Purple Potato-Crusted Kale and Egg Breakfast Pie

I got such a good laugh recently out of an article in a magazine that had a baked egg & cheese pie with a potato crust, because the article was entitled "Slice of Heaven."  Are you kidding me?  So cheesy.  All I could think of was this so-bad-it's-good Youtube video.  Its this dude's Christmas List in a rap and one of the items is described as follows:

"Item number 7, its like a bite of heaven, I could prob'ly eat like ten or eleven.  Checked up in my stocking, and guess what I found?  A brand new box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies!"

Yep, that's Froggy Fresh for you :)


Anyway, when I recovered from laughing and tried to take the recipe seriously, I decided to make my own version for me and Jack's weekend bruncheon.  Here's what happened--

INGREDIENTS

  1/2 a bunch of red or dinosaur Kale- washed, patted-dry, stems removed, chopped
  1/4 c chopped Herbs- parsley or rosemary would probably be the most logical, but we used cilantro which was tasty too!
  2/3 a little mesh bag of Purple Potatoes (about half a pound or 1 cup)- scrubbed and sliced thin on a mandolin...otherwise they won't cook through!
  4 Eggs
  1/2c Egg Whites
  1/4 c Dairy-- we used plain kefir, you could also use milk or heavy cream
  1/4 c (more or less) of Feta Cheese or Goat Cheese
  Desired seasoning, including a splash or Sriracha chili sauce and Minced Garlic


DIRECTIONS

• Preheat over to 375, use coconut oil or another oil to grease a medium-sized gratin dish.
• If you use larger potatoes, overlap them around the edges and bottom of the dishes.  Or, if your potatoes are small and/or you have a life, just spread them around and make sure you can't see the bottom of the pan.
• Season potatoes with a little salt & pepper.

• Press the washed/trimmed/chopped kale into the dish, it should be pretty darn full of kale.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, and milk.
• Season this mixture with herbs and spices, as you desire-- I used 1/4 c chopped cilantro, 3T minced garlic, a generous splash of Sriracha chili sauce, 1/2t cumin, 1/2t curry powder, and dashes of salt/pepper/cayenne powder.
• Pour over the kale and potatoes already in the dish.  You make not use ALL of the egg mixture, but use as much as you can.
• Dollop the cheese evenly over the top.

• Bake about 40 minutes, until the center does not wobble when you move the dish.
• Allow to rest a few minutes, slice and serve.

I used a medium-sized gratin dish, which produced about 4 good servings.  If you double the recipe, use a dutch oven.  The original recipe called for goat cheese, which would probably have been better, but I only had feta on hand, plus it kinda went with my Middle Eastern seasonings.

Deviled Avocado Eggs

I cannot claim to have made this one up, although it has me written all over it!  This recipe and image has been WIDELY shared on Facebook, and I am saving it here for reference because my sweetie wants me to make them for him :)  He's only just coming around to eating egg yolks... so I'm happy to encourage him!

Hard boil and cool 6 eggs.

Mash 1 large, ripe avocado with 3 egg yolks from 6 hard boiled eggs (use the other three yolks for something else...). 

Add 1 tsp. cilantro, 3 tsp lime juice, 1 tbsp red onion, and a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Top with a sprinkle of chili or paprika.

Serve on a lovely platter.

Strawberry Lemon Curd

Oh, this is a good one.  I can't stop putting it on EVERYTHING!  Toast, Coco Pop Cakes (pictured), plain Greek yogurt, kefir, crackers, on a very large spoon...

INGREDIENTS

• 6T unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 lemons, zested & juiced
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
• 5 large egg yolks

DIRECTIONS 

In a bowl combine the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined and fluffy.

 

Combine the lemon juice and strawberries in a blender until smooth. Add the lemon juice to the sugar mixture and beat until just combined. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time.

Transfer it all to a small/medium, heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over LOW-MED heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens, about 10 or 15 minutes.

Ladle the curd into little glass jars that you've swished hot water in (so they won't shatter with the hot curd), screw the lids on and allow to cool in the fridge, where the jars should get a nice seal due to the temperature change.

Fills 2 little jars, so makes approximately 2.5 cups worth.  

