Banana Fritters

Easy, fast, and only a few ingredients.  My husband loves these.  Word to the wise - if you are doing a Whole30, these are going to be out for 99% of you (here's why, if you are wondering).  

The husband is one of the lucky few who these don't change anything for him.  Eggs and bananas and coconut oil - three things he often eats for breakfast, only now they are combined.

I think they make a fantastic after-dinner sweet dish as well.  No syrup other other sweetener needed!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana, preferably pretty ripe
• 1 egg
• Dash of cinnamon powder
• Coconut oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, beat together egg, banana, and cinnamon.  Keep beating until your banana is mashed (I used a fork - doesn't take very long).
2. Heat coconut oil in a pan.  When pan is hot and oil is melted, drop spoonfuls of the batter in the pan.
3. When one side begins to bubble, flip the fritter.  Cook until second side is browned.

Crock pot Breakfast Casserole

Forgive my absence.  I have been eating...and cooking...just not paying attention to the amounts I'm dumping into the pot:)

This is SUPER duper easy and there are so many combinations you can try.  I've done butternut squash and chorizo sausage, but you could do spinach and mushroom (with seasoned beef), kale and bacon...the possibilities are endless.  

There's a little prep work the night before, but it's worth it to have a warm breakfast ready when you roll out of bed in the morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chorizo sausage (be sure to check your ingredients) [removed from casings if that's how your sausage came]
• 1 small onion
• 12 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 small butternut squash
• Ghee/oil for greasing the crockpot 

Note:  I did not add any seasonings because the chorizo had enough salt/other spices.  However, if you tried another combination, you might need a little salt, pepper, etc.

Directions:

1. In a skillet, start to cook the chorizo.  Meanwhile, dice the onion.
2. Once the fat has begun to render, add the onion, cooking just until the onion is soft (you don't need to finish cooking the sausage - it will finish in the crock pot).
3. Whip together eggs and coconut milk.
4. Peel, de-seed, and slice/dice/chop your squash.
5. Grease the inside of your crock pot (this is to help minimize the sticking).
6. Put in your squash, the sausage/onion mixture, and then the egg/milk mixture.  Stir and make sure that all of the food is covered by the egg/milk mixture.
7. Turn crock pot on low for 8-10 hours (I did 10...and it sat on warm for awhile...still very good).
8. Wake up, eat, and enjoy!

Meatloaf, Baby

I know.  Another meatloaf recipe.  Really.  Just call this Paleo Meatloaf Recipe #1001.  But, hey, we all need one, right?  Right.  

Actually, my meatloaf tweak came from two simple facts:  (i) I didn't have any tomato paste (and my go-to meatloaf recipe used to be this one by the genius over at Everyday Paleo); and (ii) I had it in my mind that I wanted to use pork rinds instead of almond flour (not really sure why...but I like pork rinds better than almond flour now that I've tried both).  

Now, I'm not one who generally understands why certain ingredients are added to a recipe.  Eggs - they are binder; that makes sense.  I wasn't quite certain about the tomato paste.  I was guessing it both added thickness to the mixture and a slightly sweet taste (because in non-Paleo recipes you often see ketchup as an ingredient).  I decided that I would first caramelize some onions (sweetness) and then blend with spices to form a paste (thickener).

Surprisingly, this came out good.  Even non-Paleo mom really liked it.  Hope you do as well.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• Fat (ghee, coconut oil, etc.)
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2-1 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder 
• 2 lb ground beef (or any combo of ground meat you like)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup crushed pork rinds (or, you can sub almond flour)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Heat a pan over medium heat.  Meanwhile, peel and then chop your onion (you don't really need a fine dice unless you have great knife skills -- you are ultimately going to puree this in the blender or food processor).  
3. Add your fat to the pan (I used ghee).  You don't need a lot - just enough to keep things from sticking (and maybe add a little flavor:)).  Add onions.
4. Cook onions until they are caramelized.  Be patient - this takes awhile.  Your onions are going to be brown, really brown.
5. Break out your food processor or blender.  Add onions, garlic, and spices.  Blend until you have a nice thick paste.  You don't need to add water or other liquid -- you want this to be fairly thick.
6. In a good-sized bowl, combine meat, eggs, pork rinds, and onion paste.  Use your hands (really - this is the best way to get everything combined!) and mix everything really good.
7. Put in a pan and pop in the oven.  I used a square glass baking dish instead of a loaf pan to reduce the cooking time.  Cook about 30 minutes (longer if you use a loaf pan).
8. Serve and enjoy.  The leftovers (if you have any!) are great as well.

