Crockpot Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole

I made two crockpot casseroles tonight. So yummy! And took about 10 minutes to prep.

I made two different flavor combinations using the same base recipe.

Cheesy Bacon Tater Tot Casserole

Layers- bacon & cheese

Toppings- cheese

Spinach Basil Bacon Breakfast Casserole

Layers- bacon and fresh spinach 

Toppings- fresh basil

The final product was thick and fluffy and layered beautifully! 

This recipe is very versatile and can be used with whatever are your favorite omelette ingredients. If you want really meaty than add more meat if you want real cheesy than use the whole bag! 

Base Recipe Ingredients per crockpot: 

1 - 2lbs. bag frozen tater tots (Trader Joe's is gluten free) 

1/2-1 lbs meat of choice, cooked and chopped 

12 eggs 

1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk) 

1/2- 1 tbsp dried minced onion 

a few grinds of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning Grinder 

Optional layers: 

1/2 package shredded cheese 

2 big handfuls of fresh spinach 

... Or whatever your heart desires! 

Optional toppings:

Handful cheese

1-2 tbsp fresh chopped basil 

.... Or whatever your heart desires! 

Directions: 

1. Spray crockpot. 

2. Pour 1/2 bag of tater tots in crockpot. 

3. Layer in your fillings-cooked meat, cheese, veggies, etc. 

4. Sprinkle in dried minced onion 

Pour other 1/2 of tater tot bag in crockpot

5. Layer on toppings - fresh basil, more cheese, etc. 

6. Whisk 12 eggs, milk and seasoning 

7. Pour eggs over crockpot

8. Turn crockpot on! High 3-4 hours, low 6-8 hours

I enjoyed mine with fresh avacado over top of it. 

Servings: As the main dish this has 8-10 servings, as a side dish I would say 12--14 servings. 

Beyeler Review: So good and easy! The boys all ate it! Kept as a leftover well. Can be used for breakfast or dinner! 

Whole30- Week 4

Day 22:
Breakfast: Almond Butter Waffles recipe topped with clarified butter, sliced bananas, cinnamon, coconut shreds with two fried eggs and my usual coffee

Lunch: Salad with Mexican Flare - tomatoes, peppers, chicken, avocado with a scoop of mayo and a lime juice
Dinner: Sundried Tomatoes & Basil Meatballs recipe with Spaghetti Squash with Homemade Pesto recipe with Sundried Tomatoes  - meatballs were great but we didn't love the spaghetti squash

Journal: Had a very vivid dream about hoarding ice cream and getting caught by Andrew. Apparently this getting real!

Day 23:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes recipe with Coconut Cinnamon Sauce (melted coconut oil with cinnamon stirred in) with egg omelette  - LOVE the pancakes great texture and great next day too

Lunch: Green Smoothie - coconut milk, spinach, almond butter, banana & plantain chips with guacamole
Snack: nuts
Dinner: Sausage & Potatoes fried in skillet with seasonings and olive oil with avocado and grapes

Journal: Were on the go in the morning and so I had a 10am smoothie and then plantain chips and huac around noon then nuts at about 3pm. Went to a meeting at Luke's school where they served pizza - I didn't even care! Thats amazing! I like ending my meal with fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth. Paleo Snack Ideas

Day 24:
Breakfast: leftover pancakes and eggs with usual coffee

Lunch: Salad with chicken, cranberries, banana, apple, sliced almonds w/ lemon balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner: Breakfast Crockpot Casserole recipe - everyone liked and baby ate it too!

Journal: Stomach is bothering me more and more and feeling IBS symptoms frustrating! Noticing more and more that my I am sleeping better and falling asleep quickly. 

Day 25:
Breakfast:Leftover Breakfast Casserole and Leftover Pumpkin Pancakes w/ usual coffee

Lunch: Leftover sweet potatoes with sausage, avocado, and peach
Dinner: Citrus Herb Chicken Breasts Recipe, Smashed Red Potatoes recipe, & Asparagus

Citrus Herb Chicken Breasts: I used fresh rosemary this time and it was very good. We did like this recipe with thighs better than breasts. 

