Spicy Southwest Breakfast Casserole
I haven’t really been into eating breakfast lately. And by breakfast I mean the meal that I eat at my desk at 4:00 pm. About 3ish years ago Mike told me about intermittent fasting and I’ve been doing it pretty steadily every since. Sometimes on the weekends I’ll eat a late breakfast if I want something tasty and we have to run errands or something. I do NOT do well running errands with Mike on an empty stomach. No patience and I’m HANGRY. But oddly during the week it doesn’t seem to phase me. I have my own office and I’m left alone at work for the most part, so it makes it easy. There’s a little tidbit I bet you didn’t know about me.
I haven’t made a 4pm breakfast meal in maybe months. I don’t really go to the gym in January (let’s call it personal reasons) so I haven’t needed the extra burst of energy at 5:30 pm. Usually during the month of January I just go home straight from work and relax. I cook a nice healthy dinner most nights and just hang out. It’s quite nice. This casserole actually ended up being our dinner one night in January.
But January has come to a close and, therefore, so has my gym hiatus. It’s time to get back into the swing of things. Breakfasts are the hardest for me because I always want something sweet like pancakes or waffles or muffins or anything else that’s loaded with sugar. I guess it’s not terrible if I’m heading to the gym right from work, but I make those things a little too often. I was getting burnt out of my usual sugar free breakfasts, so it’s been great to create a few new healthy Whole30 breakfast recipes for the blog. It’s kept my creative juices flowing and it gives me a unique breakfast to eat for a change!
Mike and I each brought some of this casserole to work one day to eat for lunch. He messaged me and informed me that this casserole would make a great Mexican meat substitute to put in something like a breakfast burrito. Meat substitute? I told him that since there’s ground beef in this casserole, I didn’t really know how to take that feedback. “Oh.” He said. But other than the whole missing the meat bit, he was right. This casserole would make an amazing filling for a wrap topped with all your favorite burrito/taco toppings to make one heck of a breakfast burrito! I’m sure that’s what Mike will do the next time I make this casserole. The first one I made went pretty quickly around here!
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease an 8" x 8" baking dish with cooking fat of choice (I used avocado oil).
- Heat 1 tbsp cooking fat in a large skillet (I prefer cast iron) over medium heat. When hot, add the onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Saute for 3-4 minutes. Add the ground beef and break up with a spatula. Season with a pinch of sea salt and stir occasionally. When the ground beef has completely browned, add all of the spices, sea salt, black pepper, and kale and stir to combine, sauteing for 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to scoop the mixture into the greased baking dish.
- Add the eggs to a medium bowl and whisk. Add the salsa and stir to combine. Season with sea salt and pepper if desired. Pour the egg mixture over the ground beef mixture in the baking dish. Use a spatula to gently stir the baking dish to combine the ingredients.
- Bake at 350° F for 45-50 minutes until the edges are set. It's okay if the casserole is slightly jiggly just in the very center; it will cook up a bit after removed from the oven. Serve hot topped with salsa and sliced avocado if desired and enjoy!
