Ground Beef Frittata

I don't wanna be chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, so I changed my luck...

(My Ground Beef Frittata. Sorry.  Not a photographer. It's much tastier than it looks!)

That's what's going thru my head.  OK, anyway, I don't wanna be a pumpkin bread blog.  But that's pretty much what I'm turning into.  I realized looking back yesterday that I've got three posts on some form of pumpkin bread.  And I never posted any of my meals from my Whole30.  So here it goes.  How about a frittata?

This is probably my personal favorite of all the recipes I discovered and made while I was doing the Whole30.  Actually it wasn't so much a recipe.  It was a template.  In the back of the It Starts with Food book, the authors have WONDERFUL recipe templates to come up with meal ideas using the ingredients you have available.  I LOVE it!

When I say frittata I feel like I'm a butler serving a very wealthy family their breakfast, "Your fri ta ta sir."  In my hick-world, we call this an omelet.   One of these lasts in our house for two breakfasts.  I make it in the evening, cut it into wedges and store it in the fridge.  It reheats nicely and as much as I like cooking I'm not one to get up at 4 am to make a fresh fri ta ta.

You could use just about any combination of meat, veggies and spices you desire for your frittata.  Here's what I used in this one:


1/2 sweet onion thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 large handful of fresh baby spinach
1 lb. fresh ground beef
10 eggs
1/2 tsp. chipotle powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3 T. extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In large cast iron skillet (or oven-safe skillet) heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and bell pepper and saute until the onions begin to turn translucent.  Add ground beef to skillet.  Break beef apart and cook until thoroughly browned.  In large bowl whisk 10 eggs with the spices.  (If your cast iron skillet is not well seasoned you may need to add some more olive oil to your meat and veggies before the next step.)  Top your meat and veggies with your handful of fresh spinach.  Pour eggs over the spinach and meat mixture.  Allow the the skillet to continue to cook on medium heat for a few more minutes, using a spatula to pull up the sided of the eggs off the pan, allowing more of the egg mixture to seep underneath.  After about 5 minutes place the entire skillet uncovered in the preheated 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the eggs puff up and slightly brown around the edges and fork comes out clean when the middle of the frittata is pierced. 

Enjoy!

Homemade paleo mayo

The recipe is all over the internet.  Mine is not an original except that I used apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice (I'm sure others have used vinegar instead too).  I tried making it with lemon juice, but me and the fam all agree- the vinegar version is better.

1 egg at room temp.
2 T. apple cider vinegar at room temp.
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. sea salt
1/4 c. plus 1 c. light tasting olive oil (not extra virgin)

The key to the whole thing is patience.  You have to let the egg and apple cider vinegar come to room temp. in the food processor.  That means put them there and let them sit for a good half hour or so.  Then add the dry mustard, sea salt and light tasting olive oil.  Again, patience is required. Once you have all those ingredients in the food processor, turn the processor on and begin blending.  Then veeeerrrrryyyy sllllooooooowwwwwllllyyyyy (very slowly) drizzle the remaining 1 c. of olive oil into the food processor.  Very slowly.  It should take at least 3 minutes to drizzle the entire cup in.

If you've been patient, your mayo should be thick.

Enjoy mixed with tuna or use as a base for your own salad dressings.  I've been taking 2 T. of my homemade mayo, adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a 1/2 t. of seasoning salt (or your favorite spices), whisk together and walla... dressing.  Great mixed with some cole slaw!

My Whole 30 Pumpkin Bread

When you cut out the white cocaine in a 5 lb bag they sell legally and call sugar, you'll be amazed at the ways you can make something sweet without the white stuff.  Unlike the Whole 30 philosophy, I have nothing against honey.  I say it's God's sugar and was meant for us to enjoy and eat in proper proportion.  But this recipe won't even "cheat" on the Whole30 anti-honey rule.  And it definitely won't cheat on sweet pumpkin breadness!

