Recipe: Paleo Eggs Benedict

Only two more days until I start my 8-9 hour trek back to NC to visit with family for the holidays. As I mentioned two blog posts ago, I spent my weekend trying to prep a few recipes to share with them. One of my favorite things about going home other than the obvious (warm weather..jk) is when we do family breakfasts. At least one morning per time I visit we make time to do one! Lately, between my sisters better half JP and myself -- our obsession with Eggs Benedict has totally dictated what we have been having on these mornings. Except we don't do it the traditional way. Typically we substitute the usual canadian bacon with extra crispy regular bacon and a nice buttery country style biscuit. Okay, stop drooling, keep reading!

My challenge this weekend was not how to poach the egg, or how to make the bacon extra crispy, or even to make a super amazing savory hollandaise sauce...but to perfect a biscuit that will compliment these layers of flavor...that is paleo. I'm no baking expert so I began searching around different paleo blogs to see if there was a recipe that popped out at me. I found it. I have to give credit to "Simply Living Healthy" blog for the recipe I used for these biscuits. 

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The Perfect Paleo Biscuit

Makes 9 biscuits
6 egg whites
3/4 cup blanched almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, chilled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Cut in cold coconut oil with a fork until the mixture is crumbly. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl whisk egg whites until they are very frothy. Fold the egg whites into the chilled flour mixture until well combined. Scoop about 1/4 cup of dough onto the baking sheet and smooth the top to form each biscuits, an ice cream scoop works well in this step. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Serve warm or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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Above is the recipe (and link) to where I got this recipe. I actually totally screwed up a few of the steps which only proves how important it is to follow them! My first mistake on my first mini batch is I combined all the ingredients together without pre-whisking the egg whites. MISTAKE! (which is why i bolded it above) I realized I misread the recipe and decided why not make another and compare the difference (since naturally I was curious to see if it really mattered) IT DEFINITELY DID. The 'mistake batch' was totally flat and not fluffy where as the other batch as fluffier and better textures. I think when I make it for the family I'll use grassfed butter to take away from the coconutty flavor. I also bought some coconut flour that was more finely ground that I feel will give it even better texture. 

Hollandaise Sauce (blender)

6 Egg Yolks

3-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

dash of Cayenne Pepper

dash of salt

1c Grassfed butter (warm and melted)

I put egg yolks, lemon juice and cayenne in a blender and turn it on high. Slowly stream the warm butter into the mix. This will allow for a thick and savory hollandaise sauce. 

With the bold flavor of the egg bacon and hollandaise it came together great. With the leftover biscuit I made a almond butter and banana sandwich..ughhhh so good.

Can't wait to share this with the family!!

Kim

Best Egg Salad Ever

I feel like this week has flown by but moving in slow motion at the same time! It's always the moments i want to slow down that go too fast and the moments i want to speed up the seem to move at the speed of a turtle. None the less, I've finally made it to Friday! I love Friday for a number of obvious reasons however one of my favorite things about Friday is being able to work from home. I love being able to have full access to my kitchen which is typically stocked with my paleo friendly items rather than the office kitchen that is stocked full of wonderful tempting goodies! Thankfully up to this point I've avoided all temptation! I'm also excited because I finally was able to get back into the gym this week for Brazillian Jiu Jitsu class. I've been out for 3-4 weeks between being sick, injuring my rib, and work being so hectic! The soreness I feel today feels so rewarding. But now I'm hungry :)

Today for lunch I decided I wanted to make some egg salad. I don't like to brag, but I truly feel my egg salad is the best I've ever had. I always look to my mom in her cooking methods. Her flavor ideas always have been amazing and she's the one who taught me the tricks to the best egg salad ever..so why not paleo-ize it :)

Egg Salad Recipe: (recipe serves 2-3 people.. or great for leftovers! )
6 Eggs
1/3c Mayo (home made paleo)
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1-2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Lemon juice
Onion powder
Dill
Salt/pepper

I start by hard-boiling 6 eggs.  Once they're ready (and cool enough to touch) I peal them and dice them. In the bowl I add my Paleo mayo, the dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar and stir around. The balsamic vinegar is really the secret ingredient in this dish that I truly believe takes the egg salad to the next level. Please note it does turn the color of the salad kind of an ugly yellow-brown color. If the color is too much of a turn off you can always buy white balsamic vinegar or possibly substitute apple cider vinegar or even white vinegar...my preference is for balsamic though..Once its nicely blended I add a squeeze of lemon juice..No more than a table spoon. Then I sprinkle onion powder to lightly dust the top of my mixture. I do the same thing but more liberally with the dill. Last add your salt and pepper and then mix everything together. Taste it make sure its to your liking and feel free to add any of the above ingredients to achieve it!!

Normally people enjoy their egg salad with chips or on a nice slice of white bread. Who needs that! I took a nice vine tomato and hollowed it out and stuffed my wonderful egg salad in there! Sprinkled a little dill on top and it was perfect!! I decided with the leftover inside of the tomato I could chop it up and add some cubed avocado, some minced onion and a little lemon juice and balsamic to pair perfectly with the dish.

Happy Friday everyone!!

Kim