As Vegetarian week winds down, I am already in full gear for next week. Starting Monday, I will be practicing Keto week, or the Ketogentic diet. This diet isn’t the exact opposite of vegetarian, but it could be considered it by some.
I’ll talk about Keto tomorrow more in depth, but it is the low carb, high (healthy) fats diet. I jokingly say it’s sorta the opposite of vegetarian because while it’s totally feasible to do this diet vegetarian, it’s REALLY REALLY hard. That being said, I did incorporate three vegetarian days for next week.
I started the Conservation Fitness Program with Vegetarian Week because I feel it’s the most important habit we can build for the environment. If you do NOTHING else for your health and well-being, I suggest cutting out meat one day a week. It makes a world of difference.
Reducing our meat intake is so important, I have included at least two days of the remaining weeks to be vegetarian. I did not succeed in coming up with any vegan keto recipes, so there won’t be a vegan day, but other weeks will have a day dedicated to being vegan as well as vegetarian.
But I am already half-way into Keto, mainly because keto week is also my opportunity to teach about meal prepping. Today, I spent most of my day doing normal things like Sloth Army, grocery shopping, and writing group. But then I also spent a few hours prepping my meals for this coming week. This makes things so much easier on me and Chris, who have somewhat conflicting schedules in the morning. And meal prepping makes snacking, lunches, and dinner a breeze.
So first, I made our breakfast casserole. This is Chris’ favorite. Or at least, he likes the convenience of it, I shouldn’t speak for him. I usually make this casserole for him on Sunday nights and let him feast for the whole week. I usually don’t partake in the low carb goodness. But this week, I get to enjoy it too. And if you want to play along, you can have a healthy and hearty breakfast to last the week as well.
Keto Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 large leek
- (6 slices of bacon)
- 1 can of mushroom slices, or 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1/3 cup olive oil, divided
- 18 stalks of asparagus, approximately 1 bunch (can substitute for other low-carb veggie, such as broccoli)
- 10 eggs
- 1 can coconut milk
- 3 Tbsp tapioca flour
- 1 tsp onion powder
Directions
- Grease a 9×13 baking dish with olive oil. Thoroughly rinse the leek. Trim, thinly slice, and place in baking dish.
- (Fry up bacon in a non-stick skillet. Remove from pan once cooked, saving bacon grease. Cut bacon into small pieces and place in baking dish with onion/leeks.) Add mushrooms and kale to baking dish.
- Break asparagus for tender stalks and saute in pan with a tablespoon of olive oil until browned. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine eggs, coconut milk, remaining olive oil, tapioca flour, and onion powder, and any other desired spices. Whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over veggies.
- Place asparagus on top of egg casserole.
- Set oven to 400 degrees. Place baking dish in oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until set in the middle. Turn oven off after 30 minutes, and let casserole passively cook until golden brown on top.
- Divide into 6 portions and save in an airtight container.
Okay, so I left the bacon on the recipe for you on purpose, in case you want to add it to your casserole. Because I am trying to have three vegetarian days this week, I decided to leave it out and make the casserole vegetarian. It isn’t necessary to make it delicious. But I won’t lie, it IS delicious with bacon.
As I finish this week, I decided to get some measurements. I forgot to weigh myself first thing this morning (actually I forgot to weigh myself today), so I will do that tomorrow (maybe).
Measurements:
Last week:
185 pounds
Waist- 39 inches
Hips- 42
Upper arm- 11.5 (left)
Thigh- 22
Calf- 15.5
Chest- 39
This week: except for weight there is no change.
Breakfast: Millet porridge- probably going to change this because I didn’t find it really appetizing, or even that energizing to be honest. Not sure why I included it, except maybe I liked it last time I made it? But it got stuck in my teeth a lot, which was really frustrating
Lunch: This was a huge hit! Citrus Paleo Salad- just toasted cashews, an avocado, and orange/grapefruit. Really good, really simple.
Dinner: Tempeh and rice stuffed peppers
Overall mood: I feel pretty good. I haven’t felt super hungry or felt any cravings, but honestly, vegetarian week allows for sugary goodness. Keto will be different, and this week may test my resolve with little to no sugar.
Challenges: Today was a great day. The sun came out for Sloth Army, I got my tasks done in a timely fashion. I got my grocery list done. I feel pretty golden…so tonight a tree will probably fall on my car.
In addition to prepping my breakfast casserole, I also prepped the dry ingredients for my breads, riced my cauliflower, and sliced my zucchini. Tomorrow night we are having Keto Lasagna with zucchini noodles, so I decided to press the slices like I would for tofu, and see if that gets some of the moisture out of the slices. Zucchini lasagna can be tricky because when I make this, it’s usually very watery. Hope this little trick helps.
The Keto Casserole is great even without the bacon.