Easy Cheesy Potato Brunch Casserole

For the last couple of days, I've been craving potatoes. Yes, that's right, potatoes. Plain, white tubers.

I get salmon cravings, curry cravings, pasta cravings - and I put all my cravings down to my body knowing it needs some extra particular vitamin or nutrient or (gasp!) carbs. But what with the humble potato?

Well, I looked it up online, and discovered that the potato is a high source of B vitamins, niacin, and vitamin C. I have a cold, and am likely low in all these vitamins, especially B. So, in order to soothe my craving, and get some of those needed nutrients, I whipped up a little casserole that I pulled together from an old recipe idea, a combo of other recipes, and ingenuity.

Behold, my Easy, Cheesy Potato Casserole!

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced (scalloped style!)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon of jarred garlic (or 2 cloves fresh)
• 5 strips of bacon, extra fat cut off
• 1/2 cup of broccoli
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can of milk
• Grated cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the soup and milk in a casserole dish.
2. Peel and slice the potatoes, rinse them, and layer then to the best of your ability in the soupy casserole dish.
3. Fry up the bacon. Cut the bacon into small pieces in the pan, separating the fat. Add the bacon pieces to the casserole.  Keep one or two pieces of fat in the pan, throw the rest of the fat away.
4. Dice up the onion (and garlic if using fresh), fry the onion and garlic in the pan with the bacon fat til brown. Add the onion and garlic to the casserole, and mix it up.
5. Add the broccoli, and mix it up (note, I only had about 1/4 cup of broccoli, and wish I'd had more. More broccoli - like 1/2 cup - would be good).
6. Sprinkle in some cheddar cheese, and mix it up. 
7. Add pepper.
8. Add a little salt if you want, but be careful - the canned soup is pretty salty already.

Bake uncovered in a preheated oven at 375 for 1.5 to 2 hours - until the potatoes are really soft, or as soft as desired. Sprinkle some more cheddar cheese on top for the last 2 or 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Frankly, this turned out tastier than I had expected, and, in fact, was downright yummy. This is something that I would make again!