Microwaved Eggs

It occurred to me that often only the complicated dishes make it into published recipes. But I usually eat very simple meals that require no recipe. A standard dish for me is vegetables, meat, and spices sauteed in coconut, olive, or stock fat. I don't mind cooking, but it is by no means a passion of mine, and usually I focus on quick and easy dishes.

Like fried or scrambled eggs.

Only now I usually make them in the microwave rather than in a skillet. This is faster and it generates fewer dishes. There are two basic ways to microwave eggs. You can microwave a single egg in a bowl for around 40 seconds. If you don't break the yoke, the egg hardly sticks to the bowl.



Or you can microwave more than one egg, with or without additions. For example, yesterday I microwaved two eggs, sausage, and two cubes of cauliflower puree. First I microwaved the puree for around a minute to dethaw it. Then I stirred in the eggs and sausage. The edges tend to cook faster, so you have to stir it about every half a minute for a few minutes. This sticks more than does a single egg with an unbroken yoke. But it's still easy, fast, and good.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Over Christmas Jennifer made two pumpkin pies, one regular and one paleo. Here's a photo of the paleo pie, which is the regular pie minus the sugar and the crust:



The key to a good pumpkin pie is to start with real pie pumpkins. Cut the pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds, and bake it, cut-side down in a bit of water, for around 45 minutes.

Jennifer bakes a great crust from a recipe in Baking With Julia.

Then, follow this recipe that we got from Jennifer's mom:

Mix:
* 1.5 cups pumpkin
* 3 eggs
* 0.5 cup sugar
* 1.25 teaspoon cinnamon
* 0.5 teaspoon salt
* 0.5 teaspoon ginger
* 0.5 teaspoon nutmeg
* 0.25 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1.66 cups heavy cream

(Note: The original recipe calls for a full cup of sugar, but the pie is plenty sweet with only half of a cup. Obviously for the paleo pie skip the sugar entirely.)

Pour into a 9 inch, unbaked pie shell, or, for the paleo pie, into a pie dish.

Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for ten minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until a poker (toothpick or cake tester) comes out clean. (Note: The pie usually puffs up during baking and then settles back down during cooling.)

Cool. Top with whipped cream. (We use pure cream whipped with vanilla, no sugar.) The original recipe calls for pecan topping, but we've never eaten it that way.

We really like both versions of this pie. We thought that, in the future, we'll try increasing the spice load for the paleo pie, but that's not necessary for a tasty pie.

Baked Pancakes, Cauliflower Puree

Recently I talked about making almond meal and using it in primal pancakes.

I've since tried the almond meal in baked pancakes (a misnomer, I know, but I don't know what else to call them), and it's fantastic.

The recipe is very simple. Put two tablespoons of butter in a pie pan. Melt the butter in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, mix three eggs, half a cup of flour, and half a cup of milk. I've tried wheat flour, oat flour, and almond meal, and all work great. I haven't tried replacing the cow milk with coconut milk. Pour the batter into the pie plate, and bake for 20 minutes. (Shave off a couple of minutes if you use straight almond meal.)

One nice thing about these is you can put two or three cakes in the oven while you get the rest of breakfast ready; they aren't as labor intensive as regular pancakes.



Next (and unrelated), recently I purchased five nice heads of cauliflower from Target for a buck each. I steamed, pureed, and froze them. I used my new Tovolo silicone ice cube trays, which I really like.

The plain puree was also a great side-dish with butter and a little salt and pepper. I plan to add the dethawed puree to scrambled eggs and such, a la Jessica Seinfeld.