My Whole 30 Pumkin Bread

1 cup smashed pumpkin
8 pitted medjool dates
1 ripe banana
3 T. coconut oil
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 c. coconut flour
1/2 c. almond meal
1 T. cinamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder

Coconut whipped cream topping

In food processor blend 5 pitted medjool dates,  1/2 can of coconut milk,  2 T. coconut oil and 1 t. vanilla extract.  Blend until well blended.  Flecks of dates will remain.  Allow to thicken and cool in fridge before serving.   Makes a good fruit dip too!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease bread pan with coconut oil.  In food processor blend pumpkin, dates, banana, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla.  In separate bowl mix together coconut flour, almond meal, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, baking soda, salt and baking powder.  Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and stir until well blended.  Pour batter into bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until knife comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes before cutting or removing from pan.  Serve with coconut whipped cream topping.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Muffins

So my husband is doing the Whole30 now.  I think he's on his 7th day?  He's pretty much been eating like this for a few years with weekly "cheats" thrown in.  Unlike me, he doesn't crave sweets, he craves Burger King.  So this recipe, even though it qualifies as Whole30 (no sugar, no sweetener of any kind, no grain) and Paleo, it wasn't really much of a help to him. For me it was a hit!

My boys are slowly being integrated into this real-food diet.  As I use up the grain-flours and processed foods I have on hand for them to eat as snacks and use in their school lunches I am putting grainless goodies and fruits and veggies in it's place.  I really thought they'd like these, but they gave them a thumbs down.  So I guess this recipe is a win for me and no one else in my house.

I've always loved to cook, but I have no culinary education.  I learn as I go.  Fail often.  Spend way too much money on food.  And make do with what I have.  I can get away with this in the cooking category, but when it comes to baking, not so much.  Baking is a science.  You have to be exact with your measurements.  I don't know the science, so right now, I'm still looking at other food blogs and recipes as a template for my baked creations.

There are a good 10 or more EXCELLENT paleo/Whole30/grainless/sugarless/unprocessed/clean (whatever you want to call it) food blogs out there.  There is really no reason to read mine.  If you're looking for good recipes do a google search on paleo recipes and at the minimum visit PaleOMG and Everday Paleo (I also like Keeper of The Home- Naturally Inspired Living For Homemakers).  You'll find everything you could want to cook and more there.  For this morning's breakfast I threw together a leftovers omelet and used this recipe at PaleOMG as a guide for making my Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Muffins (My husband said I should make them in mini muffin tins and call them poppers since they aren't the typical, high-rising muffin. Good idea Music Man!)

Ok, onto the recipe and pictures (Confession: I don't know how to take good food pictures so bear with me).

Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Muffins

1 large sweet potato
1/2 cup smashed pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)
5 medjool pitted dates
3 eggs
1/3 c. coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. flax seed meal
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinammon
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Pierce sweet potato and microwave using "potato" setting on microwave (most microwaves have this) or for about 4 minutes.  While the potato is getting nuked put the pumpkin, dates, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla and flax seed meal in food processor.  When the sweet potato is done that puppy is going to be hot, so cut it in half and let it cool for a few minutes until you can handle it without burning yourself.  Then scrape the soft potato out of the the skin into the food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend for a few more seconds. 

Use muffin tin liners and fill muffin liners about 1/2 full of batter.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.  (I ran out of liners, greased a bread pan with coconut oil and poured the rest of the batter in it, and sprinkled with unsweetened coconut flakes.  I baked it at 375 for 30 minutes.  It was fairly flat due to the amount of batter I used.  It's flatness spawned my husband's suggestion to bake them in mini-muffin tins and call them "Pumpkin Poppers". Either way both my man and I thought they were good.  For me it was a crave-curer.  For him it was just a good pumpkin dish.)

Enjoy!

Whole {Paleo} Salted Dark Chocolate Pudding

So I saw a recipe awhile back for a chocolate pudding made with cocoa, honey and avocado.  They say necessity is the mother of invention.  Well this month the hormonal necessity to eat chocolate gave birth to a tasty 29-days-into-my-Whole30-challenge chocolate pudding recipe.  I didn't have any ripe avocados on hand so I decided to use just bananas.  What I got was scrumptiousness!  I'm not a photographer so the pics aren't too great.  The pudding looks a little lumpy because I didn't let it blend long enough.  I was so anxious to get sweet, salty chocolate in my mouth I couldn't stand it!  Next time I make it I'll let it blend till smooth and then take some better pics :)

Recipe:

1/4 cup cream from canned coconut milk (do not include the water)
1/3 cup Hershey's Special dark cocoa powder
2 ripe bananas
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor.  Blend until smooth, approx 2 minutes.  The consistency was slightly thinner than regular pudding, but after spending 30 minutes in the fridge it was perfect! Either way it hit the I-need-chocolate-now mark! 


Enjoy!

Sheila