Sweet Potato + Black Bean Hash

Oh snap…look who has another post this week!

Not that it should really be an accomplishment but I’ve gotta get back on track with baby steps I guess ;) 

Plus some things are just too good not to share!

Not sure where I got the inspiration for this, but I was trying to think of ways in use sweet potatoes in breakfast, plus I had some black beans in the fridge.  Boom.  Hash!

If you want to make it Paleo just leave out the beans…it would be delicious either way.  Personally I don’t get the whole “no beans” part of the paleo diet.  From what I’ve read the “anti-nutrients”in beans are in their uncooked state…and once properly soaked/prepared, the anti-nutrients are almost entirely gone.   Considering you can’t exactly eat uncooked beans, I’m not sure what the big deal is.

Woops, sidetracked.

Sweet Potato + Black Bean Hash
(for two people)

• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1 medium sweet potato, diced
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red or green bell pepper (or 1/2 each) diced
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp paprika (or use 1/4 tsp paprika if you don’t have smoked)
• garlic powder, few shakes
• crushed red pepper flakes, few shakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup black beans (cooked or canned)
• 1 tsp butter or more coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• avocado (sliced, served on the side…optional, but SO good for you!)
• sour cream (optional)
• salsa (optional)

Note: best to chop the potato, onion, and pepper in small pieces so they cook faster.

In a cast iron or non-stick skillet heat the 2 tsp coconut oil over medium heat.  Add onion and pepper.  Sauté for 3-4 minutes.  Add sweet potato.  Stir in paprika, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and salt.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes, only stir occasionally as the potatoes will only get browned if they sit still against the pan.  As the potatoes are just about done to the consistency you like, add the bean and cook another 1-2 minutes. 

Plate the hash on two plates, set aside somewhere to keep warm (sometimes I put them in a “cool” oven, or even turn the oven on for a couple minutes then off just to warm it a smidge).

In the same pan heat the 1 tsp butter or coconut oil.  Crack 2 eggs in the pan and cook to your liking….I did over easy.

Serve egg on top of hash….bacon on the side if you like!

The avocado on the side is a MUST for me.  I also added a little sour cream, but didn’t need any salsa…flavorful enough on its own.  I even liked a slightly runny yolk!!  Who am I??

I LOOOOVED this breakfast!!  It’s not a ton of food, but the proportions are really easy to adjust if you’re feeding more people or if you or your guest have bigger appetites!  Or just add more eggs :)  Brian and I tend to eat similar servings sometimes, but I know some of you might have husbands who eat way more so go nuts!  We were both completely satisfied…not too full, just right. 

Iced latte as my bevy of choice.

Lots of healthy fats, protein, and carbs here!  

I used to think I hated hash…in my mind it was always corned beef hash, like that weird stuff from a can, but thankfully now I know better and there are numerous ways to make a “hash” that do not involve canned meat products ;) 

Do you like hash?  Favorite version??

Cheddar Dill Breakfast Quinoa & Brunch with the Girls

Don’t you love when you totally throw something completely random and new together in the kitchen and it ends up being a huge success!?

That’s what happened in this kitchen last weekend.

This time it was breakfast, and I love making breakfast on the weekends so it was fun coming up with something new and different.  If it bombed?  Oh well, it was the weekend and I could make something else :)

We had a container of leftover, cooked quinoa in the fridge.  There was a good amount of it, so I was hoping to incorporate it into breakfast!  I’ve seen various “breakfast quinoas” around the blog world…many times made similar to oatmeal (which I want to try), but I was more in the mood for something savory.

Plus some cheese and fresh herbs make anything better.

I give you…

Cheddar Dill Breakfast Quinoa
serves 2

• 1T olive oil
• 1/4 cup white or yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup cooked quinoa (really you can use as much as you want, obviously the texture will change as the ratio of quinoa to egg is altered).
• 3 eggs
• splash of milk (about 2T)
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 1T fresh chopped dill

In a non-stick skillet heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes, until just getting soft.  Add in quinoa, and continue to sauté for another 2-4 minutes. 

In a small bowl, crack in eggs and beat together with a fork.  Add milk and beat that into the eggs.  Pour eggs into quinoa mixture.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  After about 30 seconds, start to scramble mixture together.  Add in dill.  Continue to cook/scramble.  Once eggs are just about done to the point where you like your scramble eggs cooked, add in cheese.  Give another stir and remove from heat.

We had ours with some bacon and sides of yogurt with a sauce of cooked down berries (plus some lemon juice and maple syrup) and walnuts.

Iced latte

We both LOVED the quinoa!!  I think I liked the texture even more than regular scrambled eggs.  Plus the possibilities are endless for flavors…different cheeses, herbs, spices, veggies.  The beauty of breakfast egg dishes :)

Try this!!

