Overnight Breakfast Pie

My sweet husband made this casserole dish for Christmas morning. I found the recipe from one of my Christmas magazines, but I can't remember which one it came from. He made it on Christmas Eve, which left us little to do on Christmas morning, which was fabulous! This casserole will definitely be a traditional meal every Christmas from here on out!

Ingredients:
8 slices bacon
1/2 cup panko crumbs
5 eggs
2 1/2 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1. In a large skillet cook the bacon. Drain bacon on paper towels, reserving 1 tbs of the drippings in the skillet. Crumble bacon and set aside. Stir bread crumbs into the reserved bacon droppings. Transfer into a small bowl, cover and chill until needed.
2. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate or casserole dish. In a medium bowl, beat eggs with fork until foamy. Stir in crumbled bacon, hash brown potatoes, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into the prepared pie plate. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours.

3. Sprinkle pie with bread crumb mixture. Bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven at 325 for 50 minutes. *Makes 6-8 servings.