Favorite Whole30 Breakfast (Recipe)

Over a month since completing our first round of Whole30, we have carried forward a lot of the concepts. One is eating a good, protein-rich breakfast.

During the work week, I typically eat a couple hard boiled eggs and a piece of fruit. I prep a big batch of hard boiled eggs on Sunday, which gets me through the week. On the weekends, I sometimes "splurge" and cook up a sausage and egg dish. The great part is, it takes all of 10 minutes to make. Tops. Especially easy and tasty after a long run.

The ingredients and directions below are for one person. Just scale it up if you're cooking for more than one.


Favorite Whole30 Breakfast: Sausage, Fried Eggs, & Fresh Tomato

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

• 1 Trader Joe's garlic and herb chicken sausage, sliced (or other compliant sausage)
• 1-2 eggs, cracked into a small bowl
• 1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 small tomato or piece of fruit of your choice, sliced
• Salt and black pepper
• French's yellow mustard (or other compliant mustard of your choice)
• Cholula hot sauce (or other compliant hot sauce of your choice)

Directions: 

1. Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, a few minutes. 
2. Drop heat to medium-low and push the sausage to one side of the pan. Add ghee to the now empty side. Carefully pour in the egg(s), tilting the pan slightly for a few seconds to keep it away from the sausage. Season egg with black pepper. Let egg cook over the heat for a minute, until bottom is set. 
3. Remove the pan from the heat and cover. Let sit for 2-3 minutes, until the whites are set and the yellow is still runny. (Let it sit longer, if you like your yellows more firm.) 
4. Carefully slide the sausage and eggs to a plate and add the tomato/fruit. Sprinkle tomato with salt and top sausage and eggs with mustard and hot sauce, if desired. 
5. Enjoy! 

Recipe: Chicken & Leek Pasta

I've got a new recipe to share! Even with full-time work and grad school, I have tried to keep up with meal planning and home cooking. (Luckily, my honey is a great cook and has been helping on the cooking end.) This is important for our physical AND mental health. 

A few weeks back, we received some lovely leeks in our produce box. I promptly decided to play Iron Chef in our kitchen and came up with this pasta dish! 

Butter + Leeks = mmm...

Some sauce stuff.

Chicken & Leek Pasta
Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 small leeks, cut in half lengthwise & then white and light green parts cut into thin half moon slices
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 tbsp capers
• 1/2 cup half-n-half
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan, plus more for topping
• 8 oz pasta, such as fusilli or penne 
• Salt and pepper

Directions: 

1. Bring pasta water to boil. Add pasta and a bit of salt and cook al dente, according to package directions. 
2. While pasta is cooking, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add leeks. Cook leeks, stirring often, until they have softened and are starting to brown, 5-7 minutes. 
3. Add white wine and cook until liquid has evaporated. 
4. Add the chopped chicken, lemon juice and zest, and capers. Cook for a minute to heat through. 
5. Stir in half-n-half and parmesan. Cook for another minute or two, until the sauce is bubbly and delicious. Season with salt and pepper. 
6. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour in the sauce and give it a good stir. Dish up, top with a little more shredded parmesan, and enjoy immediately. 

Recipes: Oven Baked Eggs & Egg White Salad on Toast

Sooooo that blog once a week goal? Not going quite as planned. I start grad school (yay!) at the end of this month, which I anticipate will be fantastic but will add another priority to my life. A priority that will definitely come before my blog.

In the meantime, I will try to post more over the next few weeks. Up now...two ideas for super easy and healthy breakfasts.

I have three words for you:

Oven.
Baked.
Eggs.

I know it may sound strange but coming across this way of preparing eggs was seriously life changing. I make up a huge batch and have hard boiled eggs for a week. A hard boiled egg or two plus some fresh fruit is my favorite workday breakfast.

Now, I realize that making hard boiled eggs the traditional, stove-top way isn't particularly difficult but these are so super duper easy and are mostly hands off, freeing you up to do other food prep. Also, they are always cooked perfectly and nine times out of ten the shell just comes right off.

