Category Archives: breakfast

Kicking Eggs Up A Notch

breakfast,

tilted fork iconWell I have finally reach my first weight goal.  Even though the weight goal is just a by product of doing Paleo it was not my main goal.  My main goal is to just stay healthy and keep my stomach under control.  However to maintain progress and keep going I have set some weight goals and I have hit my first one since February.  That is good for me!  First goal -25 lbs.  Next goal will be another 25lbs lol.   I have been trying to find some new things to experiment with food wise however I have gotten in to a rhythm with items that I like that I have been stuck on them.  But have no fear I have been changing up the way I eat my eggs so you guessed it this is just a tip and trick to changing up eggs.

If you are anything like me you go through eggs like crazy.  I have posted previously about my Spanish Chorizo Tortilla but what do you do when you just get sick of eating regular plain eggs?  Well in my case I have come up with a really good idea.  Lately I have been on a chipotle kick, pretty much anything that I can put chipotle on the better.  So if you haven’t figured out where I am going with this, Chipotle on eggs is great!

This really isn’t a recipe just more of ideas to get eggs to taste different so you do not get sick of redundant meals.

In Miami there is a pretty traditional Cuban dish where they take a thin piece of steak (palomilla steak) cook that on a stove top in coconut oil or butter and then you fry an egg over easy or sunny side up and you serve it on top of the steak with some sauteed onions.

If you steak and eggs don’t do it for you how about a boiled egg, add some paprika, salt, pepper and a small sprinkle of cayenne pepper.  It is almost like a deviled egg just with out the mayo.  Really just small little changes to eggs can get you something that tastes really really good.

 

Homemade Coconut Milk

breakfast, entrees, sides, treats, ,

tilted fork iconI finally did it, I said last week to @ThePaleoMom (Twitter link) or ThePaleoMom (Blog) that I was going to try to make her homemade coconut milk.  I am proud to report that I did it.

There are a few things to note on this back story on why I did this.  Most people I tell that I was looking forward to making coconut milk would ask me why I wouldn’t just buy it in a can.  Well its a simply answer, if you go through coconut milk as fast as I do $2 a can adds up quickly.  On top of that if you have been following my blog you also know that I suffer from a rare stomach disorder so I am avoiding known gut/stomach irritants.  Most cans of coconut milk that you buy off the shelf contain an additive called Guar Guam.  Now I am not sure if this will irritate my stomach chances are it may not if I consume it in moderation however with the coconut milk that I go through I fear that it will add up and trigger another attack.

So that is a little back story on why I decided to try to make coconut milk.  The better part of this is how EASY this was.  I have tried other methods of making coconut milk but I could never seem to get the texture right.  This recipe that the PaleoMom posted is spot on perfect.  I did not tweak this at all and full credits/concept etc go directly to her.  You should try to take a moment and check out her blog.

The only thing I can add to this, is next time I am going to make this with coconut water instead of regular water and take her up on her suggestion of putting this over her Paleo Granola.  I will have to try to make that in the near future.

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Homemade Coconut Milk

Yield: 8oz (1 Cup)

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup organic finely shredded unsweetened dried coconut
  • 1 ¼ cup just boiled water

Instructions

  1. Boil the water
  2. Put coconut in to blender with the boiled water
  3. Blend on high for 5 minutes
  4. Pour pulp into a Nut-Milk Bag or Cheesecloth (or other chosen strainer) suspended over a glass bowl
  5. Let the mixture drip in to the bowl or if you have no patience let it cool and squeeze it through
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/homemade-coconut-milk/

Spanish Chorizo Tortilla

breakfast, entrees, , , ,

spanish chorizo tortillaYep today is Thursday in my household which means one thing.  My wife has taken over the TV with Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal.  I actually don’t mind this though because both shows are actually pretty well written.  Ok ok ok that and she tolerates my Game of Thrones infatuation lol, she actually really likes GoT as well.

So after the regular daily grind I hit the gym as planned and when I got home I made the kids some new ice cream.  Its the same ice cream that I made here , the only exception is that I added some mini chocolate chips to it.  My son has been begging me for sprinkles but I didn’t have any so this was the way I improvised.

