Grain-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with Coconut Flour)

I've decided to do less wheat this year, so I went through my Pinterest pumpkin pins, searching for grain or gluten-free options for some pumpkin puree I'd thawed earlier in the week. Unfortunately, several of my pins didn't link to the correct recipe, but just the blog. Another required a password to access that blog. Ugh. Too much Pinterest traffic makes it harder and harder to find active links these days!

Anyway, I finally found one that worked, which I had pinned a while back. And though I thought I'd already made these, I couldn't find any evidence. So, I set out to make them again. You can find the original recipe over here, and my adaptation below.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. coconut flour (I use Nutiva organic)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c melted coconut oil
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. pure maple syrup (NOT pancake syrup)
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix coconut flour, baking soda and powder, and spices in a small bowl.
In a larger bowl, melt coconut oil. Then add pumpkin, eggs, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup. Stir until well combined.
Add flour to wet mix and stir until combined.
Line 12 muffin cups with liners or grease well.
Divide mixture between cups, then sprinkle with pecans.
Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

German Pancakes

This is a really weird breakfast that is not actually a pancake. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It's pretty tasty, though. See pictures...it tasted a little like a giant fortune cookie.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp melted butter


Toppings: lemon juice and confectioners sugar, maple syrup, butter, etc.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450.
Butter a large skillet or 4 small ovenproof pans.
Beat eggs in large bowl until well beaten.
Add milk and blend well.
Sift flour into the eggs and milk as you whisk or mix.
Add melted butter and mix until smooth.
Pour batter into pan and bake 15 minutes. If using one big pan, reduce heat to 350 and bake 10 more minutes.
Sprinkle lemon juice over pancake and top with sugar or maple syrup and eat immediately.
This was pretty strange, a bit stretchy, a bit sweet, a bit chewy, but tender. I thought it was good, but my son thought it tasted too eggy. It was an interesting breakfast experiment to make once, though.

Kale and Parmesan Frittata

Well, this was originally a spinach and cheese frittata, but since I have kale instead of spinach, it became a kale frittata, and I must admit, it's pretty good. The only changes I'd make next time is that I would add more kale. I'm not sure if Fannie meant frozen or canned spinach or fresh, but if it had been already cooked, it would have cooked down enough that it worked out. So next time, I'll start with cooked kale.

For this, I used:

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 c. kale, sliced
• 1 green pepper, chopped fine
• 1 red pepper, chopped fine
• 1/4 c. parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. parsley
• salt & pepper

Instructions:
Melt butter in skillet

Add onion, peppers, and kale and cook about 5 minutes, until onion is translucent
 
Meanwhile, beat eggs, milk, parmesan in a separate bowl 
Add veggies to egg mixture, along with salt & pepper, and return to pan
Cook about 5 minutes, pricking the top and lifting the edges gently to let the egg mixture flow underneath.

Slide the whole thing out onto a plate and invert into frying pan and cook about 1 minute.As you can see, mine was a little overcooked on the bottom when I turned it, but I was so proud of myself for flipping the whole thing without breaking it to pieces that I didn't care a bit! This was tasty and as good as the other frittatas I've made. We had it for a quick week-night dinner.

Scrambled Eggs with Peppers and Onions

This is one of my favorite breakfasts. I have been making this for years, and I just love it. Scrambled eggs without veggies are good, but they are just not nearly as good as ones with random veggies.

So, this one has both red and green peppers and onions, and you just throw in the eggs once the veggies are soft, and scramble the eggs for a couple more minutes.

Here's what you'll need:
about 1/4 c. chopped onion
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp. butter
6 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

• Heat butter in skillet
• Add onion and pepper and cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are soft
• Add beaten eggs, salt & pepper, and cook until eggs are set

Little Joe's, Sauteed Zucchini, and Tomato Slices, oh my!

According to Fannie, this recipe is popular in San Francisco. I've never heard of it, but it sounded alright, and I had most of what I needed to make it, which is reason enough for me to choose a recipe.

Chop kale & onion while oil heats.

 For this, I used:

3 tbsp coconut oil for cooking
1 onion
1 bunch kale leaves (FF says 1 lb. spinach, but I have neither spinach nor a cooking scale, so I just used the handful of kale I had from the garden. I adjusted cooking times accordingly.
1 lb ground beef
3 eggs (or 4, depending on how many people are eating)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
salt
tobasco

Cook for about 10 minutes, or until onions are translucent, stirring often.

Add ground beef and cook until pink is gone. Beat the eggs, add a splash of Tobasco, and pour over mixture. Cook til eggs are solid, stirring occasionally.

Top with parmesan, salt & pepper, and lots of splashes of Tobasco (if you like that kind of thing).

