Blueberry Pie for Breakfast?

I am still  eating like a caveman on a regular basis, but must admit I have really been craving muffins or pie or cake or anything to satisfy an intense need to chew something other than a meat or a vegetable.  I don't mind substituting zucchini "noodles" for pasta, or eating cauliflower "rice" with Asian dishes.  I am ok making my own Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, and understand if it comes in a box or package most likely I can't eat it. I have even found a gozillion dollar loaf of paleo bread at Organic Harvest, that I actually bought and froze to use, meagerly, one slice at a time. I am sorry but Sloppy Joe's on a lettuce leaf just doesn't cut it.  Even though I am doing all those things I still miss an occasional sweet indulgence.

Voila! I found a blueberry pie recipe online and tweaked it into a form I was comfortable eating.  I understand technically I can have maple syrup and honey as sweeteners while doing this, but I also know that sweets are my downfall, so I am keeping those natural sugars out of my diet almost all of the time.

We all know that there is no way this is going to taste just like a pie loaded with sugar and maybe topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but it is still a pretty delicious alternative.  It has more the mouth feel of a cakey cobbler than a traditional pie, but it was still quite palatable.

.  If you feel the need for this to be sweeter add a tablespoon of maple syrup to both the berries and the egg mixture.

           
                                               Paleo Blueberry Breakfast Pie

1 cup blueberries (use the sweetest juiciest you can find)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon coconut flour
3/8 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small circular oven proof pan/dish  (Remember those old Corningware pans with lids?  That is what I used.) Put the blueberries in the bottom of the pan. In a small bowl beat the eggs well.  Add the coconut milk (I always heat the can slightly in warm water to get the fat melted so it will stir back into the liquid.) Add the coconut flour  and vanilla and stir well.  Pour over the blueberries and bake until the egg mixture is set and the top is brown and puffy. (About 20 minutes)  Serve hot!  This is a single serving and believe me, there is something very satisfying about getting to eat a whole pie with no guilt.

If you want to make this for 2 people, double everything and cook it in a traditional pie pan. It would also serve 4 as a part of the meal.

I am so going to try this again soon (maybe even tomorrow morning).  Though I think it would be equally good with strawberries or blackberries, I just don't know for certain.  Because I care about each of you  and don't want you leaping into the unknown, I am willing to be the guinea pig and have pie for breakfast at least 2 more times really soon.  I am just self sacrificing like that I guess.

Go out on a limb and try something different this week.  You might just find a "keeper". And if not, it's just a meal.


Update:  I tried this using strawberries, almond milk, almond flour and 1 Stevia pack.  It was quite good, but not as good as using the coconut flour and coconut milk.  I was at the lake and didn't have them so I had to punt.  I kept the same proportions for the flours and milks, but I did double everything because I just have one baking dish at the lake.  It worked out well and 3 of us ate it for breakfast.

I Need Suggestions__Sweet Potato Fail

I have read comments from a couple of you who had assumed that punt days are always successful.  That would be because I haven't posted the things that didn't work, so I decided I would start talking about some of the failures.  I just didn't realize the opportunity would come so quickly. (That night!)

TheHub has been out of town on a retreat, and I did not have to plan a meals around his likes or dislikes.  In fact, I did not have to plan a meal at all.  I could just look through the fridge and pull out odds and ends of whatever was available and have that.  It sounded perfect.  I wrangled up 3 leftover pieces of Conecuh sausage, a piece of a leftover bell pepper and a few slices of onion. 

I also have been cleaning out the freezer to make room for then soon to happen summer harvest. ( I got an email that my favorite U-pick strawberry place opens today, so I did not clean it out one moment too soon)  Cleaning it means also using the food in it as quickly as possible.  At some point I bought a steam and serve bag of sweet potatoes and decided to prepare them to go with the sausage.  Naturally I could not just steam and mash them and leave well enough alone.  No, not me!

