The Breakfast Kitchen: Tex-Mex Breakfast Casserole

 I love breakfast casseroles I make them all the time for breakfasts. They are generally low carb and high protein. This one turned out especially well. For this I paired it with some tortilla chips and guacamole for a kind of breakfast casserole nachos. This would be great with just the guacamole even. 

The ingredients:

1 lb. sausage cooked and drained

sliced shallot

1 C crumbled bacon

sliced sweet mini peppers

sliced jalapeno peppers

1 can Rotel

black lime

crushed red pepper

12 eggs

dash of milk

1TBSP black lime

1 TBSP smoked paprika

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 TBSP baking powder

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

The recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Cook sausage and shallot in skillet. Drain and place in greased casserole dish. 

Add bacon, peppers, and Rotel to skillet cook until cooked through adding some black lime and crushed red pepper. 

Top the sausage with the bacon and veggie mixture spreading out to make sure evenly covered. 

Scramble eggs with milk, black lime, paprika, salt, pepper, and baking powder. (The baking powder keeps your eggs from falling when cooling). 

Shred cheddar cheese and add to the scrambled eggs. Pour over the casserole mixture.  Spread cheese out evenly. 

Bake for 30-40 minutes until eggs are set then serve.

Garnish with cilantro, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, tortillas, or tortilla chips. 

For my dinner, I placed a pieced cut up on the plate with some tortilla chips and topped with guacamole. I then added some silk chili on top. 

You can make this healthier by using turkey bacon and sausage and omitting the tortilla chips. 

This can easily be made meatless by switching the meats out for black beans. 

 

The Italian Kitchen: Mini Pesto Lasagna

A twist on a classic and would be a festive dish for Christmas. This is a simple twist on a recipe.

The Ingredients:

Olive oil

Diced onion

6 garlic cloves

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1-2 TBSP tutto porchetta

1-2 TBSP pizza party

Salt and pepper to taste

1 jar marinara sauce

16 oz cottage cheese

6 oz Pesto

1/2 C parmesan cheese

2 large eggs

No boil Lasagna noodles

16 oz Mozzarella cheese

4 small foil trays

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a skillet, add some olive oil, diced onion, and garlic then the meat and cook until softened and cooked through. 

Add the marinara and seasonings and cook until flavors combined. If you want to thin sauce add a bit of beef broth.

Set aside.

In food processor, add the parmesan, cottage cheese, pesto, and eggs and pulse until combined and creamy.

In foil pans, add about 1/2 C sauce, then a Lasagna noodle, then rest of the sauce and some mozzarella, another Lasagna noodle, then pesto cheese mixture plus rest of mozarella.

Sprinkle a bit more pizza party on top.

Bake pan covered with foil for approximately 30 minutes. Then remove foil and bake another 5-10 min.

Notes:

Remaining trays can be refrigerated or frozen.

Lasagna sets up best if it rests in the fridge for 12-24 hours.

Easy Garlic Toast

2 slices of bread toasted

Butter

1 garlic clove halved

Toast the bread and butter. Once butter melts rub cut side of garlic all over buttered toast.

The Healthy Kitchen: Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread

I just needed to make something a bit healthier and my dad loves cinnamon raisin bread so I made this bread.

The ingredients:

2 C White whole wheat flour

1/2 C truvia sugar blend

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 C Milk

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/3 C vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 C raisins

For cinnamon swirl:

6 TBSP swerve brown sugar

1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon

2 TBSP melted butter

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 350. Line liaf pan with parchment paper.

In medium bowl, combine flour, truvia, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1 TBSP cinnamon.

In a large bowl, whisk milk and lemon juice and set aside for 5 minutes. Then add vanilla, oil, and eggs.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 parts stirring until just combined. 

Add the raisins.

In a small bowl add the melted butter, swerve brown sugar, and 1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon.

Pour half the batter in the loaf pan.

Add 3 lines of the brown sugar mix and use a toothpick to swirl.

Top with remaining batter.

Add three more lines to the top and swirl with toothpick.

Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.

The Breakfast Kitchen: Scrambled Egg, Pork, Spinach, and Quinoa Bowl

Eating a good breakfast is so important and is a meal I always try to eat well. It really gets my day going well. For me that includes protein and whole grains. Definitely, limiting sugar. 

The ingredients:

1 TBSP butter

1 lb ground pork or sausage

Sliced shallot

1-2 tsp tutto porchetta (if using ground pork)

Spinach

6-8 eggs

Dash of milk

Dash smoked paprika

Dash garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 C quinoa cooked

The recipe:

In a skillet, brown the meat in butter. Adding the shallot and tutto porchetta if needed. 

Once browned, add the spinach.

In bowl, scramble the eggs with milk, garlic, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. 

Add eggs to skillet and cook until eggs are just about set.

Cook quinoa in rice cooker.

Serve meat and egg mixture with the quinoa.

Garnish with cheese, cilantro, sriracha, etc.

Note: you could also add this to a wrap and make it a breakfast wrap.

