Meat and Veggie Egg Muffins (Primal/Paleo)

In the real world I am part personal assistant. The family I work for are dealing with a loved one in the hospital, and are crazy busy trying to balance a good summer for the kiddos and being there for their loved one. This is where I come in; I've been cooking up all kinds of delicious easy foods for them to have on hand so they don't have to think about cooking. They eat low carb, but not paleo, but I've been successfully making tons of high fat, high protein, high veggie meals to give them lots of energy without them realizing they're eating grain free! Egg muffins, frittatas, and crustless quiches are big on my list of things to make during busy times. Not having to cook but still having a filling breakfast that gives you tons of support to start your day off right is the perfect combo for hectic times. I've started whipping up egg muffins once a week using anything available and got them totally addicted! I've done bacon, shallot, mushroom, spinach; tomato, basil, turkey; salami, peppers, onion, kale; and this week I used a Trader Joe's 8 veggie mix they had on hand (broccoli/carrot/cabbage/jicama/bell pepper/radish/celery), as well as some potatoes and tomatoes from their garden and an onion that was hanging out in the fridge. Combined with a little bacon and turkey, these egg muffins are perfect for a busy day. Here is the generalized recipe.

Meat and Veggie Egg Muffins

primal / paleo / grain-free / gluten-free

Yield: 24 muffins, about 12 servings

1T cooking fat of choice*

1/2 onion, diced (about 3/4c)

1/2 sweet potato, diced (about 3/4c)

1.5c meat, diced and cooked

1.5c veggies, small dice

18 eggs

S+P

1/2c milk**

1/2c cheese, optional

Tomato slices, green onions, or herbs, optional

*I use coconut oil

**Cow, coco, almond, whatever!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease two muffins tins.

If you need to cook your meat, do so first. Bacon works really well in combination with any leftovers in your fridge (ham, lunch meat, baked chicken, sausage, beef, whatever!). If you are cooking the meat now, instead of using oil, just use the meat drippings. If your meat is already cooked, start with oil in a large saute pan. 

Add the diced onion and sweet potato. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are cooked through and start to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the diced vegetables. Any combination will do. Leftovers work great as well. Season again with salt and pepper. Cook until any raw veggies are just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, preferably with a spout, whip up the eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. 

Put one tablespoon of meat in each muffin cup, followed by two tablespoons of vegetables. Top with cheese, if desired, then divide the egg mixture evenly between all the muffin tins, not quite to the top. Top with tomato slices, green onions, or fresh herbs if desired.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. These also freeze well.

On joining the HASHTAGpaleo team!

I wanted to take the time to announce I will now be contributing to and representing HASHTAGpaleo! What started out as a means to share recipes on their Instagram, HASHTAGpaleo has now expanded into a full network after the website launch.
I loved participating in the Instagram features, and was even featured myself a couple times!

Now that I'm part of the team, I am going to be contributing to HPress Journal. The team is also producing videos, events, tours, etc. All the content is super fun, inspirational, and all about connecting globally. So, if you haven't, you should definitely check it out. I'm looking forward to connecting with some local, sustainable brands and restaurants. I'm also just really excited to be part of a such a creative, passionate team and I hope you enjoy the content I'm involved in. Thanks for all your support!

Cherry Cobbler (Primal/Paleo)

After deleting some irrelevant backposts, this is my 100th! Now on to more important things... cobbler. Every year we buy twenty pound boxes of peaches from a local farm and eat them all. I usually have grand intentions of canning, drying, and otherwise preserving them but instead we just eat, and eat, and eat the flesh while it's juicy and sweet. A few years ago I made a peach cobbler. I had never really been into cobbler. There are so many different kinds, but this kind is the sort where it's like cake batter poured over spiced, syrupy peaches and I was in love. Right now it's cherry season! There are stands popping up all over the road sides selling baskets of plump, colorful rainiers and deep red, sweet bings. I knew I had to do something with the pounds and pounds taking over our refrigerator. I thought back to that perfect peach cobbler, and had a go at it without grains or refined sugars. It turned out perfect the first time; those are the best types of experiments, especially since this one (full disclosure) started out with the intention of pie!
I used a combination of rainiers and bings, and I'm so glad I did. The filling is definitely indulgently sweet, so the rainiers were a nice pop of tart surprise amongst the sweet bings. I have a feeling you could do whatever the hell you want to this recipe (within reason) and it would still work. So feel free to adjust the levels of sweetener to fit your tastes, or exclude the tapioca flour entirely if you're not tolerant of that much starch. Also, this cobbler was lovely and indulgent fresh out of the oven after dinner, but even better cold the next morning with bacon. I can't wait to try this with my first box of peaches!

Cherry Cobbler

primal / paleo / grain-free / gluten-free 

Yield: 6-8 servings

For the filling:

1.5lbs cherries

2-4T honey or sweetener of choice, to taste

1T lemon juice

2T tapioca flour or thickener of choice

1/4c water

For the topping:

1 1/2c blanched almond flour

1/2c tapioca flour

1/4t sea salt

1t baking powder

1T cinnamon

5T grassfed butter

3T sweetener of choice*, or to taste

1 egg

1/4c hot water

*If granulated add with dry, if liquid add with liquids (see recipe)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan, add the ingredients for the filling and cook over medium-low heat until thick and bubbly (about 3-5 minutes). Pour into baking dish of choice (8x8, or individuals). 

In a small bowl stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sweetener of choice if it's granulated. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the egg and sweetener of choice if it's liquid. Add the hot water, stirring until combined; spoon the topping over the filling, spreading to cover.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, or until golden brown on the top. Let cool slightly then enjoy! Store in the refrigerator.