After they were mashed, I remembered my dad using leftover regular mashed potatoes to make lovely puffs of potato deliciousness.  He occasionally cooked on the weekends when we were kids and these were one of his specialities. Now, did I call him and ask him how he made them first?  Of course not, I just started mixing and cooking.

                                            Unsuccessful Sweet Potato Pancakes 

          For your frame of reference this plate is a breakfast plate, so the pancakes were pretty small.

1/2  of a 24 ounce frozen steam and serve bag of sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 medium bell pepper, chopped

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/8 teaspoon thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

coconut oil

Now in theory this is what should have happened.  In a large bowl, stir everything together until it is well blended.  Heat coconut oil in the bottom of a non-stick pan until it is hot.  Drop?Pour? pancake shaped blobs of the sweet potato mixture into the oil.  Flip when brown on the bottom and cook on the other side until well browned.  Serve immediately

In reality these broke apart pretty much as soon as they hit the oil.  I threw out 3 pans of these before I had three that actually held together during the cooking process. I am thinking 3 eggs might have worked better as a binder and I probably should have also added a tablespoon of coconut flour. Not sure and not sure I will never find out, because I thought these were way more trouble than the pay off. 

As for the taste, they were pretty dang delicious, but I was teed off by the time I ate them and did not enjoy it like I would have if I had been successful.  I am really glad I was the only one eating, because after tossing so many, I only had enough for 1 person.

If you have any paleo options that would work fixing these, please let me know.

It's a Tuesday, Monday Kind of Thing

I have decided I really hate making a weekly to-do list on Mondays, so I am going to have mine on Tuesdays.  It gives me Monday to sort out the kinks left over from the weekend, and also see what need my folks might have for the week without having to think about what I have planned. I truly believe I am better doing this late Monday night when I actually have all the parts of the week in order.  From now on anything you see as a Tuesday list really
happened in the wee hours before I go to sleep Monday.




What I planned and what really happened

Meal 1:  Paleo chicken "fingers", romaine/mandarin orange salad, squash, asparagus
Meal 2:  Paleo stuffed bell peppers, salad, baked sweet potatoes
Meal 3:  Crock pot chicken in spicy mustard sauce, broccoli, waldorf salad
Meal 4:  Grilled chicken, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, tomato and cuke salad, green beans
Meal 5:  Steak, sweet potato oven"fries", tossed salad, brussels sprouts
Meal 6:  Gathering the fragments (leftovers) slaw or salad
Meal 7: Eat out

chicken fingers, squash. romain/mandarin salad/ grilled asparagus
smoked sausage with broccoli cauliflower carrots and onions
steak baked potato mixed greens salad
pork chop vegetable medley with steamed apple slices
Dinner out
leftover smoked sausage with sweet potato pancakes
Taco bell!?!?!?!

To be honest TheHub left for a golf/business meeting and will not be home until Wednesday night, so I am just eating whatever I feel like eating, hence the Taco Bell drive through.  I had decided to have a Game of Thrones theme meal Sunday night, but got slammed with a huge case of indifference. Instead I watched GOT while drinking tea.  After it was over there was no point in cooking, much less cooking a theme meal, so I hit the drive through.  Since Taco Bell was the only non hamburger joint still open it won by default.

I am still using "Finish" as my word of the week.  Somethings are completely done, some are still in progress and I have none nothing more than thinking about washing the living room, foyer, and dining room walls.  I am deluding myself by claiming I am going to wait until the pollen is completely through falling before I was them. (Has nothing to do with just not wanting to do it, right?)

In addition to delaying certain chores, I am slightly ADD.  In the middle of one chore I will decide to randomly go clean the freezer, or reorganize the butler's pantry.  I have been paying more attention to this habit and am adding another F word..."Focus".  I hope it will work because my bedroom is completely torn apart in various stages of deep cleaning and it really need to be completed today.

