Breakfast Pizza

My husband has been a good sport with all the crazy breakfast foods I've fed him lately. Spaghetti squash for breakfast? No complaints from him. But he did suggest that we try something else for the next week. He wanted eggs, sausage and bacon, which is normal breakfast fare, so we had that for a few days. But we both (very quickly) realized that a breakfast consisting of just protein didn't keep us full for very long. We were back to the dilemma of keeping veggies in breakfast (for the fiber), yet keep the meaty breakfast that he likes.
Enter breakfast pizza

If you haven't tried cauliflower crust pizza yet, you're really missing out. I use the recipe here, and make adjustments as needed.

For the breakfast pizza, I used that recipe, but left out the garlic and used all mozzarella cheese and baked the crust for 8 minutes at 425.

I skipped the sauce and just used cheese and toppings so it would stand up to reheating throughout the week. For toppings, I used 2 cups of spinach and a few diced jalapenos, then crumbled bacon and sausage, along with a little ham, and a final bit of shredded cheese on top. Then back into the oven for 8 minutes.

If you really wring out the water from the cauliflower after it's cooked, the crust of the pizza holds up great to being reheated. Adding a layer of cheese on the crust before adding the toppings creates a moisture barrier, which also helps the pizza keep its structure. And to make it even better, I even got a text this morning letting me know how much he liked breakfast!

Spaghetti Squash Breakfast Bake

So a few weeks ago while I was at the doctor's office, it was suggested to me that my normal breakfast (banana, 1 Tbsp nut butter, and a whole wheat wrap) was too carb heavy and I should switch to 2 eggs and citrus fruit instead. *note: the nutrition facts below were created at http://www.caloriecount.com/. I am making the assumption they are correct and haven't bothered to double check their numbers. 

Current breakfast

Proposed breakfast

While I didn't necessarily agree with their proposed breakfast, I tried. I really did. But it turns out eating citrus every day seemed to aggravate my stomach. A lot.

So I set out to find a different breakfast that was lower in carbs, but didn't bother my stomach. And if I could add in some nutrients, that'd be cool too. So for the first try, I wanted to keep the eggs as they suggested, but add in some veggies, and I didn't want to have to make it every day. So I came up with a breakfast bake I could make over the weekend, portion out, then freeze for a grab and go breakfast.

New breakfast

It was pretty easy to make over the weekend. I roasted a medium spaghetti squash in the oven (400 degrees for about 45 minutes), sauteed the tomatoes and peppers, chopped the kale and green onions, cooked the bacon (then chopped it), and then grabbed a big bowl to mix it all together, along with the shredded cheese and some salt and pepper. Why only 3 pieces of bacon? Well, it's all I had. And to be honest, I don't think I would have noticed if it wasn't there. But I did sautee the peppers and tomatoes in the bacon grease so.....

Then spread that out into an 8x8 pan and pour over 7 beaten eggs. 

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, then drop the heat down to 350 and continue baking until eggs are set, which was about another 10 minutes for me. That gets cut into 9 pieces and frozen. To reheat, cover and microwave on about 50% power for a minute or two.

If I kept it at 2 eggs per day, that would be 18 eggs and I'd probably need a bigger pan to bake it in, but here's what the nutrition would look like:

Omelet in a Mug

For the last few weeks, some of the ladies at work and I have been having our breakfast at work together. We have all been focusing on eating more whole foods, specifically fruits and vegetables, so we decided to pool our resources and make breakfast easier on all of us. Each of us brings in specific foods-I bring eggs of course-which helps with grocery shopping and weekly planning for all of us. When it's time for breakfast, we meet up in the breakroom and assemble our food.


We chop up our ingredients for the day, which include bacon, ham, salsa, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, spinach, various cheeses, and avocado.

Then we put them into our mugs, adding 2 eggs at the end and giving it all a good stir.

Next, into the microwave for about 45 seconds on medium power-that's the trick to prevent rubbery eggs which are completely disgusting! Another quick stir and back into the microwave for 2 minutes on medium, or until eggs are set. Depending on your ingredients, it may take up to 3 minutes, just be careful not to overcook it. We usually watch the microwave for the eggs to puff up and fall twice.

Squash-browns

We have really been enjoying these make ahead breakfast sandwiches lately. We decided to have them again this week for breakfast, but I wanted to do something a little different. Two thoughts came to mind:

1) I really should eat more vegetables, especially at breakfast. I have no problem getting enough fruit in each day, and I love vegetables but still sometimes struggle getting in enough servings. Why not add more at breakfast?

2) I love potatoes. I love hash browns with breakfast. I should incorporate hash browns into my breakfasts more often.

Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

Since our October Unprocessed experiment, we haven't been eating as much cereal. Actually, we eat very little cereal now, if any. I've settled into a nice pattern of making breakfasts for us on Sunday evenings that we will have for the following week, and it's working out very well for us. This week, I made breakfasts sandwiches and they were a big hit all around!

Crock Pot Oats

Yesterday was my first day of October Unprocessed. I was not looking forward to missing out on my cereal. One of my other favorite breakfasts is oatmeal-particularly steel cut oats. I never have time to make these in the morning, so I decided to pull out the small crock pot. I don't eat breakfast at home. I take it with me to work, so this was my chance to test out just how well my little thermos keeps foods warm. I opened these up 2 1/2 hours after I left the house and they were still steaming hot!

Ingredients

1 c steel cut oats

4 c water

1/2 c diced, frozen peaches

Combine all ingredients in small crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Yes, it really is that easy! I did have some issues with a thick layer of oats clumping up on the bottom of the crock pot, so if anyone knows how to prevent that, please let me know! Other than of course getting up in the middle of the night to stir them! 

I'm used to adding brown sugar to my oatmeal, but I decided to skip that this time. It's an adjustment, but the sweetness of the peaches really helps. 

From the Farm Dinner

With the varied tastes in our house, it's very hard to find something we all like for dinner. One of our household favorites is breakfast for dinner.

 

We picked up our half a hog a week ago, and have been enjoying the tasty meat ever since! The sausage is amazing and makes the best gravy! (Oddly enough, I don't like gravy, but I can make it like nobody's business)

We get our eggs from my aunt. Let me clarify...we get our eggs from her chickens. You may notice they're a little more yellow than normal. We call them the radioactive eggs! 

You may notice that our pancakes are green. You see, in our house we don't do boring pancakes. Mostly because I don't like them. Yes, I do not like pancakes. I know, weird. Anyway, sometimes it's chocolate chip pancakes (which I DO eat because, well, they're chocolate) and sometimes it's strawberry banana pancakes. If I'm short on fresh fruit, we do colored pancakes. It's always a big deal on who gets to choose the color.  Being the lazy mom I am, I make it an all day competition. The kid who is the most polite all day gets to choose. Tonight, Thing 3 won the honor and we have green pancakes. It really does not take much to amuse these kids. A few drops of food coloring can make an evening. 

On another note, we finished up the Christmas tree last night.

 

 

Can you tell this house is ruled by girls? I found purple lights to match my purple beads this year, so obviously, I had to go buy pink and purple ornaments!! I'm trying to get into the Christmas Spirit for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Check out those links to Overstock.com. If you find something you like, enter the promo code 121728 for 10% off all Overstock.com products or 202234  ** - free shipping promo code for electronics. 

Note:

All the ideas and opinions expressed are my own. No monetary compensation was received for doing this post, however, I was provided with a discount code from Overstock.com