Onion Ring Brekkie

Who says you can't eat onion rings for breakfast??? This meal (which could be one of the best breakfasts I've ever made) was inspired by a photo my spouse found online a couple weeks ago: an egg cooked inside a thick slice of red bell pepper. This morning, shortly after I accidentally volunteered to make brunch without a single preconceived idea, this popped to mind. I'm sure making this with a bell pepper would have been tasty. But I'm a huge fan of sweet, carmelized onion and I'm positive that ingredient alone catapulted this into the "fantastic" category!

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced into rings about 3/4-inch thick
• 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped (use the small, leftover inner rings from above)
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup asparagus, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
• 1 avocado (optional)
• lime juice (optional)
• hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep skillet.
2. Break the onion rings apart so you have 4 good rings. I found that keeping the rings 2 layers deep made the walls more stable once the onion cooked. Fry onions until they begin to carmelize on the edges. Flip over as needed.
3. From here out, do not lift or flip the onion rings. Divide the chopped onion, pepper, and asparagus into fourths and place in each ring. Reduce heat to medium and fry a few minutes, until the veggies soften.
4. Carefully crack and pour one egg into each ring. Cook over medium heat until eggs set and reach desired doneness.
5. If using cheese, sprinkle over eggs and allow it to melt.
6. If using avocado, scoop into a bowl and mash with a few squirts of lime juice.
7. Remove eggy onion rings from skillet and serve with avocado. Top with a dash of paleo-friendly hot sauce. I served these with a slice of bacon.



Pumpkin-Berry Muffins

Sunshine was up early this morning playfully "complaining" that she had a sweet tooth. Since she has taken such an interest in cooking lately (and because I was attempting to complete a work project on the computer), I told her she should make muffins. Her instructions were to get all the ingredients out that she wanted for the muffins then to come get me for help putting it all together. Not five minutes later, I was called into the kitchen and met with a grinning nine-year old pointing to a countertop with pumpkin, blueberries, walnuts, and a chocolate bar.

These monstrously delicious muffins are the result!

Yield: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/4 cup hazelnut meal (or almond meal/flour)
• 3/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 T flax meal
• 1 T flax seeds
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup agave or honey (optional)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/3 dark chocolate bar (I prefer Green & Black's 85%), chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease or line muffin trays.
3. In a large bowl, mix the meals/flours, flax seeds, baking soda, spices, and salt.
4. In a second bowl, mix the eggs, oil, and sweetner, if using.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is moistened. The mixture will be thick and a bit crumbly.
6. Add the nuts, berries, and chocolate, if using. Stir gently until the extras are mixed in but being careful not to smash the blueberries.
7. Fill muffin cups with batter (all the way as this mixture doesn't rise much).
8. Bake for 25 minutes.

Note: I think you could easily turn these into cookies by shaping dough into small balls or discs and placing on cookie sheet.

Bacon-Veg Brekkie

I am always on the lookout for quick and easy breakfast dishes. I've never been a big fan of sweet breakfasts. I've never found eggs very filling. And so I had a habit of starting my day with hot grains. Since dropping grains from my diet, breakfast is my "challenge meal". I have plenty of inspiration for lunch and dinner meals, but I find my creativity pretty lacking at 5:00 AM. A typical weekday breakfast is fruit and nut butter, smoothie, or leftovers; something I can grab on my way out the door. On the weekends, I like to relax and share a hot breakfast with the family. This dish began as simply fried tomatoes and asparagus and has now evolved into this breakfast hit that everyone in my family loves.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 8 slices bacon, chopped (we prefer peppered bacon)
• 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• salt and pepper, to season

Directions:

1. Fry up bacon until nearly cooked.
2. Add veggies and continue frying until desired tenderness is reached.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

PB (Paleo-Butter) Cup Smoothie

"Two great tastes that taste great together"... Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is considered the finest creation by H.B. Reese, a former employee of Hershey's who branched out to start his own confection company. I have to agree. I'm not a huge fan of candy, but in my pre-paleo days, this is one sweet treat that would tempt me to indulge in crappy check-out stand candy. But... just because I'm not eating sugar (or peanuts) these days, doesn't mean I don't still crave those flavors. This smoothie is my answer to that craving. And my ultimate fallback "dessert" whenever my kids talk their dad into bringing some non-paleo treat into the house!

And for the record... if you  hear my girls talking about eating "Chocolate Ice Cream" for breakfast, please don't go calling children's services on me! I love giving them the royal treatment first thing in the morning with this healthy dish!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 2-3 bananas, cut into 5 or 6 pieces each and frozen
• 1-2 cups unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk 
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 2-3 T cocoa powder (I prefer Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)

Directions:

1. Add frozen bananas to the blender then top with almond butter and cocoa powder.
2. Add milk until it nearly covers the fruit. This makes a thick, but drinkable consistency. Use less for a thicker, ice cream like dessert.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Pour into cups. Drink immediately!

Smoothie Galore

Give me some frozen bananas, "milk", and fresh fruit and I will make you a smoothie that leaves you begging for more! I have always loved these cold, blended, fruity drinks, but even more so now that I've cut sugar out of my diet. In my house, we have smoothies several times a week. For breakfast, when we're running behind schedule. For lunch, on the weekend, when I don't feel like cooking. After dinner, for dessert, or any other time someone has a sweet tooth. I make them with more liquid and drink straight from the blender or make them super thick, top with nuts and seeds, and eat like gorgeous ice cream sundae. They take only minutes to make and are perfectly paleo!

Fresh Blackberry Smoothie. Is there anything better? 

Serves 4 (unless I don't feel like sharing)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 bananas, cut into 5 or 6 pieces each and frozen
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (optional)
• 1-2 cups fresh fruit
• 1-2 cups unsweetened coconut milk or almond milk 
• 1/3 cup almond butter (optional, for protein)
• flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts (optional)

Tip: Frozen bananas give smoothies the smooth, creamy texture and makes smoothies icy cold without needing ice, which can water down the fruity taste. At the same time, bananas don't add a strong flavor, so I count on the fresh fruit to do that. The smoothie pictured above was made with a pint of fresh blackberries.

Directions:

1. Add frozen bananas to the blender then top with fresh fruit and almond butter, if using.
2. Add milk until it nearly covers the fruit. This makes a thick, but drinkable consistency. Use less for a thicker, ice cream like dessert.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Pour into cups. Top with seeds and nuts, if using. Drink immediately!

Jet-Lag Special

I've gotten really good with short-cuts while cooking since having kids, but this morning I woke up at 3:30 am so I had a little extra time to do things right. Today's cooking goal? To make beef stock. Usually I just use raw soup bones I get from the grass-fed beef vendor at our market, and whatever veggies I can find in the fridge. This morning I decided to roast the bones first. It really makes for a good stock, and as a bonus-if you line your tray with foil and turn up the edges, you can save all the awesome fat that renders from the marrow. Most of that I saved for future use, but I took a few teaspoons of it, fried a julienned purple carrot in it, and ended up with a super yummy "hash." Add a fried egg on top, and viola!

The picture didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but it sure was delish. I would absolutely add some onion next time, but I haven't re-stocked the refrigerator yet and didn't have any.

Purple Carrot Hash

1 carrot per person

(I know this will be even better next time with onion)

marrow fat! or whatever fat you like

S&P to taste

1 or 2 eggs per person

Julienne, slice, or dice your veggies

Fry in the marrow or other fat until soft and starting to crisp up.

Move hash to plates and use the same pan to fry eggs to your liking.

Serve egg over the hash with S&P. Who needs potatoes anyway?