Breakfast Casserole with Bacon, Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Kale

When I make a recipe, I always expect it to turn out great. Of course, sometimes it doesn't, but if I weren't expecting delicious results, why would I bother making the recipe at all?

On the other hand, sometimes there's a qualifier. I might say to myself, "These cookies will be great--for sugar-free cookies." Or in this case, "This will be wonderful--for a dairy-free breakfast casserole."

You may have already guessed that this recipe blew that qualifier right out of the water (especially since only recipes that are amazing without qualifiers end up on the blog at all!). This breakfast casserole is so delectable that I do not think anyone will notice or care that it's dairy free.

I found this recipe over at Susan's blog, Food.Baby.Life, which was my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal. Susan is a busy mom of three boys under age five, and still finds time to study, cook, and share delicious recipes on her blog! I, for one, am very impressed. Susan's recipe index includes a huge selection of allergy-friendly baked goods along with lots of family-friendly main dishes like this one.

Kale and Bacon Quiches with Hash Brown Crust + A Giveaway

It's my second blog birthday! I feel like I've come a long way since my very first post, but last year's blogiversary feels like it was just yesterday. Time flies when you're eating well!

At the risk of sounding sappy, I want to say thank you for stopping by my site. Reading your comments and connecting with you on social media makes my day, and turns the often solitary activities of cooking, photographing, and writing into something that's actually meaningful.

To celebrate the occasion, I made grain-free kale and bacon quiches with hash brown crust. They're like little crispy nests of savory goodness. This was my first time making a potato crust, and I'm totally hooked. I'm even thinking it might work in some sort of a dessert pie (is that too radical?). Here, the crunchy potato tangles hold a filling of eggs, kale, shallots, crisp bacon, and crumbled goat cheese. These are perfect for Easter brunch or any weekend morning (or a blogiversary, of course).

As I embark on my third year of blogging, I'd love to hear from you. What would you like to see more of here on A Calculated Whisk? For example, are you looking for quick and easy recipes, Whole30 meals, desserts, vegetarian meals, or something else? Would you like to see more non-recipe posts (reviews, giveaways, perhaps travel stories)? Whatever it is, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Spicy Shrimp and Kale with Creamy Rutabaga

This is my paleo answer to the inexplicable cravings I've been having for shrimp and grits.

Who knows why? I've only had shrimp and grits a few times in my life, but lately they've been totally stuck in my head. Perhaps it's because this coming Tuesday is Mardi Gras, and I wish I could just pick up and drive down to NOLA. When I lived in Houston New Orleans was only a five-hour drive away, and now it feels far enough to be in another world.

The good news is that this dish is just as delicious as shrimp and grits, if not more so, and instead of grits we have vegetables.  Rutabagas for the win!

Also, I snuck some kale in there.  This is hardcore health food.

It's also hardcore comfort food.  If there are 80 inches of snow on the ground in your city, or even if there aren't (lucky you--do you happen to have a guest room??), this is just the thing to warm you up on a winter night. The creamy rutabaga forms a bed for plump shrimp bathed in an herby marinade and kale leaves that are crispy around the edges.

Galician Greens

My mom is from Texas, and I lived there for four years, so I am a bit of a Southern girl at heart.  I like fried okra, really hot weather, and smiling at people I don't know (not as much of a thing here in Boston, unfortunately).

As a true Texan, my mom gets really excited about greens, but I was never able to share in her excitement until now.  When I was a kid she often worked to recreate the greens my grandmother used to make, which started with salt pork and reportedly ended up as a fabulous and memorable side dish.  I never had the chance to try my grandmother's greens, so I can't really say how my mom's versions compared, but as a child I felt exasperation and dread whenever my mother picked up those gargantuan leaves at the store.  I just didn't like collard greens.

Sweet Potato & Crispy Kale Breakfast Skillet

It took me a really long time to jump on the kale bandwagon, but now I'm hooked.  I see it at the grocery store and it's so affordable, so curly, and so healthy looking that I have to buy it.  The flavor of kale takes a little getting used to, but I've found that when it's crispy and/or cooked with garlic, even haters will happily chomp on it.  This recipe delivers on both counts, and also offsets the leafy kale with sweet potatoes and perfectly-cooked eggs.  You start the breakfast skillet on the stove, pan-roasting the sweet potatoes with chopped red onion until they're tender.  The garlic and kale are tossed in and stir-fried just for a minute.  Next, you make four little wells amongst the veggies, crack an egg into each one, and then pop the skillet into the broiler.  In just a few minutes, the eggs cook and the kale crisps up just like kale chips.  You are going to love it!

Bacon & Sweet Potato Chili

Do you have a really big skillet?  If not, you are going to want to go buy one so you can make this chili right away.

If you are not convinced that you need a 14-inch skillet, I understand.  However, I intend to convince you to make this chili.  It's the best chili I've ever had, and it's a complete and colorful one-pot meal.  If you didn't just go by a huge skillet and/or don't need to feed a bunch of people, you can halve the recipe and make it in a normal-sized pan.

Why is this the best chili ever?  Well, because bacon.  And sweet potatoes.  And all the fresh things on top that make this the perfect comfort food to carry you from winter into spring.

Sweet Potato & Kale Gratin (Whole30 Day 8)

Phew!  Posting every single day is starting to get very exhausting!  

Don't get me wrong--I love to dream up recipes, cook, take pictures, and then write about it.  It's just that somehow I find myself on the couch each evening around 11, realizing there is so much work left to do!  Yesterday's post (a roundup of 7 paleo blogs I love, in case you missed it) went up at 11:59 pm.  It always takes a little bit of pressure to actually get my nose to the grindstone.

I think that since it's 10:58 right now, and I already have the photos and the recipe all set, I should be getting this one up a little earlier.

But before I hit "publish", though, let me tell you about this good-looking gratin!

Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Kale Marinara (Whole30 Day 4)

I've always been more of a baker than a cook, but I'm working hard to change that, especially since starting my Whole30.  It's exciting to try lots of different meats in lots of different forms.  Yesterday I made pork belly (you can see the before & after pics on Instagram--it was good, but not quite good enough to share with you!).  Today I used ground chicken to make meatballs.  I am so happy with the way this dish turned out--it's one of the best savory recipes I've made!  The meatballs are moist and rich, and the sauce provides the perfect level of tart tomato and roasted garlic flavor.