Summer Vegetable Omelette

8 omega 3 enriched eggs scrambled

6 slices nitrate/nitrite free bacon diced

1 bell pepper diced (I used an orange one)

1 yellow summer squash halved and sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3 green onions diced

1 cup fresh basil leaves diced

2 tbsp olive oil

Spoonful of julienned sun dried tomatoes

In a large saute pan cook the diced bacon until almost crispy.  Add the bell peppers to the bacon and and saute in the bacon grease for 2 minutes.  Add the summer squash, mushrooms, and onions to the bacon and peppers and saute until the mushrooms are tender.  Remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.  Add the olive oil to the same pan and heat over medium.  Pour in the scrambled eggs so that they are evenly covering the pan.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes, make sure the pan is not too hot so that the bottom does not burn.  Do not disturb the eggs.  After 3-4 minutes, move the eggs carefully to the oven and cook under the broiler on low until the eggs are firm, about another 4 minutes.  Move your pan back to the stove top and on one side of the open faced omelette, add your veggie and bacon mixture.  Top with the fresh chopped basil and with a large spatula, carefully fold the omelette closed.  Cut into thick slices and serve with a spoonful of juliened sundried tomatoes on top.

Enjoy!

Also pictured is a super fast lunch I made for myself and the kids with similar components to the omelette.  I quickly stir fried 4 sliced gluten free basil chicken sausages from Trader Joe’s with 1 diced red bell pepper and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms and served it all over steamed kale with some left over mashed sweet potatoes on the side.  Very simple and satisfying!!  : )

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Making it happen can also mean getting those work outs in, even while on the road.  The last time we visited the in-laws, we loaded up our boys along with all of our nephews and nieces and hauled them to the park for a family workout.  The kids had a blast, and we got in some exercise – it’s all about making it happen! 

We can choose to, or choose not to; it’s really as simple as that…  Trust me – I am FAR from perfect but I know that putting in the extra degree of effort is worth it in the long run and making choices that sometimes seem more difficult  at that moment, actually make everything else in life much more enjoyable and manageable. 

Cheers!

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I woke up the other morning and groggily asked John what he wanted for breakfast and he mumbled something about the usual eggs and I mumbled back that I really wanted muffins.  John laughed at my silliness, because where the heck was I going to come up with muffins?  So I stumbled to the kitchen and while still bleary eyed and half asleep, I mixed up these most amazing muffins and ate them feeling guilty, although I had no need to feel guilt at all….  So, I’ll share the recipe with you and hope that you feel a bit guilty too; because then I’ll know they are as good as I experienced them to be.

Paleo Apple Muffins

2 1/4 cups almond meal

4 omega 3 enriched eggs

1 organic apple finely chopped

1 very ripe banana

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 heaping tbsp cinnamon

Pre heat oven to 350.  As pictured, have a two year old attack and kill an apple while you peel the banana and using a fork, mash the bananna in the bottom of a large mixing bowl.  Using a hand held chopper if you have one, finely chop the freshly killed apple, and add to the bowl.  Add all other ingredients and mix by hand.  The batter will not be super thick, but more like a cake batter.  Using a bit more coconut oil, grease a muffin tin.  Fill the tins about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 15-17 minutes.  You will know they are done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of a muffin and it comes out clean.  Serve hot out of the oven with some ghee melted on top, accompanied by eggs over-easy, and hot black coffee. If you eat them all at once, don’t blame me…  Makes approximately 16 muffins.

Enjoy!!

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Well, now you can have cupcakes for breakfast or at least little mini crust-less quiches that are shaped like cupcakes and like my good friend Natalie said,  (amazing athlete, trainer, and paleo cook extraordinaire who came up with these tasty breakfast treats) ”With a name like Egg Cupcakes, your kids will LOVE these for breakfast!”  

I suggest making these on the weekend so you have breakfast ready for at least the first few mornings of your busy week.  The ingredients are versatile so get creative but here’s one of my favorite combos.

Egg Cupcakes

10 -12 eggs whisked well

1 green onion

2 zucchini

3 big handfuls of spinach

1/2 a jar of roasted red and yellow peppers

6-8 slices of COOKED bacon

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 and grease with olive oil two muffin pans. Whisk all your eggs in a big bowl. In a food processor throw in the green onion, zucchini, bacon, and peppers and process until finely chopped but NOT smooth (yuck…).  Add  this mixture to your eggs.  Throw your spinach into the processor and finely chop and also add to your eggs. Mix the egg mixture well and using a 1/4 measuring cup, fill the muffin pans (you’ll be able to make 18-20 cupcakes).  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle.  These are great to take on the go and I like mine with some sliced avocado and green salsa. 

Enjoy!

