Bacon and Sweet Potato ‘Pie’

Posted on September 4, 2013 by staceyfmason

We all know how important breakfast is – paleo or non paleo. The days of me eating sugar laden muesli with low fat, extra sugar yoghurt, and thinking I was being healthy and not understanding why I was hungry again in an hour – are gone.

And while I love eggs, I also love variety and experimenting. So one Sunday, on food prep day, I pulled out the ingredients I had in the fridge and pantry and thought about what breakfast concoction I could make for the week.

I had done muffins and a frittata recently, had run out of zucchini for a slice and, well just wanted to try something new.

What I ended up making, was a sweet potato and bacon pie. It really is a frittata, looks like a pizza but either way tastes delicious!

The ingredients I had and used were below –

1 cup diced smoked paleo ‘speck’ bacon
1 cup diced sweet potato
1 container of cheery tomatoes – quartered
½ cup green beans diced (again you can use whatever you have here)
Fresh oregano (you can use whatever herbs you want)
1 x can coconut milk
Salt & pepper
8 (approx) smiling eggs

The paleo speck bacon I got was from Cannings butchers. It has no added sugar or nasties in it, and can also be kept in the freezer. If you are a first time eater of this, make sure you crisp it up in your cooking or it can have a rubber taste. I leave my skin on, but you can remove if you would like.

Method –

Melt your coconut oil in a large pan and add your bacon. Fry for a few minutes until it start to get crispy. Add your sweet potato and fry together until bacon is cooked and crispy and sweet potato is soft and almost cooked through.

Grease your dish, (with coconut oil) I used an oven proof dish that has a lid and can be used for casseroles and other such delights. Just find one that suits.
Line the bottom of the dish with some of your cherry tomatoes. Leave enough for the top of your pie.
Once the bacon and sweet potato is done to your liking, add to the dish over the top of the tomato.

Meanwhile beat your eggs and coconut milk in a separate dish with salt and pepper and oregano. If you like you can add extra coconut milk to help thicken, or even almond milk – get creative!
Add the green beans to your egg mixture and stir to combine.
Pour egg mixture over your bacon and sweet potato in the dish.
Place the rest of your cherry tomatoes on top of the egg mixture, season with salt and pepper as needed.
Cook in a moderate oven, approx 180-200 until egg is cooked through.

Enjoy!

The pie also freezes well and travels well – I took a piece on board my flight to Perth recently.

Again, you can change this to include onion, garlic and herbs or vegetables you have.

Cooking paleo is all about being creative and combining flavors that works, so have a play. Google, and then change/adapt/adjust as needed.

Recipe: Sweet potato fries with basil and garlic (nicolecla.com)

Mixed Berry Muffins

Posted on August 17, 2013 by staceyfmason

It was a baking day.

Well really it was my mum’s birthday and the entire family was coming to my house for dinner, including Grandma. So that meant her homemade chocolate chip cookies that are AMAZING but defiantly NOT paleo, a homemade birthday cake (also from Gma) and most likely a few other sweet treats.

Nothing that I, or my sister’s gluten free boyfriend could enjoy.

So it was a baking day but but necessity. I whipped up the Glorious & Gluttonous Paleo Gingerbread Cake, as I knew that was a winner. But I wanted something more.

So I turned to my best friend to get their advice – Google.

I felt like muffins, something easy to make, something that was not too sweet but would make me feel like I was able to eat dessert and then also take it for work the next morning as a snack.

I stumbled across many different gluten free, grain free and paleo recipes that fell into the muffin category. Many had chocolate as a listed ingredient. Still being new to this paleo eating and baking gig, I wasn’t sure I was quite ready to tackle the paleo chocolate, so bypassed all of these for a fruit option.

