Family Movie Time: Hashbrown casserole

You guys, I have so many tricks up my sleeve it's amazing that my shirts fit.

We had another weekend where baseball was cancelled for rain, which gave us a whole weekend with no plans.  I thought maybe it would be fun to go see a movie, since we did the museum last weekend.  But Thatboy has been waiting for weeks for nicer weather to try out some ice-dying tie-dye technique.  It ended up taking a lot more time than expected, and by the time that was done, naptime ran a little late, and there were no movies times we'd make before dinner.

Sunday morning we met up with Thatmom and Thatbrother for breakfast, and this is where my little tricks come in.  Instead of going to the movies back by our house, I used the opportunity to check out a special theater that was between the breakfast place and our house.  We rarely go to other theaters, since we have one in town, but I'd tucked this one away in my memory banks for when the occasion might arise.

What's so special about this theater?

It's especially geared for kids!

In fact, you can't buy a ticket for this theater unless you're accompanied by a child under 12.

Cinepolis Junior is a special theater, I think there are two in the country, which really caters to kids.  Even the seats are fun!  They have your regular movie theater chairs, but they also have lounge chairs, giant bean bags, and these chairs that are basically oversized pillows.

Each bean bag and oversize pillow seats two people.  So the boys cuddled up in one,

and we cuddled up in the one next to them.

The play structure on the side of the theater was available for the kids to burn off a little energy before the movie started.  The theater also instituted a 15 minute intermission, during which time little theater go-ers could use the bathroom, grab concessions, or hit up the play structure again.

It's really a brilliant idea for kids who can't quite sit through a long movie, either because they need to use the bathroom, or because 2 hours is too long to sit still.

Overall it was such a good experience that we may never make use of our local theater again.  Thatboy said it was his favorite movie theater experience of all times and he was really disappointed to learn he couldn't come back without the kids!

My other little trick is a two-for-one.  I was chatting with another mom at Thatkid's school and I mentioned I was starving and needed to go home and have breakfast.  She asked what kinds of things I usually have for breakfast, which is when I filled her in on my trick.  Sunday nights I make an egg casserole, and then I have breakfast all week.  It makes it so easy to just grab and heat up in the morning.  And the two-fold part?  I don't really have a recipe, I just use whatever leftover stuff we happen to have on hand.

But last week's casserole was so amazing, it has become my new favorite.  And that's why I'm sharing it with you.  Impossibly easy, it really consists of cooking sausage, then layering that with frozen hashbrowns and eggs.  No chopping, no dicing, no nothing!  I made this with sweet Italian sausage, which I had leftover from a dinner I had made that week, but any sausage will really work.  Quick, easy, and will feed you for days?  Who says tricks are for kids?

Hashbrown Casserole

1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk

2 cups frozen hashbrowns

6 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray.  Heat a pan over medium high heat.  Cook sausage until browned.
2. Sprinkle flour over sausage and cook for about 1 minute.
3. Add milk and cook until milk has thickened, about 5 minutes.  
4. Whisk the eggs and add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spread the frozen hashbrowns evenly over the baking dish.
6. Top with the sausage mixture.
7. Pour the eggs over.  Bake for 50 minutes, until cooked through.