates and shallot is completely tender. Add rice and stir well to coat with oil. Stir constantly until grains of rice are translucent around the edges, about 5 minutes, and they make a clattering sound when they hit the pot. (Coating the grains with oil helps the rice cook evenly so the outside does not become mushy before the center is tender.) Add wine, and bring to a simmer stirring occasionally until wine is evaporated. 

Reduce heat to medium and add hot salted water for the second pot in 1 cup increments. Stir constantly and allow water to absorb fully before adding more. Cook until rice is al dente and surrounded by a creamy suspension, about 30 minutes. Remove pot from heat, add 5 tablespoons of butter, Parmesan cheese, truffle oil, and ground pepper, and stir until melted. 

  Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet on medium. Add chopped mushrooms and garlic, and cook, until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes. Pour mushrooms over risotto and using the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high until just beginning to smoke. Season scallops generously with salt and pepper. Cook scallops on one side until a golden-brown crust forms on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and turn scallops over. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes. Plate scallops with risotto and serves warm. 

As a kid, my favorite Sunday mornings were when a beloved Sunday school teacher would bring homemade sausage balls to class. All the kids would pass right by the box of donuts to make sure they were able to snag one of her famous sausage balls. That memory recently helped me find a solution to the dreaded 11 am football kickoff. Every time I host a tailgate or watch party for an early kickoff, I struggle to prepare breakfast-like items. Sausage balls have become one of my favorite simple solutions for those awkward game times that are somewhere between the bagels and burgers. After many attempts to make sausage balls with turkey instead of pork, I discovered the best solution is the Jennie-O turkey breakfast sausage. This is the same turkey sausage I use in my Breakfast Casserole and it has all the flavor of regular sausage with half the fat. Enjoy! xoxo

Images via Alex Phillips.

Print Sausage Ball Recipe 

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 pound breakfast turkey sausage

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Whisk flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, baking powder, and cheddar cheese. Add sausage, onion, and butter. Mix well with your hands. Roll 1-inch balls and place them about half an inch apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Looking for more breakfast recipes? Check out my posts here:

Breakfast Casserole

Avocado Toast Four Ways

Banana Bread

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Mini Frittatas