Smashed Red Potatoes: I used red potatoes. Boiled for 30 minutes. Then smashed and topped with clarified butter and Everyday Seasoning, baked at 425 for 20 minutes then topped with crumbled bacon, green onions, and avocado. AMAZING!

Treat: Grilled Bananas - Andrew's creation, top with cinnamon and grill with peal on. YUM!!!!

Journal: My stomach was a wreck today :/ going to give up coffee for a few days. Also been reading about after Whole30 in the book It Starts with Food. Here is a link to Whole9 guide to Nutritional Guide to Off Roading guide

Day 26:
Breakfast: Leftover Breakfast Casserole and Leftover Pumpkin Pancakes w/ Herbal Tea
Lunch: In-n-Out Burger Double Meat Protein Style with Mustard and Pickles & Yes with Fries
Treat: Bowl of Bananas with Almond Butter, Sliced Almonds, Coconut, & Cinnamon
Dinner:

Journal:

Day 27:
Breakfast: omelette with bacon and spinach and herbal tea 

Snack: plantain chips and guac  Lunch: Paradise Bakery - shared a Chicken Cobb Salad with Avocado with Andrew forgot to order with Gorgonzola tried to pick most of it out .... Very good salad
Dinner: Had company and grilled so did our favorites jalepeno bacon burges with avocado, sweet potato fries, grilled green beans and grapes and then grilled cinnamon bananas for a treat. 

Journal: my stomach was not update in morning like usually is after coffee. Had no trouble passing up paradise bakery cookie! But then came home climbing the walls and had a tbsp of Enjoy Life chocolate chips over a bowl with my favorite banana almond bowl treat. I think this is stress related. 

Day 28:
Breakfast: banana paleo pancake - wasn't great - 2 fried eggs and chicken apple sausage - sausage was good Applegate brand (target or sprouts) and I found an herbal coffee at sprouts no caffeine and not acidic totally did the trick! 

Lunch: Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame dressing. I used leftover citrus herb chicken from earlier this week. This was really good! 

all ingredients from Trader Joe's and Sprouts

Dinner: Dying for something pumpkin after shopping at Trader Joe's who has over 60 pumpkin items for the fall including pumpkin dog treats - really?! So made pumpkin waffles everyone liked them! recipe

Journal: My stomach has been puffy and I'm really struggling with constipation - i know TMI - but I just don't get it. I'm going to try to up veggies and water next week

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients: 

2-3 cups sweet potato, shredded

1lbs sausage or bacon, cooked & crumbled 

16 eggs

1/2 cup almond milk (or coconut)

Seasoning 

2 handfuls fresh spinach - or more, chopped 

2 tbsp fresh chopped basil

Grape tomatoes halved 

Directions:

Oil crockpot

 layer in crockpot, sweet potatoes

Add sausage, diced  (I used a Trader Joe's package of Apple Chicken Sausage which comes with 4 links they are fully cooked already) (could also use browned ground sausage or crumbled bacon)

Next, layer spinach, basil and tomatoes. 

Then whisk 16 eggs, 1/2 cup almond milk, seasonings to taste (I recommend onion salt pepper garlic) (I used Trader Joe's Garlic Salt Grinder and Everyday Seasoning Grinders because I use them on everything). Pour mixture over everything. 

Set crockpot high 4 hours or low 6-8 hours! 

So yummy and fluffy! 

I made half without veggies for kids.

Was thick and would make 12 side dish servings or 6 main dish servings. 

Whole 30 - My Goals, Prep, Shopping & Filling the Fridge/Pantry

So we are heading into the Whole30. I have talked Whitney and Summer into being my partners in this journey. Whitney is on a quest to tackle her PCOS and Summer to tackle stomach issues, sleep issues, and hopeful for energy.