This wasn't the best recipe I've made, but it was alright. I paired it with sauteed zucchini (yesterday's post) and added some sliced tomatoes from the garden for a complete paleo meal. It was tasty enough, just not very exciting (until I started splashing Tobasco all over it). My son even ate a huge helping without complaining. I gave him a huge scoop, since he won't eat zucchini, and figured he'd give me a lot of trouble. But all he said was that it didn't taste like sausage and eggs, and then, to my surprise, he ate his entire helping, kale included. Apparently, he really likes kale now. Also, he thought the Tobasco bottle looked so cool that he wanted to try it, and shockingly, he splashed drops all over his and ate it all up. This is a kid who thinks the gingersnap 'oreos' I bought him were hot. So go figure. But hey, if he's not complaining, I'm not complaining!

For my son's sake, I'd call this a roaring success, even though personally, I found it a little plain without a heavy dose of Tobasco to liven it up.

Poached Eggs

I made these on a busy morning when I realized we only had one egg. So I cooked it up quickly and ate it atop a sliced tomato from our garden.

For this recipe, you will need:

• eggs (however many  you want)
• vinegar (I used apple cider, since that's what I had--1/2 tsp. per egg)
• a bit of salt (about 1/8 tsp. per egg)
• Large sliced tomato (optional)

The egg stuck to the bottom a bit so I had to coax it away.

Directions:

1. Fill a skillet or saucepan with a few inches of water.
2. Add the vinegar to help the egg coagulate.
3. Heat the water until it simmers.
4. Break each egg into a saucer, slide one by one into the water.
5. Add salt.
6. Spoon water over eggs for 3 minutes until set OR turn off heat, cover, and let sit for 5 mins.
7. Remove one by one with a slotted spoon.
8. Set each egg on a large slice of tomato and top with salt or seasoning salt (I use Tony Chachery's)

Okay, so I completely overcooked this one because somehow I missed the OR part of the time for the recipe. So I heated the egg for 3 minutes, then covered and let it sit for 5 minutes more. The yolk was completely solid instead of nice and runny how poached eggs should be. However, I will definitely try these again, since I've always wanted to know how to poach an egg and it turns out it's incredibly simple.

Scrambled Eggs Creole

 

It's rare that we have time to sit around and eat breakfast in the morning. Usually we are too busy getting off to work and rushing to make it on time. My husband is the grab-a-coffee-and-run type, and I'm the smoothie-on-the-commute type. So when we have a weekend morning at home, I like to make breakfast.

This recipe tasted a lot like the tomato frittata I made last week, minus the ham. It was a little easier, I guess, since it didn't have to go in the oven. But overall, it's about as much work as the frittata.

I got cute with the chicken and the eggs.

Here's how I adapted the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 c. tomatoes, chopped
1/4 c. grated cheese
1 tsp. organic sugar
salt and pepper

Instructions:

• saute onions in butter in a medium cast iron skillet until onion is transparent
• Add tomatoes, sugar, salt & pepper and cook 5 minutes
• Add eggs and cheese and cook until eggs are solid and/or cheese is melted completely. 

This was a pretty easy and tasty recipe. I made it for my husband and I, and even though Fannie says it serves 4 (she used 5 eggs), it was really just enough for the 2 of us.  Overall, it was a nice change from the scrambled eggs I usually eat, either plain or with onions and peppers. I haven't really eaten eggs with tomatoes until just recently, but now, I really like them together!

I'd make this again any day.

Ham and Tomato Frittata

More ham? Yes, please. I'm telling you, this thing never goes away. But I'm okay with that. Yay for leftovers. It gives me a direction to go when looking for my next recipe. This frittata didn't call for ham, but I threw it in anyway, since it goes with eggs.

Onions and garlic.

My adapted version of Fannie's Frittata
I threw a small chopped onion in the cast iron skillet with olive oil and a couple cloves of garlic, minced, and cooked until the onion was transparent/yellow.
Cut up a huge tomato from the garden and add.

I beat 4 eggs and mixed it with fresh oregano, salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese (about 1/4 c.)

Eggs and spices and cheese.

Poured it into frying pan on top of the onions and tomatoes. Covered as directed in recipe, and cooked on low heat until the edges begin to pull away from the pan. It was still juicy on top, so I put it under the broiler as suggested for 5-10 minutes until it was solid all the way across.

Everything in the pan and ready to cook.

For this recipe, I used a lot more onion than it called for--one small onion, chopped fine. I didn't have leftover cooked veggies, which Fannie recommends, so I chopped up a fresh tomato from the garden. Then I tossed in about a cup of chopped ham. I beat the eggs and added them, along with a bit of salt, pepper, and fresh oregano. I added a healthy dose of parmesan cheese, about 4 tbsp.

 It turned out pretty well. My husband really liked it. It was all pretty from the tomatoes, but I would have liked it better if I'd had some other veggies to throw in, like peppers or mushrooms. I may make another version of this soon. I can see it becoming one of those recipes that I make over and over, with slight alterations every time.