Mountain Man Breakfast

This is our favorite crowd-pleasing breakfast when camping, made over coals in a cast-iron dutch oven. Today I am chopping the veggies in preparation for making it tomorrow a.m. for my church. We will cook three large batches in roasters. My kitchen smells amazing--a mix of Jimmy Dean sausage (my favorite), onions and peppers. Yum!

You can make it at home by layering ingredients in a large covered casserole dish.

The original recipe is from Lodge Cast Iron Cookware, but we added to it. The original version has hash brown style potatoes, meat, eggs and cheese. You can omit all the additional ingredients and with just those it will taste good. Just not ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! ;-)

Layer the following in a dutch oven or casserole dish. If cooking in an oven, preheat to 350 degrees F.

1 lb. bag tater tots (or hash browns) deep fried or baked according to package directions
(If cooking in a dutch oven, cook potatoes in oil and then continue the recipe)
1 lb. cooked chopped bacon, ham or sausage (I like sausage best.)

Add some or all of the following:

one chopped onion
some chopped mushrooms
about 1 cup or more of chopped green pepper (we use a mix of green, red and yellow ones)
1 can of water chestnuts, chopped
about 1 cup sliced olives.

All of this is very approximate and we do cook the peppers and onions a bit beforehand.

Slightly beat 1 dozen eggs (or more if needed, depending on how many you are serving), and pour over the top of the potatoes and vegetables. Cover and cook till eggs are almost done. Add about 3 cups shredded cheese. (Lodge calls for 1 lb. cheese, but I think that's overkill.)

Cook till cheese is melted and eggs are done.

Serve with salsa if desired. I'm labeling this "make ahead" because you can cook everything except the eggs, tater tots and cheese beforehand and then layer it together the day you want to eat it.