I read the book It Starts With Food which was very insightful and confirmed to me that 30 days of Paleo would be worth the results - more energy, better sleep, clearer thinking, hopefully a flatter stomach. For me most importantly was more stability with depression/anxiety symptoms and no stomachaches! Also the book talks about chronic inflammation. My shoulders and neck have been a big issue since Parker was born and I'm hoping maybe some of those symptoms will improve. The chapter on hormones in the book really sold me. From the moment I wake up groggy in the morning to the moment I try to go to sleep at night my day is dictated by sugar and carb cravings (even though I've been gluten free since April) and feelings of energy and blood sugar levels going up and down. I ALWAYS have a case of the afternoon grumps and HANGRY (angry hungry)  by the time it is time to start making dinner, even though I snack all afternoon, and usually have an afternoon headache. This makes between 3-6pm a rough time in our home which is also when kids are grumpy and hungry and Andrew is getting home from work. Book explains in a scientific way how hormones are affected by food and how this roller coaster happens.

So basic rules NO grains, NO legumes, NO dairy, NO sugar (which by the way is added to EVERYTHING - so have to read labels.) NO alcohol, and NO recreating things with approved ingredients (I'm going to cheat a little on this one). Whole30 Program Rules

To embark on the Whole30 Prep is possibly the hardest part - well at least the most time consuming. You need to:

1. Meal Plan - I plan 2-3 breakfasts, 2-3 lunches, and then 4-5 dinners and then fill in with leftovers and "empty the fridge" meals
2. Clean out the fridge and Pantry - seriously read every label sugar is in EVERYTHING
3. Grocery Shop

I usually shop at Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Costco, and Target. Here are my favorite finds at these stores for Whole30.

Costco:

• BACON - their low sodium bacon is the ONLY bacon I have found so found that has to added sugar and its very good. You get 4 packages for $14.99
• Organic Baby Spinach - huge tub for $3.59**amazing deal (you can freeze for smoothies)
• Organic Spring Mix Salad - huge tub for $3.79 **amazing deal
• 2 dozen Organic Eggs - $6.99
• Almond Butter large jar **great price for the size** $8.99
• 5 large avocados $4.99
• Coconut Flour
• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Avocado Oil
• Guacamole single size 

Trader Joe's:

• Grinders - Garlic Salt, Everyday Seasoning, Lemon Pepper ...I use them everyday!
• Pre-cooked boiled eggs - but not organic
• canned coconut milk $.99
• Bagged nuts
• Pre-grilled chicken breasts (in fresh meat section)-great for lunches/salads or a throw together dinner 
• Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage **LOVE
• Applegate Hot Dogs
• Organic Sweet Potatoes 
• Grass-Fed Beef in freezer section
• Grass-Fed Beef Burgers in freezer section 
• Frozen Bagged Chicken - breasts or thighs
• Clarified Butter (by oils only $3.99)
• Crunch Salad - kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts 
• Organic Chicken Broth -sugar free **some have sugar!!!!!
• Sun Dried Tomatoes in jar
• Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Sauce - sugar free **all others had sugar
• Chunky spicy Guacamole
• Sandwhich pickles
• Frozen fruit

Sprouts:

• shredded coconut unsweetened (on their tables of pre packed stuff out of the bins)
• Date Nut Coconut Rolls (on their tables of pre packed stuff out of the bins)
• So Delicious Coconut Milk Vanilla Unsweetened (I use in my coffee, also at Target)
• we buy meats here - but they don't have sugar free bacon
• Applegate deli meats and hot dogs available here
• Coconut Aminos (replaces soy sauce)
• Sausage - I found frozen pork sausage links with no sugar
• I always look over their organic fruit and vegetable stands

Whole30 - Week 2 Meals & Journal

Looking back on Week 1 I would say it was very successful. I'm already feeling the effects and seeing the benefits of eating this way. I am enjoying the food and not feeling deprived. I see so much improvement in my afternoon slumps and in my stomach. It does take a lot of prep as far as meal planning and grocery shopping but as far as more cooking during the week - I don't think so. We made easy meals last week and I cook dinner anyways so I'm not feeling like it is that much more time consuming during the week. 

Prep for the week included a Costco run and Trader Joe's run. I also made batch of paleo mayo with Matt's help and made up lunch for the week - Chicken Salad.

Paleo Mayo - Super Easy and Fast to make - recipe

Chicken Salad - chopped chicken, celery, grapes, apples, paleo mayo, and lemon pepper seasoning. 

Coffee Made for the week and in Mason Jars. 

