Egg Cupcakes

I’m not a huge fan of breakfast. That is probably because I am not a morning person; therefore my first meal of the day happens to be a lunch. But, in order to do better in making my life better, my eating habits better and losing the “beer” weight, I need to eat in the morning.

But, to eat in the morning, I need to be awake and precise.

And that never happens. So this recipe for Egg Cupcakes is perfect because you can make em all on a Sunday and then put them in the fridge and just reheat them in the morning hours. Not rocket science for someone who is not fully “there” before noon.

The other wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can basically put ANYTHING in the egg cupcakes. Once I threw in some salmon. One time I sliced some zucchini and threw it in there. I think anything (besides fruit) would go perfectly in these suckers. You can thank me later; just make sure it’s after 11:00am.

Here is what you need!!

10-12 eggs, whisked very well.

Two to three handfuls of spinach

1 C green onions

1 C diced tomatoes

1 C diced onion

12 slices of bacon

Here is what you do!!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray your big muffin tins with Coconut oil spray (or Pam if you don’t have any)

Crack and whisk those eggs really well.

Chop up the spinach, onions and tomatoes. (yeah...I was lazy and bought everything pre-chopped...sue me).

Throw all the veggies in the whisked eggs and mix well.

Then, take the bacon, one slice at a time and line it/wrap it around the muffin tin.

Pour the egg mixture in the muffin tins. I fill them about 2/3rds full.

Then stick them in the oven for approx. 20-30 minutes. You want the eggs to be set.

I then served them with some fruit.

Again! You can put tons of stuff in these muffins. It’s all up to you and what you would like in them.

Nutty Chicken

Everything is super nutty in this house, most of the time. The Two Crazies are constantly running around doing dual puppy-sprees or growling at each other. The Soldier is sometimes here and sometimes not and I am just nutty in general.

So this meal is perfect for us. It can be found at Everyday Paleo on the website or it's one of the very first recipes in Everyday Paleo's fantastic cookbook.

Here is what you need!!

4 chicken breasts

1/2 C of brown spicy mustard

2 Tbsp of raw, organic honey

1 C of pecans

Seasalt

Here is what you do!!!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the honey and the mustard together well.

Chop the one cup of nuts pretty well...you want this to be a coating of the chicken, kinda of like crispy fried chicken.

Like an assembly line, take the chicken and dip it in the honey/mustard mix, making sure you coat all of the chicken with it.

Then dip the chicken in the chopped up nuts, once again, coating really well.

Then place the covered chicken in a glass baking dish.

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with some sea salt and then throw em in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the chicken isn't pink on the inside.

This is a very easy recipe. And trust me...I hate mustard, always have. But this is so fantastic. Even Sous Chef Sully approves.

I also diced up some butternut squash, tossed it with some olive oil and baked it for about 20 minutes to serve on the side!

Sun Dried Tomato Chicken

When The Soldier comes home for a quick time, I like to make him Paleo foods that he really loves. This recipe is one of his absolute favorites. I got this recipe from Everyday Paleo because that website and the book are both incredible.

Sun Dried Tomato Chicken!!

Here is what you need!

2 lbs of boneless chicken breasts

8 oz jar of julienned sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil *(I had to worst time finding these...so I bought a bunch of julienned sun dried tomatoes and just submerged them in olive oil for a couple of hours...)

4 Tbsp of minced garlic

2 Tbsp of dried basil

Sea salt and pepper to taste

one bunch of fresh asparagus

Here is what you do!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Take the chicken breasts and cut them in half.

Place the chicken breasts in a glass baking dish.

Sprinkle the basil, garlic and salt/pepper over the chicken.

Then pour the sun dried tomatoes along with the olive oil over the chicken.

Cover the dish with foil, tightly, and then bake for 20 minutes.

While that is cooking, break the ends off of the asparagus and chop it up into 1-2 inch pieces.

When the 20 minutes is up, uncover the chicken and throw the asparagus around the chicken.

Then, uncovered, cook the chicken for 15 more minutes or until the chicken is finished (not pink on the inside).

I then plated the chicken on some baby spinach because it's good and I can.

This is not only a fantastic dinner, but it's pretty as well!

This...

Needs to be fixed, ASAP.

I have a crappy "spice rack" that I hate so I put all of them in this cabinet...and i hate it.

Its all so crazy!

And I also spent nearly 100 bucks at the Penzey's store so I need more room!!!

I'll figure it out but as of right now...my spices are making me mad.

Pulled Pork

I made this meal for The Soldier when I went to Pittsburg for my Kung Fu Cousin’s wedding and he came home to be adult watched by The Two Crazies. He loved it. And so did I.

And I have not stopped mentioning that I made the BBQ sauce myself.

So when The Soldier came home for the holiday weekend (and basically because it was a holiday celebrating him) he requested the Pulled Pork with Homemade BBQ sauce. It was no problem for me to allow that to happen.

I got this recipe from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate…a fantastic website with beautiful pictures.

Pulled Pork with Homemade BBQ sauce! I obviously throw the meat in the slow cooker first and then make the sauce about 1 hour and 15 minutes before the meat comes out of the cooker…

Here is what you need!!

Pulled Pork

3lb Boston Butt Pork Shoulder

1 fist of garlic cloves (peeled) 

3 C chicken broth (Organic and Free-Range if you can!)

Here is what you do!!!

Rinse the pork and pat dry.

