I like blogging, low carb cooking, cast iron, and bacon. This post is going to be fun!
Last weekend I posted my recipe for a low-carb breakfast bake. Well, this morning, I woke up inspired to improve that little cast iron breakfast. Today, I present my cast iron, low carb breakfast bake masterpiece – Take Two!
One small hassle with last weekend’s breakfast bake was cooking the onion, green pepper, and sausage altogether. The onion wanted to burn before the sausage was fully cooked.
I changed the cooking order to avoid anything burning with this dish. I used more pans, cast iron of course, but it came together nicely.
Is It Just Me?
Much of this post is simply my preference. I love cast iron, but you can use whatever type of pans you wish. I would recommend you use something like a glass casserole dish if you don’t use cast iron. Most skillets can’t take the heat of cast iron. See why I love cast iron?
Don’t like an ingredient? Take it out or replace it with something else. I know many people think mushrooms are repulsive. No problem, don’t use them.
Make your breakfast bake perfect for you and your family by making it to your tastes. Other options could have been celery, potatoes (if low-carb isn’t an issue), ham, green onions, tomatoes, or even avocado.
Ingredients
✓ 8 large eggs
✓ 4 medium onions
✓ 2 large green peppers
✓ 1 large jalapeno pepper
✓ ⅓ cup milk, I used 2%
✓ 6 slices of Kraft singles – (Better yet – use 10 oz. shredded fresh mild cheddar cheese)
✓ 1 lb. bacon, cooked into a weave
✓ 1 lb. ground hot sausage
✓ 10 oz. fresh mushrooms, chopped
✓ Cooking oil/shortener, I always use Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
The Prep
✓ Chop fresh onion, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, and fresh mushroom.
✓ Whip eggs and milk in a mixing bowl.
Directions
Bacon Weave
☑ Cook the bacon weave until thoroughly cooked. I used a cast iron griddle, flipping the bacon weave half way through. Once cooked, place the bacon weave on a plate between paper towels to soak up excessive grease. Set aside (You won’t need again for a bit and there’s no need to keep warm).First, the bacon. I wanted a bacon weave for this breakfast bake. While optional, bacon weaves not only make the dish look fantastic, they insure every bite is blessed with bacon goodness.
First, the bacon. I wanted a bacon weave for this breakfast bake. While optional, bacon weaves not only make the dish look fantastic, they insure every bite is blessed with bacon goodness.
There are plenty of resources online that will show you how to weave bacon, so I won’t go too deep into it today. The process is super simple, and I’ll embed a Pinterest image below to help get you started.
☑ Cook sausage in a cast iron skillet, loosely chopping with a wooden spoon or spatula. Drain any excess grease/oil from the pan.
☑ Mix and cook the chopped onion, green pepper, and jalapeno pepper in a separate cast iron skillet with coconut oil.
☑ Once the vegetables are cooked, add the cooked sausage to the pan. Turn off and remove from heat. Turn off all stove burners.
☑ Stir in the fresh chopped mushrooms (uncooked).
☑ Pour the egg and milk mix over the vegetables and sausage.
☑ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
☑ Coat a clean cast iron skillet for the breakfast bake with a generous amount of coconut oil. Transfer the sausage, egg, and vegetable mix into the final skillet you just coated.
☑ Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
☑ Remove breakfast bake skillet. Layer top with cheese (I only had sliced but would have preferred freshly grated cheese).
☑ Now carefully place your bacon weave over the top of the cheese and place in the oven for just a minute, or until the cheese melts.
☑ Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes. Turn off oven. Using a spatula, loosen the breakfast bake from the skillet.
Final presentation – Optional
Carefully (don’t burn yourself), place a paper plate on the top and turn the skillet upside down over the plate. Now, repeat that process with a serving plate or platter, flipping bacon side up from the paper plate.
Dish Notes
The cost? My wife just left for the grocery store to replace everything I used up. I don’t know how the cost, but she wasn’t pleased. LOL She did love the breakfast, though – especially since I did the dishes, treated the cast iron pans, and cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Mega points for me. 😉
Difficulty? Without a doubt, today’s breakfast bake was a little more involved than last week’s. Primarily because I used more steps, as well as pans. But hey, I’m a trucker, blogger, and internet superhero – If I can make this dish, you certainly can.
NOTE: I am positive that a better cook would have simplified the process. For example, I’m betting my inexperience caused me to add the fully cooked bacon weave to the cooked breakfast bake. I just don’t have the confidence and experience to trust baking everything as a whole.
Healthy? I’m the last person to seek when it comes to healthy cooking. While I’m on a low-carb diet at the moment, this dish is loaded with fat, cholesterol, and several other things your doctor probably wouldn’t recommend. I did use coconut oil, which should be a healthier cooking oil according to the book Living Low Carb by Jonny Bowden.
Serves? This dish should serve 6 – 8 normal people. In reality, it served 3 of us fat people – four if you count Sadie.
Credits and Thanks
I’d like to thank Sadie – for watching over me every second in the kitchen.
I’d like to thank the chickens that certainly unwillingly donated their unborn so my family could enjoy yet another high cholesterol breakfast.
Let’s not forget the little piggy that paid the ultimate price, so people don’t have to suffer through life without the comfort of bacon.
And, yes, I want to thank YOU for getting this far through yet another brilliant post by me.
Last, but certainly not least, I thank my wife for being a great sport as I trash the kitchen, using up all of the groceries, and still saying it tastes great.
Brian D. Hawkins is a late-blooming thought leader in his mind. So please don't disturb his happy thoughts. It's all he has.
Brian D. Hawkins has been a blogger for over twenty years, having written thousands of public articles on dozens of websites. He currently blogs for NextStepSurvival.com and his personal blog at TheOpinionBlog.com.
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