Mar 26th, 2010
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A Grain-Free Slow Cooker Breakfast

Are you looking for a healthy breakfast other than cereal and smoothies? These Italian breakfast burritos have it all… eggs, spinach, prosciutto and mozzarella cheese. The extra filling can be turned into a great lunch too. I just wish I had a backyard to keep a couple of hens!

During the last few months I can’t seem to escape nutrition information. I was shocked by the points Dr. Lustig made during his lecture about sugar, and then I read Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health. From all this information I thought, “alright I should really reduce the amount of carbohydrates I eat and actually increase the fat.” Yes, increase my fat intake. Not to lose weight, but to maintain healthy metabolism. (I’ll discuss this in a future post.)

No problem I thought, I can make my own cereals from whole grains, (which would contain less sugar than the store bought varieties), and I could eat more meat and dairy for lunch and dinner.

Not so simple. Just last week I read some very convincing arguments against grains, not just gluten-containing grains but all grains.

So what is left to eat for breakfast?

Eggs. Is it possible to make eggs in the slow cooker? I dug up the issue of Ultimate Slow Cooker I bought last year… there was one breakfast recipe that contained eggs, without also having an entire loaf of bread as part of the ingredient list.

Since this was the first time I was making anything like this in my crock-pot I stuck to the recipe. This was purely to test the idea. When a recipe calls for 16 eggs (yes 16!), do you really want to take any chances?

Thankfully, this turned out really well and we both enjoyed a hearty breakfast for four mornings. Actually, I combined the burrito filling with some of the extra prosciutto and made a sandwich for lunch too. I know bread is made from grains, but I’m Italian, I can’t go cold turkey on bread! What would be the hardest food for you to give up, if you decided to give up grains?

The only suggestion I would make for anyone who wants to try making this without using a slow cooker liner, (like I did), is to butter the bottom and sides of you crock-pot insert. A bit of the spinach that was at the bottom and pressed up against the sides of the crockery got burnt on.

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Italian Breakfast Burritos (Ultimate Slow Cooker magazine)

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 4.5-5 hours
Yield: 8-10 servings

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 16 eggs
  •  1⁄2 cup milk (or cream)
  •  1⁄2 tsp ground black pepper (I accidentally used 1 tbsp, it provided an extra kick to the morning!)
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 3 finely chopped shallots
  • 3 oz chopped prosciutto
  • 6 oz drained and chopped marinated artichoke hearts
  • 1 1⁄2 cups shredded mozzarella
  •  1⁄2 cup freshly chopped basil (or 1 tbsp dry basil)
  • 11 oz coarsely chopped spinach
  • 1 cup basil pesto
  • 10 10-inch tortillas (we used corn tortillas to further minimize the wheat)

Butter the inside of the crock pot.

Add the eggs, milk and black pepper to the crock pot. Whisk lightly to break the yolks.

Add the basil, shallots, garlic, prosciutto, artichokes, cheese and spinach. Stir until the spinach is coated (wet) with egg.

Cook on low for 4.5-5 hours.

Stir the egg mixture to break it into smaller pieces.

Microwave the tortillas between 2 sheets of paper towel ~ 30 seconds for 4 or 1-2 minutes for all 10.

Spread pesto on the tortillas (as if you’re saucing a pizza).

Divide the egg mixture among the tortillas and roll them up.

You can serve them with warm marinara sauce.