Promptly eat on everything.

Simple Vanilla Pudding

My mom was in town visiting me and, in anticipation, I had a carton of almond milk and a whole glass bottle of milk...both of which remained untouched throughout the duration of her visit.  I also noticed some ancient, lonely packets of gelatin kickin' it in the cupboard.  So as my mom was preparing to leave, I began prying her (and the internet) for tips on making pudding and mousse.  There are a lot of complicated, old school methods out there.  There are also a lot of recipes that cal for loads of heavy cream and the most disturbing of all additions... Cool Whip.  Have you ever looked at the ingredient label on that stuff?  (shudder)

So I followed my mom's advice and experimented.  What I came up with was a dense vanilla pudding topped with a little layer of vanilla custard-like mousse.  Almost like its own little mini layer of whipped cream on top.

I'm a chocolate girl, but my sweetie likes vanilla, so that's what we got!

INGREDIENTS:

2t gelatin (one packet)

1 1/2  c skim milk, very cold

1/3c egg whites

1T sugar (or Splenda baking mix)

4oz Neufchatel cheese or fat free cream cheese (1/2 a standard sized block)

1 1/2 T high quality vanilla extract, or a vanilla bean innards if you can manage it

Freshly ground nutmeg for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

In a standup mixer, use a whisk to beat egg whites and sugar to soft peaks.

Add cream cheese & vanilla and beat with the mixer instead of the whisk until it is all well incorporated.  Just let this sit in the mixing bowl.

Meanwhile, add packet of gelatin to chilled milk in a medium/small saucepan, allow to bloom 1 minute.

Cook milk over MED heat about 1 minute stirring with a fork, until gelatin is dissolved.

Beat everything together in the mixer. 


Pour into cups and freshly grate a pinch of nutmeg on top of each cup.  Mine went into 2 larger serving cups (pictured) plus 2 smaller cups.  So I would say the recipe serves 5.

Refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight. 

SERVING NOTE:  It has a very mild, vanilla flavor that pairs well with boldness.  To that end, I topped it with rich Buckwheat honey (if you've only had Orange Blossom and Clover honey, you are seriously missing out!) and strawberries marinated overnight in Orange Balsamic Vinegar.  A perfect pairing!   

Poached Pears for My Valentine

 We had plenty of desserts lined up for our fancy Saint Valentine's meal-in, so although these make a great dessert, we actually had them as an appetizer!

Ingredients:

3 cups all natural apple juice

2 cups water

1/2 cup Splenda baking mix
1 cinnamon stick, broken in 1/2
2 tablespoons honey
1 (3/4-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled, and finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 small, firm, ripe Bosc pears, peeled (or other pears)

Directions:

In a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears, combine all ingredients except the pears.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Add the pears and simmer for 20 minutes more, turning occasionally, until the pears are a little tender but not mush. Remove the pears from the liquid and allow to cool.  Refrigerate in a closed container if you are making this in advance.

Continue to simmer the liquid until it thickens and is reduced by half, about more 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Remove the cinnamon stick halves.  Pour into a glass jar and save for drizzling.  You may want to strain the ginger bits out, I did not.

Place each pear on a small serving plate wand drizzle with the syrup. Serve immediately.

Mine were served on a puddle of plain kefir, with the extra reduced juice/syrup drizzled generously on top.  Vanilla bean ice cream would also be a lovely addition.

Idea taken loosely from Giada.

Lobster Mac and Cheese

Because Lobster is for Lovers!

This is a little more bad than my usual dinner entrees, but it was for Valentine's Day and my sweetie had been telling me all about his Mama's homemade mac and cheese growing up.  I told him how once when I was very young my mother asked me "What should we have for dinner?"  My immediate response was "MACARONI AND CHEESE!"  meaning the kind from the box with questionable powdered cheese.  Her response to let me down as gently as possible was, "Well...your dad doesn't like that, so we'll have something else..." I was appalled at my dad's utter lack of taste.  My opinion of him was lessened forever (Not really; love you, Papa!).

