Sausage-Cheese Grits

Another breakfast recipe.  Told you I was into breakfast these days.

Oh, how I love grits.  Especially this kind:

Because when they grow up, they look like this:

These sausage and cheese grits are my favorite thing to make with this bag of very special stone ground grits.

I hope Santa brings me another bag of stone ground grits from the mill this year.  Because I'm almost out.  Santa?  Are you there?

Oh, and here's the other reason I love these grits:

But you probably already knew that.

So you'll want to bring a big pot of water to a boil.  Because it takes a lot of water to cook stone ground grits.

While the grits cook, you can brown the turkey breakfast sausage.

When the grits are done, just toss everything in

And definitely don't forget your garlic.

Pour it into your baking dish

And bake it until it's all brown and bubbly and gooey and cheesy:

You could definitely make this on a breakfast-for-dinner night.  These grits are awesome.

Sausage-Cheese Grits
Inspired by Creating a Stir

1 1/2 cups stone-ground grits
5 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 lb turkey breakfast sausage, browned, crumbled and drained
6 T butter
2 garlic cloves, grated
12 oz. pepper jack cheese, grated and divided (about 3 cups total)
7 oz. can diced green chiles
1/2 cup cream or half-and-half
1 tsp pepper
2 eggs, beaten

Bring water to a boil and whisk in salt and grits.  Cover and cook grits on low heat, stirring frequently, for about 25 minutes until they are thick and creamy.  Keep the grits on low heat while you stir in the sausage, butter, garlic, 2 cups of the grated cheese, green chiles, pepper and half-and-half.  When combined, add the eggs and stir quickly to keep the eggs from scrambling.

Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake on 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.  About 10 minutes before removing from the oven, top with the remaining one cup of cheese and finish baking until cheese is melted.

Allow the grits to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.