CHEESY BROWN RICE SUMMER CASSEROLE

This is a recipe that can be adapted to one's personal taste. If you are a vegetarian and do eat eggs, milk and cheese, then you could omit the meat and add a few more veggies. I like to use sweet italian sausage. If you want to be really healthy and use grassfed, additive free meat, you can get the sausage here   US Wellness Meats sells quality grassland meat products - Visit us Online!

I will list the original ingredients in the recipe below but you can substitute almost any vegetable for the broccoli and any meat for the sausage. I haven't tried seafood in it but perhaps even shrimp or crabmeat would work. In the photo above I used leftover ham instead of the sausage and peppers and carrots from the garden...instead of the broccoli. It's fun trying the different combinations. Despite the fact that mainstream nutritional advice tells us that saturated fat and protein should be limited in our diets, saturated fat is a necessary element for health....especially the health of the brain which is largely composed of cholesterol.

1lb sausage (preferrably from free range animals)
4 eggs (preferrably from free range chickens)
3 cups of cooked brown rice
1 bag of frozen chopped broccoli (cooked)
1 small jalapeno or other hot pepper (chopped)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 and one half cups of milk
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 small onion finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup of whole grain breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350
Cook rice and broccoli ahead of time and set aside. Cook sausage, hot pepper, onions and garlic in a stovetop to oven skillet. I use a bit of virgin red palm oil to saute everything in. It gives the casserole a pretty yellow orange color...but you can use any healthy fat , such as coconut oil, butter...etc. Whisk milk and eggs together in a separate bowl. Add grated cheddar cheese to the milk and eggs.

I don't drain the sausage onion mixture unless there is way too much fat. Remember, our ancestors ate alot of animal fats and did not have the degenerative diseases we have today. Now, incorporate the rice and broccoli into the sausage mixture and evenly distribute. Then pour the milk egg and cheese mixture over the sausage vegetable mixture in the skillet. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the sausage mixture and then sprinkle the parmesan cheese over that. Cook at 350 for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.