Keeping with a breakfast theme…I’d also like to share some photos from a brunch I had at my place with a few of my girl friends.  You know how sometimes there are friends or groups of friends that you just don’t see as often as you’d like or used to see?  Well that was my problem.  So to solve it I just invited them over one Sunday morning for a quick and delightful brunch!

I was excited to do a “girly” table setting with some pink linens.

I love using baskets and trays to group my centerpieces

I actually was too busy prepping food and chatting that I forgot to snap some photos before we ate!!  But I grabbed a few after…much of the food is gone but you get the gist.

Smoked Salmon/Capers/Cream Cheese/Red Onion/Mini Whole Wheat Bagels.

This is an easy one.  No cooking involved and you can present it as nice and you want! 

One of my friends brought this zucchini bread…and now I need the recipe!  It was amazing!!

So moist and it created this awesome crust around the edges.

Bacon, fresh pineapple, a coffee cake brought by another friend

My favorite brunch dish to make for a group…French Toast Strata!

A delicious frittata…

• This one started with butter in the skillet, then lots of thinly sliced onions…caramelize.
• Once mostly caramelized, add in chopped zucchini.  Sauté for a couple more minutes.
• Then add eggs (think I used 6 eggs, beaten + some milk)
•   Add in chopped fresh thyme.  Then top with LOTS of goat cheese.
• Broil for a few minutes (be sure to use an oven safe skillet!  I love using cast iron), until set and just starting to brown.

More fruit!

Baskets also useful for condiments (salt, pepper, maple syrup) and cream and sugar for coffee.  

I like to use some of my real creamers/pitchers for cream and maple syrup.  It’s not much more effort and looks so nice!

Brunch was  a success.  Caught up with friends, and then we all still had the rest of the day to get our Sunday-type errands done :)

I heart breakfast food.

Veggie + Goat Cheese + Chive Frittata

I had some really fantastic breakfasts this weekend! 

Funny, I went out to breakfast a few weeks ago when I was up in Portsmouth for the weekend for my friend’s birthday and I realized it was the first time I had been out to breakfast in a long time!!  I love going out for brunch/breakfast, but I’ve realized that making breakfast at home is my FAVORITE meal to cook on the weekends!

Our house gets nice and sunny, and I love sitting at our table with a fresh cappuccino and whatever breakfast dish we decide to cook up. 

Not to mention I can do this all while still in my PJ’s :)

Saturday morning, I was craving sweet! 

This is easily the 3rd or 4th time I’ve made these Almond-Coconut pancakes since I first came up with the recipe!

My tweaks this weekend were to add 2T of Oat Flour and increased the almond milk to 1/2 cup.  Of course the addition of the flour makes these not Paleo anymore, but that’s an easy thing to leave out.  Delicious both ways.  The flour made them just slightly softer. 

This weekend I enjoyed my pancakes with a few chocolate chips, some real maple syrup, and split a banana with Brian.

Sunday morning, I had no idea what I wanted.

Sweet?  Savory?  Eggs? 

Then I remembered that I wanted to make some sort of baked frittata or other egg dish I could pack up as leftovers to have for breakfast at work some days this week!

Frittatas are so simple and so delicious, plus the flavor combinations are endless!

Ever since I saw the cookbook Plenty on Megan’s blog, I knew I had to own it, and I bought it a couple weeks ago.  In it, there is a recipe for a Smoky Frittata made with cauliflower and smoked mozzarella.  It sounds so flavorful and the picture looks like cheese heaven. 

This recipe was my inspiration for the frittata I made this morning.  I used vegetables and cheeses I just happened to have on hand.  I also used some Greek yogurt and ricotta cheese to add some creaminess to the egg mixture. 

Cauliflower for breakfast.

 

Vegetable + Chive + Goat Cheese: Frittata

• 1T olive oil
• 1 cup chopped cauliflower
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1 cup baby spinach (about 2 big handfuls)
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 2T part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/tsp paprika
• salt & black pepper
• 2T finely chopped fresh chives
• 2oz goat cheese, crumbled (or more if you want)
• a sharp cheese to grate on top (I used Gouda Parrano)
• 3-4 cherry tomatoes, seeds removed, sliced (optional but delicious)

Pre-heat oven to 375

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg whites.  Then whisk in the Greek yogurt, ricotta, and mustard until all combined.  Add paprika, salt & pepper, and chopped chives.  Stir to combine and set aside.

In a cast iron or other oven proof skillet, heat oil over medium heat.

Add cauliflower and zucchini and sauté for 3-5 minutes until vegetables are tender (mine even got slightly browned in my pan which is good too).  Add the fresh spinach leaves and sauté for about 2 more minutes or until spinach is wilted down. 