Cut slits into the pork and insert garlic cloves. I also added some minced garlic because we love garlic.

Throw that pork in the crock pot and cover with the chicken broth.

Cook the pork on low for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, remove and cool the pork. If it is really fatty, take some scissors and cut the pork off at feed it to drooling dogs, uh…I mean throw it away.

Shred the pork with two forks.

Here is what you need!!

BBQ Sauce

*sidenote....all of this stuff, minus the Sam Adams Summer Ale (although it goes wonderfully with the Pulled Pork!)

1 ¼ C chicken broth (same thing…Organic and Free-Range if you can!)

6 oz of tomato paste (one time I made it with 6 oz of tomato sauce and it was still amazing!)

Juice of 2 limes

1 Tbsp of coconut oil

2 green onions

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 tsp of spicy mustard

1 tsp of chipotle seasoning

1 tsp of paprika

1 tsp of cumin

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp of raw (organic) honey

Here is what you do!!!

Heat the coconut oil on medium.

Add the garlic and green onion and sauté that for a bit.

Add the mustard, paprika, chipotle, cumin, salt and sauté that for about 30 seconds.

Add the broth, lime juice, honey and tomato mixture and then whisk it all until smooth.

Bring that to a boil, reduce to a simmer.

Slightly cover it and leave it for about 45 minutes.

When that is done, the pork should be shredded.

Toss the pork with the BBQ sauce and there you go!

So good!!!

Asparagus Soup

Yeah, yeah, yeah….I know that it’s summer in Savannah, Georgia which means that it will always be 90+ degrees. So what if I made a hot soup?

Awhile back I got my super awesome food processor (again it can be found here….) I have been wanting to make soup and another one of my favorite Paleo web sites, The Food Lovers' Primal Palate had a beautiful picture of asparagus soup. I love asparagus. So I went for it and so should you.

Here is what you need!!

2lbs of fresh asparagus.

1 white onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups of chicken broth (try to find free-range, organic!!)

1 Tbsp coconut oil

Salt and pepper at your liking (The Soldier and I are not pepper fans…so we never use it!!)

2 Tbsp chopped, chopped fresh chives

1 C of chopped and sautéed prosciutto (me thinks bacon would work as well….)

Here is what you do!!!

Removed the ends of the asparagus and chop them into about 1 to 2 inch pieces.

In a soup pot, sauté the onion and the garlic in the coconut oil, adding your salt and pepper. Add the asparagus and then cover all of the stuff in the pot with the chicken broth. Cover the pot with the lid and boil until the asparagus is soft and tender…I think I did mine for about 10 to 15 minutes.

While you are doing that, chop or tear your prosciutto up into bits (I used scissors…works much better than trying to cut it) and then sauté it for about five minutes.

Then set it aside.

When the asparagus is ready, transfer everything from that soup pot into your food processor. Process until smooth. The recipe says you don’t want chunks but I had some and found that it made it very much likeable. I didn’t mind and neither did The Soldier.

Pour the soup into soup bowls, sprinkle with the chives and prosciutto. In the recipe that I took this from, they basically used the chives and the prosciutto as a garnish. I did for the pictures and then I mixed it in with the soup and it was just as wonderful.

My apologies!!!

Yikes!!! I’ve taken a little bit of time away from the blog….but I have a few good reasons!

The Soldier came home for the holiday weekend and instead of just spending a total of two days (one full day and two half days) at home, he got to be here for three whole days and two half days! I was super happy! So while I did cook for him, as evident by the numerous posts after this one, we did hang out, watched some TV, went to a movie and then ate at a wonderful Mexican food restaurant (that most certainly was not Paleo). He also killed some spiders for me and mowed the backyard. He also had to do some time in at SavannahSoldierLand. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I hated to see him go as I don’t think that he is going to be home for the better part of a month. That makes me sad and Itchy confused and Sully non-plussed at life.

My workouts the week before have been very little. I had started to do wonderful things with my running workouts but all of the sudden, my right knee started to hurt. I thought that it could possibly be because I maybe overcompensating for the healing ankle…but then my left knee started to hurt. I talked this over with The Soldier and we have thought that basically, I needed new running shoes (YIPPIEE! I LURVE SHOPPING!!!). So I have been doing a lot of ab work and a lot of pushups and I don’t like it.

My plans for this week are rather silly. For three years I have been following a little legal battle/case law thing. For some reason, I really took interest in the Caylee Marie Anthony case in the middle of 2008. I really believe it is because of my wonderful niece, Jaylee. JayJay (my name for my niece) is three and has these huge blue eyes and is a treasure; just as I assume Caylee was. For a quick background, Caylee went missing in June, 2008. Her young mother failed to alert the authorities for 31 days. The young mother then told very many lies about who took Caylee. In December of 2008, Caylee’s little body was found in the swamp near where she and her mother lived. For three years, loyal followers of this case have waited for the trial of her mother…which ended up being a Death Penalty case. It started last week and I have watched a lot of it. I feel bad for her cause her defense team is horrible. So…while I am slowly running again…I am also alternating between 10 squats, 10 pushups, 10 burpees and 10 sit-ups whenever there is a sidebar or an objection is overruled for the defense team. I did this on Tuesday of this week and could not walk or lift my arms this morning. It works.

So I shall be getting back on track, posting recipes and my workouts and talking about life in general, especially since I will be Soldier-less for the next few weeks!!