Beef and Egg Stuffed Tomatoes

This can be a breakfast recipe, but we love breakfast for dinner so this was an evening meal for us.  This is from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 large, round tomatoes (not Romas)
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2-2/3 lb ground beef/bison
4 eggs
2 tsp oregano
Salt & pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice top off tomatoes and scoop out seeds with paring knife/spoon. Place tomatoes in oven, covered with foil ~5-7 minutes to soften them slightly. Discard any water left in tomatoes.
2. While tomatoes are baking, saute onion in oil until soft.  Add meat and oregano, breaking the meat into small pieces. Saute for ~5 minutes and season to taste.
3. Turn oven to broil.  Spoon meat into each tomato, pressing the meat down to fill the tomato as much as possible, but be sure to leave ~1/2" space on the top for the egg.
4. Crack an egg into each tomato and put under broiler until the egg is just set ~5 minutes.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

This is one of my favorite recipes given to me by a good friend, from one of my favorite recipe books, Simply in Season.  This is another good base recipe where you can change what you include in the stuffing to suit your tastes.

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2-3 large acorn squash
1 lb sausage
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 carrots, shredded
1/4 c water
2 c almond meal

1. Cut squash in half and remove seeds/strings. May microwave a minute or two first to make cutting easier.  Place cut side down on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake 350 F ~45 minutes.
2. Saute sausage until just cooked through. Add celery, onion, carrots and water. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Mix in almond meal. Stuff into cooked squash and bake 375 F for 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Muffins

I used to love making a batch of muffins in the evening to have for breakfast over the next couple of days.  I was very sad when I started Primal to not be able to do that.  Imagine my excitement when I found this recipe in the Primal Blueprint Cookbook.  This is one of my favorite recipes!

Serves 6

Ingredients:
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
(or 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
instead of the 3 above spices)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c canned pumpkin
3 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp coconut oil/butter
~ 3 Tbsp honey/maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chopped pecans/walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F and grease muffin pans or use aluminum disposable liners.  The muffins stick too much to paper liners.
2. Add coconut flour, baking soda, salt and spices into small bowl. Stir to blend well.
3. Place pumpkin in medium mixing bowl. One by one, crack eggs into the bowl, mixing well after each egg is added.  Add melted coconut oil/butter, syrup/honey and vanilla and mix.
4. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and blend well with whisk until most of the lumps have disappeared, but do not stir more than necessary to blend. Gently fold in nuts, if using.
5. Spoon into muffin pan/liners to 2/3 full. Bake ~18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown ontop and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Turn out and cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Nut Crackers

These are a very easy and yummy snack to make.  It will definitely satisfy that salty craving  They sort of remind me of pizza!  This is from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

Makes ~a dozen crackers

Ingredients:
2 c almond meal
1 tsp baking soda
1-2 Tbsp dried oregano
or Italian seasoning
1 c finely grated Parmesan
or Romano cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir to form a moist, sticky dough. Add more water/oil if needed.
3. Place dough on a baking sheet and flatten into a thin rectangle.  I cut this recipe in 1/2 and put it in an 8" pie pan.
4. Sprinkly sea salt on top if desired.  Bake 15 minutes or until dough becomes dry and golden. Remove and cool on a baking rack.
5. Use a pizza cutter to create crackers before it becomes too brittle and store in an air-tight container.

Breakfast Muffins

This recipe is great because you can add in whatever ingredients you like and have on hand.  I would suggest using this as sort of a base recipe to modify however you like.  This is from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 lb cooked ground beef/sausage
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 c grated cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter/coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 6 muffin tins or paper baking cups with butter/coconut oil.
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs.  Add meat, red pepper, cheese and seasoning.
3. Spoon into muffin tins and bake 18-20 minutes.

Just a side note that if you add in mushrooms, like I did, or other veggies like spinach that release water, the muffins tend to fall apart.