The Soup Kitchen: Creamy Indian Tomato Soup

When a snowstorm is coming, it's a great time to make a double batch of comforting soup. Plus, this soup is loaded with warm Indian spices that just knock up the coziness. As an added plus, the spiciness clears out the sinuses! You can adjust the heat on this soup by omitting the cayenne. Also, this soup is loaded with anti-inflammatory ingredients like tomatoes and turmeric. It is vegetarian and gluten free and can be low carb if you omit the croutons. This is super easy to make in the crockpot, but you can cook on the stove if you prefer.

The ingredients:

6 TBSP ghee or unsalted butter

2 yellow onions diced

6 cloves garlic minced 

4 tsp fresh ginger peeled and grated (I used ground ginger and only 2 tsp)

4 10-oz cans Rotel

2 15-oz cans of crushed tomatoes

2 15-oz cans of diced tomatoes

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp garam masala

2-4 tsp salt to taste

2 tsp cracked black pepper

pinch of cayenne (optional)

1 tsp baking soda

2 13.5 oz cans of full fat coconut milk

The recipe:

Sauté your aromatics in the ghee (garlic, onion, and ginger).

Add to a slow cooker with all the tomatoes and their juices, the spices, and baking soda. 

Cook on low 6-7 hours or high 4-5 hours. 

Puree the soup with an immersion blender. 

Stir in the coconut milk, salt, and pepper. 

Continue cooking an additional 30 minutes, then serve. 

Notes: 

I used ground garlic and ginger. If you use dried for these you will want to cut back on the amount a bit. 

If you do not have crushed tomatoes, you can use 4 cans of diced or vice versa.

Some of these spices you may not have on hand. If not, there is an Indian Market in town that would carry them all. 

Adding the baking soda will cause the soup to foam a bit initially this is normal. 

Stir up the coconut milk before adding to the slow cooker if you can. 

Garnish with cilantro, naan, you can make croutons out of naan, add a yogurt sauce or make a good Indian spiced grilled cheese sandwich. 

I added a cube of cilantro from my freezer to the crockpot and added some coriander chili chutney on top. (found at the Indian market). 

I also made a grilled cheese baked in the oven. For the butter I melted the butter in the microwave and added some Indian seasoning to the butter and brushed it on the bread. Bake at 400 degrees on 1st side for 7 minutes, flip then bake an additional 5 minutes. The grilled cheese turns out perfect.  I line a baking sheet with foil and use a metal spatula to flip. I used mozzarella cheese, but you can use any good melting cheese. 

Indian Spice Blend (used on grilled cheese)

1 TBSP turmeric

1 TBSP garam masala

1 TBSP cumin

1 tsp mango amchur

1tsp coriander

1tsp Zingy Cumin Tadka (optional)

*all spices from Burlap and Barrel

The Healthy Kitchen: An Indian Spiced Pork Quinoa Bowl

 I know pork is not usually served in Indian dishes, but I like it and it's what I had. This recipe ended up being made up of all green veggies which is a first for me. I am being a bit more adventurous. This included some leafy greens. Which, spoiler alert, is one of my goals for 2025, to include more leafy greens in my meals. I created a spice blend to cook my veggies and meat in made up of traditional Indian spices. I was going to add carrot to this but realized I was out. So I pivoted and I liked this version a lot. 

Indian Spice Blend

1 TBSP turmeric powder

1 TBSP garam masala

1 TBSP cumin

1 tsp mango amchur

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp Zingy Cumin Tadka (Burlap and Barrel blend)

*all of the spices I used were from Burlap and Barrel

The ingredients:

1 TBSP ghee

1lb ground pork

1 green pepper diced

1 onion diced

Indian Spice Blend

Chopped Broccoli

Peas

Pinch of Saffron

Garlic Powder

Ground Ginger

Spinach 

Black Urfa Chili

Silk Chili

Salt

Coriander Chili Chutney

Garnish: Cilantro leaves

1 C quinoa

2 C broth

The recipe:

In a rice cooker, start your quinoa with the broth, plus a pinch of saffron. 

In a skillet melt the Ghee and add the onion, pepper, pork, and Indian Spice blend plus the garlic and ginger. Cook until veggies soften, and meat is cooked through. The spices will bloom as you cook. 

Add the rest of the veggies (broccoli, peas, spinach) and cook until to your liking.

Add the Black Urfa Chili, Silk Chili, pinch of saffron, and salt to taste. 

Add a bit of Coriander chili chutney (this is found at the Indian market in town).

Stir to combine all of the seasonings. 

Serve the meat mixture over a bed of quinoa. 

Top with cilantro to garnish. 

The Soup Kitchen: Chicken Quinoa Soup

 

This is a twist on a recipe inspired by one from Jennifer Brady shared on Facebook. She did not provide any measurements, so I made it up as I went. 

The ingredients:

Rotisserie chicken deboned and shredded

4 C chicken broth

Frozen carrots and peas

diced onion

garlic powder (1 used approx. 2-3 tsp)

thyme (1 used approx.. 2-3 tsp)

Turmeric (1 used approx 1-2 tsp)

Rosemary (I used approx. 2-3 tsp)

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 C quinoa

The recipe: 

I added all the above ingredients to a slow cooker and cooked on HI for approx. 3 hours. 

Note: all of the ingredients are approx. so you can add more or less as you desire. You can add any other spices you desire. I will say the Turmeric gives it great color so if you omit that it will not look the same or taste the same. 

Garnish with crushed red pepper, crackers, or a slice of good bread.