Today I am going to talk more about this recipe because this is a staple in my diet.  I will make one of these 1-2 times a month atleast and it feeds me breakfast all week long.  To me this is a perfect blend of spicy and savory.  My wife made this for me the first time and I was just simply addicted.  This dish is absolutely incredible.  I really hope you do try it and enjoy it as much as I do.  I am not sure if the name is accurate or not but where we live its heavily hispanic and they call it a Spanish Tortilla, I added the word chorizo to signify that its sausage based.

Here is the recipe!

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Spanish Chorizo Tortilla

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs, whisked
  • 2 chorizo links take out of the case and crumbled
  • 1 sweet potato, diced
  • ½ white onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minces
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce (whatever you want I use Franks Red Hot)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375
  2. Add sausage to a pan and cook (Crumble it down as it cooks)
  3. Once sausage is cooked remove it from the pan and place in the glass baking sheet
  4. Clean out the pan but leave a little bit of sausage grease in it
  5. Add sweet potato to the pan as the sweet potato cooks add the onion to the pan
  6. Add seasonings to the pan and mix with potatoes and onion
  7. While the potato and onion cook, Whisk eggs in a bowl and add hot sauce
  8. After the potatoes and onion are cooked down add them to the glass baking sheet
  9. Add the whisked eggs on top of the items in baking sheet make sure everything is covered
  10. Place baking dish in oven
  11. Cook for about 20 mins until the eggs are firm
  12. When you are ready to store let it cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and store in fridge
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/04/spanish_chorizo_tortilla/

Banana, Almond Butter, Honey bites!

breakfast, treats, , , ,

banana_almondbutter_honey

Today I am bringing you a little snack that I have eaten for years (sub peanut butter instead of almond butter).  For as long as I could remember if I wanted to have a banana I would top it with peanut butter, but as you know peanut butter is a no no with paleo.  So I have modified this slightly and changed out the peanut butter with almond butter.  It actually works out really good and is a great snack, I sometimes have been known to eat this for breakfast 🙂 lol.

So time seems to have flown by in March, I am trying to figure out where it went!  Now that the end of March is really just a week away I have been trying to figure out what exactly I got accomplished in this month lol.  So on a personal goal I have set was to stay on Paleo this month and I have done that, the results are pretty great for me and my energy levels are actually amazing.  The only issue that I have from time to time is getting enough sleep but that is related to work and not the diet.  I think everyone knows how much stress a job can have on someone’s life and in my case I have to be available 24/7 365 so pretty much any time of day or night I can get a call.  But reality is its more of just the daily grind that has me more stressed out than the on call hours.  Anyway enough with that rant and lets take a look at this snack/breakfast item.

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Banana, Almond Butter, Honey bites!

Ingredients

  • 1 Banana
  • Almond Butter
  • Raw Honey

Instructions

  1. Take the banana and slice it any direction that you want
  2. Apply almond butter on top of the banana
  3. Take some raw honey and drizzle it on top of the banana/almond butter
  4. Eat and enjoy
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/banana-almond-butter-honey-bites/

Paleo while traveling or dining out

breakfast, entrees, sides, treats, Uncategorized

tilted fork icon
Well if you have read my previous posts you know that I do not do this professionally and this blog is really a way for me to keep myself honest on choices that I make. With that said I didn’t make a post last week because I have had work functions that did not allow me to eat a good home cooked meal. Normally for the blog I actually write items that I ate the night before or even that same night. I am not one that just randomly selects a recipe online and writes a fake review on it so that is why there was no post. Now I must say that I was having a talk with my good friend Miguel about this and just as any friend he inquires about my progress and how its going. He was a bit concerned about me eating out at restaurants while being on Paleo and I told him I was surprised at how easy it really was.

Before I explain all the details you must understand that I was not eating fast food I was at actually eating at sit down restaurants with a pretty good menu (avg meal price on the menu was about $15).

So like I said above I was doing work functions such as meeting with clients, vendors or work meetings. I initially went in thinking great its going to most likely be a plain green salad and grilled chicken breast but as I started going through the menu I realized I actually had some pretty good choices. What I want to get across on this post is not really the things I are however it was my approach. I find that most people may settle for just having an undressed salad but I really wanted to know what they actually had that I could eat. So here are some questions that I feel were helpful

1) When looking to order any type of beef, pork, chicken etc make sure you ask the waiter what is this marinated in?
You want to verify what it is marinated in because the marinade could be gluten based (think beer, it is often used in marinades)

2) If you are afraid of asking the waiter 101 questions about the food and you think they will brush you off simply tell them that you need to avoid all foods that contain Gluten, Grains and Soy if you just give them those 3 things they will come back with a selection of XYZ and then from there you can easily figure out which one you want to order. I am not telling you to say that you are allergic to those ingredients all though if you did they wouldn’t know the difference.

