Cheesey Keto Casserole

 We haven't been eating much cheese for awhile so we had a good size block of muenster cheese that was about to expire, plus a handful of zucchini's to use up so we made a feast from the kitchen sink!  

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium red pepper, diced

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of sea salt 

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of dried italian seasoning 

4 zucchini's green and yellow mix, spiralized 

1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes

1 8oz package of bacon, diced

1 8oz package of mild sausage, casein removed 

1 8oz package of ground meat

1 cup of muenster cheese, shredded 

1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Instructions:

First, spiralize* the zucchini's and place them into a large bowl, coat with 2 tablespoons of sea salt. Gently toss the zucchini in the salt and allow to sit while preparing the rest of the casserole.  This allows the water from the zucchini to drain so you don't have a big wet mess* once your baking is complete!  Add coconut oil to a saute' pan and allow it to melt.  Once melted add the diced onions, minced garlic and red pepper.  Stir to coat, cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes until onions are soft and garlic is fragrant. Add the italian seasoning and diced tomatoes, bacon, sausage and ground meat. Stir well making sure the sausage and ground meat are broken up and fully combined with the tomatoes and onions.  Cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes to allow the meat to cook and the flavors to come together. Remove from heat.  Place 1 cup of the meat sauce/ mixture on the bottom of a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread out the mixture to coat the bottom of the pan, cover with zucchini spirals, sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese.  Repeat this process until meat, zucchini and cheese are used, making sure to end with the muenster cheese on top, so you have a nice cheesey melted top coat.  Sprinkle with nutritional yeast and 2 teaspoons of italian seasoning. Bake for 1 hour, turn off oven and allow casserole to stay in the oven as it cools until you are ready to serve, this allows the flavors to come together. 

*If you don't have a spiralizer, you can cut the zucchini into thin long strips with a potato peeler or mandolin.

*If you remove the casserole from the oven and the zucchini let out a bit too much water, you can tilt the pan to the side to drain it.

Enjoy, with love, Christina xo