Below are the instructions for oven baked eggs, as well as a specific (delicious) use for two of them.

Oven Baked Eggs

What you'll need: 

• An oven, preheated to 325º
• A muffin tin
• However many eggs you'd like to make (preferably a few days old as they seem to peel easier)
• A big bowl filled with ice water

Directions: 

1. Place however many eggs you'd like to make in the muffin tin -- one egg per section. 
2. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.*
3. Remove from oven and immediately place eggs in the bowl of ice water to cool.

*30 minutes is perfect for our oven. You may want to test a few smaller batches to figure out what works best for you.

Egg White Salad on Toast
Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

• 1 slice wheat sourdough
• 2 hard boiled eggs, whites only, chopped
• 2 teaspoons nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• salt & pepper
• A few dashes hot sauce, optional
• Sliced avocado, optional

Directions: 

1. Place the bread in a toaster or toaster oven.
2. While the toast is toasting, combine the chopped egg whites, greek yogurt and mustard in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add a few dashes hot sauce if using. 
3. Once the toast is ready, top with the egg salad and slices of avocado, if using.
   
   

Recipe: Ginger Chicken & Bok Choy Soup

As promised...a recipe for the Ginger Chicken & Bok Choy Soup I made last week!

I'm going to crawl on out on a limb and assume that some of the people who read my blog live in places that are actually cold right now. I, on the other hand, do not happen to live in a place that is currently experiencing winter appropriate weather. It is supposed to get up to 70 this week. 70! In January! Needless to say, I won't be making any soup this week.

However, if it were cold outside, I would make this soup. It is super duper yummy and cozy but you can have your fill without feeling too stuffed. It is based on a Martha Stewart recipe but my version is less labor intensive, perfect for a weeknight, post-work dinner.

Ginger Chicken & Boy Chok Soup
Inspired by this recipe: Poached Chicken with Bok Choy in Ginger Broth

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 8 cups Miso Ginger Broth 
• 1 lb chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise
• 10-ounces sliced white mushrooms
• 3 green onions
• Unseasoned rice wine vinegar
• Low sodium soy sauce
• Sriracha

Directions:

1. Bring the miso ginger broth to a boil in a large stock pot. 
2. While broth is coming to a boil, cut your chicken and bok choy into bite-size pieces and slice up your green onions. 
3. Once broth is boiling, add the chicken and simmer for 10 minutes. 
4. Add in the boy choy, mushrooms and green onions and simmer for an additional 10 minutes or so, until chicken is cooked through and veggies are nice and tender. 
5. Ladle soup into individual dishes and season each with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sriracha, to taste!

Notes:

• Our Trader Joe's carries Miso Ginger Broth but if you can't find any, you can make the broth in the original recipe (link above).
• This soup saves and reheats well. Perfect for dinner one night and then taking to work the next day for lunch. 
• Feel free to experiment with ingredients! I am going to try grilled or roasted tofu (instead of chicken), extra veggies and some rice noodles next time.

Recipe: Black Bean and Mango Salad

Black Bean and Mango Salad.

It is starting to warm up in our part of the world. This, combined with the fact that our lovely built-in-1951 house does not have air conditioning, means that I am starting to experiment with recipes that don't require any inside heat. 

I made this black bean and mango salad yesterday to be served alongside grilled flank steak and chunky guacamole. Easy peasy, healthy, and tasty!

Black Bean and Mango Salad

Serves: 6 

Ingredients:

2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1.5 cups diced mango (approximately 1 large mango)

2 green onions, finely sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely diced (optional)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (approximately 2 limes)

2 tablespoons salsa (I use Trader Joe's Salsa Especial)

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir in combine. Refrigerate before serving.

Notes:
I stuffed some of the salad leftovers into a tortilla with a little pepper jack cheese, grilled it up in a skillet, topped it with salsa, and it made for a delightful lunch. 

