The National Foundation for Celiac Awarness is a great resource for information on Celiac Disease and gluten free living, including recipes. One of the great things they put together is a Gluten Free Recipe Box, which is recipes pulled together either by brand, topic, or some other connecting theme. The most recent theme is based on Zatarain’s line of gluten free products. Zatarain’s produces products from rice mixes to pasta’s to breading. While this may be concerning due to fears of cross contamination their 19 or so listed gluten free products have been validated as such and care is taken to process them carefully.

Being one of NFCA’s listed bloggers, I was invited to participate in one of these Recipe Boxes and accepted with excitement! What thrilled me most was the Cajun and New Orleans flare to all the products and recipes. I myself cannot resist jazzing up a simple recipe with some flavor, and I couldn’t wait! I was chosen to make and review the Jambalaya Breakfast Casserole recipe.

Here is the recipe itself:

JAMBALAYA BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

• 1 package ZATARAIN’S® Jambalaya Mix, Original or 1 package ZATARAIN’S® Jambalaya Mix, Mild
• 1 pound gluten-free cooked ham, coarsely chopped
• 8 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

I was hesitant at first about making a casserole for breakfast, I have always been a simple and regular breakfast kind of girl. In addition, I am a pescatarian (seafood eater only, no other meat) and Mike is a flexitarian leaning more pescatarian. Because of that I couldn’t wrap my head around what to substitute the ham for to make it still seem more like a breakfast. Shrimp is always a fallback, and with jambalaya it seems right but it just didn’t sound breakfasty to me. 

After mulling over beans and tomatoes, to keep in theme with the jambalaya flare, as well as tofu I opted to take a chance, in my eyes, and go the route of shrimp. CC’s notes: The packaging suggests making jambalaya with sausage, but that you can substitute ham or shrimp. For breakfast, ham obviously makes the most sense and it is cooked the same as the sausage. When adding shrimp, add them when there are 10 minutes left in cooking time of jambalaya mix. 

Overall the recipe was quick and simple. Prep was easy and involved minimal work, as well as minimal prep materials. The materials below were all I needed, which is opposite to some other ‘simple recipes’ that are out there. Cooking time, in my electric stove, was a bit more than 30 minutes. I believe it took closer to 45 minutes. Ultimately, this may have been because I like things on a crispier side (including my ‘crusts’). 

The final product came out well cooked and looking great. Knowing my tastes, I opted to put a bit more shredded cheese on the top and I think it added a great amount of texture and flavor. All hesitations I had about having a breakfast casserole as well as using shrimp in a breakfast were shattered. The entire recipe was a well rounded blend of traditional breakfasty flavor and a kick of unique unexpected flavor. It was a good divergence from the typical meal and is definately going to be something to add to my ‘to cook again’ list of recipes. 

A big thanks to NFCA and Zatarain’s! 

For your chance to win this Zatarain’s mix and other gluten free goodies hope on over to this give away!