I honestly don’t remember what age I was – or the name of the camp. These are the details that children don’t need to carry around with them. What I do remember: this specific Girl Scout trip was where I learned how to cook a “Toad in the Hole” with just a coffee can and a Tuna can. We headed out in the woods with our cans, mess kits and food. We got a little fire going in a small tuna fish can – flipped over the coffee can with a hole cut out of the side to let air in. Then we  cooked bacon on top. When it was finished, I cut a hole out of a piece of bread and toasted one side, flipped it and broke an egg into the middle and let it finish cooking.

This was miraculous to me. I had been camping many times where my mother or father caught fish, cleaned them and we cooked them – but this time was just me. I did it. It was a very empowering thing to learn as a young girl.

For one of the breakfasts, I remember that each troop was responsible for making their own casserole. I questioned the choice of ingredients – and still do, but we made it anyway. We used a rectangular pan and filled it with scrambled eggs and alternated peaches and breakfast sausage in the eggs so when it cooked it baked around them and made a casserole. It was camp, and we were working and playing hard there – so everyone ate it – but I was not a fan of the peaches…

Being in the woods that week created very strong memories for me. There were key foundational moments that have led to my interest in gardening and food security.

So, today was looking in the freezer and cabinets to plan for my breakfast and when I saw the (gluten free & organic) breakfast sausage in the freezer – I was reminded of camp and decided that I will make a different version of the casserole for the week. (our grocery delivery day is Wednesday – so I plan my week starting with Thursdays).

I will be using eggs, breakfast sausage, onion, spinach, green beans, the first zucchini from the garden(!) and green apple diced to add the sweetness instead of the peaches.

My recipe developed into this – but yours can be whatever you want it to be! It took a bit longer than I thought it would because of the amount of veggies, so the time could vary with other ingredients.
12 eggs
2 cups frozen green beans and spinach – organic and thawed
8 gluten free breakfast sausage
1 onion diced
1 green apple – diced
4 oz. wasabi goat cheese

I buttered the 9×13 pan, added each of the veggies, added about a teaspoon of goat cheese to each serving (I plan for this to be 8), and covered with the eggs, added a little salt and pepper.

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

And the final result looks and smells delicious! Can’t wait to have it for lunch tomorrow =)  This whole thing was a bit of an experiment for me and I am very happy with the results. Once I portion out lunches for the week, I will probably put them in the freezer. Also, I was able to use the zucchini from the garden and the local goat cheese from the farmer’s market. Let me know if you try it!