Egg in a (Squash) Hole

Lately, I've seen a couple of recipes for eggs wrapped in other food, including this one (page 46) from The Food Lovers and this one from Jan's Sushi Bar.  

As I was cutting the top part of the butternut squash the other day, I thought, how cool would it be to cook an egg in the hole?  Turns out, it tastes pretty good (though don't expect my picture to look good like the ones by Bill & Haley or Jan).

Ingredients:

• Butternut squash
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Fat (ghee, coconut oil, etc.)
• Eggs

Directions:

1. Cut squash into thick slices, maybe about 1" (it needs to be thick enough to hold your egg).  Cut off the outer peel and remove the seeds.  For the portion without seeds, use a round cookie cutter to make hole in the center.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add fat.
3. Season squash with a little cayenne, salt, and cinnamon (get both sides).  Add to the pan and cook until tender (about 15-20 minutes).
4. Once squash is softened, crack an egg into each squash hole.  Let cook until egg is almost cooked (3-5 minutes?) and then carefully flip (I lost a bit of egg in each flip).  Depending on how you like your egg cooked, let cook on this side for another minute or two.
5. Serve and enjoy.

 

Adovada Enchiladas

I had two different food-related thoughts that came together this weekend.  First, I wanted to use the Carne Adovada (one of my favorite New Mexican recipes) sauce developed by Use Real Butter, but I wanted to make it with ground beef (I was originally thinking Adovada burgers or something).  Then, my library hold of Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint Cookbook finally came in (hooray!) and I was intrigued by his use of egg white crepes to make the enchiladas.  Aha, I thought (in what I like to think was a rare moment of brilliance), adovada enchiladas could be something really good. 

I thought about making coconut flour tortillas, but eggs are generally used to tame down heat here in New Mexico (and since I don't eat dairy...these kind of things help:)), and frankly Mark's crepes looked pretty easy (I subbed coconut milk for the cream).  I found it took me a bit to make the perfect crepes, but once I got the hang of it, life was good.  [You cannot taste the coconut milk in the crepes once you are done.]

Anyway, this recipe is a bit, er, time intensive?  But, for a special weekend meal, I think well worth it.  Also, I added veggies to my sauce mixture - you can change them up or omit them as you prefer (I figured since I was doing so much work, I wasn't going to take the time to make another side dish...).

Served above with fresh mango and avocado to tame the heat and add a lovely bit of sweetness!

Ingredients:

• 20 dried, red New Mexico chiles (to tone down the heat, remove the seeds)
• 3-4 tsp sea salt
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp oregano (original calls for 2 tsp, but I'm not a real fan of oregano, and I can totally taste when there are 2 tsp)
• 3-4 cups beef broth/stock (you can use water, but I think the beef broth adds a needed depth/body)
• 1 pound ground meat (I used a mixture of pork and beef - pork (carne) adovada is a very traditional New Mexican dish)
• 2 yellow squash
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 bunch spinach
• 8 egg whites (save the yummy yolks for something else)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (if you let the can sit in the 'fridge, the "cream" separates from the water -- I used the cream part)
• Oil (to grease the crepe pan)
• Sliced mango (optional)
• Sliced avocado (optional)

Directions:

Begin by making the sauce

1. Preheat oven to 325 degree (F).  Place dried chiles on a baking sheet and cook until blackened and blistered, about 8-10 minutes (keep the door open a crack...also, be careful of the fumes...and be VERY careful to handle the peppers and their seeds).
2. Meanwhile, bring beef broth to a boil.
3. Remove from the oven and cover peppers with beef broth.  Cover and let steam for about 30 minutes.
4. Remove pepper from broth, reserving liquid.
5. In a food processor (or blender), mix together peppers, salt, oregano, and about 2 cups of the broth.  Blend until pureed.  You may need to add a little broth/water to get the desired "sauciness".

Make the filling [you can start this while sauce is being prepared}

1. Begin to brown meat. 
2. Chop veggies (if using). 
3. Once meat begins to release a little of its fat, add veggies (except spinach) and let begin to soften.
4. Add sauce and spinach and cook until thickened and spinach is wilted.

Make the crepes

1. Whisk together egg whites and coconut milk.
2. Meanwhile, heat a pan or griddle, add oil, and pour just a little bit of the egg white mixture.  The key here - you want it to be THIN.  Mark suggests about 1/6 cup.  I don't have a cup that is 1/6 cup, so I just eye-balled it.  Once the crepes begin to form little bubbles all the way through (like pancakes), flip.  It doesn't take too long on the other side.
3. Set aside on a plate until all the crepes are cooked.

