Tuesday, March 29, 2011

More Egg Bites

This is another version of the egg bites, with a slightly different presentation:

Take sliced deli ham, and line the muffin tin with them.  Put in chopped up tomato, basil, and asparagus, and a little bit of salt if desired.  Crack an egg into each one, leave yolk intact, crack some pepper on top.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  We did about 25 minutes, and the yolks were solid.  If you like them runny, maybe just 20 minutes.

These were really good, portable, went camping with me well, and have a much better visual impact than the other egg bites, if one were looking to impress for some reason.

It was based off the idea of Baked Eggs in tomato cups at Poor Girl Eats Well

Scooter

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Fast and Basic Salmon and Kale

Salmon filets:
spray on some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, broil at 375 for 15 minutes or until the salmon flakes and looks done.

Meanwhile:
Put a 1/4 inch of water in a pot, start to bring it to a boil while tearing leaves off a bunch of kale and adding them to the pot.  When the water is boiling, cover and turn the heat down to medium-low.  Add some salt, pepper, and/or garlic powder.  Done in about 10 minutes.

Fast, easy, basic, no-frills dinner.  And remember - always wash your hands after doing a bunch of pushups at crossfit.

scooter

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Every time I make a stuffed something I wonder why I really bother - it was be easier to just make the separate components and then combine them on the plate.  This, however, doesn't stop me from making stuffed things.  (Albeit not very often.)

Cut an acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place skin side up in a pan with a little bit of water in the bottom, in a 375 degree oven.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute 3/4 of a finely chopped onion in olive oil, brown some ground beef, and add some thin peeled parsnip.
Cook for a while, add salt, pepper, and italian spices, and a small can of tomato sauce.  Let it simmer for a bit, then take off the heat.

Beat 1 egg in a bowl, add some the meat mixture.  I was only able to fit about 2/3 of my mixture into the squashes.

Pull the squash out, turn over, and fill the centers with the mixture, put back in the oven for 35 minutes.

Enjoy!


Based somewhat on Cave man food's stuffed zucchini

Monday, March 21, 2011

Scotch Eggs - Baked and Paleo

I like eggs.  I like meat.  I like geodes.  Enter, Scotch Eggs:


Take 1 lb. ground beef
Add spices to taste - like garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, salt, pepper, and dried basil.  Mush it all together.
Take 1/5 of the meat mixture and spread it into a thin patty in your hands, then mold it around a peeled hard boiled egg.  Try to make it even.  I definitely didn't.  Some of them had cracks in the meat shell, but they are fine.
Repeat 4 times.
Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes.

Revel in deliciousness!

scooter

based on recipe on The Clothes Make the Girl Blog

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Shepherd's Pie - Paleo. Ish (has green beans). And is more of a Cottage Pie, anyway.

Contribution to work potluck:

4 parsnips, grated or peeled into small bits.  Put in a bowl with some chopped green onions, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and set aside.

In a big saute pan (or wok, in my case):
Saute some onions and garlic in olive oil.  When they are started to get carmelized and crispy, add 1.5 lbs. ground turkey, and some salt and pepper.  When the turkey is done, add a big package of thawed frozen veggies.  The one I chose was carrots, bell peppers, green beans, onion, and cauliflower.  I also added a frozen cube of chicken stock.  Simmer until it all seems done-ish, and the liquid is reduced a little bit.
Heat the oven to 400.
Put the veggie mixture into the pan.  Mix in a bunch of cilantro.  Mix an egg into the parsnips, then spread the parsnips on top.  Bake for 25-35 minutes.  It seems like I sprinkled dried parsley somewhere in this recipe, but I can't actually remember where......

Yum!

scooter

This recipe was basically a mish-mash of ideas I got based on several recipes I perused on the web, potentially including but not limited to:
Steve's Paleo Zone
Mark's Daily Apple
Crossfit Genius

Oh, supposedly a "shepherd's pie" should include lamb.  Cottage pies include other meats.  Or something like that.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Chicken Cauliflower Soup

Time for.....more soup!  Based off of this one on Orie Shafer's Eat Move Thrive blog.

Saute two onions and a handful of baby carrots in olive oil.  For like 10 minutes.
Add shakes of: cumin, pepper, turmeric, coriander, chili pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Add a chopped bell pepper.  Saute for a few more minutes.
Add chicken broth/water.  I think I added a total of around 8 cups of liquid.
Turn up heat, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
Add a head of chopped up cauliflower.
After 10-15 minutes or so, add some pre-cooked chicken.
After another 5 minutes, add a bunch of spinach.
When everything has been heated through, enjoy!

Basic but good.  Got to use the chicken stock I just made!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Onion, Peppers, Ground Beef - 4 ways

I made a huge pile of onions, bell peppers, and ground beef:
Slice several onions, saute for 15 minutes or so in olive oil, add sliced bell peppers, saute for a few more minutes.  Add ground beef, cook until done.

You might notice a conspicuous lack of spices going here....that is because this base is going to be coming back around at least 4 ways.  I mean coming back around in a good way, not in a revisited-my-lunch-in-the-opposite-direction kind of way.

#1: Season with chili pepper and some cumin, throw in some tomatoes and avocado, and voila! it's a fajita-type thing.

#2: Throw into a saute pan.  Add some eggs.  Eat the best breakfast ever.

#3: Add some thyme, marjoram, fresh basil, tomatoes, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

#4: Add some coconut milk and curry paste.

What else might happen?
scooter

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sweet Potato, Kale, and Sausage Soup. This stuff is GOOD.

TG and I decided it was time to kick back with some scotch and make something with kale in it.  Being on a soup kick lately, this is what we went with, based on this recipe at joythbaker's blog.

Dice an onion (or two), saute in olive oil in a large soup pot
Finely chop ginger and garlic, to taste.  Our test runs to quite a bit of both.
Add the above to the soup pot, along with some turmeric (guessing around a teaspoon) and a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Stir and cook for a couple minutes.
Add two peeled and chopped medium sweet potatoes, give them a good stir to get coated in spices and such. 
Add 2 quarts chicken broth.
Turn up the heat to bring it to a simmer.
Add a bunch of kale and half a bunch of collard greens, leaves torn and stalks removed.
Add a package of pre-cooked sausage.  (We used mild italian chicken sausages.)
Let it simmer for like 20 minutes or so, until the sweet potatoes are cooked through.  We actually let it boil away for like 30 b/c we get careless sometimes.
Add a can of coconut milk, let it heat through.
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Soooooo good.
Scooter and TG