Stocked with fruits and Veggies.

Fruit, Veggie and Meat draws are full, got organic peaches and apples at Costco.

Day 8:
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with spinach, basil, bacon crumbles, and Everyday Seasoning from Trader Joe's with clarified butter. Coffee with Coconut Milk and Cinnamon. This is become my usual breakfast. 
Lunch: Chicken Salad over greens with a little greek dressing and side of plantain chips - I always want a crunch. And a large green unsweetened tea. So good. 

Dinner: Sausage, Potatoes, and Asparagus have been one of our favorite dinners for a long time so to be able to have this on WHOLE30 is such a treat. Usually we would have with red potatoes and drench it in sugar filled ketchup so I am experimenting with some new ideas here. This week we used Trader Joe's Garlic Herb Chicken Sausage, a bag of mix potatoes, and 2 sweet potatoes. I fry the potatoes in olive oil and garlic salt and everyday seasoning from Trader Joe's for about 20 minutes stirring often then add chopped sausage for about 10 minutes and then scoot it all to the side of the skillet and add a little more olive oil and the asparagus which I top with lemon pepper. I give asparagus about 5-8 minutes depending on the thickness of the stalks - I like it crunchy.  This was delicious and I especially likes the sweet potatoes in the mix but noticed that they cooked up faster than the other potatoes. Had a side of peaches and me and Parker had some avocado. 

Love that the kids are eating what we are eating.

Journal: Slept hard and work up in a much better mood. Sunday was rough.  Went to a hard work out at Stroller Strides. Enjoyed what I ate today and was full and satisfied. I did good thru the afternoon but was pretty tired by evening. 

Day 9:
Breakfast: 

Snack: I felt a sweet tooth and had a bowl of almond butter, banana, sliced almonds, cinnamon, and shredded coconut. Very filling and satisfying.

Lunch: Wasn't super hungry from my morning snack so had a late lunch. Chicken Salad, avocado, chips, and peaches. I ended up not eating all my chips and peaches because I just wasn't that hungry. 
Dinner: We have community group tonight and the host is making spaghetti so I'm making our family Zoodles (recipe) with Red Sauce (only sugar free I could find at Trader Joe's) and Sausage (spinach garlic chicken from Target). There will be salad and fruit there too. Kinda stinks to have to make a meal on my week to bring a side but that is how it works when you are eating "different". Here is a photo of the zoodles in the making. It was very fun to make them but after baking to dehydrate they were just a clump so I was really bummed and didn't love the texture. The sauce and sausage was good. 

Journal: Slept hard again and woke up sore from my workout yesterday and with a headache.  Feeling the need to snack but not from hunger - interesting! I feel like today was a rougher day in the afternoon and evening. I was tired and a little grumpy but you know who knows what that is from :)

Day 10:
Breakfast: 2 fried eggs with clarified butter. My favorite scoop of almond butter melted, sliced banana, sliced almonds, shredded coconut, and cinnamon. I had hot coffee with coconut cream with cinnamon ... I need cold mornings to enjoy that. 

Lunch: I had chicken salad again with 1/2 avocado and plantain chips with a green tea.
Dinner: Tried for a Mexican meal. I made up ground beef with chopped jalepeno and peppers and threw in spices. I took a Jicama peeled and chopped and threw in food processor until it looked like rice added chopped cilantro, salt and lime juice. Jicama rice was good and easy to make I mixed with my guac and meat and pretended in was a chipolte bowl! I also made a sort of ranch dressing - took 1/4 paleo mayo, 1/4 light coconut milk, sprinkled with onion powder, garlic powder, and dill. It was ok but not hidden valley! 

