Omelet Soup {Recipe - GAPS, Paleo}

 This is part of Fight Back Friday and  Sunday Night Soup Night !

Omelet Soup.  Does that sound weird?  Well, welcome to my soup world.  Whether you are on GAPS, eating Paleo, or just trying to eat a traditional whole foods diet, soup is a fantastic way to increase the nutrition and healing properties of any meal as well as make it much more easily digested.  I love eating eggs for breakfast, and lately I have been trying to eat as big of a breakfast as possible.  It sustains me through the day with much energy - especially through that late morning craze that seems to take over little children before they eat lunch ;-).

However, I notice that at a certain point, I cannot eat much more although I know I need to.  I feel a little nauseous and heavy and I just can't stomach eating as much as I know is good for me.  Enter soup.  Broth enables me to eat more and not feel sick AT ALL.  It helps with digestion and provides tons of great things like amino acids and minerals and gelatin and all that good stuff.

Also, since I love GAPS and am focusing on getting more broth into our diets, hopefully with at least 2 meals per day, I need a way to incorporate broth into another meal.  I'm not the hugest fan of drinking plain broth.  So I thought I would figure out a way to combine a favorite - an omelet - with something that is tasty, healing, and needed - broth. 

This was inspired by our immense love for egg drop soup.  We eat it for breakfast often, but I wanted to provide us a little more variety.  So, although I know it sounds weird, don't write it off until you try it! :-) It's super yummy and fun!

Omelet Soup  {Recipe - GAPS, Paleo}
GAPS Notes: This is appropriate for Stage 2 once you have had cooked eggs in broth.  You would probably need to omit the bacon (maybe use some other meat like ground beef or chopped ham steaks boiled in the broth instead of bacon) until roasted and pan cooked meats are allowed.  But you can easily adapt this to stage 2!

Ingredients: 

• 8 oz uncured bacon
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth (meat or bone)
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes - fresh or canned with juices drained
• 6-12 eggs, pastured
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: spinach or kale (2-4 cups depending on how much you want)
• Optional: Parmesan or Raw Cheddar Cheese

Instructions: 

• Two options for beginning: 
• Some prep the night before:
• You can either prepare your bacon and onions in the oven (little oversight and easy clean up) or you can fry the bacon on the stove top and then saute the onions in the bacon grease in the same pan.  So, either bake the bacon in the oven around 350-375*, turning every 10-15 minutes until crispy, or fry the bacon in a pan until crispy. 
• Remove the bacon from the baking dish or frying pan.  If preparing in the oven, simply add the onion into the pan, stir to get it all gloriously mixed in with all the amazing bacon grease and roast for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway, until they look all soft and yummy.  If preparing on the stove top, just saute in the bacon grease until soft.  I simply prefer doing it in the oven because it is less work. :-)
• Save your bacon and onions separately for the morning. 

  Bacon baked in the oven.

 Onions added to the baking dish.

 Onions roasted in the oven, all soft and yummy.

• No Prep the night before: Simply follow the above steps of your choice (oven or stove top) the morning of.  If I do it the morning of, I simply would fry the bacon and then saute the onions in the pot I am going to make the soup in. 
• With the onions in your soup pot, add chopped mushrooms and saute together until mushrooms are browned. 

•  Add bacon, crumbling into bite size pieces.

•  Add your broth, tomatoes, and about 1 tsp celtic sea salt.  Bring to a boil.  (Add kale or spinach here if using for the whole pot of soup)
• While the soup is coming to a boil, whisk all eggs together in a large measuring cup or mixing bowl (easiest if it has a pour spout).  I put a large range of the number of eggs because it really simply depends on how thick and egg-y you want your soup.  We wanted a very hearty thick soup with many eggs per person, so I used 12.  You really can't mess this up!
• Once the soup is at a boil, stir the soup gently in a circle while slowly pouring the whisked eggs into the soup.  Once all the eggs are poured in, I always bring the soup back to a boil and then turn the heat off as soon as it starts bubbling.  I don't want rubbery overcooked eggs :-). 

•  Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! 
• Our little boys won't eat spinach in soup, so we simply put about 1/2 -1 cup chopped spinach in our bowls of soup because the soup was hot enough to wilt the spinach. 

•  Optional: top with cheese of your choice!

Enjoy!  It really is delicious! This is such a fantastic way to get broth in with breakfast!  Or even to have a breakfast for dinner soup.  And I think it could easily be modified with what you have on hand and what you like for breakfast.  Just imagine what you would like in an omelet, and put it in there!  Also, try using chopped ham steaks instead of bacon, or even ground beef or breakfast sausage!

It's funny how I get so excited about a new and easy soup option for us... :-)