Move around veggies in the pan so they are evenly distributed in the pan.  Pour in egg mixture, don’t stir.  Sprinkle the goat cheese around, place the sliced tomatoes on top, and grate as much of your sharp cheese as you want right on top.

Remove from stove and place in the oven.  Bake for 5 minutes, then turn oven onto broil and broil for 4-5 minutes until the frittata is set and the top is just getting slightly browned on the edges. 

Remove from the oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving!

Next time I’m going to add even more tomatoes, the bites I had with tomato were my favorite…well except for the big melty chunks of goat cheese.   

I enjoyed a big slice with an iced latte (topped with a little whipped cream), and 1 of my leftover almond-coconut pancakes.

Having whipped cream in the fridge is dangerous…mmm.

Can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow!

So for those who pack their breakfasts for work…what do you bring when you’re craving something savory/salty??  Sometimes I just don’t want oatmeal, or yogurt…and those are the mornings I end up buying breakfast sandwiches.  But, of course, that’s something I don’t want to do too often. 

Sometimes I’ll even cook an egg in the microwave and add that to ham and cheese on toast.  It works. 

Sweet and Savory Pancakes {paleo}

I experimented with a couple pancake recipes this weekend, both of which would fall under the “paleo” category.  Of course then I went a head and had maple syrup on the sweet ones, and cheese on the savory ones…but really, who wouldn’t? 

First on Saturday, I made some Almond-Coconut pancakes!



Almond Coconut Pancakes
serves 2

• 1 cup Almond Flour (or Almond Meal works too)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour (or unsweetened coconut, I actually had some organic unsweetened defatted coconut that I used)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3-3/4 cup unsweetened Almond Milk (I used vanilla flavored unsweetened Almond milk)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil (melted if needed)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine almond flour, coconut, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together to combine.  In a separate bowl beat the eggs with a fork then add almond milk, coconut oil, and honey.  Mix to combine, then add wet ingredients to dry.  Stir until mixture is combined.  If your batter is looking too thick, or thickens upon standing, add a little milk until it's pancake batter consistency!

Heat a griddle or skillet over med heat.  Use coconut oil or grassfed butter to grease the pan.  Once the pan is hot, add batter in desired size, cook until edges look done then flip.  Adjust heat while cooking incase the pan gets too hot.  Cook 2-3 more minutes or until pancakes look done. 

Serve as desired! 

Like I said we had real maple syrup, banana sliced, and Brian had butter on his (I’ve never been a fan of butter on pancakes). 

These were light, and had a nice subtle coconut flavor to them!  Really delicious.  I’m think next time I might add 1/4 tsp almond extract to really make the almond flavor come out as well. 

Brian loved them too, and he could care less about them being Paleo/low carb.



My savory pancake recipe was a true experiment, as I’ve never made anything like them before.  
I was flying solo this morning, Brian had gone up to NH for a friend’s b-day Sat night-Sunday, I stayed home with my new cold that came about Friday :/

I was hungry but had no idea what I was in the mood for.  Then I spotted a leftover, fully cooked sweet potato from the other night!  I also wanted an egg, and maybe something with cheese and hot sauce. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve made potato pancakes but I do remember egg was the binder.  I guess this would be more like a mashed (sweet) potato pancake!

Savory Sweet Potato Pancake
serves 1

• 1 small cooked sweet potato
• 1 egg, beaten
• hot sauce (to you’re liking)
• 1/4 tsp dried garlic (or garlic powder)
• 1-2 tsp butter
• optional: cheddar or gouda (or your favorite) cheese, about 1 slice or a few small slices if it’s cut from a large chunk.

Cut your cooked sweet potato in half then scrap out all the flesh into a small mixing bowl.  Mash with a fork to get rid of any big lumps.  Add the beaten egg, hot sauce (I did about 4-5 shakes, wish I did more!), and garlic (I used Garlic Gold).  At this point you could really add any other seasonings you might want! 

Heat a small skillet over med-high heat, melt some butter in the pan, just enough to have a nice coating on the bottom.  Once the pan is good and hot, make 2 equal size pancakes with your batter.  Cook 3-5 min per side until cooked through and golden browned. 

Add cheese on one half and place other pancake on top.



Serve with sour cream if you like!  I actually added some more hot sauce on top too.
I really loved these!  I think next time I’d grate the cheese and add it right into the batter. 
If I had to eat them without the cheese or sour cream, I’d like some sliced tomato with them to add a cool refreshing contrast to the pancake. 



For a breakfast “dessert” I had some blueberries and banana



In other news, I have an important decision to make.  I ordered some new sneakers for Crossfit and of course it’s down to the colors ;)



My initial favorite was the pink/green, but I’m actually leading towards the purple/orange ones!  Thoughts?  I’m picking one by the time I go to Crossfit tomorrow night!
And for fun, and Outfit post!

