Quick meal: Egg muffins

I have to admit that I love oatmeal. And I also must admit that oatmeal isn't the best choice according to the paleo gods. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to make some egg muffins so that I could enjoy them immediately and also save them for a quick microwaveable breakfast (or lunch).

One egg muffin, read for eating

I used this recipe from River North Paleo Girl as a starting point, and it provided a pretty good framework.

My adapted recipe (and keep in mind, you can put anything you want in there):

Ingredients

- Half a package of bacon
- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

- 1 - 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes, strained

- 8 eggs

- 1/4 package frozen spinach 

- 2 pre-cooked chicken sausage (I used Italian ones from Trader Joe's)

- Salt

- Oregano

- Basil

- Cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

- Cook bacon, remove, and drain some of the fat. Add the onions and sauté. Add tomato paste, cook and stir into the onions. 

- Add tomatoes, spinach, and chicken sausage. Cook down for 5 minutes or so.

- Cut up bacon into bite-size pieces.

- In a separate bowl, crack and beat eggs until fluffy.

- Add oregano, basil, salt and pepper to the eggs.

- Grease muffin tin cups.

- Add bacon pieces to the tomato mixture and stir.

- Spoon the tomato mixture equally into the twelve muffin cups.

Tomato mixture and egg waiting to be poured

- Pour egg mixture into muffin cups. Mine filled almost to the brim, so be careful not to pour too fast.

- Bake for 25-30 minutes.

10 minute meal: Tuna and broccoli

Want to know my new favorite dinner on the cheap?

EVOO roasted Ahi tuna steak and garlic broccoli. It's healthy and paleo and also super inexpensive.

Ingredients:
Ahi tuna steaks (frozen 2-pack from Trader Joe's = roughly $5.00 depending on weight)
Organic broccoli florets (frozen package from Trader Joe's = $2.49)
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Optional: Red pepper flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place defrosted tuna steaks in a glass baking pan. Fill baking pan with EVOO until it goes halfway up the tuna steak. Scatter half a package of frozen broccoli over everything.  Shake some salt and grind some pepper, and then shake garlic powder (I use a lot) over everything.

Cook in oven about 5 minutes, then turn over steaks and cook for about another 5 minutes. (Alter cooking time depending on how rare you want your tuna.)

Makes (at least) 2 servings. Sometimes those tuna steaks are huge.

My first quiche

I'd been thinking of making a quiche for a while. I had a full carton of eggs that hadn't been opened, so I wanted to get rid of a lot of eggs at once. I'm not really a big egg person. Sometimes I do crave them for breakfast (or dinner), but it's rare. Quiche seems to be the exception for me. 

My mom makes a delicious quiche, which is maybe why I put off trying to cook my own for so long. Hers is based on Linda McCartney's recipe in World of Vegetarian Cooking (an amazing cookbook you should own whether you're vegetarian or not). I hope Sir Paul McCartney still eats things mentioned in it. :)

I'm not exactly sure what my mom does with her recipe, but here's what I did to make this delicious dinner (that will turn into lunch and dinner tomorrow, too):

Ingredients:
1 cooked pie crust (I used a frozen one I bought at Trader Joe's)
½ onion, chopped
Handful of frozen mixed peppers (or any veggie you want)
4 extra-large free range eggs
1½ cups shredded cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella, gruyere and cheddar from TJ's)
Sea salt and black pepper
2/3 cup almond milk


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sauté onion and veggies.
Whisk eggs and fold in onion, veggies and cheese. 
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the milk. Pour it all into your pie shell and bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I made a green monster

I've been making smoothies since eighth grade. My brother and I would come home from school and make a strawberry smoothie (frozen strawberries, banana, o.j.) and have a piece of rye toast while we watched TV.

Over the years, I've expanded my smoothie repertoire... peaches, mangoes, kiwis, any fruit really is up for a blend. I started adding protein powder and soymilk (organic only!) so I could make post-workout recovery shakes. I'd read about adding spinach for a vitamin boost (and again more recently from my friend Melanie's blog) but just never did it... until today! It's true that it really doesn't change the flavor at all.

I never measure anything, so just eyeball it as you toss this all in your blender:

-- Frozen mango chunks (a handful or so)

-- Organic low-fat yogurt (a couple spoonfuls)

-- Organic frozen spinach (a handful or a couple shakes out of the bag)

-- Orange juice (I pour until I'm covering all the frozen stuff in the blender)

-- Whey protein powder (Half a scoop)

-- Candied ginger (one chunk for me... the pieces I have a pretty big)

Blend and enjoy! I tend to eat smoothies with a spoon so it takes longer and I feel more like I'm eating something.

It's not even that green! Maybe I'll do more spinach next time.

Note: I only use organic dairy products because I don't trust whatever hormones are put in the other stuff, but you can use whatever kind of yogurt you want. I also only use organic soymilk and I do not recommend using any non-organic soymilk (or tofu) due to the GMOs in non-organic soybeans. I also use organic spinach because it's one of the foods you should buy organic if you can, but obviously you don't have to.

10 minute recipe

I think I'll call this: Smokey Hash with Eggs


Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato
1/4 15 oz. can black-eyed peas
1-2 eggs
Goat cheese (optional)
Salt
Pepper
English muffin (optional)


To make a long story short, I had a can of black-eyed peas that were smoked and they were supposed to go into a fresh salsa with balsamic vinegar, so I knew that would not work out at all. I didn't want to throw them away, so I thought of what else I could make with smokey beans.


I rummaged through my cabinet and found some sweet potatoes I bought from the farmer's market late last summer(!!). Good thing potatoes are meant to be stored in pantries over the winter. I steamed one of the sweet potatoes and then mashed it. I added the black-eyed peas and mashed them all up too. I tried to get it crispy in the pan with some butter.


I put the mashed part on a plate and mixed in a couple dollops of goat cheese. I made a fried egg to go on top, but you could totally do this with scrambled eggs if you prefer. I sprinkled on some sea salt and cracked some fresh pepper over the top and served with an English muffin. 


If you want, you can add salsa to this for more veggies! And it's great for breakfast and/or dinner.


I wish I'd taken a photo, but I didn't... but when I make it again, I will!