Primal Egg Muffins / Cupcakes

As a busy law student, I love food that I can prepare ahead of time and eat all week.  My primal protein bars area perfect example.  I've been making a big batch every couple of weeks.  Today I came across a great time saver for breakfast.  Typically I have an omelet or scrambled eggs for breakfast.  But sometimes I'll hit the snooze button a couple times too many and don't have the time to cook breakfast.  Today I found the solution: primal/paleo egg muffins.  These are really simple to make and can save you valuable minutes each morning.  Here is how to make a batch of 6:

• Grease a muffin tin with olive oil or coconut oil (GREASE GOOD OR USE MUFFIN TINS OR THEY WILL STICK TO TIN)
• Whisk in a large bowl 5 eggs
• Chop up 2 handfuls of spinach (or break up in hands as I did) and add to egg
• Chop up 3 roasted red peppers
• Cook 3 strips of bacon in microwave, crumble up bacon, and add to egg
• Pour mixture into egg tins
• Cook at 350 degree for about 15-20 minutes

The egg muffins came out excellent.  They are like mini quiches or omelets.  I may try freezing a batch and see how well they hold up.  Also feel free to mess around with other ingredients such as ground beef, ham, onions, salsa, tomatoes, cheese (if you eat cheese), other spices, etc.

Here are all of the ingredients/supplies that you will need:

Before going into the oven:

Final project:

Primal Protein Bars / Paleo Protein Bars

Today I made some Paleo Protein Bars / Primal Protein Bars based off the recipe on Mark Sisson's Blog.  I doubled all of the ingredients called for and made some changes.  WOW.  These were awesome.  I was tempted to eat the whole batch in a day.  Here is the basic recipe:

• Toast 1 cup of almonds and 1 cup of pecans in oven
• Pulse almonds and pecans to a bread crumb texture
• In a separate bowl add 1/2 cup coconut oil and 1/2 cup almond butter
• Then heat coconut oil and almond butter for 30 seconds in microwave
• Add to liquid mixture 2 eggs, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tsp honey and some salt and mix
• Add almond and pecan mix to liquid mix
• Fold in 1/2 cup of almond meal (can be made by pulsing raw almonds)
• Fold in 1 cup of chocolate protein powder (I used ON chocolate whey)
• Fold in dried cranberries or blueberries or any other flavors you like (cinnamon, chocolate chips, etc.)
• Press mixture into a loaf pan
• Cook for 10-15 minutes at 325 degree (MAKE SURE NOT TO OVERCOOK- A GOOD AMOUNT OF OIL WILL RISE TO THE TOP - THAT IS GOOD)
• Place in fridge and then cut into bars

The bars came out very good.  I plan on making a few changes next time I make them, such as adding another egg and possibly some other fruit (apples and bananas).  The bars were a bit crumbly and difficult to cut, but overall I would definitely recommend them.  Also I spent about 15-20 dollars and got around 25-30 bars out of it.  So well under one dollar a bar, which is much cheaper than any bars out there.

Here are pretty much all the ingredients I used:

Here are the almonds and pecans after toasted:

Almond butter and coconut oil mixture:

Complete Mixture:

Primal Protein Bars:

Primal Pancakes (Banana Nut)

Today after running the Shamrock Run 5 mile race in Connecticut (more to come later), I was craving a hearty meal.  I decided to give paleo / primal pancakes a try as I had all the ingredients (except bananas, but conveniently I took a couple after the race).  I winged most of the recipe but here is what I did:

• Mash 2 bananas
• Add 1 or 2 eggs and mix together
• Add a heaping tablespoon of almond butter
• Pulse a hand full of almonds (can use pecans and walnuts too) and add to mixture
• Add cinnamon to taste (can also add vanilla, honey, fruit)
• OPTIONAL - add a scoop of protein powder - use another egg if you do this
• Throw some butter on a frying pan and pour in pancake mix (don't make them too large, they may be hard to flip)
• Top with butter, cinnamon or any other topping you choose

Overall they came out really good.  I was a bit nervous about how they would taste, as they did not look real appetizing.  I also didn't pulse the nuts all the way so there were some big chunks of nuts in the pancakes.  However, I couldn't be happier with them.  They almost have a banana bread taste to them, but with the texture of pancakes.  Here are some pics:

Egg Frittata

If you are sick of having your typical eggs for breakfast, a nice variation is a Paleo / Primal Egg Frittata.  You can pretty much use any combination of veggies and meats that you like.  Here is the recipe:

• Heat olive oil in frying pan (use a medium to small frying pan based on how big and thick you want the frittata)
• Add in onions and spinach/kale and cook until wilted
• Add in peppers, tomatoes and any other veggies
• Add in ground beef, sausage or any other meat
• Add pepper and oregano
• Spread out meat and veggies evenly in frying pan
• Mix 5 eggs
• Pour eggs into frying pan
• Cook for a few minutes, then add a lid to frying pan and cook for another 5 or so minutes

My First Attempt at Primal Bread

One of my favorite breakfasts is Eggs Over Easy.  But without a slice of toast to dunk in the yolk, it is not quite the same.  I came across a VERY simply primal / paleo bread recipe on Marks Daily Apple that I figured I would try.  It might be the easiest recipe you will ever come across.  Alot of people have chimed in with different variations which I may try.  Anyways, here is the recipe:

• Mix in bowl 1/4th cup flax meal, 2 tbsp coconut oil or butter, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 egg
• Pour mixture into a flat plastic or glass container about the size of a slice of bread
• Microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds
• Pop it out of the container and let it cool off

Easy as that.  So was how the bread?  It was average at best.  It was a little too dry for my liking.  Soaked in egg yolk it was good, but without the yolk it was very dry.  This may be a result of me estimating all of the ingredients.  I couldn't find measuring spoons/cups, so I just estimated everything.  I think I may have put in too much flax meal, so I may give it another try.  Here are some pics:

Crossfit WOD 110418

Today I did the Crossfit Workout of the Day.  The workout is three sets of the following as fast as you can:

• Run 100 m
• 50 push-ups
• Run 100 m
• 50 sit-ups
• Run 100 m
• 50 squats
• Run 100 m
• 50 back extensions (I subbed in 50 KB swings, you can also do good mornings)

I ended up doing the workout at a local soccer field, so I'm not sure the field was 100 m.  I think it was closer to 80 m.  Anyways it was really tough workout, the squats were particularly grueling.  My time was 18:52.

Not So Primal

I was watching ESPN and a commercial for DiGiorno Pizza & Cookies came up.  I wouldn't recommend eating this, but I thought it would be funny to capture some of the not so Primal meals that I come across.