Paleo breakfast bowl! Tex mex grits topped with egg, bacon and avocado!

I bet the word 'grits' in the title got a few of you fired up, but don't worry, it's not real grits! It's cauliflower rice that got too much love from the Vitamix and turned into tiny grains more like cornmeal than rice. The good thing about cauliflower is that it tends to absorb the flavors of what you're cooking it in. In this case it's TexMex richness in the form of ancho chili powder and cumin. I love a good burrito bowl and despite my skepticism, this one delivered in a big way. The fine cauliflower had a mouth feel like grits, making it easier to suspend reality for a bit. And the flavor? Out of this world! If you like TexMex, spice and great flavor, this is for you! You won't miss the corn or dairy!

Ingredients:

1 medium tomato

1/4 green bell pepper

1/4 red bell pepper

1/2 fresh jalapeño 

1 garlic clove

1/2 small onion

Large handful of spinach

Few TBL ancho chili powder

1TBL cumin

11/2-2 cups riced cauliflower 

1/4 of an avocado

Crumbled bacon

1-2 eggs

Cilantro

Method

Chop all your veggies:

Don't be scared of the jalapeño, it adds a great flavor:

Put the onion, peppers and garlic in a pan to sauté with a little coconut oil: 

After a few minutes add the tomato and spinach. After it's all incorporated add your spice! Good spices are super important. I love Penzey's and order everything from them. Their ancho chili powder is so rich and full of flavor:

Add the chili powder and cumin and a bit of water to make it saucy. If you don't have ancho, any chili will do. I like ancho because there is no heat. So keep that in mind when subbing. 

Next, add your cauliflower 'grits':

Combine with the sauce and let it simmer for about 5-10 min. Now it all comes together quickly. Fry an egg in some grassfed butter. Chop your avocado and cilantro. Grab a bowl and layer everything! Cauligrits on the bottom. Top with the egg, bacon, avocado and cilantro:

Isn't it gorgeous?? Now get a fork and dig in!!! It really was delicious! TexMex takes me to my happy place, so I was smiling. 

I even had my very non paleo, super carb eater husband try it. He begrudgingly admitted he liked it but that it needed 'alot' of sour cream. Ha. I'd say that is a pretty good review from carbohydrate Christopher.

Seriously, this is very good and worthy of a place as a staple in my paleo rotation! Love! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Grain Free, bacon topped porridge (or fauxtmeal)

I'm in the midst of a 21 day sugar detox and part of this detox is eliminating ALL grains. That part of this isn't too hard for me, because I rarely eat them anyway, but sometimes I find myself craving oatmeal. I fix it for my daughter quite often and while she's eating I'll repeatedly ask her 'is it good!?' with a somewhat wild look in my eye. When I go full on Paleo or low carb, the go to breakfast is eggs. And meat of some sort. But eggs for me in the morning are hard. And I rarely like non breakfast foods for breakfast. The hardest part of this detox for me is the no dairy aspect. Heavy cream, Greek yogurt and cheese are huge staples of my diet and are usually what I rely on for breakfast. What's a girl to do? I remembered a few years ago I made a grain free porridge, or fauxtmeal as I liked to call it, so I did a quick google search to see if I could track down the recipe. My Lord, has the popularity of this grown in two years! There are so many variations of this recipe that have been blogged about, so if you don't like this one, browse the others. I modified the recipe from 'My little jar of spices' . Like me, she also has a hard time with eggs in the morning, so her recipe had no eggs. However, I added one egg yolk to mine to give it a good dose of organic, free range eggy goodness.

 

So do you want a hot cereal for breakfast that is legal for paleo or the 21 day sugar detox? Look no further!! 

Ingredients:

1/2 Granny Smith apple, chopped

1/2 green tipped banana, chopped

3 TBL ground golden flax

2 TBL unsweetened coconut

1/2 TBL coconut flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 full fat coconut milk

3/4 cup water

1 egg yolk

Crispy cooked bacon

Method:

Chop your apple and banana and set a few tablespoons to the side to top with later:

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside:

In a saucepan melt some grassfed butter or coconut oil and sauté the apple and banana with a pinch of cinnamon until they are soft and fragrant. Place them in a bowl: 

In the same pan add all of the liquid and stir continuously until warm. This is so the egg won't cook, but it probably will be fine if you don't stir continuously. 

Next, add all the dry ingredients and stir until thick:

Finally add your cooked fruit back in and combine. Put it in a bowl and top with your fresh fruit and a dollop of grass fed butter:

And finally, the piece de resistance! BACON!! Crumble it on top of your bowl of primal, grain free goodness: 

The bacon seriously makes this dish!! So good! I really loved the feeling of eating oatmeal even though I wasn't. It's a mental thing. And I can imagine that it would be totally perfect with the addition of a little raw honey! Go ahead, you know you want to eat this!!

The Spiralizer (or how to make really convincing fake pasta)

I'm a sucker for gadgets. I have more than I care to admit, most languishing away in a dark corner of my basement. But I recently stumbled across something called a Spiralzer. It takes veggies and potatoes and basically turns them into ribbons, spirals and noodles. I saw a few pictures of what looked like spaghetti on the 'Against All Grains' blog and knew I had to have one! I ordered one a few days ago and it arrived today. (I couldn't get a good picture of it, so you'll just have to do some google legwork.) I often make 'pasta' out of zucchini using a peeler, so I get thick ribbons, but the thought of twirly pasta is just seductive to a low carb gal. So guess what we made? Yep, spaghetti:

The noodles turned out great!! Long and thin and round. But how would they cook up? Would they hold their shape? Let's find out. I heated up some olive oil, a clove of garlic, a little grassfed butter, fresh oregano & parsley:

Smelled delicious and I sautéed it for maybe 90 seconds. The size decreased quite a bit, and I might have overlooked it a tad, but it looked great:

They were great!! As usual, they released some water, but just consider it bonus sauce! 

And finally, the ultimate test, can you twirl it like regular pasta?

Yes! Yes you can!!! 

So was it worth the purchase? Yes, mostly because of the twirl factor. By the way, you'll never hear me say 'this is just as good as REAL pasta!' I hate when food bloggers say this, it's just not true. Fake pizza is not as good as the real thing, just like pasta made out of zucchini, while creative, is not as good as the real deal!! But it certainly satisfies that desire for the whole twirl your pasta ritual that many of us low carb, primal eaters still fantasize about!

Good stuff!