Crumble and brown breakfast sausage in a skillet over medium heat until no pink remains. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to absorb excess grease.

Spray the inside of a 5 quart crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Break apart hash brown shreds in package. Dump hash browns and sausage into crock pot. Don't worry about stirring yet.

In a large bowl beat eggs together with milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried mustard until completely combined.

Add the egg mixture and shredded cheese to crock pot. Stir until completely incorporated. Level top. Cover with lid. NOTE: You can divide your cheese if desired. Add 1 cup now, top with remaining 1 cup 30 minutes before serving to melt all over the top.

Set crock pot on low for 6-8 hours (7 hrs for me). Now, go to bed and rest your pretty head knowing breakfast will be waiting on you in the morning.

SHORTCUT: Don't wanna cook breakfast sausage? Chop up 1lb of thawed, pre-cooked sausage links.

OPTIONAL mix-ins: I like to jazz it up sometimes for Southwest flair! 1 small onion finely chopped, 1 medium bell pepper chopped (I prefer red), 1-2 jalapeños finely chopped, remove seeds for less heat. Up to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper for even more heat if you're feeling adventurous. I like to cook the onion with the sausage. Just add bell pepper and jalapeño when you dump in the hash browns and sausage, add cayenne to the eggs. If you want to... Wrap it up in a flour tortilla with some salsa and sour cream and you've got a breakfast burrito on-the-go! ;-) With all the extra liquid from the veggies it may need the full 8 hours so it's not too wet or potentially mushy.