Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole... for Dinner

Yep, another breakfast for dinner recipe.

Some recipes for breakfast casseroles use bread on the bottom, but I prefer hashbrowns since I don't like soggy bread.  I typically like to make my standard breakfast casserole in the oven, but this time I knew we would be a little tight on time after dinner since Sonny D had a haircut scheduled.  Plus it seems that egg dishes can take a long time to bake, longer than I expect, so I busted out my slow cooker and pulled this together in the morning so it would be ready when we got home at the end of the day. 

This is a good recipe because you can use it to clear out those extra little bits of veggies and meats you've got in the fridge. In the freezer I had a partial package of hashbrowns, a couple breakfast sausages (the package has too many for our family of 3 to eat at once but not enough for another full meal), a few pieces of pre-cooked bacon, and some home-frozen shredded zucchini.   I had also planned to use some cottage cheese since I realized I had a container of it in the fridge that I had purposely bought for a recipe, but I couldn't remember what specific recipe I had planned for.  I think it was this breakfast casserole, but I don't know. But I forgot about adding it when it came time to make it.

Inspiration

This was cobbled together from about 5 recipes, but when I compared them, it's isn't really like any one of them, so I'm not going to mention any source. Just like that a brand-new recipe is born! 

You can skip the cheese to make it dairy-free and use a non-dairy milk.  To make it vegetarian, use your favorite non-meat crumbles or skip it.  It's also super-flexible so you can add whatever veggies you like.  Just be sure to cook the veggies first so they're not raw.  You'll also want to watch the amount of moisture, some vegetables are pretty moist and you might want to reduce the amount of milk. 

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• about 8 ounces frozen hashbrowns (I had an open large bag)
• couple breakfast sausage links, cooked and cut up into bite-sized pieces (I had four links)
• 4-6 slices of bacon, cooked and cut up (I had 6 slices)
• 1/2 onion, diced and sauteed
• 1 cup shredded zucchini (mine was frozen, so I defrosted it and squeezed out the moisture)
• 6-8 eggs (I used 6 eggs but you could easily add more)
• 1/3 cup milk (I use almond milk)
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Directions

My medium-size slow cooker (5 qt oblong with bottom heat) is non-stick, but if yours isn't, you'll want to spray it with cooking spray. 

Put the hashbrowns in the bottom of the slow cooker and put the sausage bits on top.

In a 4-cup measuring cup or medium bowl, use an immersion blender to blend the eggs, milk, dry mustard, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  I had planned to use the stick blender attachment, but I didn't plan ahead and mine was in the dishwasher while it was on the 'wash' cycle, so I used the whisk attachment instead.  You can definitely mix the eggs up by hand with a fork or whisk, I just prefer breaking them up really well.
 

Chopping up sausage, onions sauteing in the background.

I added the zucchini and sauteed onion to the egg mixture and then poured that over the hashbrowns and sausage in the slow cooker.  I added the chopped bacon and pushed it down with a spatula so it would get submerged under the egg mixture.  Sprinkled with shredded cheese on top and put the lid on.

Cutting up bacon.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Finished casserole.

Verdict

I wanted to add green chiles for extra "flava", but I ran out of time when I was putting this together before work. I was also really disappointed that I forgot the cottage cheese, but I was in a hurry.

I think this dish was actually cooked by lunchtime, but I didn't actually check to see if it was cooked all the way through.  When I was home in the middle of the day for lunch, I stuck a clean kitchen towel under the lid since it seemed like there was a lot of condensation  and I didn't want dinner to get soggy.  When I unveiled it to serve, I thought it might be a little overcooked since it had been in there so long, but everything was so creamy!  I probably could have increased the milk to 1/2 cup for more moisture, but 1/3 cup was fine too.

I had more leftover meat bits to add to this recipe than I expected, and it was great.  Lots of sausage and bacon chunks.  And it was perfectly seasoned, I was afraid that it would be not salty enough in some areas or too salty from the processed meats. 

Husband Jeff and I loved it, he had two servings.  I wish I had taken the time to add the green chiles since Sonny D didn't eat any of it, totally refused to try it even though it was eggs and meat, two things he loves.  Toddlers.  He'll probably love it when we bust it out for leftovers.

