Love, Alexi comment icon 86 more comments Raise your hand if you love egg bakes! Wait, though, are egg bakes still a thing? Were they ever a thing? To me, they are the epitome of spring brunches, bridal and baby showers, and special occasion or holiday family meals taking place anytime before 1pm, but is that just a Minnesota thing? Sometimes I need help understanding myself. I loooove a good egg bake and I’m only about a 3 out of 10 in terms of liking eggs in general. There is just so much to love about egg bakes that goes way beyond ze eggs. I mean, think about it: you whisk those eggys right up with milk and seasoning – you pour those eggys right over some delicious things like bread, vegetables, potatoes, meat, and cheese – you bake it to firm, flavorful, breakfasty perfection – and then you eat those eggys right up with everything else good and wonderful in there. It makes for a quick one-dish brunch and some awesome leftovers for breakfast on the go. Hot, cold, doesn’t even matter. This is gon’be good. When I think of Easter food (because I think Easter is, like, THIS MONTH?!), I have this memory of my mom making a special drive to “the cities” around Easter time to pick up her favorite ham. It was our very own real-life version of Christmas with the Kranks and the hickory honey ham – we had this one type of ham that we would always get and it was just so so so good. It had a sweet glaze and it was addicting. Yes, I mean that. Ham –> addictive. Even if you never thought in a million years that ham would be one of your most favoritist foods, you’d try this sweet once-a-year Easter ham and you’d change your mind. Plus, paired with the massive pan of cornflake-topped cheesy potatoes? Good luck saying no to that, friends. Goooood luck. This year I am trying a new brand of ham. It’s called Smithfield, and the good news all around is that it is possibly even better than the ham I remember eating as a kid sitting at the Easter table. It has that same sweet glaze, and it was so easy to make. I mean, it’s already cooked and spiral cut, so you put it in a big roasting pan, let it get all juicy and delicious in the oven for a while, and then top it with some sweet glaze when it’s hot and yummy. OK YES. I was nibbling on little ham bits all morning like a ham-loving weirdo. The ham I made was huge, so with just the two of us and no real Easter celebration yet, we had like 80 pounds left over. So first, I brought some leftovers to my friend’s family. Her husband said: best ham he’s ever had. And then I took the rest of my best-ever ham leftovers and made a good ol’ Minnesota style egg bake, because what else? Well, actually, there are lots of ideas (roasted veggie and ham soup? pasta with cream sauce and peas? cheesy ham panini?) but this was the one that I just couldn’t let out of my mind. And in a nice little twist of fate, it’s still early in the A-M as I’m writing this, and I am envisioning two small containers of leftover ham and sausage hashbrown egg bake in the fridge, second shelf, front and center. Hey guys? I think I need to get going now. This post is sponsored by Smithfield Ham. 4.7 from 14 reviews