Recipe: Rosemary Roasted Almonds

Rosemary Roasted Almonds.

We attended a Pinot and Poppies party at a family friends' home last weekend. You may guess that we drank pinot surrounded by our California state flower...and you'd be right! In addition to the vino and little orange flowers, we also enjoyed taking bites from the gorgeous cheese plates they prepared. One of my favorite things on the plate was the rosemary roasted almonds and so I decided to raid some herbs from our garden and make my own.

2 cups raw, whole almonds.

Rosemary in our garden.

Rosemary sprigs.

Seasoned almonds.

Nicely toasted almonds.

Rosemary Roasted Almonds

Serves about 8. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw, whole almonds
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. 
2. Mix the almonds, olive oil, rosemary, chili powder, red pepper flakes and salt together in a bowl. 
3. Pour the almonds onto an aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Make sure they are in a single layer.
4. Roast the almonds until nicely toasted, 15-20 minutes. 
5. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve or store in an air tight container.

Recipe: Three Bean Chili

Three Bean Chili w/ Baked Potato

Our three bean chili leftovers are barely cooled and here I am posting the recipe. I found this chili, poured over fresh-out-of-the-oven baked potatoes, made for a hearty, tummy warming meal. (Winter decided to show up again in Northern California this year.) It is also vegan/vegetarian, depending on what you serve it over and what you put on top.

Just for the record, I ate lots of leftover non-vegetarian Irish stew for lunch today so I must admit that our "Meatless Monday" is occasionally "Meatless Monday Dinner Followed By Leftovers for Meatless Tuesday Lunch." With plenty of leftovers from tonight's dinner, this will definitely be the case this week.

One bean... two beans... three beans!

Three Bean Chili
Serves: 6
Total time: 30 minutes (Prep time: 5 minutes; Cooking time: 20-25 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons chili powder
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
28 ounce can diced tomatoes, including liquid
1-2 teaspoons chipotle chili in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
Baked potatoes, jalapeño cornbread or warmed tortillas, for serving

Optional toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, French fried onions, green onions


Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the three cans of beans and set aside.
2. In a medium Dutch oven or pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, cumin and chili powder. Stir and cook until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
3. Stir in the diced tomatoes and chopped chipotle chili. Bring to a bubble and cook for a few minutes. 
4. Add the beans and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let all the flavors mingle. 
5. Just before serving, stir in the cilantro and add salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Pour chili over baked potatoes or divide into bowls and serve with warmed tortillas for dipping. Add toppings of your choice. 

Recipe: Easy Tofu and Veggie Curry

Tofu and Veggie Curry over rice.

For the past, oh, I don't know how many weeks, we have been celebrating Meatless Mondays. This has consisted of cooking and eating lots of vegetarian and vegan recipes, especially those that are fast and easy -- perfect for a post work meal. Through our explorations, I cooked up this delicious, customizable vegan curry. Feel free to swap out veggies to make it to your liking. It also makes for great leftovers so you can whip up a batch on Sunday for Meatless Monday lunch. 

Tofu and Veggie Curry ingredients.

Cooking the curry.

Tofu and Veggies.

Easy Tofu and Veggie Curry

Ingredients:

14 ounces extra firm tofu, drained

2 cans light coconut milk

1/4 cup green curry paste (red would also work)

2 cups broccoli florets

2 cups green beans, trimmed

2 bell peppers, seeded and slices into thin strips

10 ounces sliced white or cremini mushrooms

1 lime, halved

Rice for serving

Directions:

1. Place tofu on a paper towel lined plate, cover with another paper towel and set a heavy plate on top. When most of the liquid has been squeezed out, slice the tofu into bite-size cubes. Set aside.
2. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the curry paste and heat, stirring often, until it is bubbly and the paste has thickened a bit. Add the coconut milk and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer. 
3. Once the sauce is simmering, add the veggies and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have softened.
4. Add tofu, stir gently, and cook until heated through. Remove from heat. 
5. Squeeze lime halves over the curry and stir gently to combine. Serve in bowls over rice. 