I landed on one recipe, quite simply as I had all of the ingredients, and also because the recipe allowed for flexibility and change based on a) what you pantry held and b) what your stomach wanted. You could basically put in any optional extras, flavorings, herbs, seeds or spices as long as they are on the approved paleo list. Here is what I used –

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups almond meal
¾ tsp baking soda (gluten free)
½ tsp fine sea salt
3 large eggs (organic, free range)
1 mashed very ripe banana (or just mash that puppy longer)
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey, or coconut nectar, or maple syrup)
2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup frozen mixed berries (can also use fresh and just one type if you would prefer)

If you know how to bake muffins, then you know what the next steps are. Very easy, mix wet, mix dry, get temperature right, put in pans cook and eat. But if you don’t – here is a little reminder.

Instructions

Preheat oven to about 180degree C.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl whisk the almond flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, banana, oil, agave nectar, vinegar and vanilla extract.
For both of the above I used my kitchen aid again. It takes the hassle out of stirring, ensues things are well combined, and well, I spent so much money on that baby she better work for it!
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until blended.
See note re kitchenaid
Add your mixed berries.
See note again re kitchenaid again
Divide batter evenly among prepared cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes until your muffins are set and your poker comes out clean.
Move the tin to a cooling rack and let muffins cool in the tin 30 minutes.

Now here is a note – don’t expect these babies to rise like your normal full of self-raising flour muffins. Also don’t expect them to look so perfect on the top like normal muffins. Personally I think I added too much fruit to the wet and hence my mountainous terrain on the top. I think if you used almond flour instead it might make a difference, or if you were just more careful on how you put the goods in the tin.

The banana not only tastes good, but it also helps to keep the muffins moist. If you wanted something less sugary you could try sweet potato or pumpkin puree. I have also listed a few other suggestions above, but really these mixed ‘berry’ muffins could be mixed with ‘anything’ muffins.

Glorious & Gluttonous Paleo Gingerbread Cake

Posted on August 10, 2013 by staceyfmason

If you read day 29 of my blog you know that during my 30-day primal/paleo challenge I was enticed, seduced and ultimately fell in love with a sweet treat introduced by a friend of mine, paleo gingerbread.

If you haven’t read day 29 – then get on it!

The seduction itself occurred on day 21, but I was too in lust and love with the dessert to bring myself to post about my forbidden love and treachery.

I admit, weeks after I ate that wonderful paleo gingerbread that my ‘almost always’ paleo friend made for me, I thought perhaps I had just imagined the goodness of it given I was in the middle of a tempting feast of sugar (dinner party) and was in day 21 of a 30 day paleo challenge.

So when the challenge finished, and I along with fellow challenges were invited by Primal Junction, to join a celebration, I thought I too would try my hand at making the gingerbread goodness, and see if a) I was a good as cook as my friend and b) if it really was three slice worthy and that good.

So I pulled up the original recipe, and just as my friend did for me that day made a few modifications. The modified list of must have’s is below –

3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup coconut nectar
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract or vanilla bean (I have used both)
3 cups almond flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder (gluten free)
1/2 tsp. cardamom
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Now the recipe we had, said stern words like follow the ingredients exactly, and make sure you do everything just as I have blah blah blah, and while I very much appreciate the author had taken the time to experiment and find a great paleo option for us all, there were adjustments to be made.

For instance the original recipe called for 2/3 cup blackstrap molasses, which we substituted for coconut nectar, and also for maple extract, which we left out completely. The first time I made these I also omitted the baking soda (by mistake) but it didn’t seam to matter and I didn’t have cloves so just added in extra cinnamon. So basically, you can just work through the spices to your taste and don’t get too hung up about it.

And best of all, its very easy to make.

Simply combine the eggs, coconut nectar, coconut oil and vanilla and beat well until its combined.

While your kitchen aid is churning that goodness, combine the rest of the dry ingredients in another bowl and mix with a spoon so it is combined.

While your blades are still churning, add the dry ingredients to the wet slowly, until it is combined and mixed well.