In sum, because we had talked a lot about macaroni, I have a few healthy mac and cheese tricks up my sleeve, and because my pumpkin LOVES seafood, I decided that Lobster Macaroni and Cheese would be the perfect wintertime comfort food for a Valentine's dinner in.

WARNING-- true to the holiday for which it was prepared, this dish was really a labor of love...ie pretty time-consuming.  Valentine's was a Snow Day for me (hooray!), otherwise I would never have had time to do this on a week nigh.  Good luck. 

INGREDIENTS:

-1 small  (or ½ of a large) butternut squash, peeled & cubed

-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 pound veggie or whole wheat elbow macaroni
-1 ½ c skim milk, warmed up but NOT boiled

-2c low sodium chicken stock
-5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

-1/4 cup organic, unbleached flour
-2c Gruyere cheese, grated
-2c extra-sharp Cheddar, grated 

-1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

-½ teaspoon cayenne

-Generous dashes of salt & pepper, to taste

-2 lobster tails, steamed, peeled and roughly chopped

-2/3 c Panko breadcrumbs

-Parsley, finely chopped for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

-Add the squash cubes to a large saucepan or small Dutch oven with the chicken stock.

-Heat pot over medium heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

-When squash is soft, use a stick blender and puree until pretty smooth.  (Or allow to cool and then puree in a blender)

-Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

-In a separate saucepan make a rue: melt 3T butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more.  (Yeah, having the squash mixture, the butter mixture, and the warming milk all in separate pans will mean lots of dishes…sorry.)  Whisk until smooth.

-Now, add the rue to the squash/stock in a small saucepan and heat it up, but don't boil it. Add garlic and spices. Cook over low heat for a few minutes, stirring with a whisk until thickened and smooth.

-Turn off the heat and add the cheese.  Add the cooked macaroni and lobster and stir well. Place the mixture in gratin dishes.

-Melt 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the Panko & some extra spices, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

-Garnish with parsley

I combined a few different recipes and techniques for this particular recipe.  As I said earlier, because it was Valentine’s and I didn’t want my sweetie to feel cheated, I made it a little more decadent than my regular baked mac & cheese (recipe here).  But believe me, this recipe is MUCH less artery-clogging than the Ina Garden recipe (here) that I also looked to for inspiration.

Isn't he handsome?  Well worth the effort :)  And that was a lovely sparkling pomegranate drink, yum!

 

Super Cookies!

They're not so much cookies as much as they are energy bar nuggets.  

No flour.  No sugar.  No butter.  No bad stuff at all!

I've seem a lot of "cookie" recipes floating around where you use banana and oats and chocolate chips.  But that just wasn't good enough for me.  I've been focusing on eating more plant-based fat (helps with hair and skin cells and satiety, etc.) and so I pulled out all the stops for these tasty little guys.

And my man LOVES them.  I put a bunch on a plate to take a photo and I kept having to stay, "No!  Don't eat them yet!  Wait for the photo!"  Within about 60 seconds of the photo above, they were demolished :)

--1 cup oats

--1/3 c unsweetened shredded coconut

--¼ t salt

--Generous dashes of (in order of descending quantity) ground cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves

--½ c of Almond Meal/Flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

--1 T roasted sesame seeds

--2 T sunflower seeds

--1T chia seeds

--3 T raw cacao nibs (available at Whole Foods)

Stir together.

In a small bowl microwave these together for about a minute and pour over the dry ingredients:

--¼ c coconut oil

--1 T almond butter

--2 bananas

Have these pre-mashed and immediately add to everything above (before the coconut oil solidifies again...)

This should be enough so everything is just incorporated, it will take some serious stirring.  If you think you need more liquid, even after a diligent effort, don't be ashamed to  add:

--1-2 T milk

Use a teaspoon to make tiny cookies and place on a cookie sheet over parchement paper.

Bake at 350 until golden brown on the bottom and edges, maybe 15 minutes.

I made 28 small cookies, which my math says to be:

70cal, 5 fat, 2 protein, 1 sugar (from the bananas)

You can, of course, use mini chocolate chips instead of cacao nibs, but I love the intense dark chocolate flavor of the nibs and since cacao nibs are a whole food, there is no added sugar or sugar substitutes.