Recipe: White Bean Spread on Crostini

Did you know that Saturday was National Drink Wine Day? True story. A quick google search later, it looks like every day is some sort of special day dedicated to a particular food or beverage. Wednesday is National Margarita Day. Salud! My birthday (June 20) is National Vanilla Milkshake Day. Sweet!

Anyhoo, we kicked off National Drink Wine Day a little early with dinner with three good friends on Friday night. I whipped up this white bean spread in just a few minutes while bread slices were toasting away in the oven. It is a nice bite to accompany almost any type of wine and a great start to our meal. 

White Bean Spread on Crostini

White Bean Spread on Crostini

Makes ~24 crostini

Ingredients

Baguette

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

Salt and pepper

1 (15 ounce) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed

1 clove of garlic, peeled

Juice of 1 lemon, approximately 2 tablespoons

2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped and divided

Directions

To make the crostini:
Preheat oven to 350º F. Slice baguette into slices and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Brush both sides of the bread slices with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until bread begins to brown, approximately 10 minutes, flipping slices halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool. 

To make the white bean spread: 

Combine 1/2 of the cannellini beans, garlic clove, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon parsley in a large food processor. Process until smooth, adding a little water if needed. Add remaining beans and pulse until combined but not totally smooth.

To finish the appetizer:

Spread each crostini with a large spoonful of the white bean spread. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of parsley.

Menu: Fast, Fancy Dinner

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you happen to need a quick, easy, and impressive dinner menu, today or any other day, I put together a mix-and-match menu for you. The ones with asterisks are or can be made vegetarian/vegan.

You're welcome.

Appetizer: Artichoke and Green Olive Spread* or Cream Cheese and Salsa Spread*
Salad: White Bean and Spinach Salad* or Spicy Salad
Dinner: Chicken in Thyme Marsala Cream Sauce over rice or Cherry Tomato Spaghetti all'Amatriciana* w/ garlic bread or Avocado Pasta*
Dessert: One-Minute Mug Brownies* or Fresh Fruit with Fruit Dip*

How: Candy Cane Place Card Holders

Candy Cane Place Card Holder

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  For lots of reasons.  One reason is that my parents host a framily* get together and it is always a wonderful time.  For the last few years, I have prepared a few of the appetizers.  Last year I made little signs to label the apps.  This year I decided to step it up a notch and make these candy cane place card holders to fancy up the app labels. These took me maybe 15 minutes from start to finish.  Super easy and also awfully cute, if I do say so myself.

Start with two candy canes.

Glue the two candy canes together to create the label holder.

Glue on a third candy cane so the holder can stand on its own.

Add labels or place cards and ta-da!
(Yes, these are the apps I'm making for Christmas dinner.)

What You'll Need:
Small candy canes, three for each place card holder, unwrapped
Glue gun
Index cards or other heavy paper for the labels
Pens
Ribbon, optional

Directions: 
1. Place a dot or small stripe of glue along the side of one candy cane and press the second candy cane against the first.  Hold for a few seconds until the glue has cooled.
2. Glue the third candy cane to the back of the first two so that the holders can stand on their own.
3. If using ribbon, now is the time to add a little bow around the three candy canes.
4. Make place cards or food labels out of small tags cut from index cards, or other heavy paper, and pens.
5. Place finished cards in the candy cane place card holders.

* Framily = friends who are family

Recipe: One Minute Mug Brownie

This is a super simple and fast way to make a single serving brownie.   

This is dangerous information.  It is delicious but not the least bit healthy.  Consider yourself warned.  

Flour and brown sugar.

Seriously, if you would like to stop reading now, I won't be offended.  

Dry ingredients.

Or, if you are interested in a quick and not-quite-as-unhealthy dessert option, consider checking out my previous Cake in a Cup post.

Brownie batter.

