"Cheesy" Sausage and Pepper Egg Bake

This is one of my favorite things to make for breakfast. You can make it on a Sunday night for meal prep and you'll have a quick and filling breakfast all week. It is the perfect mixture of sausage, eggs, veggies, and hash browns. I love serving it with avocados and hot sauce, but you can add any toppings you'd like! This recipe is naturally gluten free and adjusted to be dairy free.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cashews

• hot water

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 small red pepper, chopped

• 1/2 white onion, chopped

• Salt & pepper to taste

• 1 lb ground breakfast sausage

• 2 tbsp arrowroot or corn starch

• 1 bunch green onions, thinly chopped

• 7 eggs

• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tbsp onion powder

• 1 cup DF style cheese of your choice, divided (I usually use Miyokos Creamery DF cheddar cheese)

• 1 lb shredded hash browns (you can make your own or buy a bag at the store)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a roughly 13 by 8 inch oven proof pan. Place the cashews in a measuring class. Fill up the glass with hot water until the water and cashews combined reach 2 cups. Allow to soak in the hot water for 15 minutes.

2. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Saute the onions and peppers for about 7 minutes, until they soften. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper while they're cooking. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Once the cashews have been soaking for 15 minutes, blend them until smooth in a high speed blend creating the cashew cream.

4. In the same pan on medium heat, add the the sausage, crumble and cook until browned. Stir in the cornstarch until the sausage is fully coated. Then, stir in 1 1/2 cups of the cashew cream until it starts to thicken. Sprinkle with salt and go heavy on the black pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.

5. In a large bowl, crack and whisk all of the eggs. Add in the cooked onions and peppers, remainder of the 1/2 cup cashew cream, green onions, garlic powder, onion powder, and 1/2 cup of the DF cheese. Stir until well combined.

6. Layer the oven proof pan starting with the hash browns in an even layer on the bottom. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Poor the egg mixture on top of the hash browns in an even layer. Then spoon the sausage mixture on top of the egg mixture in an even layer.

7. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup DF cheese over the whole pan, and return to the oven for 5 minutes so the DF cheese can melt.

8. Slice into serving portions. Serve with avocados and hot sauce if you would like and enjoy!

9. You can store this in the fridge up to 4 days and heat up in the microwave.