Asparagus omelet, bacon and ... Grapes

For New Years day, I cooked brunch (recipe to follow soon) and I had these grapes that weren't all so pretty anymore but not bad yet. Now I love making compotes or fruit sauces. It's an easy quick dessert, I'll throw a cut apple, cut fruit or frozen fruit in a pan with some water, cinnamon and cayenne pepper and let it reduce. So I decided to cut the grapes in half and cook them in the bacon fat. The result was delicious! So delicious that I made it again this morning, although my grapes were fresh.

First I cooked my bacon in a pan and added the halved grapes (about a cup) as the bacon was nice and crispy. I removed the bacon and rested it on kitchen paper to allow for the extra fat to be absorbed. I wanted some onions in the dish; I used TJ balsamic glazed frozen onions. I added them with the grapes. The grapes and onions took about 5 min to be nicely cooked through.
The bacon fat gives the grapes a beautiful saltiness but the cooking process accentuates the sweetness. After removing and setting aside the grape/onion mix, I added my cut asparagus in the same pan. You could use fresh asparagus and sauté them for a couple of mins, but with the morning crunch, I used TJ frozen grilled asparagus. I defrosted them first and then sliced them diagonally. Finally I added my beaten eggs and scrambled them. The asparagus in omelet inspiration came from our friend Carlos who cooked us a delicious omelet when we stayed at his place over the holidays.

This was a very satisfying breakfast. I felt no need to have my mid-morning snack and I survived until 2pm when my meetings were or without feeling any negative hunger effects.

Egg, sausage and cantaloupe

 

I recently finished Dr. Cordain's book. One of his breakfast recipes, leftover meat and canteloupe,  inspired me to buy one. 

I made some hard boiled eggs by cooking the eggs in a covered pot until the water boils and then turning off the heat and letting the eggs rest for 6 to 10 min. I like the egg yolk to be a little soft, so take my eggs out at the 6th min. In a skillet, I cooked wild boar sausages. 

This breakfast took less than 15 min. It would have been even faster with ready made hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs can be kept in the fridge for a week. 

This recipe reminded me of the great produce I used to get in the South of France. The most famous canteloupes come from Cavaillon. Their taste is incomparable.  I also grew up eating lots of game meats. My dad has hunted birds, like wild duck, grouse and pheasants, venison and wild boar for as long as I can remember. He has always been extremely respectful in the process and never "over-hunted". There is a great sense of camaraderie among hunters and his friends would often give us venison, wild boar meat or homemade sausage. It is fairly hard to find wild meat, unless ordered online, so I would love to be back in France with my dad's friends giving us wild meat. 

After breakfast, we headed to Crossfit Hoboken, for an early Saturday Yoga class. The food had given me the perfect energy to flow through the poses without feeling heavy or lethargic.

Pumpkin muffins

We have all grown up eating baked goods and from time to time it is really hard to resist temptation. So it is fun to know a couple of recipes that replace those items that we crave the most. I have been starting off from Mark Sisson's recipe from the "Primal Blueprint cookbook", but I like to add more pumpkin.

Ingredients:   1/2 cup coconut flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp clove 1tsp baking powder 6 eggs 3/4 cups pumpkin puree or 1/2 can 1tsp vanilla 1/4 cup nuts (walnuts or pecan or macadamia) Crushed chocolate 4 tbsp coconut oil 1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions

Heat the oven at 400 degrees. Mix the flour, spices and baking powder well together in one bowl and mix the eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, coconut oil (might need to be melted), maple syrup in another bowl. Once you have smooth texture in the egg mixture, blend in the flour. No need to overmix. Finally add the crushed nuts and the crushed chocolate. Grease a muffin pan (olive oil or butter) and use a tablespoon or cup measurer to scoop the mixture into the pan. Bake for about 18 to 20 min.

I usually get 12 muffins out of this recipe. It is a great quick breakfast and an even better craving satisfier. 

Breakfast cereal part 2

I had a previous post describing my new breakfast cereal: crushed nuts, banana, freeze dried fruits and almond milk. I modified this a bit two days ago to include fresh fruits instead:

1/2 cup crushed nuts (almonds, macadamia, walnuts, cashew)
1/2 diced apple
1/2 sliced banana
1/8 cup halved grapes
a sprinkle of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup almond milk

The fresh apple adds great texture to the mix. It tastes like a much better version of the conventional muesli cereal which usually has only a little nuts and fruits.

Trout and egg

France's standard breakfast is toasts with butter and jam dunked in coffee. America has a tradition of either muffins, toasts or oatmeal.
So breakfast by far has been the hardest meal for me to get creative with. The easiest way for me to think about it is to remove the breakfast label and think food, food that needs to be ready fast and that needs to hold me over for a couple of hours. The biggest psychological hurdle in my opinion is vegetables. Who thinks carrot salad for breakfast? Well I do now.
This delicious pre-workout breakfast was very quick to prepare.
I quickly blanched my spinach in boiling water with some garlic. Once done, I plated it and added some smoked trout on top. I used the same pot and already hot water to prepare two poached eggs. In the meantime, I mixed some shredded carrots with thai sauce. The eggs take about 4 mins, so I'd say breakfast was ready in less than 15 min and was delicious.

Fruit-nut "oatmeal" breakfast

Breakfast is by far my favorite meal. I wanted to try something different this morning. So I chopped up a cup of mixed nuts: walnuts, pecans, cashew and macadamia.
I split the crushed nuts in two bowls, added some freeze dried strawberries and blueberries and a sliced banana. Added a little almond milk and voila. A very satisfying paleo breakfast!