If you still want to know how to make the easiest, quickest, and most perfectly fudgy chocolate brownie ever, then read on.  

Warm and fudgy mug brownie.

But it is not healthy at all and you have been warned. 

So yum.

One Minute Mug Brownie
Adapted from Instructables.com

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons milk or water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, and salt together in a microwave safe mug. 
2. Add milk and vegetable oil and stir together until no lumps remain. 
3. Microwave for 60 seconds, checking after 30 seconds. The brownie should be firm but still a bit soft in the middle.  
4. Remove from microwave and top with whipped cream, if using.

Recipe: Avocado, Tomato, & Cilantro Salad

Avocado, tomato, and cilantro salad. 

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, seeded, peeled, and diced
• 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir to combine.  
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to let the flavors mingle.

Served w/ carne asada, nonfat refried beans, low fat sour cream, salsa and a tortilla.

Recipe: Chicken Tostadas

Chicken Tostada

This is a fast and easy weeknight meal.  I highly recommend cooking these on a pizza stone that has been preheated in the oven.  The result will be nice and crispy tostadas, sans oil. 

Bean and chile mixture spread on a tortilla.

Bean and chile mixture topped with chicken and cheese.

Just out of the oven.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 medium tortillas
• 1 16-ounce can fat free refried beans
• 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 cup shredded jack cheese
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Toppings: chopped cilantro, low fat sour cream, salsa, etc. 

Directions:

1. Preheat a pizza stone in the oven to 425º F. 
2. In a bowl, stir together the refried beans and diced green chiles. 
3. Spread equal portions of the bean and chile mixture over each tortillas. 
4. Top each tortilla with shredded chicken and sprinkle with jack cheese and green onion.
5. Carefully transfer the tortillas to the hot pizza stone.  
6. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the tortilla gets crispy and the cheese starts to brown. 
7. Remove tostadas from the oven, put on dinner plates and finish with toppings of choice. 

Recipe: Asian Slaw with Ginger Peanut Dressing

Asian Slaw with Ginger Peanut Dressing

Eating lots of colors is a good thing.  However, this doesn't mean colors like Cheetos' Orange -- it means colors found in nature.

This salad is chock full of natural color and it is so delicious that my honey and I ate it for dinner one night, enjoyed leftovers for the following two days, and still could have gone back for more.

It is perfect...

• for a warm weather day as it doesn't require any cooking, just some chopping and mixing, and
• as a potluck/make ahead dish because you can prep the dressing and veggies ahead of time and mix them up when you are ready to eat. 

Here is the link to the recipe at Once Upon a Chef.

The two adaptations I made were...

• adding in 1 cup of shredded, cooked chicken and
• using seasoned rice vinegar...because that is what I had.
• If using seasoned rice vinegar, leave out the salt in the sauce.

Red bell pepper, carrot, green onion, cilantro, peanuts, and edamame.
On top of shredded cabbage.

The veggies with chicken and ginger peanut dressing on top.

All mixed up.

A close up of the magic.

Recipe: Lemon Goat Cheese Pasta

Lemon Goat Cheese Pasta

This is a light, lemony, great-for-summer pasta dish.  It is also easily customizable.  Feel free to use your favorite pasta and veggies...or whatever you have on hand. 

Fusilli pasta.

Veggies ready for roasting.

Finished pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 package pasta, such as fusilli
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 4 - 5 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 8-ounce package sliced mushrooms
• 2 bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add pasta and cook according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.  
• Veggies: Place garlic and vegetables in a single layer on a large baking sheet.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Broil on high for 15 - 20 minutes, until veggies have softened and are starting to brown.  Check and stir the veggies around every few minutes.  Once done, remove from oven and set aside.
• Sauce: In a large bowl, combine the lemon zest, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and crumbled goat cheese. 
• When pasta and veggies are ready, add to the large bowl and stir to combine with the sauce.  The heat from the pasta and veggies will melt the goat cheese and create the creamy sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste.