Paleo Egg Cups

I know it's been too long since I've posted about Paleo or Crossfit, but to be honest...we haven't done anything too exciting with Paleo or Crossfit lately.  We've had a lot of visits from friends/family, and sometimes that makes it really hard stay on-track.  Needless to say, we've been eating Paleo probably 50/50 lately, which is not something we are proud of or happy about.  So today is our focus back into Paleo.  We're stocked up on meat like crazy, and we're going to get more veggies today.  Plus, thanks to Bergman's Market in Port Clinton, Ohio (most amazing local farmer's market/grocers EVER) we have the juiciest, sweetest Georgia peaches in the entire world (well, okay, except for maybe in Georgia...)

So this morning, on our way back to a 90/10 Paleo lifestyle, I made something fun for breakfast.  I've never made them before, but I've heard about them and a friend of mine has made them in the past that were very yummy, so I decided to play around this morning.  These are my Paleo Eggy/Omelet Cups!

Fairly quick and easy to make, plus they are adorable and kids tend to love them.  They reheat very well, too, which is good for leftovers.

Eggy/Omelet Cups

6 strips of bacon

6 eggs

1/2 cup green pepper, diced (for the ones we made)

1/2 cup any other veggies/meat that you like in your omelet--get crazy!

Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking spray

Cook bacon until it is cooked but not crispy.  You're going to need to bend this bacon in a circle, so you want it to be cooked but bendy.

Spray a muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray--seriously, don't skip this step or you'll be sorry!

Bend bacon around the inside of the muffin tin, almost like you're lining the sides of each muffin cup with it.  The bacon will probably overlap, and that's totally okay.  

If you want to make omelet cups, crack your eggs into a bowl, add a little water, and mix like you're making scrambled eggs.  Then pour the egg mixture into each muffin cup, filling it to just below the top lip of the cup.  If you want to make regular ones, crack one egg directly into each muffin cup.

Add your veggies/meat now.  We just did green peppers because we're running low on veggies, but other things you might want to add include:

-Mushrooms

-Colored peppers

-Tomatoes

-Onions

-Spinach

-Broccoli

-Chunks of ham

-Chorizo or other sausage

-More crumbled bacon

-Cheese (if you're straying a little from strict Paleo)

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Oven at 350*

Bake for 12 minutes if you want a runny yolk in the regular cups.

Bake for 15 minutes if you want a cooked yolk in the regular cups.

Bake for 15 minutes for the omelet cups.

 

Here's our omelet cups (on the left) and our regular cups (on the right).  They turned out SO GOOD!  I only made 6, like the recipe says to do, but in the future I'll make more so we can reheat them for leftovers throughout the day.  Yay for mini omelet/eggy cups!

xoxo, M

Easy Frittata!

I have been driving H crazy about making a frittata for like 2 weeks now, ever since I saw it on Nom Nom Paleo.  Seriously, I think he's probably heard the word "frittata" more in the past 15 days than any other word.  Tonight, I finally got the ingredients to make my own version of Nom Nom's frittata.  Enjoy!

Easy Frittata
6 eggs
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
1/4 c diced peppers
1/4 c diced ham/bacon/pork/steak/whatever
1 c fresh spinach
1 Tbls EVOO
1/4 tsp minced garlic

In a cast iron skillet, heat the EVOO and the garlic, then add the peppers and meat.  Cook for 3-4 minutes.

 While that's cooking, mix eggs and yogurt until creamy (the yogurt makes the final product fluffy and delicious, trust me)

 Once the ham and peppers have cooked down a bit, add the spinach and wilt slightly, turning often.  This usually only takes about 2-4 minutes.  Be careful not to overcook it--you don't want it totally wilted, just slightly.

 Make sure spinach, peppers, and meat cover the bottom of the pan evenly.  Then slowly pour the egg mix over it and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, just to cook the bottom of the frittata.

 Place in oven (preheated to 350 degrees) for 20 minutes.  Final product should bounce back when center is gently pressed. 

xoxo, M

Crossfit Day 1

H and I had our first CrossFit beginners class tonight (called an On-Ramp class) at CrossFit Findaly - Rugged Fitness and it was seriously intense.  It was just the 2 of us and the trainer, Scott, who definitely kicked our butts.  He explained what CrossFit is and took us through the gym's set-up and expectations.  He had us do the warm-up (300m run and stretching) then had us do the intro Workout of the Day (WOD) for time.  The WOD for us was a 450m run (on top of the 300m run we already did), then squats, kettlebell lifts, and box jumps in 3 rounds for 15 reps, then 12 reps, and finally 8 reps.  Doesn't sound like that much right?

WRONG.

It was seriously intense (like camping...hahaha I'm soooo punny!) to the point where I had to modify the box jumps to box steps and I had to walk part of the 450m run, and at one point I was trying to figure out which was closer if I needed to throw up: the trashcan or the parking lot, but I did it.  I did the whole thing.  And I finished in 11:25.  I honestly questioned if I could do it at one point, and I cried when it was all over, but I did the whole WOD, and I'm incredibly proud of myself!  I know I'm going to feel this tomorrow, but the pain is going to be completely worth it.

Before I went to CrossFit, I put a couple of chicken breasts in the crockpot with my tasty tomato sauce and some green olives and turned it on high (for about 3 hours) so when we came home, completely exhausted and starving for protein to fuel our workout, dinner was ready to go.

Add some fresh cut veggies and some ice cold water, and it was a perfect post-CrossFit dinner.

What am I doing to celebrate my CrossFit Day 1 victory?  Going to CrossFit Day 2 on Wednesday :)  Obsessed?  Probably.

xoxo, M

Bountiful

It's grocery shopping day!  We were out of meat, down to 2 eggs, and our usual seasonings for food were running low.  Thankfully, Meijer had some good sales, and we were able to score a ton of food without spending a ton of money.  Paleo isn't always cheap--meat can be pricey, fresh veggies and fruit are hard to get at a good price if they aren't in season, and the price of eggs is going up almost as fast as the price of gas.  But the health benefits I'm reaping from clean eating are totally outweighing (or underweighing...hehe...see what I did there?  Because you lose weight eating Paleo...?  I thought it was funny...) the cost of Paleo.

So what does the fridge look like after a Paleo trip to the store?

2 dozen eggs (plus the 2 eggs we had pre-shopping)

3.25 lbs 90/10 lean ground beef

1 whole roasting chicken

18 lbs chicken breasts

8 Angus beef trimmed steaks

2 heads of lettuce

Bag of carrots

4 green peppers

1 artichoke (trying it for the first time)

2 packages of raspberries

I'm super excited to try a bunch of new recipes I got from Everyday Paleo and Nom Nom Paleo, who are amazing cooks and who really understand the Paleo way.  They are my new cooking inspirations, and I will totally keep you posted about how the cooking goes.  Tonight, though, is a quickie dinner--H and I both got home late after working out, then had to go to the store, so it's brats on the grill and salads.  Still nomtastic :)