3) If you really want to have no contact with the waiter because obviously they are low hourly paid employees and the more questions you ask them the more they may be irritated ask the waiter to speak to a manager on duty because of your dietary restrictions. I found this one honestly to be the best approach because the waiters get to just get drinks and do their normal routine and the managers are usually far more versed in the menu contents than the waiters.

4) You can ask them if they have a Gluten free menu

5) If you really want to ask no one for anything go to the sandwich area and look for a grilled chicken sandwich and order it without the bun and no sauce.

Now those 5 tips above won’t give you the exact answer you want or if the place you are going has exclusive items on their menu but if you go with item #3 10 times out of 10 the manager will accommodate you because they want to earn your business. For example, lets say everything they have is marinated in beer and/or high sugar items. The manager and chef will have absolutely no issue just throwing a fresh piece of meat on the grill (or broiler) for you with just a little bit of salt and pepper.

It may not be the best meal you will ever eat but it will at least put something in your stomach and keep you on track.

Coffee Cake Banana Bread

breakfast, treats, , , , , , ,

coffee cake banana bread

Wow this bread is incredible, like insane.  I did not come up with this, I grabbed this off a blog I have been following even before I went paleo, its PaleOMG.com.  Julie the owner of the blog is an amazing cook and I also like her stories that she uses to frame them, seems pretty down to earth.  So yes today’s post will include one of my favorite desserts that she makes, I kind of eat this for breakfast but it can easily be a treat so I am going to put it in both areas.

So the bake sale at my sons VPK went great all 52 cookies were gone and it looks like they want me to make some stuff for their graduation.  I make a pretty killer homemade Tres Leche (definitely not paleo friendly, not yet atleast).  So for their Christmas party I made that for the school party and I had a handful of people want me to cater them one which I don’t cater so I did not accept the offer.  I know I might be crazy but I think people can be far more critical when they pay for something than when it’s free so that’s why.  So after the Christmas party I was volunteered to make something for the bake sale and now apparently for the VPK graduation.  I’m just glad 5 and 6 year olds aren’t hard to please when it comes to sweets ;).

I am a bit all over the place today sorry, been pretty hectic 🙂 but back to the bread.  I saw this the day she posted it and I immediately went and bought bananas and set 3 of them aside to wait for them to brown.  I mean my picture really does this no justice but trust me its amazing.  If you have never checked out paleOMG I highly recommend it, bookmark it and visit it often!

Here is the recipe, again its Julie’s you can find the original here, the only original item on this recipe is the picture lol that is the bread I actually made.

I make no claim to this recipe at all, it is exactly as she has it on her site.

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Coffee Cake Banana Bread

Ingredients

    Ingredients
  • 3 brown bananas, mashed
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup almond butter (or other nut/seed butter)
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
    • Topping
  • 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) grass fed butter, at room temperature (or coconut oil)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
  • 2 tablespoons almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ cup pecans, crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8.5×4.5 baking dish with oil then line the middle with parchment paper. It will make it easier to remove from the pan without it coming apart.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together bananas, maple syrup, vanilla extract, eggs, and almond butter.
  3. Then add coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix well.
  4. Pour batter into baking dish. Place on a baking sheet.
  5. In a small bowl, add butter, coconut sugar, almond flour, cinnamon, and pecans. Use your hands to mix the toppings together.
  6. Place chunks of the toppings all around the top of the banana bread mixture.
  7. Place in oven to bake for 50 minutes.
  8. Remove from oven, place on cooling rack and let rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/coffee-cake-banana-bread/

 

Simple Breakfast

breakfast,

tilted fork icon

So in my normal life which consist of going to work 5 days a week, aka the daily grind I do not always get lavish things to eat for breakfast or lunch.  Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy pretty much everything I eat, its just not elaborate.  For example on most days I end up just eating 2 boiled eggs and if I am lucky I might add a piece of bacon but usually its just the plain old eggs.

