Staples - Part 2

Another snacking portable food (see coconut muffins as the first staple) we eat a lot of are egg muffins. These are like little mini quiches without crust. They are a great place to toss in a lot of veggies, they're really tasty, and if you call them "omelet bites" like my friend A does, you can serve them at a bridal shower or other fancy event.

This recipe is one I discovered on MarksDailyApple.com and also have in The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. The online recipe is here, but I do mine a little differently as I thought mayonnaise in the batter sounded way too gross. I probably make these once every two weeks or so. I often make a double batch and freeze some, but these go pretty fast since they are a great portable breakfast for honey.

So here's the recipe:
6 eggs
meat of some kind - about 1/4 lb
veggies of some kind - about 1 cup
2 big spoonfuls of chunky fresh salsa (I like Trader Joe's or Tommy V's)
coconut oil for greasing the muffin pan

If the meat is not cooked, then cook it up. You can use leftover hamburger, bacon, pancetta (my current favorite) or anything else.

Once the meat is cooked, if you are using any greens for your veggies, toss them in with the meat in the pan to wilt them.

Other veggies are fine to go in the egg batter raw, but greens have so much moisture that it is better to cook them a little first.

Whisk together your eggs, add the meat and veggies, and pour the batter into greased muffin cups.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes depending on the muffin size. I like using mini muffins most of the time, but find that for a breakfast muffin, regular muffin pans are better. This recipe makes 24 mini muffins.

Let them cool and store them in the fridge. I use a sauce jar...as with everything else!

Staples - Part 1

There are several staples that I make regularly for snacking and meals in our home. I've continued to make the things that are hits for most or all of us, as long as they are pretty easy and healthy. Since I know there are many on a food journey, I thought I'd share a bit about our food prep with you. We strive to eat a grain free diet and we do limit dairy to some extent, and mainly eat only fermented dairy like yogurt and kefir. We avoid processed soy, artificial dyes and flavors, and generally ingredients that are hard to pronounce. We are not perfect and since we are not allergic to any foods (although Honey's consistent reactions to breads are debatable and we all have intolerances, so each of us has to decide if it is "worth it") we have the luxury of letting go a bit.

I make Coconut Muffins almost every week. My recipe comes from Many Paths, One Journey to Health, an HMN Cookbook. The recipe is one adapted from Bruce Fife's Cooking With Coconut Flour by fellow HMNer Jessica at CrunchyChewyMama. I like coconut, and I like this recipe because it is pretty versatile; I've added carrots, almond extract, raspberry extract, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips and I bet you could do any fruit or vegetable and it would be good. Depending on the additions, this can be breakfast, snacks, part of lunch.... anything you want. It's gluten and dairy free, and you can completely eliminate the sugar as well if you want. I found that the carrots added a lot of sweetness and I could cut the sugar and add a little cinnamon and they were great.

Here's the basic recipe:

WET INGREDIENTS:
3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
3 eggs (warmed in water so they don't re-solidify the coconut oil)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar, rapadura, Sucanat, maple sugar or date sugar
2 Tablespoons of full fat coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DRY INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup coconut flour - sifted
1/4 teaspoon baking powder sifted into the flour

Blend the wet ingredients together, then add the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth. Add in whatever fruits, veggies or other flavoring you'd like. Spoon the batter into well greased muffin cups. I like using coconut oil in the cups whether they are metal or stone. The batter will stick to paper cups, so leave those out unless you like the taste of paper. Bake them at 400 degrees for 8-15 minutes.

I usually double this recipe and make mini muffins. A double batch makes 24 very full mini muffins. You may want to stretch the batter to 48 level mini muffins if you add a fair bit of veggies or fruit. My kids really like these and coconut flour is a great protein source, as is the egg, so I feel good about them having seconds and thirds.

These muffins get stored in glass jars (we reuse the ones from spaghetti sauce or use canning jars) in the fridge or freezer. I'd put them in the freezer for sure if they are not eaten within 3 days or so.

There's nothing better than a good birthday cake!

Chocolate coconut flour cake with white marshmallow icing... my first attempt at a coconut flour cake was pretty good - the batter was really delish, and all the kids liked the cake itself! Score one for the gluten and dairy free crowd!

I made an almond flour banana dark chocolate cake for Pumpkin as well, and some vanilla vegan cupcakes. I'll admit that I did use regular Duncan Hines Frosting on the cupcakes - really, there is only so much baking I could handle in one day! We did a pretty good job of polishing them all off!