Dinner and a Movie Monday

With the arrival of the cooler fall weather, I have been bitten by the cooking bug. I'm not sure why, but Mondays have become my major cooking night (and then I have leftovers for the week. Dear leftovers, I LOVE you!). I posted a picture of my latest dish on instagram tonight, and my friend Kezia sent me a note suggesting I blog about the pairing of my favorite recipes with my favorite movies. I wrote back, called her a genius, and thus "Dinner and a Movie Monday" was born! So without further ado, here are tonight's selections:

Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Dinner: Um, the movie has breakfast in the title, so I'm going to go with a Spinach and Tomato Egg Bake.

I vividly remember the first time I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was having a sleepover at my friend Claire's house, and we were snuggled up in our sleeping bags in her basement. It was late and we probably should have been asleep, but neither one of us could turn off the magic that is Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. The clothes! The hair! Cat! It's alllllllll good. 

The opening scene perfectly depicts the overall tone of the movie. Holly is having breakfast in front of the windows of Tiffany & Co. She is dressed to the nines, alone, and a bit wistful looking. It's such a simple sequence, yet incredibly poignant.

A new neighbor, "Fred" (Paul), moves into Holly's apartment building and the two become fast friends. Holly portrays herself as a socialite who has the world on a string. As her friendship with Paul progresses, her facade crumbles and she is forced to see herself as she really is. I love watching Holly's journey - I think it's one we all take at one point or another in our lives. 

Favorite Scene: When Holly sings "Moon River" 
Favorite Line: "It should take you exactly four seconds to cross from here to that door. I'll give you two."

Could she BE any more fabulous? I think not!

And now, the "dinner" portion of the evening. I don't love eggs, and I loathe (like realllllllly loathe) quiche. BUT, this egg bake is not too eggy and it's definitely not quichey (these ARE words, I swear!).

Ingredients:
1-12 oz. package breakfast sausage, cooked according to package directions and cut into bite sized pieces (I used whatever maple flavored kind I could find at Target)
1 pound shredded frozen hashbrowns, thawed
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 cups sliced white mushrooms (I left these out when I made it)
1 cup spinach, torn into bite sized pieces
1 cup shredded cheese, divided
1 cup tomatoes, diced
10 eggs
1 cup milk
salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish, evenly spreading hashbrows on the bottom and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the hashbrowns with onions, mushrooms, spinach, sausage, and a 1/2 cup of cheese. In a large bowl, mix eggs and milk. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to the egg mixture and pour on top of the veggies and hashbrowns. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until eggs are set (AKA, when the eggs don't move when you jiggle the pan...it's a very technical system). 

NOTE: I put everything together the night before and then popped it in the oven in the morning. If you do make ahead, you can just pour the frozen hashbrowns in the pan and they will naturally thaw by morning. 

The finished product

Serve with some sort of delicious bread product (for no particular reason other than bread products make everything better), and in the spirit of Breakfast at Tiffany's, have a mimosa (or two!) :)