Meal Plan: Week of September 3

On Sunday I inventoried my freezers while Sonny D napped.  As I unearthed things, I discovered I've froze seven bags of corn.  I mentioned that fact to Husband Jeff and he said we should dole them out throughout the winter.  I did a little counting and it comes out that we can have corn every 3.7 weeks starting in November and that will take us through until May.  Sounds great to me.  I also found I've been throwing leftovers in the freezer without labeling them or noting them on the inventory, so I had to do a lot of detective work to figure out what things were.  It took quite a while to get all of that done, but it feels good to know what we've got (mainly corn!).

Monday was Labor Day, we celebrated by going for a family canoe ride in the morning at the Warner Park lagoon.  For the rest of the day we mainly hung around the house.  I made a couple new recipes, including canning some wine jelly! Look for that in a couple days. 

We don't have many plans this week so we're going to do a little housecleaning, focusing on cleaning off some horizontal surfaces (dresser top, bookcases, desk, side table, etc.) and consolidating some cleaning supplies and bathroom products. I'd also like to go through my clothing and remove the things I don't really wear.  Sometimes it's hard to get rid of things, maybe something that was expensive, a fancy brand, or was a gift. But I've just got to be honest with myself and realize I'm never going to want to wear some things.  I'd also like to ensure I've got all my new clothes in my Closet iPhone app.  It shows you pictures of your clothing and you can set up outfits. 

My progress on the mountain climber challenge - this past week I was a total slacker. Ugg.  I only did 310 steps and skipped several days. That was way less than previous week, which was down from the week before that.  I just checked and I'm so close to the end!  2,233 steps total, only 97 steps left!

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Here is the menu plan for this short week.  I struggled with committing to specific dishes, but I know if I don't just write down something, I'll be too tempted to go out. 

• Tuesday - baked eggplant Parmesan and pasta to take advantage of the eggplant in our garden. 
• Wednesday - lentil taco salads.  I bought a package of pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joe's and once you open them you've  only got a couple days to eat them so I needed a recipe that used a large amount of lentils.  I'll treat them like cooked ground beef and heat them up with a packet of taco seasoning and then we can throw them on some salad greens.    
• Thursday - We have a ton of basil in our garden so its another night of pesto pasta (no bacon but maybe some cottage cheese for a creamy version). And time to eat some of the random bits and ends in the freezer, we've got one lonely piece of fish and an open packet of hot dogs. 
• Friday - When I did the freezer inventory I decided we should eat up some of the leftovers I've frozen since they won't last forever.  So we're going to eat two items from the freezer, African peanut stew served on quinoa.  I remember that when I made the quinoa I seasoned it, but I don't remember what flavor it was. At least I'm pretty sure it's savory. 
• Saturday - It's a busy day for me, I've got Zumba class, going to a buy-stuff-at-home party (Arbonne), and a massage.  But that's all during the day and won't interfere with dinner. I'm going to experiment with making pizza pockets using frozen bread dough.
• Sunday - We'll do our standard visit to the northside farmers' market in the morning for Sonny D's eggrolls.  I still love the giant spring rolls and will probably get one to save for a snack on Monday, but last week I wanted Mexican so I got a barbacoa taco and it was so good.  I might need to do that again, even though the spring rolls are much healthier for me.  In the afternoon my best friend's family is coming to Madison and Husband Jeff and I are watching their kids while she and her husband go to a parenting thing.  I convinced them to stick around for dinner so we're all going to spaghetti-on-the-board.  Should be another fun adventure. 

Buckwheat for Breakfast

Individual buckwheat groats

I finally tried the buckwheat I bought from the bulk bin.  It's usually so much easier to stay in a rut by making a big batch of regular oatmeal rather than figuring out how to make something new.  I definitely wanted to make a small batch in case I didn't like it.

I bought buckwheat groats, the hulled version of the grain.  I have no idea what it would look like with the hull, maybe it's something you only want to feed to farm animals, and I haven't turned into a horse (not yet at least, despite Husband Jeff's whinneys and neighs occasionally when I eat oatmeal).  Each groat is triangular-shaped, like a little pyramid.

Buckwheat is gluten-free even though it has "wheat" in the name, so if that's your thing, you can go for it.  

Ingredients

makes two servings

I was too lazy to look up how to cook plain buckwheat so I checked one recipe and figured I would chance it by cooking them like steel-cut oats, which involves a 2:1 ratio of water to oats.

• 1/2 cup buckwheat groats
• 1 cup water

Directions

I also treated the buckwheat groats like steel-cut oats when it came to cooking.  I used the heat-it-up-and-forget-it method where you bring it to a boil on the stovetop to start the cooking process, turn it off, and letting it sit overnight. It's quicker than standing over the stove working at it but also with maximum hydration.  So when you wake up in the morning, breakfast is waiting.

