Wisconsin Maple Cheddar and Breakfast Sausage Frittata

Meal ideas can come from many places. Sometimes it's from a craving, sometimes it's from cookbook.

In this case, it's from an ingredient.

One of the Christmas presents we got this year was a Brennan's Market gift card from my mom. Melissa went one day to the store and bough several items, Wisconsin maple cheddar cheese among them.

This cheese is enticing: A deep maple aroma assaults your senses, but when you bite into it, the maple is far more subtle and the cheddar takes precedence.

We wondered how we could use the cheese in a meal, and Melissa thought to make a frittata. So we bought some breakfast sausage, rummaged through our freezer and found hashbrowns and proceded to build from there.

The perfect bite was a balance of the sausage and the cheese and egg, with the scent of maple thrown in.

Wisconsin Maple Cheddar and Breakfast Sausage Frittata
6 servings

1 tablespoon butter, enough to coat pan
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 cups hashbrowns
6 breakfast sausages, removed from casings
4 eggs
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons milk
salt to taste
pepper to taste
chives to taste
3/4 to 1 cup maple cheddar, shredded

1. Saute onions in butter in large skillet. When translucent, add hashbrowns. Make sure the hashbrowns are dry so they brown quicker.

2. In another skillet, cook the breakfast sausages until heated through. Remove sausage from skillet.

3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, egg whites, milk, salt, pepper, chives and maple cheddar.

4. In the large skillet, combine onion, hashbrowns and sausage. Add egg mixture and cook for a couple of minutes, pulling cooked eggs from the side of the skillet and allowing more of the eggs to cook.

5. Broil until cooked through, about 10 minutes.