Egg White Breakfast Casserole

I have never been that great at eating breakfast, but I have really come to see the importance of starting your day off by putting sufficient nutrition into your body. I focus better and generally feel better.

That’s how I came to this egg bake. I can pack in plenty of protein and vegetables into my morning. I wrote this recipe focusing on nutritious ingredients without sacrificing taste and flavor. Baked in a 9×13 casserole dish, I cut this into six servings. This high-protein breakfast casserole could be the perfect way to get your day started. Plus, if you make this on Sunday, you could have breakfast covered for the entire week.

 

Ingredients*

• one pound sweet Italian chicken or turkey sausage
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• two cups chopped kale
• one cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• two large eggs
• two cups egg whites (8 egg whites)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

*This ingredient list is meant to be flexible. I made two versions of this already. For the first version, I used one 10 oz package of frozen chopped leaf kale, one 8 oz package of fresh mushrooms, and one 12 oz package of Nature’s Promise chicken sausage (fully cooked). In my second attempt, I used one 10 oz package of frozen mixed mushrooms, one bunch of dinosaur kale, and one pound of raw chicken sausage from Whole Foods. Use whatever ingredients you like. Just remember that if you are using frozen vegetables, make sure to thaw beforehand, drain well, and then squeeze as much water from the vegetables as you can or your dish will retain a lot of liquid.

Left: version 1 Right: version 2

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drizzle about a teaspoon of olive in a large pan over medium heat. Remove sausage from casing. Once oil is hot, add sausage to the pan, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it browns. (If using fully cooked sausage, slice sausage into round and brown for a few minutes in the pan to form a slight crust). Remove sausage from pan and reserve in a medium bowl.
3. In the same pan the sausage was cooked, add mushrooms and cook for four to five minutes, until slightly softened and browned. Add the chopped kale and sauté for another three to four minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then mix into the the bowl with the cooked sausage.
4. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the meat and vegetable mixture evenly in the pan. Sprinkle one cup of shredded mozzarella on top of the meat/veggies.
5. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, egg whites, and milk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the sausage, veggies, and cheese. It should cover it most of the way, but it is okay if the ingredients stick out at bit. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
7. Cover with tin aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until eggs are cooked and set.

I preferred the second version of this to the first one. It tasted more fresh than the first version with the frozen kale and precooked sausage. Each time I reheated this second casserole in the microwave, it felt as though it just came out of the oven for the first time.