Now I am off to the bedroom to tackle the half done chores, I just hope I don't see anything shiny on the way!

p.s. and Rats!  I forgot to create some menu I will not follow:

Tonight, something with leftover shredded chicken (no clue what but it is thawed so I have to use it)

Pork tenderloin with coleslaw, tomatoes, and riced cauliflower

Weird paleo pizza stuffed bell peppers, tossed salad, carrots, and some other vegetable

Stir fry chicken with broccoli, carrots and mushrooms

Grilled chicken, cole slaw, green beans, grilled fruits

Grilled steak, baked sweet potato, sauteed brussels sprouts, tossed salad

Paleo Buffalo "wings" coleslaw, fakin potato salad made with cauliflower

Avocado Untwists

I don't normally post a breakfast or snack idea, but I have been seeing this all over Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  It is simply avocado wedges wrapped with bacon and sprinkled with chili powder.  I have no idea where the people who posted pictures of this got their avocados, but it definitely was not Alabama in the spring.  The avocados here were, at best, pear sized, so I used what was available and had to change it a little to fit the smaller wedges. Instead of doing the lovely spiral wrap for each wedge,  I used a half slice of bacon and wrapped it so the ends overlapped on the back side .  I placed them on a cookie sheet with an edge all around (like a smaller jelly roll pan) and baked at 350 until the bacon was crisp. (I forgot the chili powder until right before I was going to eat them.  Sprinkle it before hand.) And that was all there is to it.

The verdict:  These were tasty, but a tad bland.  I think I would like them better with both the chili and additional sprinkled hot sauce or siracha, but I like heat in my food.  If I have intense flavors when I eat I am much more satisfied and less likely to want to eat anything for a longer period of time.  The creamy avocado was a nice contrast to the crunchy bacon, and I have been craving ANYTHING but eggs for breakfast.  I don't even like eggs and eating them daily is driving me nuts.
This was as filling as eating an egg dish but...

...The  downside of having these for breakfast was the lack of vegetable matter.  Since avocado is so high in fat content I could not really count it as a vegetable. So, in addition to bacon avocado wedges, I had a chopped salad on the side.  Not what I wanted! (That is the upside of eating horrid eggs. I can add a ton of vegetables and call it an omelet)
I might make these again, but I will rethink when I eat them.  These might be better as  snacks or hors d'oeuvres than as the main component of a meal.

If you like bacon and avocado give it a try, it might be what you have been looking for and bacon wrapped anything can't be all wrong!

If you are in Birmingham and have not gone to Bottle and Bone to buy their bacon, what are you waiting for?  The flavored bacons are delicious and their plain bacon is out of this world, so go and buy.  Except for the slightly higher price you won't be sorry!

Pork Chop Veggie Medley (Paleo)

The day before yesterday I had pulled some pork chops out of the freezer to thaw for last night's dinner. Because I am not as good labeling my freezer packages, I thawed breakfast pork chops rather than regular chops.  Oops! Of course I had no idea until I was ready to cook. They are much, much thinner than a standard pork chop and require much less cooking time.  Also, because they are so thin, it meant we were not going to have a lot of protein with our meal and I would have to pad it with something other than a salad.  So, my plans for grilling them went flying out the window and, typical for me, I had to punt. Thank goodness I had loaded up on produce this week!

I think I have said before, I like having dense vegetable dishes, for a couple of reasons. First is the clean up issue. I had much rather clean one pan than several, that is just a no brainer. Secondly, if the vegetables and protein cook in the same pan, the vegetables pick up some of the delicious meat/fowl juices and the flavor of both components is magnified. (My exception to the one dish meal is fish, and I love fish cooked without additional ingredients altering its texture and flavor)

                                      Pork Chops and Vegetables with Crisped Bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 pork chops
2 large onions, sliced
1 pound brussels sprouts, halved
4 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
1/2 pound mushrooms, halved
4 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 cup broth (Use what you have, I had vegetable broth) more if needed
1/4 cup , broth or water
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder* (use cornstarch if not doing paleo)
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar ( to taste, adjust to what you like)
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices very crisp bacon

In a large pan with a lid, heat the oil than quickly brown the chops. Remove and set aside.  Saute the onions until they are slightly caramelized, then add the brussels sprouts. Lower the heat and cook with the lid on until the sprouts are slightly wilted.  Sprinkle with a little salt and place the browned pork chops on top of the sprouts and onions. Place the carrots celery and mushrooms on top of the chops, and pour the broth over all.  Sprinkle with the thyme, put the lid back on and cook until the chops are done and the carrots are tender.  With a slotted spoon remove the chops and vegetables to a bowl.Put the chops to one side and stir the veggies together into one happy medley.  (Taste for saltiness and add more if needed.)  Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.

