Sweet Potato Sausage Breakfast Casserole

I am at the point where I am getting tired of the quick and easy breakfasts that you can grab and go, so it was time for a new recipe. A friend told me about this sweet potato sausage breakfast casserole she made and I decided to give it a try. This is a 7 ingredient dish that you can throw together and portion out so that you can grab and go. I made some adjustments to the recipe for things that I had on hand and used a 9 x 13 pan as the recipe didn't give a baking pan size. It turned out pretty well and incorporates some fall spices, so even though it's still summer outside the fall flavors are coming!

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
1 lb breakfast sausage (try to get the organic version with as little sugar as possible)
1 container sliced mushrooms (I used cremini mushrooms)
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup almond milk (the original recipe called for coconut milk)
Pepper to taste
Olive oil
Ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg (optional)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375.

Brown the sausage in a pan with some olive oil. Once it is cooked, drain off the liquid. In another pan, heat your olive oil and begin to sautee your onions. Pepper the onions while they are cooking. You can also add salt, but I don't typically use salt and especially because there is also sausage in this dish, I didn't add any. Also, I apparently wasn't thinking and started with a pan that was too small. Instead of creating more dishes for myself, I ended up cooking the onions and the mushrooms separately. Once the onions, were opaque and soft, transfer those to a plate and cook your mushrooms and then combine them with the onions.

Take your thinly sliced sweet potatoes and lay them out in the bottom of the pan. Then layer the sausage and mushroom/onion mixture on top. Top with the rest of the sweet potatoes. If you want to make this in a smaller pan, then create alternating layers of the sweet potatoes and the sausage and mushroom/onion mixture, but be sure that your top layer is sweet potatoes. Next, take your almond milk and add pepper. The original recipe suggested adding additional spices to the milk so I used ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Feel free to use whatever spices you want. Mix the spices and milk and drizzle it over the top of the casserole.

Cover with a piece of tinfoil and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked. My was in the oven for 30 minutes and the sweet potatoes were fork tender. This easy casserole is made with ingredients that will keep you full and ready to take on the day. The original recipe suggested serving it with eggs and avocado. Plus this would make a great breakfast for dinner option as it isn't sweet and is healthy but filling. If you are looking for a twist, a touch of creme fraiche might be a nice addition. Come back and let me know how you served your casserole.

Sweet Pop

Ok ok...I know that I just recently blogged about popchips, but I had to tell everyone about this one! It's a sweet potato popchip. This tasty little snack is something that you are always going to want to have around to munch on. The natural sweetness is balanced with the touch of salt that each chip has. The earthy and deep flavors that are packed into each little chip is amazing. For me, I think that these are slightly addictive. Plus since they are made with sweet potatoes, I like to think that they are slightly better for you than the regular popchips. Don't get me wrong though, I am pretty sure that even the regular potato popchips are better for you than regular chips. Bottom line... the predicted rain for this weekend means that this is the perfect movie snack for all the movies you will probably be watching. So hop on over to the store and pick yourself up a bag (or three) and munch away!

Sweet Tots

There is something about tater tots that reminds me of childhood. The bite size pieces were fun to play with and poppable, so they were easy to eat. I haven't bought frozen potatoes in a really long time, but when I saw sweet potato tots in someone's cart at the store I knew I needed to try them. These little tots are from Alexia, which has really great seasoned potato wedges and waffle fries. These are absolutely delish! They aren't too sweet, have a very tiny touch of salt, and a crispy outside. They are fun to eat and have more nutrition than regular potatoes. I made sure to limit myself so that I wouldn't eat too many because they are really easy to eat. I will be buying these again because they are a grown up version of one of my childhood favorites. Be sure to pick up a bag next time you are at your grocery store!

Wolfgang Puck Bistro

While driving around Tulsa, I was very surprised to see a Wolfgang Puck Bistro. One doesn't usually associate Tulsa as a culinary destination, however, they do have quite the restaurant array. The inside it super modern and chic, done in dark wood, black, and chrome lighting. It gives off the vibe that it is the place to be and the place to be seen. The restaurant focuses on organic and local ingredients and had a fresh farmer's market tart that sounded delicious. Their soup of the day was a french onion soup, and boy was it delicious! The cheese was perfectly golden brown and the broth was rich, but not too salty with a few bread cubes in the bottom. The caramelized onions were the shining star in the soup and there were enough to make the soup very filling. I also ordered half a sandwich, so next came my pesto chicken salad sandwich.

It was served on homemade ciabatta bread that was so light and airy. Though from the picture it looks like there was a lot of bread, there really wasn't because it was so airy. The sandwich was served with housemade potato chips, which I have to admit are so much better than store bought ones. They had just a touch of salt, so they were the perfect compliment to the sandwich. The chicken salad was chunks of real chicken breast and lettuce that was lightly dressed with a pesto. The sauce was barely there, allowing the ingredients to come together on their own. This was a very filling lunch and even though it didn't sound like a lot of food, I promise you it's enough. I did not leave hungry.


The best part about going out to eat with someone else is that you can share and try more of the menu. Luckily for me, my lunch buddy was willing to share with me. He got a roasted turkey club sandwich with sweet potato fries. His was also served on a ciabatta roll and it had turkey, melted cheese, caramelized onions, and arugula with a horseradish cream sauce on the side. This was perfectly toasted and everything blended together that it was almost like eating a barbeque turkey sandwich. The sweet potato fries had a tender inside and an outside with the right amount of crunch. They had a bit of sea salt on them, keeping the integrity of the ingredients. I have never eaten at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, but I will definitely try another one or maybe just go back to this one! Stop by if you are in the Tulsa area.