Groats plus water.

Put the groats and water in a small pot with a lid and bring it to a boil.  Once it reaches a boil, take it off the heat and let it sit undisturbed overnight.

Water absorbed

In the morning, divide it up between two bowls, add your toppings/mix-ins and any sweetener. 

My first bowl of buckwheat!

Verdict

The amount I made was two servings, so I had it for breakfast two days in a row.  I added half a diced peach both days and the last bits of dried cranberries to the first bowl since I'm trying to eat up all the breakfast items I've stockpiled.  I also added my coconut creamer (not really a fan, I think I'm giving up and sticking with the icky store-bought non-dairy creamer) and some regular creamer.

Cooked buckwheat smells similar to quinoa, an earthy scent.

The buckwheat seemed pretty filling (wasn't hungry a couple hours later) and the texture is nice, but I would like it to be more porridge-like, so I'll probably mix it with other things like old-fashioned rolled oats and rye flakes.  I've found I'm really more of a fan of porridge than individual grains. 

One way to jazz it up would be to add some flavors in the cooking liquid, like maybe a mashed banana or dried fruit or replace the water with juice or milk.  I thought about doing that but I wanted to try it unadulterated first to see what I thought.  

Cooked buckwheat seems similar to Israeli couscous, barley, or steel-cut oats.  It's separated grains, not like a porridge.  I didn't really have any idea what it would be like, but if I had thought about it, I would have realized it wasn't going to make a thick porridge since it's similar to steel-cut oats. Buckwheat groats would be good made into a savory salad with chopped veggies like cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, some chunks of feta cheese, with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. 

Inspired by India: Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

This recipe ended up being another joint effort where I relied on several recipes to end up with the final dish, and then towards the end, I ended up winging it anyway.  This recipe actually starts the day before when I sliced an eggplant into rounds and then threw under the broiler with some leftover onion slices for about 30 minutes. I was intending to make baingan bartha (eggplant curry) to go along with the tikka masala, but I added it to this recipe because I didn't want to make even more food. 

Inspiration

Weight Watcher slow cooker chicken tikka masala
A Summer of Pie low fat chicken tikka masala
Shrinking Kitchen lighter chicken tikka masala

The first two recipes are virtually the same, I don't know if one is a copy of the other or what.

I mainly followed these recipes but used half as much chicken than called for since I only had 1 pound.  After I put everything in the slow cooker, I started tossing in other things that I had, like the shredded zucchini. 

If you want to make this vegetarian, you can substitute firm tofu for the chicken, but I wouldn't add it until closer to the end of the cooking time.  And you could make it dairy-free by substituting a non-dairy yogurt or skipping the yogurt all together since it's great without it.  Coconut milk or cream would be another good substitution.

Ingredients

• 14 oz diced tomatoes (It wasn't until I opened the can that I realized mine included garlic and olive oil, plain is probably fine)
• 1/2 medium onion, diced (some of the onion I used was a red onion that I roasted, but not roasted is fine too)
• 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon ginger (mine is the paste from a tube)
• 1 Tablespoon garam masala
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1 pound chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4-5 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 eggplant, sliced and roasted  
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 3/4 cup shredded zucchini 

• 6 oz plain Greek yogurt

Directions

Put everything in the slow cooker except the Greek yogurt and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Everything goes in the slow cooker. 
Those are frozen "muffins" of shredded zucchini on top.

I came home for lunch at the halfway point and took the chicken out and cut it into bite-sized chunks. 

Mid-point of cooking, took the chicken breasts out. 

Then I used my immersion blender to puree everything else left in the slow cooker. 

The saucy stuff minus the chicken.

whizzing up the saucy stuff.

aiming for a smooth puree.

smooth enough now?

Then I threw the chicken breast chunks back in and let them finish the rest of the cooking time.

When it came time to serve, I got out the container of yogurt and added some of the hot sauce from the slow cooker to it to temper it.  Stir it around and keep adding a bit more of the sauce and stirring until you bring up the temperature a bit, you don't want it refrigerator-cold.  That will prevent it from curdling when you add it to the slow cooker.

Tempering the yogurt.

Add the warmed up yogurt mixture to the slow cooker and stir it around. 

My plate of brown Basmati rice with sauteed spinach and chicken tikka masala.