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Perfect Poached Egg

Bring a SMALL pot of water to a rapid boil and pour in a drop of apple cider vinegar.  Crack one egg, being careful to keep the yolk in tact, and slip the egg into the boiling water.  With a spatula, keep the water moving by gently sweeping the water above the egg.  After a minute or two use the spatula to lift the egg from the water to check to see if it’s done.  The perfect poached egg will have a cooked white and a bright yellow yolk.  Serve immediately!  My kiddos LOVE these eggs served in a bowl with a sprinkle of sea salt and some cracked black pepper.  My husband and I enjoyed poached eggs the other morning with fresh pork sausage patties and avocado slices…

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Next big question I have been getting, what do I pack my kids for lunch?  Pictured is what my 6 year old will have for his school lunch tomorrow.  It’s a tupperware of chicken and hard boiled egg salad, carrot sticks, dried cranberries and pistachios, and mandarins.  Sometimes school lunch will be deli meat, celery sticks, apple slices, and a dried fruit bar from Trader Joes.  My 14 year old usually packs his own lunch of pastrami, celery and carrots, an apple, and cashews.  Sometimes he chooses to eat hot lunch and comes home feeling like crap.  He’s 14 and understands what happens when he makes his own choices. 

Another question that often arises is how do we handle the need for a quick breakfast: My oldest is typically our breakfast guy.  I teach early morning classes 5 day’s a week so my husband and kids are on their own most mornings.  We buy a lot of already cooked bacon from Trader Joe’s that takes 30 seconds in the microwave, my son will scramble up a half dozen eggs, and then my husband packs individual tupperwares of eggs and bacon for everyone and they all eat in the car.  Sometimes I’ll make a big batch of sweet potato and sausage hash that lasts a few days or I’ll make a giant frittata that we eat throughout the week.  Hard boiled eggs are a must and I recommend always having a dozen ready to go in the fridge and you can see from my pics that hard boiled eggs do not have to be boring!  : ) 

Also pictured is a bunch of after school snacks as well as food I always have in the car such as tupperwares full of nuts, dried unsweetened cherries, and pieces of beef jerky.  I never leave home without a bag of beef  jerky, dried blueberries, sliced apples and nuts.  My kids are ALWAYS hungry when I pick them up from school and with food in my car there is never even a request for fast food.  At this point my kids understand that fast food is horrendous anyways, in fact, my 6 year old got into a huge debate with his teacher the other day – his argument being that no one should EVER go to McDonald’s.  She was teaching a health unit and mentioned that it is possible to find healthy choices at McDonald’s and that eating fast food periodically is ok…  For those of  you who know my 6 year old, you can probably imagine this conversation… 

So, those of you with kiddos, you can make it happen!!  Don’t be neurotic, but be strong.  Remember, the food that enters your house is there because it was YOUR decision.  If my kids go to a friend’s house or to a party, I DON”T attach a note to their foreheads reading that they cannot eat gluten or sugar, I just rest assured that 95% of the time they have real, quality food, and I SEE that they are healthy, active, and overall pretty amazing kiddos….

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Here are a couple of super easy recipes and a picture of a quick snack that I go to often when in a hurry…

Breakfast Scramble

1/2 cup of marinated artichoke hearts

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

1 sliced red bell pepper

1/2 sliced red onion

6-8 stalks of asparagus

6 eggs

olive oil

Saute all veggies and sun dried tomatoes in olive oil until the asparagus is still crisp but tender.  Add eggs and scramble together.  I made this for myself and my two little ones.  If it was the whole family I would have doubled the recipe… 

Spinach Salad

2 giant handfuls of organic spinach

3 hardboild eggs diced

4 strips of bacon crumbled

1/2 cup of roasted red peppers diced

1 organic apple diced

olive oil

small drizzle of red wine vinegar

1 tsp dried dill

black pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy!

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Steam or boil Brussel sprouts until soft (I steam them right  in the bag they come in from Trader Joes in the microwave for 3-4 minutes)

Quarter Brussel sprouts and saute in olive oil with 1 package of sliced up gluten free chicken apple sausages

Add a little cracked black pepper and serve.

Another family favorite is brussel sprouts with bacon.  I cook the sprouts as mentioned above and then saute with a bunch of diced bacon. Another great way is to bake the brussel sprouts in olive oil, a little sea salt, a generous amount of dried dill weed, and a little pepper.

Here’s a great Red Curry Beef Soup recipe:

1 tbsp of Thai red curry paste

2 cans of coconut milk

1 cup of chicken stock

1 1/2 to 2 lbs of grassfed stew meat

handful of baby carrots

half a head of shredded purple cabbage

3 medium peeled and quartered sweet potatoes

Mix all ingredients in the crock pot and cook all day on low or cook on the stove top in a soup pot until the sweet potatoes and carrots are soft and the stew meat falls apart.  

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