In a small bowl stir the arrowroot and water/broth until smooth.  If you do not have about a cup of liquid in the pan, add water or additional broth to equal a cup. (Doesn't have to be exact so just eyeball it.) Stir in the balsamic vinegar and the arrowroot mixture.  Cook until it is thickened.  Put a chop on each plate, top with vegetables, spoon the sauce over all and add a slice of crumbled bacon as both garnish and deliciousness.

This was absolutely fantastic.  All the flavors melded and though each retained its own personality each was enhanced by the others. I am especially glad I decided to finish cooking the chops on top of the brussels sprouts and onions. The pork flavor totally infused each of them and only amplified their natural goodness.

I thought I had enough vegetables, so rather than serve a side salad, I lightly steamed crisp apple slices and served that as a side. (Use crisp somewhat tart apples for this). This reminds me of a fall/winter dish and since our temperatures have begun to climb rapidly, I will say goodbye to this dish until next fall. But you can rest assured that this will often be in our food rotation then.

What do you do when your menu plan changes abruptly?

*If you are not doing paleo, I would strongly recommend using cornstarch as a thickener. The arrowroot is a little more viscous than I like, but it's a legal paleo thickener, so I use it (just not very often).

Needed: Inspiration, Motivation,Perspiration

I am not sure what is wrong with me, but I am sorely lacking the inspiration and inclination to get anything finished.  I started last week with a list and lofty aims to knock every single thing off the list, Now a week plus a day later I am left with the same list.  It seems that last week I fell into this "start 'er but don't get 'er done" vortex. Now I have all of these projects that I started , but very few are completed. Which leaves me with a single word for my
list for the week.

1. FINISH

Last weeks menu and what really happened;

Monday: Red curried chicken, riced cauliflower, tossed salad
Tuesday: Grilled chicken, tossed salad, steamed broccoli, fruit compote Out to eat
Wednesday: Spaghetti, tossed salad
Thursday: Braised pork steaks, with carrots, sweet potatoes, onions and mushrooms, coleslaw Chicken and pork stir fry
Friday: Paleo tacos, with assorted fixings, tossed salad  grilled burgers, tossed salad, chips (them)
Saturday: Grilled hamburgers, sweet potato oven fries, tossed salad take out
Sunday: Easter dinner with extended family (everyone brings a dish, no idea yet what they want me to make) Mom decided she wanted to do it all by herself for a mid day meal. Ham, sweet potatoes yadda, yadda.
             Night meal: Pulled smoked pork sandwiches (frozen about a month ago) pickles, slaw.

Suggested menu for the week

Meal 1:  Paleo chicken "fingers", romaine/mandarin orange salad, squash, asparagus
Meal 2:  Paleo stuffed bell peppers, salad, baked sweet potatoes
Meal 3:  Crock pot chicken in spicy mustard sauce, broccoli, waldorf salad
Meal 4:  Grilled chicken, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, tomato and cuke salad, green beans
Meal 5:  Steak, sweet potato oven"fries", tossed salad, brussels sprouts
Meal 6:  Gathering the fragments (leftovers) slaw or salad
Meal 7: Eat out

Now, off the computer and on to doing (which is going to be hard because I started a book last night and really do want to finish it today)

             

Freezer Clean Out Stir Fry, Paleo Style

This morning I got dressed and ran around doing a few errands before meeting some friends for lunch. Usually when I leave I take something out of the freezer and stick it in a small insulated bag so it will be nearly thawed by the time I get home. Today I forgot to do that.