Now you might be wondering why am I writing about just hard boiled eggs to me I don’t think its practical to get up every morning at 5:30 and make a huge breakfast, there are some people out there who will I am just not one of them especially at 5:30 am.  So when I wake up I walk out the bedroom and I put a pot of water on the stove and I add the 2 eggs to it.  After that I simply go back and start getting ready for work my normal daily routine.  In about 5 minutes time the water is boiling at this point so I let the eggs boil for 2 minutes with a lid on the pan.  Now comes the magic, after 2 minutes I remove the pan from the heat but I leave the lid on.  I let that sit there for 12 minutes, during this time I already have the shower running so I jump in the shower while the eggs are just sitting in their hot water bath.  That’s it when I get out I run water over them and peel them and then eat.

This to me is the most efficient breakfast I can make especially if I am running a little behind for work.

Another cool thing if you are up for it is make a batch of home made cereal you can find one that I posted here that helps for days when you just simply can’t cook.  It is so important to eat breakfast even if it is small or just a simple piece of fruit you have to get something in you to jump start your system.  Its better to eat than to starve because your body will horde the food when it gets it if it is starving.

 

Just some food for thought :).  Sorry its not my typical post but to me its a bit practical every once and a while to explain how I actually live my journey as a person that has an actual job instead of being a professional blog writer.

Paleo Tortillas

breakfast, , ,

paleo tortillas

Getting ready for another fun and exciting teeball game lol.  I was really wanting a breakfast burrito but clearly regular tortillas are not paleo friendly.  I started scouring the web reading different tortilla recipes and instead of following one of them I combined a few of them using some tips from people.  I like my tortillas light and fluffy where as most of the things I found online were rather thick.  So I combined some ingredients that I found online with those that I would normally use to make a crepe and viola I have tortillas.  This is actually really easy to make, I am adding it to the breakfast section but reality is you can eat it any time of the day.  I grabbed some items from Paleo Cupboard and pinterest to make this.

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Paleo Tortillas

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon melted coconut oil
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon water
  • 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
  • 1 teaspoon coconut flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Whisk eggs and coconut oil in a bowl
  2. Add water to the egg and coconut oil mixture
  3. Combine remaining dry ingredients (Arrowroot, coconut flour and salt) in to the egg mixture
  4. Whisk until smooth
  5. Heat skillet to medium heat add mixture while turning the pan to spread the mixture around the pan. Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown.
  6. Depending upon how big you want to make the tortilla's you will get 2 or 3 out of this recipe.
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/paleo-tortillas/

Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs

breakfast, , , ,

sweet potato hash

So I am getting over the sickness I have no more fever just have the crackle voice and congestion going for me.  My voice hasn’t cracked this much since I was 15 lol.  Outside of that things are going well.  My son has been actively engaged in Teeball and he has been doing really well.  Today we had a game and he went 1 for 2 and got a double.  Now when I say 1 or 2 let me be clear that the 1 is when he hit the ball that is pitched to him.  Unlike most Teeball leagues our league give the hitter 3 chances to hit a ball that is pitched to them before they put them on the tee.  That to me is priceless as he gets awesome hand eye coordination at a young age.  So yea I am proud of my little guy for doing much better in each of his games this year he has atleast hit one pitch!

On other news so proud of my nephew he got his tested and passed his brown belt test in jujitsu.  Proud of all the little guys in my life.

Today’s recipe is one I ate this morning that the wife made for me.  It’s a sweet potato hash with an egg.  I like my eggs over easy when I eat them with a hash so that’s how she made it for me.  I would imagine that any egg any style would be good on this.

Enjoy it I loved it.