  

One of these days I’ll take a nice "fashion” shot, outdoors with the wind blowing in my hair and the sun casting a nice glow on my skin. 
But for now, it’s iphone in the office bathroom…  yeah. 
This outfit was revolved around that blue skirt…love that skirt.

• blue pencil skirt – Ann Taylor
• grey cardigan – Old Navy
• magenta shirt (which you can’t see) – Banana Republic
• mustard scarf – Target
• grey/yellow/gold t-strap heals – Seychelles from Nordstrom

If you have tomorrow off…lucky you!  I’ll be heading back to work like normal.  At least traffic will be a lot better.

Time for some frozen yogurt and then getting to bed early!  I hope :)

What’s your favorite thing to put in or on pancakes???  Maple syrup…all the way, the real stuff of course.  I look for any excuse to put maple syrup on anything!!  (except savory pancakes that is)

Working in the City & My Eats

More specifically, how working in the city has effected my eating habits.
It’s been a little over 4 months since I started my new job in downtown Boston.  I am still really enjoying my new location and being right in the thick of things downtown.  I love being around all those people at 7:30am while we are all heading into work.  Especially now with all the Christmas decor!


Even though my commute is longer, it doesn’t feel that long because I’m not the one driving.  Although I must say the commuter rail is WAY more comfortable than the bus, but I still switch it up to keep things interesting and so I don’t have to pay $4 to park at the commuter rail every day.
With all that said, one of the biggest changes to my “lifestyle” that I’ve noticed is that I find myself buying coffee, breakfast, and lunch MUCH more than I used to. 

At first it was the novelty of it all.  I have so many different options for coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants, and quick lunch spots!  Almost anything I am craving can be fulfilled…that my friends is dangerous.
  
(iced coffee from Olga’s Kafe…they have TONS of brewed flavors!)
Not to mention expensive!! 

The novelty has pretty much worn off, but there are other factors weighing in here:

• Public transportation:  My mornings now have time limits.  I may just need an extra 5 or 10 min to pack my lunch but if I’m trying to catch a train, my time is up! 
• The more I pack, the more I have to carry.  Not a huge deal, but it is nice when I don’t have a second bag with me. 
• Juggling a coffee mug along with my purse + work bag.  I have a good travel mug with a good seal, but it’s nice to have 2 hands to work with especially when I’m running from the train to the T and have to get my pass out. 
• Cravings.  Ever go to eat your packed lunch and it just NOT what you want.  It’s way too easy to just take a 5min walk and get a salad/sandwich/pizza/soup…etc. 

(Gyro from Zo…this place is one of my favorites, good thing it’s still a 0.5 mile walk!)

• It tastes better when someone else makes it.  SUCH a cop out, but for some reason lately I’ve been BUYING oatmeal!  OATMEAL!  Simple oatmeal, and enjoying every bite.  Really no excuse for this one.

So, those of you out there that take public transportation to work…any tips?? 
I’m getting better at the coffee thing, plus I actually like the office coffee (we got Snicker-doodle flavor in so that makes me happy!), but those damn cappuccinos at the Thinking Cup are just SO good.  I tend to make that my once-a-week treat.

I’m thinking the coffee trend is becoming my lunch trend too.  Now that I’ve tried many of the lunch places near by, I’ve found the few I like most (and actually there aren’t that many…a lot of places are just “ok”).  So I’m hoping I’ll get to a once-a-week schedule for buying lunch. 

(chickpea fritter from Clover Food Lab, amazing, $5, and filling!)
I never thought I’d be one of those people who buys lunch so often, but I get it…CONVENIENCE!! 
 
Bon Me!
It wouldn’t be so bad if, say, we weren’t spending as much on groceries, but I don’t see that happening either.  I need to find that balance because, on the plus side there are some VERY affordable lunch options in the city…I’m talking $5-$6 for a lunch that fills me up!  I’m almost glad Whole Foods isn’t close by…now THAT would be a money hole for me!!  (I tend go crazy on the salad/hot bar).

(bbq pork & brown rice bowl from Bon Me)
I hope this whole post isn’t coming off as one big complaint ;)  I’m just more amazed at how much of an effect something like a new job in a new location can have on ones “usual” habits! 

I’m also looking for help!  Tips!  Ideas!!  Meal planning would really help this out as well, and frankly I’ve never been good at meal planning! 
Favorite lunches to pack??  Favorite dinners during a busy week?  Preferably ones with leftovers?? 
I haven’t even started on the effects the new job has had on my workout schedule!  That’s a post in it’s own, but I’ll let you know I did just start Crossfit!  I went to my first intro workout Saturday morning and had my first regular workout tonight!  So far so good…and SO sore.  ;)  I’ll give a recap as soon as I go a few more times. 

Now it’s time for bed…I don’t want my sleep schedule to go s**t too ;) 
Goodnight friends!