Once I moved out on my own, the instinct to protect my cache of food like a hungry squirrel diminished, and I have resumed what you might call a "traditional" breakfast diet. Breakfast is, hands-down, my favorite meal of the day. The weekdays are a bit frantic, but there is nothing I enjoy more, or find more comforting, than having a conversation over breakfast and catching up with someone over a plate of eggs, hash-browns, and sourdough toast with a piping hot cup of Joe. Obviously with the paleo diet, the hash-browns and toast are a no-no, but that doesn't mean I will never eat them again; it just means I won't be enjoying them as often as I used to (which, based on the doctor's evil-scale-of-doom, was a little too often).
Before taking on more culinary responsibilities at home, attempts to cook my own eggs were a disaster!!! First, I was afraid to use butter because I'd always been taught that butter was the devil, so I'd use cooking spray. Second, I was scared to death of contracting salmonella, so I would cook the eggs on high heat. These were big mistakes that resulted in tasteless eggs that were rubbery in the middle with translucent "egg crisp" on the edges. Blech, blech, and blech, again! *Ptooey!* No amount of seasoning could rescue those poor bastards.
During the week, I have virtually no time to make breakfast so everything has to be "to go". Prior to going paleo, breakfast was a plain bagel with gobs of peanut butter and Nutella. Between the refined white flour, the peanut butter, and sugar in the Nutella, I have since realized this was not the healthiest choice of breakfast, even though (as I rationalized) it wasn't a cinnamon roll, danish, or Costco-sized muffin.
When we switched to paleo, I had to solve the dilemma of having a quick breakfast on-hand that we'd both be willing to eat during the week, and a delicious breakfast on the weekend that wouldn't leave me craving hash browns and toast! Enter "Paleo Pumpkin Muffins" and what I have simply called "My Breakast". This post is a little longer than the others I've done since there are two recipes, so please bear with me.
The Paleo Pumpkin Muffins recipe hails from www.paleoplan.com; which has a lot of wonderful, free, recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides and dessert. They also offer a subscription service where they send out a weekly menu, complete with shopping list. I signed up for the free trial period, but ended up canceling after a week when I quickly realized that while I don't mind following a recipe, I don't like being told what to eat in a particular week. However, if you are struggling for inspiration and need a little help, it may be a worthwhile investment. The recipes don't strictly follow the Whole30 guidelines we are trying to follow (and admittedly, diverge from when there isn't a better alternative and it's an acceptable risk), but their recipes page has an easy-to-follow layout and is a great resource for quick meal ideas.
To make your own Paleo Pumpkin Muffins, preheat the oven to 350F and assemble the following ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour (which you can find with the bulk foods)
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
- 3 large eggs (not pictured)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 tsp sea salt (or salt, if that's what you have)
- 1/4 cup raw honey (optional)
- 2 tsp almond butter
1 recipe = 12 regular-sized muffins
A few comments regarding the ingredients:
Honey - The raw honey is not Whole30 approved because it is treated the same as any other added sugar (including artificial sweeteners). However, without the honey, I'm not sure how much flavor the muffins would have and after breaking it down we're talking about 1 tsp of honey per muffin. Plus, I started making these early on in our switch to paleo and we've both lost weight so I'm not too concerned about it as we haven't been consuming any added sugar outside of this concession.
Canned Pumpkin - I've made these muffins with both Whole Foods 365-brand of organic canned pumpkin and Farmer's Market brand of organic canned pumpkin (this is what I use; if you don't want to use organic the recipe doesn't specify you have to). The Whole Foods brand has a very gooey consistency and looks a bit like baby food. The Farmer's Market brand reminds me of canned cranberry sauce that keeps the ridges from the can. It's a much firmer product and produces more "muffin-like" muffins. The other pumpkin tastes fine, but the muffins tend to come out a little squishier.
Almond Butter - In the last month I have learned to read labels, read labels, and read labels. A lot of foods, including those you might find at granola-y markets like Whole Foods or PCC Market, sneak in extra ingredients for preservation or flavor that I don't want or need. I read the ingredients list of every brand of almond butter at Whole Foods to find the only one whose single ingredient was "Dry Roasted Almonds". Every other jar had added sugar (and I'm already adding honey) or seed-based oils that are high in polyunsaturated fat like canola oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, safflower oil, etc.