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Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1" cubes
  • 5 pieces of bacon
  • 1 small white onion, chopped
  • 1 yellow green pepper, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper,chopped
  • 3 Tbsp. bacon fat or tallow (if needed)
  • 1/4 tsp. sea salt (or more to taste)
  • 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper (or more to taste)
  • 1/8 tsp. paprika (or more to taste)
  • 4 eggs

Instructions

  1. Fill a saucepan about 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the sweet potatoes and lightly boil for about 8 minutes or until tender.
  3. Drain and allow to dry for a few minutes.
  4. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat.
  5. Add the bacon to the pan and cook until crispy.
  6. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate to dry.
  7. Keep the pan over medium-high heat and add the chopped onion and peppers to the bacon fat in the pan. Saute for about 3 minutes.
  8. Add the additional bacon fat or tallow to the pan (if needed). Add the drained sweet potatoes to the pan, making sure they are covering the bottom of the pan evenly in a flat layer. Allow the potatoes to cook (without stirring them) for about 5 minutes, or until potatoes start to brown. Increase the heat to high, stir the mixture and allow it to cook for another 3-5 minutes or until crispy.
  9. Crumble the bacon and add it to the pan
  10. Season with sea salt, ground black pepper and smoked paprika (to taste).
  11. Place the 1/4 sweet potato hash on a plate and top with an egg of your choice
  12. Enjoy it
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/03/sweet-potato-hash-with-eggs/

Paleo Cookie Crisp Cereal

breakfast, Uncategorized, , ,

Paleo Cookie Crisp Cereal. (Gluten_Grain_Dairy Free)

It has been an awesome 2 weeks researching and planning out my next set of foods.  I know people think I am crazy but I say it’s awesome because I am amazed at how much information is out there.  A little background on my and my last 2-3 years will hopefully explain this.

Back in 2012 I was hospitalized for severe stomach pains after many tests the doctors stated that I should have my gallbladder removed (I did not have stones or anything they just said it wasn’t working).  So I had my gallbladder removed and since I work in Healthcare IT I really wanted a copy of my medical record just so I can go through it all.  I was excited to read the Operative Note since I wanted to see how the surgery actually went.  Then I read the words that changed my life:

The patient is a morbidly obese male.

Wow I knew I was over weight (5’10 270lbs back in 2012) but I had no idea, those words still haunt me to this day.  It was that statement that motivated me for the following year.  Through proper eating and exercise I was able to get myself down to 230lbs by the end of 2012.  I was happy with that progress but then work became overwhelming and I stopped.  It was single handily one of the worst decisions I have made in my life.  Not only did I stop eating correctly but I also stopped exercising .  This continued and then I had another really bad stomach attack in March of 2013.  I ended up in the hospital again for another week and this time the doctor told me he believed I had  SOD dysfunction (I talk about that more here).  At the time I went and got a second opinion and it was pretty much confirmed but I did not want the surgery that the doctor told me I should have.  During this time of not exercising and not eating clean I gained back some of the weight I lost, it was demotivating to me at the time and I just let it continue.  Fast forward to 2014, I still was not exercising and I cleaned up some of my eating habits but most of them were still poor.  Between January and February I had 2 minor stomach attacks and 1 major one.  It was at that last one that I was just sick and tired of being lazy and letting everything pass me by.  My son had just started Teeball and I am really enjoying sharing the coaching experience with him and I decided that if I want to be here to watch him graduate or my daughter get married I needed to change some big things in my life.  Hence I started reading and researching the best lifestyle changes for my stomach disorder and this is what led me to Paleo.  The more I read and research the stronger I believe that I am capable of doing this.  With people supporting me through this process I truly feel that I can succeed, in the end though the decision for failure or success will always be on my shoulders and no one else’s.

-Norm

Today I am using a recipe that I found on Brittany Angell’s blog for a paleo friendly homemade cereal.  If you have not ever seen her blog I would highly recommend it she has some amazing things!

The link to the original recipe can be found here but to keep things simple I have copied it here.

 

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Paleo Cookie Crisp Cereal

Ingredients

  • 1 packed cup of blanched almond flour
  • 1 cup tapioca starch
  • 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking power (I use double acting)
  • 1 teaspoon oil or melted butter
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • Mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Mix together the cookie dough ingredients, leaving out the chocolate chips.
  3. Put the cookie dough into a piping bag. Squeeze rows of tiny "candy dots" sized cookies (about an 1/8 of a teaspoon) onto the cookie sheet, leaving a little space between each cookie. (Not much space though, as they will only spread a tiny bit!)
  4. Stick 1-2 chocolate chips into each mini cookie.
  5. Bake 6-7 minutes until firm and lightly golden.
  6. Repeat with two more trays (3 trays total).
https://www.tiltedfork.com/2014/02/paleo-cookie-crisp-cereal/