Now the recipe I had also was very particular about cooking this in a glass greased dish, 13×9. I used a metal non-stick square loaf pan that I greased with a coconut oil. On one occasion, because I was scared it wouldn’t come out cleanly; I also used baking paper to line the tin. Again don’t get too hung up about what you cook it in – but it does effect cooking times.

Choose your tin/pan/dish and spread the batter in evenly as best you can.

Bake in your pre-heated oven at 180 degrees and cook for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to about 110 for another 30 minutes. Personally, my tin takes a little longer at this temperature so keep checking and don’t stress out if you need to keep the oven hot for a little while longer.

I also found this temperature and time often did not darken the cake enough, so would crank up the heat again to get a nice dark colour. You know its cooked inside if your poker/prodder/toothpick comes out clean, so if you do like a darker colour you might like to do the same. Word of caution however, this baby tans quickly so keep your eye on it or your brown will soon turn to black….

Once cooked, let the cake cool enough that you can safety take it out of your pan, but not completely or it might get stuck.

If possible try to let it cool completely before cutting – more harsh words from the original recipe author – although again the first time I made this I was running late and cut it as steam was rising from it, and it still got rave reviews.

So, back to my original questions.

A) Was I as good a cook as my friend? – No. Her colour was better, and its always nicer when someone makes it for you.

B) Was the paleo gingerbread cake as good as I thought it was? Yes. It was snaffled up by most of the challenge celebrators and the recipe was asked for. Even my sugar loving family and Great Baker Gma complemented it the second time I made it for a family dinner.

The only problem with this little puppy is its so easy to make and eat, you will end up doing both WAY too much!

The Primal Challenge Day 29 (staceyfmason.wordpress.com)

Preparing Primal Food

Posted on August 9, 2013 by staceyfmason

I have been one of those annoying serial facebook food post pests of late.

You know the people that cant eat anything without taking a grainy photo and snapping it to their wall or linking it to a random comment.

While it can be – most often – is annoying, there are times these photos might also help. If you are anything like me (there is a scary thought) when you first tried to go primal you went a little rabid by mistake. You needed planning, you need preperation, you needed guidenace. The moment that was taken from you the pantry and the fridge and the freezer turned into evil sugar holding zombies waiting to attack.

Relax.

There are LOADS of places you can get help.

Tons of receipes (try the new world google) if you search for them and need to plan them step by step. But again, if you are like me, you can, but dont always, and sometimes dont want to, follow a reciepe.

I personally dont always have every time of vegetable in my house and when my spice rack runs dry of one, I try to substitute for another. I improvise. My improvisiation led me to that annoying photo bombing of food on other people’s walls, and eventually a comment was made that perhaps I should start a receipe section on my blog.

Bingo.

Not sure if it was a polite way of saying “there are only so many photos of eggs one person can take” or if it was real encouragement, but either way it lead me here.

In the week or so I have been left to fend for my primal self after the 30 day challenge I have found times when improvisation was needed, and that it actually worked.

Of course there are some staples you must have, and others you must stay away from, but largely you can mix and match and make food just like you would have before grains were greedy, gluten ghastly and sugar was actually satan in disguise.

Now lets just put some perspective in place. I am not Jamie Oliver, Ramsey would not have me in his kitchen and Masterchef contenstants would laugh me off a mystery box challenge. But thats the point.

If I can do it, then you can too

The ‘Almost Anything’ Omelette – Sweet Potato, Bacon and Tomato

Posted on August 8, 2013 by staceyfmason

So this little bad boy does not look the best, but I blame that on travel rather than taste.

I made him the night before, and carried him to work in my trusty Tupperware container ready for a warm up at work the next morning.

Problem was, my trusty Tupperware container was too big to fit in said microwave, and getting Mr Omelette out of container onto plate for heating was more of a challenge than making it in the first place.

Omelette’s are great for breakfast and not bad heated up, making them versatile for those of us who have office jobs. They are also versatile in you can literally put ‘almost anything’ in them.

This Almost Anything Omelette is sweet potato, bacon and tomato.

There is some method in my madness which is below –