The Chronicles of Home



{Paleo / Whole 30 Breakfast} Sweet Potato Puree, Sausage, Spinach, and an Olive Oil Fried Egg

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Last January, my husband and I followed the popular Whole 30 diet.  I was curious to see if I felt an energy surge like so many Whole 30 devotees report and Scott just likes to do some kind of cleanse every January.

For me, it was an interesting exercise in cooking creativity but it was also a tainted experiment for me because I came down with the flu about halfway through and just felt awful most of the time.  There were a few recipes I made while on the diet though that we really loved and that I’ve continued to make since.
Breakfast while on Whole 30 can be kind of challenging because you start to feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel of eggs.  This recipe still has the eggs but the addition of sweet potatoes, spinach, and sausage really makes it seem like something special, and with some advance planning it’s a super simple breakfast.
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To make this a breeze to pull together, I plan a dinner that includes roasted sweet potatoes (wash, wrap in foil, and bake at 400º for about an hour, until soft.  Cut open and scoop out the flesh).  I make sure to put a few extra sweet potatoes in the oven and when I’ve scooped out all the flesh I do a quick puree with some clarified butter, salt, and pepper.  I simply store whatever we haven’t eaten for dinner in the fridge.
Sausage without any kind of sweetener (important for Whole 30) can be hard to come by so I started making my own last year, and let me tell you, it is MUCH easier than it sounds.

All you have to do to make homemade sausage is combine these ingredients in a food processor: 2 lbs. ground pork (not lean), 1 garlic clove, 2 tsp. dried sage, 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 1/2 tsp. pepper.  Process just until combined.  I use an ice cream scoop to spoon mounds onto wax paper that I press into patties and freeze.

Once I have my sausage made, the rest is a cinch.  I sauté some onion in olive oil then add in the sausage and crumble while it cooks.  Last I toss in a few handfuls of baby spinach (fresh or frozen, both work fine) and cook until the the spinach is wilted.
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To make the olive oil fried egg, you add a couple tablespoons or so of olive oil to a nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  Crack the eggs into the oil and fry until the whites are set, then flip and cook for only a few seconds longer if you want a soft yolk.
To assemble I spread some of the sweet potato puree on a plate, top with the sausage and spinach mixture, and then the eggs across it all.
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I found the key to satisfying breakfasts on Whole 30 was planning ahead like this.  The sausage and spinach mixture keeps beautifully for several days in the fridge so once that’s done it really doesn’t take any longer than just frying your eggs.  This also makes a great lunch or dinner, but I especially love having a way to work some extra veggies into my breakfasts, where I don’t usually eat quite as many vegetables.I’m not actually doing Whole 30 right now but judging by the flood of #whole30 in my Instagram feed, I’m guessing a lot of you are :) I’d love to hear any of your favorite healthy breakfast favorites too – even not following a diet, I find it kind of easy to get stuck in breakfast ruts.

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Comments

  1. I laughed when I read this because my husband and I have done a couple Whole 30’s and I always felt like- “seriously, more eggs?” They really helped fill us up those and could be eaten for any meal or snack. For an on-the-go breakfast, we love hard boiled eggs. Boring, but tasty and you can easily prepare a dozen on Sunday and keep them in the fridge all week!

    • I do love eggs, Whole 30 or not, but I ate a ridiculous amount of them on the diet! And I love keeping hard boiled eggs in the fridge too. Great on salads or just plain.

  2. YUM! I am doing Whole30 this month too! And you are so right about the hamster wheel of eggs. I also like the sweet potato apple hash from Paleo Parents.

    • Yum, that sounds awesome!

  3. Yes, I could totally eat that! Looks yummy ;)

    • No diet needed. It’s just straight yummy!

  4. This looks amazing! We’ll definitely add this to our whole 30 breakfast plan! Pinning. x

    • Can’t wait to hear how you make out with it all!

  5. Yum!!

    • Thanks :)

    • Oh good! Hope it’s an easy (and yummy) month :)

  7. This looks delicious! I really wanted to do whole 30, but I can no longer eat eggs (post baby new allergy problems). I know *sad trombone*. I feel like I’ll be so limited and just fail.

    • I ate SO many eggs on Whole 30. It’d be doable but harder without them. I don’t think I’d do it again. For the most part, I like the way I eat and already know and make efforts to eat mostly “real” foods. But since I don’t feel like I need a new food direction or to make long term changes it was a little bit of a fruitless effort for me. But there are recipes like this one that I just like and still make!

  8. I am actually doing my second Whole 30 right now. I did the first one in June and maintained mostly paleo until mid November (hello holidays). Thanks for another idea. I have felt making your own sausage is so much easier (and cheaper!) than trying to find it. It’s a great reset but the other benefits (sleep like a baby!!!, really clear skin, mental clarity and amazing energy) make it so worth it. Not for the faint of heart but totally doable.

    • I’ve been sort of curious to try it again since my first (and only) experience with it was soured by the flu. I kind of liked the challenge of eating within the parameters!

      • I am a pretty clean eater for the most part as well. But I also know that the sugar dragon can be my nemesis. Getting sugar out of EVERYTHING is so good for me and resets my palette in a way that no other program can do. Food tastes so good. I am also very aware of eating to fuel my body and no other reason. I did lose weight but that was not my motivation when I did it last June. I wanted to get rid of the habit of mindless eating without really tasting my food, reset my palette and get the garbage out of my diet that occasionally had crept in. I think I had forgotten how food could make you feel. Good luck, you can do it!

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