Roasted Sweet Potato & Turkey Sausage Breakfast Casserole (Welcome Costco!)

A gluten free breakfast casserole full of hearty roasted sweet potatoes and turkey sausage topped with gouda cheese. No need to assemble the night before and take up space in the fridge--this throws together fast and goes straight into the oven.

I get so much mileage out of having roasted vegetables on hand. Each week as I empty the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box into various locations around the house--the refrigerator for the greens and most vegetables, tomatoes on the counter, and potatoes, onions, and winter squash in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve--I plan a time to roast some veggies just to have them standing by.  Usually I'm roasting beets, knowing that eventually I'll find a way to use them. I hope. This time, however, I knew I wanted to have blobs of color [note to self that will be left in the post--really, blobs? maybe something more appetizing?] in a breakfast casserole so I roasted a mess of sweet potatoes as well.

I roast my sweet potatoes by peeling, cubing, tossing with a teaspoon or so of olive oil and spreading them in an even layer on a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. I put them into the oven, turn it on to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and let them go about 20 minutes. After that I stir them, then roast in 10 minute increments (usually just one increment) stirring each time the timer dings until they are tender. Depending on the size of the cubes, they are done in 30 to 40 minutes. These keep overnight in the fridge.

This breakfast casserole is not really a 'make ahead' type.  I have a hard time finding room in my fridge for those pans anyway. There is no bread to soak--it is naturally gluten free. I didn't want to wake up, peel, and roast sweet potatoes and then assemble the casserole before my book group arrived. It was easier to get the sweet potatoes prepped while dinner was in the oven and pop them in to roast since I already had the oven on. Using precooked sausage links meant that it was simple to dump everything in the baking pan, top with cheese, pour the eggs over top, and slide into the oven. The pan, not me. I'm too big for my oven.

I've got a vegetarian (and also gluten free) version of this casserole coming up later. I'm sharing this recipe now because a Costco store is opening up in my neck o' the woods this week (I bought both the turkey sausage and the gouda cheese at Costco) and because I think it would be great to serve guests over the holidays.

How do I shop at Costco if there hasn't been one near me for the past 3.5 yrs we've lived in Ohio? Sled hockey! October through March my son has hockey practice Monday nights an hour away from our home. One of the things you just deal with in disabled sports, I suppose. I find ways to enjoy the outing--like shopping at the Costco or Cincinnati Asian Market that are located a few minutes from the rink. I'm glad to have a closer source for my Costco staples April through September though.

For other recipes using sweet potatoes, please see my Sweet Potato Recipe Collection.

Turkey, Cranberry, and Mashed Potato Pizza

Thanksgiving leftovers as pizza toppings--mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce dotted with turkey and topped with feta and cheddar cheeses.

I'm going to share two Thanksgiving Leftovers Pizzas this month. One is for folks who don't want to make a special pizza dough, and the other is for folks who are game to try another of my new concoctions. Let's start with the easier one.

I knew I wanted a layer of mashed potatoes as the base, and after Thanksgiving I made several attempts using my Make Ahead Irish Mashed Potato Casserole. But none of my efforts with actual Thanksgiving leftovers really thrilled me, so I waited until I saw some turkey marked down, threw some other sides in my basket, and tried again.

For this particular combination I made 3 different pizzas--one without any cheese, one with cheddar, and one with feta. The pizza really needs cheese [this Beef & Broccoli pizza works without cheese, though]. I found I preferred the duo of feta and cheddar together.

You know, I don't think I'm going to type any more on this post. As I sit typing it up our newest addition, Robert Barker, is resting at my feet for his first night in his new home. I will share more of his story as I get to know him, but it's enough to say that he needs TLC more than I need to prattle on about pizza.

Spicy Asian-inspired Kohlrabi Pickle Spears

Spicy, tangy, crunchy and zippy, these quick pickled kohlrabi spears wake up your appetite.

Oh my goodness. These pickles. The flavors that are bouncing around my mouth right now. I am clearly a pickle person. I mean, on our near weekly trips out for burgers and fries I always ask for pickles on my burger [interestingly, pickles are one of the 3 condiments the whole family chooses--onions and mustard being the other two]. I like pickles on sandwiches, including pickled turnips on My Favorite Grilled Cheese Sandwich. I would never suspect that I could create a gourmet pickle, though, especially after my pickled yellow squash failure-turned-successful-sliders? However, the layers of flavor that rocket through my mouth as I bite into one of these pickles--spicy, crunchy, tangy, zingy--remind me of the layers of flavor bouncing around my mouth when I eat Ma Po Tofu from Great Wall Chinese Restaurant on Logan Circle in Washington DC. So many flavors to experience in that dish!

I received a monstrous, alien, gigantic kohlrabi in our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. No kidding, no camera tricks--those are pint jars and it's bigger than the pair of them together [thanks again Carole for the jars]. I decided to pickle it primarily because I had my canning pot set up from making Cranberry Salsa and also because there was enough peeled kohlrabi sticks for me to compare pickling methods for making kosher dill kohlrabi spears. [Dueling Kohlrabi Dills will be another post, after the 3 week brine time we'll crack open both the jar from the pantry and the jar from the fridge and check 'em out.] First I need to share these Spicy Asian-inspired Kohlrabi Pickle Spears--an easy refrigerator pickle.

After I filled up the pint jars for the Dueling Dills, I still had a lot of kohlrabi left over. I poked around on my favorite canning blog, Food In Jars, and found Marisa's recipe for Asian-inspired Refrigerator Pickles. I decided to adapt it using what I had on hand. Specifically, I swapped in kohlrabi for the cucumber, crushed red pepper for a chili pepper, star anise instead of scallions, cilantro instead of mint, and a standard apple cider brine that I boiled before pouring into the jar. After I got  everything pickled, I put all the jars away and forgot about them. Until Saturday.

I was feeling peckish mid-morning and poked my head in the fridge looking for a snack. I spied the pickle jars. Since I'd mentally pencilled in Thanksgiving as the Dueling Dill Pickle Off, I chose the jar of Spicy Asian-inspired Kohlrabi Spears. I ate one. Whoa. Party in my mouth. I had another. The party continues. I travelled around the house sharing pickles with my spouse reading in the living room and the kids watching TV in the basement. My daughter thinks these pickles are too spicy, but the rest of us approve.

If you've got a freakishly huge kohlrabi--consider whipping up a jar of these pickles. Your mouth will thank you.

For other recipes using kohlrabi, please see my Kohlrabi Recipe Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, and garden bounty. I've got more ideas on my Pinterest boards. Want to know how to use this blog? Click here.