Breakfast Casserole AKA Cracker Barrel

[Norma June]

I had left over spaghetti squash and wondered if I could make a mock up of the great hash brown casserole they serve at Cracker Barrel. With the help from a great gal in another forum I've come up with this recipe.

LC SQUASH BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS
3 cups spaghetti squash (forked into strands and allowed to cool)
1/2 of an onion chopped fine
1/2 cup Dottie's cream of mushroom soup for recipes (see below)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz. Sour cream
1/8 lb. lightly melted butter
A pinch of garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD
- Combine soup, sour cream, garlic powder, salt & pepper.
- Add onion
- Add spaghetti squash and grated cheese.
- Mix well.
- Pour into greased baking dish.
- Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes or until brown


Dottie’s Cream of Mushroom Soup for Recipes

8 small mushrooms - chopped
1 stalk celery - chopped
2 tablespoons onion - chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

In a medium skillet, sauté the mushrooms, celery and onion in the butter until soft.
Add the broth and cook on medium-high heat until reduced by half.
Stir in the cream; bring to boil and cook until reduced slightly, stirring frequently. Season to taste.
Makes about 1 cup

This makes a very rich, tasty sauce that would be nice over all kinds of things, like chicken, meatballs, fish, vegetables etc. After adding the cream, make sure you simmer it long enough so that the cream is no longer white and takes on the light brownish color of the mushrooms. If you can afford the carbs, a few more mushrooms would be even better.

[molmerlin]

this sounds lovely. I am grocery shopping tomorrow and will get the ingredients....thank you

[nicksmom]

Norma June,

Thanks SO much for the Cream of mushroom soup recipe! Now I can make some of my old fave crockpot recipes! :roll:

[Parisfox]

Norma June...this does sound good. Will definitely try the casserole. And I am sure I will be using the mushroom soup one a lot!! Thanks for posting these.

Paris:D

[LouG]

that recipe sounds so good... but could you tell me the carb count per serving in it??? And then the mushroom sauce seperately???

[Parisfox]

Hey, LouG....if you want the counts for a recipe, go to www.lifeform.com and download the free trial version. Enter your recipe and then you can get the counts for each serving, cupful, (per oz. if you weigh your food), etc.

I tried this software and liked it so much, I bought it. It's not that expensive. It is an absolute lifesaver. :)

And you are allowed to install it on any computer you use, so you can have it at work and at home, etc. I also have it on my daughter's computer because I housesit for them (they have a dog) whenever they are out of town and I won't go very long without it. I REALLY rely on it. Hope this helps.

It is difficult to get an accurate carb count from someone else since they might be using different brands of ingredients which have different counts.

Paris:D

[LouG]

I have an old.. old computer and any extra downloads lock it up..

[Norma June]

Sorry, I don't have the carb count for this recipe. I don't count carbs per se because I know if I had to do "paperwork" and "math" I would soon forget the whole thing. I'm mathematically challenged. Wish I could help but ....

I did count carbs and stayed around 20-25 grams per day but got tired of the counting. So now I'm just doing LC + Portion control. I remember the LC foods from induction and onwards and use those foods in moderation.

[LouG]

over and I am more experienced, too.

[Norma June]

I've made this recipe using chicken broth instead of the soup recipe. Either way it turned out great.

And the spaghetti squash was half of a spaghetti squash (I had used the other half the night before with sauce and baked both halves at the same time. This saved time when I was fooling around with this recipe trying to make a Cracker Barrel type of breakfast casserole.

I don't really measure anymore and the ingredient sizes are approximate.

The left over breakfast casserole was great frozen and then refried in a non-stick frying pan.

[Parisfox]

Hi, Lou....I ran the Breakfast Casserole through my LifeForm and this is what I come up with for the whole recipe. I have no idea how many servings it makes, so I couldn't give you a "per serving" count.

For the entire recipe:

Cal 1843
Fat 161 g
Carbs 60 g
Fiber 8 g
Sugar 30 g
Protein 58 g

Seems awfully high carb to me, so I think I will pass on this one. It does sound good, but there are just too many good recipes out there that are a LOT lower carb.

Hope this is helpfu.

Paris:D

[nicksmom]

Parisfox, thanks! I just am so surprised at the figures from that recipe. I never imagined it would be that high. Not quite sure how many servings, but I guess I will have a look at more casserole type dishes.

The cream of mushroom soup is a keeper for me, though. I love to use my CP!

[LouG]

responses.. and the time involved in answering my question... sure do appreciate it... and I love that sauce..or soup... recipe also.

[Norma June]

The carb count may appear high but when you figure that this gave my husband and I about 4 or 5 side dishes it doesn't appear to be too high.

So if the carb content is 60, divide that by 2 (as it served the two of us) and that's 30 carbs each.

30 grams of carbs divided into 4 meals = 7.5 grams

(or 5 meals = 6 grams of carbs).

Definately not for induction but still rather low for someone like me who is not counting carbs, just generally eating LC and using portion control.

We used it for breakfast alongside eggs & bacon then the next night alongside our meat & veggies in lieu of potatoes and then there was enough to freeze and get another 2 or 3 meals.

Next time I will just use the chicken broth in the waxed container and instead of putting it in a casserole dish I think I will try doing it in large muffin tins. That might work out.

[Norma June]

This recipe has been made time and time again in my LC house. It must be a good recipe because ... drum roll here ... Karen has put it in her latest cook book (thank you Karen).

One thing I have changed is that I add some dried thyme (about 1/8 tsp) when I make the mushroom soup recipe. It gives it that "taste" that mushroom soup needs.

And it looks like each serving is 7.5 carbs.

This makes a large batch with lots of leftover for freezing. I put some in a casserole dish, some goes in muffin tins for individual servings. Adjust cooking times when changing your serving dish size.