I served this on brown Basmati rice. for my plate I also added some sauteed spinach since I had it. I thought it might turn Sonny D off, so I only put it on my plate rather than mixing it into the entire batch.

Verdict

Husband Jeff and I loved this.   I think it needs a ton more tomato flavor (more paste?) to match the version at my favorite Indian buffet, but I think my version is probably way healthier.  I'm glad I resisted the urge to throw in a bunch of extra spices since I don't really know what I'm doing with Indian food.

Sonny D had a bit of rice but later freaked out when I tried to give him rice with the chicken and sauce.  He didn't eat much for dinner that night, which is fine. 

This made a lot, we had it for dinner the first night, and then we each had it for lunch at least one more time, maybe two.  There was still a lot of sauce and chicken left over, so I put it in the freezer so we can have a quick meal later. 

Another Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Adventure: Cauliflower-Crust Mini Pizzas

Using my recipe for the cheesy cauliflower "breadsticks" as my guide, I made mini pizzas.  Here's a photo tour of what I did.

Once again, I got too excited about mixing everything together and completely forgot the step where you cook the cauliflower and then squeeze out all the liquid.  I skip ahead to the part where you add the egg, cheese, and seasonings, and then I try to microwave it a tiny bit (but don't cook the egg!).  These still turned out pretty good even with that error.

If you want to make this vegetarian, definitely use vegetarian-friendly toppings.  

The ingredients.

This time I couldn't find an important part for the chute attachment on my food processor like I used for the breadsticks, so this time I used the cup part and chopped up the cauliflower that way.  It works quite well! 

I jumped the gun, that's not cooked cauliflower!

A big bowl of cauliflower mixture.

Even though I forgot the step of cooking the cauliflower before adding the cheese and egg and seasoning, I went ahead and scooped out spoonfuls of cheesy, seasoned cauliflower mixture.  Flatten them out a bit but try to ensure all the pieces are touching so they form a cohesive structure when the egg cooks.

shaping out rounds

Pre-cook the cauliflower crusts for a few minutes (until lightly browned).  I really don't recall how long, but it was longer than I expected.  Probably because I missed that first step in the microwave and left the mixture too wet! 

After some initial cooking, add sauce.

Add sauce and toppings after that initial stint in the oven.  Pick your favorite ones and customize! We used chopped up pepperoni, onion, bell pepper, black olives, shredded mozzarella, and sliced pepperjack.  Oh, and mushrooms on mine. 

cute mini pizzas waiting to go back in the oven.

Put them in the oven for a few minutes until they're done to your liking and the cheese is melted.

Browned and waiting to go in my belly!

Verdict

Sonny D barely touched his, he might have had a single bite, but I don't think it was because he was suspicious about what it was made of, but rather because he's a toddler and sometimes they just don't eat much.  Husband Jeff and I ate them and enjoyed them, but I'm sure they would have been better if I had done the first steps properly so they would brown up more and be a bit more solid.  I can't believe I did it wrong twice (for the breadsticks and for these mini pizzas)!

There is barely a touch of cauliflower-ness to them.  I like cauliflower and so it wasn't an issue, but if you served this to a cauliflower-hater, they might not like them much.  But really, it's a vehicle for the toppings.  I would definitely stick with stronger-flavored toppings, like sausage, pepperoni, etc.  If you went with something bland, the cauliflower flavor might come through even more.

I have to recommend NOT chopping up an entire head of cauliflower, because it ends up being way more than you think it will be.  I ended up freezing the remainder of the chopped up cauliflower mixture and putting it into other things. 

Menu Plan: Week of August 26

Mountain climber challenge progress

For our virtual mountain climb I did 431 steps since last Monday, 1,923 steps total since we started, which is 82% complete out of the total 2,330 steps.  This week I slacked a bit since I was really busy with work, I even forgot to do them one day.  Oops.  I'm way down this week, I averaged only 61 "steps" per day, compared with last week's average of 90 "steps" per day.   
 

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On Sunday we rode on the city bus to go out for pizza since Sonny D loves buses.  He did great, he sat down in his seat and was quiet the whole time.  Total pro at it!  We had delicious pizza and then made our way back to the bus stop and went home.  The best was when we got back to our car at the park-and-ride lot, Sonny D said "good-bye, bus!" 

Meal Plan

I need to do a freezer inventory because I know my current freezer list is out of date.  Sometimes I get busy and I don't remember to write down the new things I put in the freezer and also forget to cross items off when we use them.  Plus I've been freezing a lot of my own fresh food, like zucchini shreds and sweet corn, and I know those aren't on the list.  I hope I can find time for that this week because it becomes harder to plan meals when you're not really sure what you've got in the house.