Wonder Cup - Okay, not an ingredient, but worth a mention. I first learned about the Wonder Cup in 7th Grade home economics. They are a magical, almost unicorn-like, measuring device that allows you to measure sticky ingredients (like honey). There is a base and an outer sleeve with different types of measurements (cups, ounces, tablespoons, etc.). You move the outer cylinder to the desired measurement and fill the cup to the brim. Once it's full, just push up the base and scrape the contents into the bowl. No scraping out a traditional measuring cup and losing some of your ingredients.
These muffins are so easy...
Step 1 - Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Seriously, just dump it all in there. If using raw honey (versus regular honey), I highly, highly recommend warming it up a little bit before measuring it out. You don't want it completely melted; just soft enough so you can scoop it easily and incorporate it into the batter.
(see the ridges?)
Step 3 - Divide the batter into the muffin tin. The recipe is freakishly true to size, so one recipe makes 12 regular-sized muffins.
Step 4 - Pop into the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Do the toothpick check if you're not sure they're done.
Step 5 - Let muffins cool and remove from pan. If you didn't use paper liners, running a wooden toothpick around the edges can be helpful in getting them to come out of the pan cleanly.
Store the muffins in an airtight container. They will keep for about a week and you will know very quickly if they have spoiled. We almost have making these muffins down to a science. I know I need to make a double-batch because we go through 4 muffins a day (2 apiece) for breakfast. I make them Sunday night, and if we don't eat them all by the 6th day (4 x 6 = 24) they magically go through muffin meltdown and start growing a penicillin-like substance.
With that lovely visual, I will insist they are quite tasty and have been an easy, delicious, ready-to-go breakfast. They're a little denser than a traditional muffin, and definitely not as sweet, even with the honey. Don't expect them to taste like a pumpkin or bran muffin from your local coffee shop. In the morning, I don't add anything to them other than a cup of coffee, but I'm sure they'd be delightful with a smear of butter.
With the week firmly behind us and the glorious weekend before us, here is how I make "My Breakfast". You will need...
- eggs (the Whole30 rule of thumb for how many eggs to eat is as the number of whole eggs you can hold in one hand, which for me is still only 2)
- 1 slice of ham (about the size of your hand, big enough to make a good bed for your eggs)
- sliced avocado
Step 1: Set a frying pan over medium heat and melt a teaspoon or so of ghee or clarified butter; enough to give the eggs a good place to sit. I'm not even going to suggest using regular butter here because ghee is just full of deliciousness and I have become a little addicted to it. You can find it at Whole Foods, Central Market, PCC Market, etc. in the dairy section with the regular butter. Plus, there's a cute little cow on the jar...
Step 2: Once the butter has melted, crack the eggs into the pan. If the pan and butter are too hot, turn the heat down a little bit. Cook the eggs until the the whites have cooked through (when there isn't much "jiggle" up top). With a large spatula, flip the eggs, being careful not to crack the yolks.
Step 3: Heat up the ham. I heat mine for about 30 seconds in the microwave. If you don't want to use a microwave, heat it up ahead of time so you're eggs don't go cold after they're cooked.
Step 4: Once the ham is warm, take the eggs out of the pan and layer them on top. I love the yolks of my eggs to be warm and not cooked through, but not runny. Letting them mostly cook before flipping them over gives them a lovely creamy consistency. As I mentioned in the Butter Chicken Experiment, I think butter is a miracle food. Unlike the disappointing and rubbery eggs of the past, "My Breakfast" eggs have consistently turned out beautiful and not burnt, which I attribute to cooking in ghee.
Step 5: Garnish with avocado slices. I use enough to virtually cover the entire surface of the eggs.
(Sorry, I started eating before I realized I needed to take a picture, but
at least now you can see that delicious yolk!)
I don't use any salt or pepper because the creaminess of the avocado, saltiness of the ham, and savoriness of the ghee are all the flavoring I need. I enjoy this dish as much, if not more, than the toast and hash-browns I used to eat. The protein of the eggs also provides a wonderful boost of energy in the morning (plus, y'know, the coffee).
One morning I was out of ham and had to "make do" with a side of bacon instead...
(Darn)
Mange!
Kimmy
UPDATE: Since writing this post we had an, "oh, duh" moment and realized we could freeze half our muffins to extend their life over the full week. As soon as we finished the first half, the second half easily thawed overnight without affecting the flavor or consistency of the muffins.
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