Book Club & Whatever-you-have-in-the-fridge Egg Casserole!

This weekend we had our Book Club meeting at my mom's house.  I can't even explain how much I love our Book Club.  My mom and I started it 3 years ago - which is absolutely nuts to me that it's been going on this long, so effortlessly.  

This month we read "Grass" by Sheri Tepper.  I use the term "we" very loosely, as my mom was the only one who finished it! ;)  Haha!  It was a long one that a lot of us had difficulty finding in stores / at the library - so we're going to discuss it again at the next meeting so that everyone has a chance to finish it.  It's a sci-fi book (our first one), and my mom loved it (it's apparently garnered a lot of praise - compared to the likes of "Dune"), so I really want to finish it. 

Our next book is "Bossypants" by Tina Fey.  I can't wait to read this one!  The cover photo alone cracks me up.  I was hoping to get this reserved as an audio book, because she reads it!  But unfortunately the wait list is ridiculously long at the library, so I'll have to read it the old-fashioned way.  I'm sure it will still be really funny though. 

At our meeting we indulged in some AWESOME food too!  Katy & my mom made the same thing (baked french toast), but they were both very different and equally delicious.  Jane brought danishes & other treats from Panera, and Nikki brought blueberry muffins - deeeeeelicious.  Luckily I decided to make something salty to even out all of the sweets, and even though I literally made it up that morning - the recipe ended up turning out great!  I promised Nikki I would post it here so that she could make it, so here it is.  

Whatever-you-have-in-the-fridge Egg Casserole

Serves - about 6

Time - about 30-45 mins

What's great about this recipe is that you really only need 3 basic ingredients - 1 big potato, eggs, and some kind of vegetable.  Don't have cheese?  Eh, you don't really need it. ;)  

INGREDIENTS
6-7 eggs
sour cream (I used Tofutti brand, vegan) optional
1 large potato (or about 3 small ones)
A vegetable (I used 1 large zucchini, chopped in quarters - but you could use broccoli, asparagus - anything you like!)
1/2 an onion (diced)
Shredded cheese (about 2 cups) optional
Seasonings / spray oil

DIRECTIONS
Spray oil inside a casserole dish, or 9x13" baking pan, and pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the potato into chip-sized pieces (not too thin - about 1/4 an inch or a little less).  Place a layer of the slices into the bottom of the casserole dish, overlapping them slightly.  Season them with salt, pepper, garlic powder (and whatever other spice you like).  After seasoning, do another layer & season.  If you can make a 3rd layer, great (I had enough potato to do this), if not, don't worry about it!

Place the casserole dish w/ potatoes in the oven for about 15-25 minutes (or until the potatoes are just slightly tender).  Mine were a little undercooked (I did 15 mins), but everyone said they kind of liked the little bit of crunch they had! 

In a large pan, saute the zucchini and onions in a small amount of olive oil, and season.  Cook until the onions are translucent, then turn off the heat.

Crack the eggs in a medium sized bowl, and beat together with a few dollops of sour cream.  You can easily substitute a little bit of milk for the sour cream, or even use cream cheese instead.  Whatever you'd like!  Season the eggs with a little salt & pepper.

Remove the casserole dish from the oven, and sprinkle with a handful of cheese.  Dump the vegetable & onion mixture on top of that, and cover with another handful of cheese.  Then dump the egg mixture over top of everything, and place the casserole back in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until the eggs are just set.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese & serve! 

I didn't get a picture of the casserole by itself, but here's my plate from book club - a slice of it is on my fork ready to be shoveled into my mouth! ;)