Assemble the enchiladas

1. If you turned your oven off, turn it back on to 325 degrees.
2. Put a crepe on a plate, stuff with filling, roll, and place into pan.  Do this until you are done (whether because you ran out of food or no more will fit in your pan).
3. Cover with foil and place in an over for about 20 minutes (this helps the flavors meld together...we tried it both with and without baking, and I prefer the end result after baking).
4. Plate.  Serve with diced mango (this is really good, and really helps tame the heat) and/or avocado slices.  Enjoy your Paleo enchiladas! 

Cure for the Common Egg: Curried Eggs

This is something I eat for breakfast.  Yes, I'm weird...but my family has known that for a long time:)  But, hey, breakfast is just another meal where I try to get quality protein, a little fat, and my veggies.  If you can't stomach this much spice for breakfast, it's good any time of the day.

Ingredients:

• 1 dozen (12) hard-boiled eggs, halved or quartered
• 1 can no-salt added fire-roasted tomatoes (sub fresh if you want)
• 1 can full-fat coconut milk
• 2-3 Tbs curry* (start with less and add more)
• 2 small heads cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, cut roughly

Directions:

1. If you don't already have hard-boiled eggs, begin by boiling eggs.
2. Prep veggies (cauliflower and spinach).
3. Combine together tomatoes (including liquid), coconut milk, curry, and cauliflower in a stock pot.
4. Heat until boiling, then reduce heat and let simmer until cauliflower is almost cooked.
5. Add eggs and spinach; cook until spinach is wilted and eggs are heated through [I leave the eggs for the end because I don't want them to get too cooked, but you could add them earlier if that's easier].
6. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
7. Serve and enjoy, although it is even better the next day.

*  Curry

• 2 parts turmeric powder
• 2 parts paprika powder
• 1 part salt
• 1 part chili powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part cayenne powder (adjust up or down for more or less heat)
• 1 part coriander powder

Eggplant Crisps

I intended to make eggplant Parmesan, without the Parmesan (I'm dairy intolerant) (but don't ask me what I was going to call said dinner...).  

Obviously, from the title of my post, eggplant Parmesan without the Parmesan didn't happen because (mainly) we were eating these little babies right off the pan and it seemed like too much work to cook them again with the sauce.  

Seriously, these are GOOOD, like Lays potato chips...bet you can't just eat one!  Served here with an Italian meat and veggie sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggplants
• 2 eggs + 2 Tbs water
• 1 cup pork rinds, ground (the 1 cup is measured once the rinds are ground)

Directions:

1. Peel and slice eggplant.  Then, in a pan with a lip (to catch the dripping water), liberally salt both sides of the eggplant.  Let sit at least 15 minutes, but closer to an hour is better.  (I don't actually know if the liquid that comes out is "bitter" and needs to be released, but the end result is pretty tasty, so I went with the common thought process regarding eggplant.  Anyway, I digress.)
2. Rinse salt from eggplant and pat dry.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Beat together eggs and water.
5. Pulverize pork rinds.
6. Take a piece of eggplant, dip into egg mixture, shake off, dip into pork rind mixture.  Place on a baking sheet (I'd suggest some parchment paper here...otherwise, a few of them stick awful bad to the baking sheet.)
7. When they are all breaded, place into the oven and cook between 30 and 40 minutes.  You want the outside to be crispy, but not burnt.
8. Eat and enjoy.  Tender on the inside, crispy on the outside.  Yum! 

Chicken Curry Clafouti

This recipe comes from a reader-submitted recipe at Marks Daily Apple.  I love it for a many reasons:  it's pretty quick (especially if you have some cooked chicken on hand from another recipe), easy, tastes good, and is easily adapted to other ingredients.  I've had good luck replacing the chicken and curry powder with blueberries and cinnamon as well as bacon, leeks, and tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 3-6 Tbs melted coconut butter or ghee (I think 3 Tbs gives it a wonderful flavor, but use more to taste)
• 3/4 cup full-fat, canned coconut milk (use the portion at the top of the can that is more "cream")
• 4 cups cooked, chopped chicken (don't overcook your chicken and don't add other seasonings to the chicken)
• 2 tablespoons curry spice, or to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Butter a 10” round or 13×9” baking dish.
3. Whisk together eggs, coconut butter/ghee & coconut milk until frothy.
4. Mix in chicken and curry powder and pour into baking dish.
5. Bake about 35 minutes until top is golden brown.  Really watch this toward the end -- you may need even less cooking time.  If you use ingredients with more liquid (blueberries, tomatoes, etc.) you will need to cook this a little longer.