I had a few other things to do after lunch and wound up getting home a little later than I intended. When I finally came home I did the late afternoon unthinkable, I picked up a book.  Yikes!  Forgot about thawing or planning.

Tonight at about 6 I finally thought about dinner.  Honestly, I did not think about it as much as I heard TheHub ask what was for dinner when he called before he left work. Then I did think and all I thought was "Hmmm, I have no earthly idea what I am going to cook for dinner."  I thought it might be a good idea to run check  the freezer and fridge for whatever I could cook in a hurry.

Since I have been trying to eat from the freezer to clear it out before summer, I have used all of my packages of 2 or 3 chicken breasts, chops and steaks. I only had the multi pound packages left. They were solidly frozen it would have taken a while to get them to thaw, even using the microwave.
But I did find 1 pack with a single boneless chicken breast and a pack with 1 large pork chop so out they came. I put them in the microwave to thaw for just 3 minutes.

Having 2 proteins for dinner just screamed to be cooked as a stir fry. While they were still icy and easier to slice thin, I cut the chicken crossways in 1/4 inch thick slices.  I cut the pork chop in 1/8 inch slices and then looked in the crisper and the laundry room refrigerator to see what I could put with them.

I had a half of a bag of kale left from Wednesday's lunch, onions and garlic, (I always have these on hand) fresh ginger (ditto), a new bag of carrots, and a container of mushrooms that had gotten pushed to the back of the shelf.  I also had about a cup of chicken broth that needed to be used immediately.

Before I did another thing I put on a pot of rice to cook.  Rice takes about 22 minutes no matter what, and I figured by the time I chopped and cooked, the stir fry and rice should be ready at about the same time.

                                                              Freezer Clean Out Stir Fry

1 tablespoon oil
1 chicken breast sliced thin
1 pork chop sliced very thin

1 1/2 tablespoon oil
1 onion sliced
4 medium carrots cut in coins
1 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 small package of mushrooms, quartered
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 bag also
1 tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce*
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or 2 teaspoons corn starch**



In a large pan heat the oil until it is almost smoking.  Add the pork and chicken slices and stir like a mad man. The meat/chicken will be cooked through in about 2 or 3 minutes, so it really is important to keep stirring so it will not stick or burn.  Remove to a plate and add the remaining oil to the same hot skillet.  Immediately add the onions and carrots stirring until both are wilted but not brown. Add the ginger and cook it for an additional minute, then add the garlic.  As soon as the garlic wilts ( about 45 seconds) add the mushrooms and broth. Add the chicken and pork back to the pan and stir to combine well.  Place the kale on top of the veggie mix and put a lid on the pan. (I had to let  1/2 of the kale cook down and then I added the other half because it would not all fit uncooked.) When the kale is wilted and cooked through, stir in the coconut aminos or soy sauce.  Mix the arrowroot with the water to make a paste and stir it into the pan to thicken the broth. (Make sure you have enough liquid left in your pan before doing this. If you don't see about 1/2 inch of liquid at the bottom of the pan add a bit of water).  Stir well to make sure everything is coated.  Serve over a bed of rice, unless you are doing the paleo thing.  If you are doing paleo serve over cauliflower rice or spaghetti squash.

This was a really tasty last minute meal.  It is much like a traditional asian stir fry, but I am not sure kale would be a traditional ingredient.  You could easily make this using just about any vegetable you had rattling around your crisper.  It is an easy way to use up whatever has seen better days ( like the well hidden mushrooms)  I guess, I knew this was going to be a keeper when Son2 slipped a bite while taking the plates to the table. I liked it because in addition to tasting really good, it was a vegetable dense meal and I didn't have to eat a salad to get enough vegetables with my meal. And for those of us what are eating salad every single meal that is a win. (And yes, I am even eating salad at breakfast.)

What do you cook when you have nothing planned or prepared?

* Soy is not a paleo food so I use the coconut aminos
**Neither is corn starch but it is a much better thickening agent.