Journal: Still having trouble getting out of bed in the morning but once I'm up I feel my energy in morning and mood is much better. I worked out this morning and it was a hard workout but I see I'm getting stronger. Have a headache and sore neck and shoulders today. In the afternoon and evening I had a headache and I feel the last 3-4 I have been constipated and then cleaning out but it's uncomfortable ... What's that about? Maybe too many bananas?! Felt my attitude about food was negative yesterday and I craved sweets which I really haven't struggled with. I looked up the whole30 timeline and see that day 10-11 are the hardest and when most people quit and they say the "magic" of soaring energy is almost here so I'm sticking with it and excited for the magic!!! Here is link to timeline if you wanted to read 

http://whole30.com/2013/08/revised-timeline/

Day 11:
Breakfast: my usual 3 egg omelet with spinach, bacon, basil, everyday seasoning fried in clarified butter 

Lunch: Cobb Salad - pre-grilled chicken breasts from Trader Joe's, handful butter lettuce leaves, handful of Crunch Salad from Trader Joe's, 1 boiled egg, 1 slice bacon, shredded carrots, leftover jicama from last night, "sort of ranch dressing" from last night, and a drizzle of garlic roasted olive oil. 

Snack: I broke under the craving and made Paleo Banana Muffins with some brown bananas that have been taunting me and reminding me of my sweet and amazing banana pancakes :( These were very dense and disappointing 

Dinner: Citrus Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs Recipe Sweet Potato Fries (sweet potatoes sliced stir in bowl with olive oil, garlic salt, seasoning salt, everyday seasonings, and italian seasoning, put on baking sheet in oven at 400 for 30 min or until browning)

Snack: Did my favorite melted almond butter with sliced banana, sliced almonds, cinnamon and Coconut  - I'm going to call this amazing Banana Coconut Almond Butter Treat :)

Journal: Really dragging today and craving sugar and carbs again. So frustrating. But still feel determined to fight thru! I feel kinda down and moody. My stomach seems off again. :/

Day 12:

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with bacon, spinach, basil, seasoning with leftover sweet potatoes from last night and usual coffee

Lunch: 11am ice tea and apple and then a1:30pm Green smoothie with some plantain chips

 Dinner: Coconut Crusted Burgers - YUMMY -I made 6 medium size patties out of  1.5 lbs. ground turkey. And I made a broccoli salad with golden raisins, almonds, bacon, celery, broccoli, and mayo with red wine vinegar. 

Journal: My stomach still seems off which I can't quite figure out. I'm kinda dreading the weekend because I usually don't cook on the weekends and Paleo does require cooking :/ I doubled up the dinner recipe so we have leftovers. Ok for some positives I noticed today at Stroller Strides (which I have been doing for 5 weeks) that my workout level is more 
intense and that my performance is really improving which is encouraging. 

Day 13: Saturday
Breakfast: Leftover sweet potatoes, strawberries, omelette and banana muffin (which didn't get eaten because it was so dense) and my usual coffee. 

 Lunch: Yard House for lunch on our date and really did our best to order. We ordered and shared a Spring Mix Salad with veggies and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing and Turkey Club Sandwich with no bread or cheese and no condiments with a side of mustard and pickles. 

Dinner: We had "clean out the fridge dinner" which I'm going to coin as "upcycled dinner" so we had leftover citrus herb chicken shredded with salad, avocados in paleo wraps. These wraps were so easy to make and were good. You could basically make them any flavor you wanted. 

Journal: I felt like today was a success with some up and downs. We had an amazing morning date, dropped kids off and went to Junk in the Trunk so much fun... but there was amazing smells coming from the food truck so left a little HANGRY! We did enjoy Mama's Cold Brew Iced Coffee there black and it was delicious. I really felt sorry for myself that I couldn't have a "treat" on our morning date BUT it ended up totally fine. I felt like I did ok for eating out but after thinking about it I'm sure the dressing, turkey and bacon all had added sugar. But did as well as I could! I thought my weekend mind frame at breakfast and dinner were much better and I was happy to have leftovers and not have to cook. 

Day 14:
Breakfast: Almond Butter Waffles **so good :) I had half a waffle with strawberries, shredded coconut, sliced almonds, and cinnamon. Also had one fried egg, 1 slice bacon, and usual coffee. 

Lunch: Jalepeno Burgers topped with homemade paleo mayo, sweet potato fries, salad with avocado. & peaches. 
Dinner:

Journal: Andrew's family came over for lunch and the football game. I really enjoyed my lunch and didn't want any of their non-whole30 food and they even had ice cream. I just had my favorite Almond Butter Banana Bowl and was satisfied.