Breakfast Casseroles {Recipes - GAPS, Paleo}

Updates:

• Coconut milk works surprisingly well in place of yogurt or kefir.  I wanted to try it for those who can't use even cultured milk, and it worked very well!  You do not taste coconut at all - just use the same amounts as you would in the recipes for yogurt/kefir.
• Also, I tried using a calculated proportion of eggs for the 9x13 pan to get the same thickness as when using 10-12 eggs in a square dish.  I calculated out that I needed to use 22 eggs (wow, I know).  I tried it, and it was fantastic!  Nice and thick and amazing!  So really, you could probably just use 24 if you like using an even 2 dozen.  This will help those with more mouths to feed as well.  It still works well with the 18 eggs, but it is much thicker with 22-24.  Use between 3/4-1 cup of yogurt/kefir/coconut milk with this amount of eggs. 
• If you use a different size dish than normal (like I did a few times with a round stone dish) and you fill it too full with egg mixture, be careful because if it is too full, you might end up with bacon grease spilling into your oven, burning, and setting your smoke alarm off and making your house hazy and smelly.  Ask me how I know.  ;-)  So if you use a ton of bacon or a less deep dish, just be careful!  :-) 

Original Post: 
I have so many things I want to post!  Recipes, what we're focusing on with our health and eating this new year, and some things that have totally changed this week.  But alas, I can't do it all at once, and I really wanted to share some very simple, fool proof, and delicious breakfast casserole recipes/ideas to help anyone eating a GAPS or Paleo/Primal diet.  These are so easy to adapt to what you like and have on hand. 

Breakfast casseroles are commonly loaded with bread or potatoes, and since those aren't good for gut and blood sugar health, it can be hard to adapt to fit a different eating lifestyle.  I came across this recipe for baked eggs and bacon and  have used it a lot.  I have an adaptation (because a square baking dish is just not a big enough casserole for our family) and a couple other successful ways I have changed it up around here.

We always try and make a breakfast casserole for Saturday and Sunday so that we don't have to worry about cooking breakfast those days.  Saturday usually has a milk or farmer's market run first thing in the morning, and Sunday is our Sabbath and we like to sleep in and do as little cooking and work as possible so we can enjoy the Lord and each other even more.

So, here you go!  Enjoy!

Breakfast Casseroles {Recipes - GAPS, Paleo}

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 Ingredients: 

• 1 lb Bacon (Pastured Pigs, uncured)  I use the best in regards to ingredients from the store if I am out of my farm bacon, but I love my farm bacon more than almost any food in the whole world.  OR
• 1 lb ground pork or beef, browned - I use this seasoning mix for breakfast sausage but without the cayenne pepper because we are spice wimps. 
• any vegetables you want - if they are high water volume like spinach, mushrooms, okay, pretty much anything, saute it FIRST before putting it in your casserole or it will make the casserole watery and the consistency a little off. 
• 12-18 eggs, pastured (12 if making in a square dish or if you want a faster cooking, thinner casserole in a 9x13, 18 if you want a fluffier and feeds big breakfast eaters casserole!) Update: 22 eggs works great for a 9x13 pan.
• 3/4 cup raw 24 hour cultured kefir or yogurt (Update: coconut milk works well as a substitute)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Optional: Cheese (parmesan or raw cheddar)

Process:

• Bacon: Cut your bacon in half and arrange the slices around a 9x13 pan (it's fine if they overlap).  Put in a 350-375* oven (just depends on how fast you want it to cook, and I always do 375 with my thicker farm bacon).  If you have simple sliced pork belly (unsalted) from a farm, generously salt it all over with fine salt (I use himalayan in a ceramic grinder - makes a great fine dust of salt to evenly coat the bacon with).  If you have 'uncured' from the store, don't add anything as it is already treated with salt, etc.  Bake, turning at least once, until crispy.  If you have any veggies, just saute and add on top of the bacon after the bacon is ready.   NOTE: This TOTALLY ca n be done the night before!  Just bake and then stick in the fridge and add the rest of the ingredients in the morning to bake.  YAY. 
  

• Sausage and Veggies: Brown sausage, and I always just saute my veggies with the leftover fat from my sausage.  Here I did my pork breakfast sausage and then a chopped onion and some mushrooms.  I would put spinach in here, but my boys would just pick it out and throw it on the floor.  Silly creatures. Grease your 9x13 (or square) dish and layer (or mix it all together!) your meat and vegetables.  This also can totally be done the day before!

• In a mixing bowl, combine your eggs (again, I always use 16-18 because we want this to last us 2 days or if we are feeding more than just us for 1 day) and yogurt/kefir and salt and pepper.  I would say start with 1/2 tsp salt, but how much you want to use will depend on if you used really salty bacon or mildly salty bacon or sausage.  If your meat is really salty, putting too much salt in the egg mixture can make the casserole overwhelmingly salty.  I figure I can always add salt on my plate :-).  I usually do 1/2 tsp and it turns out great.  Side note: aren't those egg yolks gorgeous?!  NOTE: If you are using only 12 eggs, use only 1/2 cup yogurt/kefir.  Basically, a 6 eggs: 1/4 cup yogurt/kefir ratio :-).

• Optional: Top with cheese of your choice (1/2 cup or so is great). 
• Bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes.  Important: The baking time will totally depend on the size of dish you use and how many eggs you use.  Always better to check it and have to put it back in than have overcooked eggs.  Also, we have eaten the edges first before and put the center back in to cook more if we are super impatient :-). 

(Bacon casserole) 

  (sausage, mushrooms, and onion casserole)

Enjoy!  And enjoy having a delicious breakfast casserole without bread or potatoes!

I shared this on Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday!