One of my fellow grade team leaders has started a First Friday Breakfast tradition to build camaraderie among staff. Bringing a potluck dish to our school is somewhat of an engineering challenge compared to bringing a potluck dish to a typical office building. Our teachers’ lounge has a small sink with lead in the water and no garbage disposal, a microwave, and a small toaster oven. We could be like our 8th graders at a potluck and bring things like Pop-Tarts and bagels, but those don’t fuel you for teaching the way a home-cooked breakfast can.
My original idea was breakfast tacos or burritos, but the multiple components and make-to-order nature of those foods wouldn’t work for “drop off at the teachers lounge”…unless I got up at 4:00 a.m. to individually wrap 30 burritos. I sought to find a breakfast dish that could be pre-made, served warm, and required minimal cleanup, which led me to a breakfast casserole with cheddar, hash browns, scallions, and sundried tomatoes.
Doesn’t that look ready to get gobbled up by hungry teachers?
Preparing it the night before didn’t even take as long as an episode of The Big Bang Theory. I made two (one in a glass Pyrex dish and one in a disposable foil pan) and reheated them for about 35 minutes the next morning before driving them to school. I will definitely use foil pans in the future–they save the soaking & scrubbing that you’ll need to do if you have to let your regular casserole dish sit at school all day.
One day I will figure out how to make this waffle bar (spotted at a recent Cambridge Running Club long run) happen for our staff.