• Monday - I've got an adoption group committee meeting in the evening so dinner needs to be quick. I'm going with a Korean-inspired dish with  tofu, veggies, and rice noodles and served with salads.  I'll dry-fry the tofu and throw in random veggies and Korean flavors from japchae ("mixed and stirred vegetables").
• Tuesday - Last week we enjoyed our dinner at the food carts at our neighborhood meet-and-eat event.  I had tofu squash curry, Husband Jeff had nachos and a couple beef and cheese empanadas plus a yogurt from home. Sonny D had a container of yogurt from home, some of the empanadas, and definitely some nachos.  Since we liked it last time and it's the last week of the food carts, we're going to have dinner there with Husband Jeff's parents. In the evening I've got an electrolysis appointment, I've only had one real session so far but I'm loving the results.  I'm having them zap the hairs on my legs.
• Wednesday - We're ready to harvest a lot of eggplant from our garden, so I'm going to try oven-baked eggplant parmigiana. I've never made it before but I've made tofu parmigiana, so I figure it should be similar (famous last words!). I also found a recipe for a quick 3-serving, 3-minute microwave chocolate cake that I want to try out so I can share it with you. 
• Thursday - Sonny D has a haircut after dinner so we're aiming for a little quicker meal.  I'm going to make a breakfast casserole (hash browns, meat, cottage cheese, eggs, veggies) because it's a great way to use up small amounts of ingredients and I think I've got a couple breakfast sausages hanging out and some pre-cooked bacon in the freezer.  Hopefully I can convince the guys that we need sweet potato pancakes with the egg dish since I really want to try them. 
• Friday - After work I'm going shopping with my friend Jessica and we're going to Noodles and Company for dinner since its quick and can be decently healthy. Gotta be fast so we can shop as much as possible!  I figure Husband Jeff and Sonny D will have a frozen pizza for dinner while I'm out, at least I think we've still got frozen pizzas downstairs in the chest freezer! 
• Saturday - This Saturday and Sunday are the Taste of Madison, which is one of my favorite local "holidays" since it's a great way to try a variety of foods.  For lunch we'll aim for a lighter meal with pesto pasta with shredded zucchini and artichoke hearts. Also fish (maybe poached?) since we've got a couple pieces hanging around in the freezer.  Then in the afternoon/evening we'll go to the Taste of Madison and pig out.
• Sunday - We'll hit the Northside farmers' market like usual so we can get Sonny D's two egg rolls and my two spring rolls. Last week we tried fresh-squeezed orange juice and carrot juice from the smoothie cart, which was quite nice, we might get that again or try another combo. Husband Jeff is going to help our friends Dustin & Jessica move, so he'll probably do that while we're at the market. Later, our friends Alicia & Brian are having a pig roast, which sounds like fun, so we'll head over there for the afternoon. 
• Monday - Since Monday is a holiday, I'll include it here since in my mind its an extension of the weekend and not really the start of a new week. It's so far away that its hard to plan for it, but I've written down hot dogs, a veggie pizza burger, and Trader Joe's frozen gnocchi alla Sorrentina.

Enhanced Box Mix Brownies

I needed a treat for work but I didn't have any time to make something from scratch but I also didn't want to resort to going to the grocery store to buy treats.  I knew I had a box of brownie mix in the cupboard, so that was the plan.  I figured plain brownies weren't going to win me any points with my coworkers, so I decided I would spiffy them up a bit. 

Ingredients

• Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix  (13x9 family size, 18.3 oz)
• water, oil, and eggs called for on the box
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla 
• 1 tsp Folgers decaf instant coffee crystals (coffee enhances chocolate flavor)
• 3/4 container Trader Joe's mini chocolate peanut butter cups, choppe

Directions

Preheat the oven as directed on the box.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  

chopped PB cups.  I might have tasted a couple.

Mix the water, oil, eggs, vanilla, and add the coffee crystals to ensure they fully dissolve.  Then add the brownie mix powder and mix thoroughly.  Then stir in the chopped mini peanut butter cups.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake as directed.

Had a taste to ensure they were
good enough to serve to my coworkers!

Verdict

The piece I tasted was quite good, but I don't know if they were really jazzed up enough to be a whole lot better than plain box brownies (which are quite fab!). 

They seemed to go pretty fast at the office, so I think that means they were good.