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:

Stuffed Peppers

One of my favorite meals is stuffed peppers. It's a great balanced meal, all in one beautiful pepper and it's so easy to adapt to individual tastes. And I knew it was already perfect for October Unprocessed!

What you'll need:

Bell peppers
Ground meat
Onions
Garlic
Rice
Cheese
Seasonings

Start out by cutting the tops off of the peppers and cleaning out the insides. Chop the tops into small pieces to add to your meat.

Saute chopped peppers, onions and minced garlic in a little bit of olive oil, then add your meat. We opted for ground goat. Toss in whatever seasonings you like. I just used salt and pepper with the goat. While that is cooking, prepare your rice. We used the royal blend grains. 

Shred your cheese. We used Parmesan.

When the meat is fully cooked, toss the rice in the skillet and mix well. Then fill the peppers with the rice and meat mix and top with cheese.

 Bake until pepper is soft and cheese is melted. I baked ours at 375 for about 25 minutes

These are really quite filling, so I cut mine in half and saved half for lunch the next day. They are really even better reheated! 

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Philly Cheese Steaks

Peppers and onions are definitely a weakness of mine. I can eat them by the plateful. Unfortunately, the husband requires a little more at meal time. So when I'm craving peppers and onions, we have Philly Cheese Steaks. They're super easy to make and OMG....delicious!

In large pan, saute 1 Tablespoon (more or less) minced garlic, one bell pepper (sliced into strips) and one large onion (also sliced) in about 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Saute until onions are softened, but not mushy-usually takes only a couple of minutes.

 Add in thin strips of steak. I usually buy the thinnest cut of whatever steak is on sale. Salt. Then salt again.

Cook until meat is to your preference. Again, just a few minutes with these thin strips. Pile onto a toasted bun and add some provolone cheese.

I top mine with a few extra peppers :)