Laziest Paleo Quiche

The mornings that I have work are crazy hectic for me. I hit Crossfit from 6 to 7 and then I have to: head home, shower, get ready, and be out the door by 7:50 to get to work on time. Because of this tight squeeze, I usually end up eating breakfast in the car. Which kind of sucks but I'm used to it by now. Hard boiled eggs get boring quickly, so I'm always trying to find new on-the-go breakfast options.

Enter quiche. It is the perfect take-along meal because it has protein and veggies all in one package, is still tasty when cold, and easy to eat in the car! Not to mention this recipe makes a TON and it keeps well. Breakfast for the week? Done.

Lazy Crustless Quiche (paleo)

1 sweet potato, shredded

1 zucchini, shredded & squeezed of excess water

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

12 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375*.

2. Combine all ingredients.

3. Pour into a greased 9x13" pan.

4. Bake for about 45 minutes.

5. Cool in pan on wire rack. Will deflate a bit upon cooling.

6. Eat warm, at room temperature, or cold. Don't forget to top with hot sauce!

Doesn't everyone drive around with hot sauce in their car? (And I was stopped at a red light, so no hating.)

This recipe is super forgiving. Add any veggies you have hanging around, toss in some cheese if you aren't paleo, or sub out some of the whole eggs for egg whites. It is pretty hard to mess up quiche so don't be shy!

Let me know what you put in your quiche!

Lemon & Artichoke Chicken

Well, that was certainly a long absence. Unfortunately this time around it wasn't for any cool reasons, like going to Africa. I don't know quite what it was - I just haven't been in the mood to write or post anything. I've been in a bit of a funk, I guess.

Thankfully, whatever it was seems to be lifting now! The weather is finally nice, I've had a whole ton of fun concerts and a race to keep me occupied, and my mom surprised me with a cheery bouquet and a mom-daughter day. She's the best! <3 

Since my two only biggest fans have been harassing me about the lack of posts, this one is for them. ;)

(Follow me on Instagram: @massachuseats)

Lemon and Artichoke Chicken (paleo!)

adapted from Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

12 ounce bag frozen artichoke hearts

1/4 cup capers, drained

Juice from 2 lemons

Big splash of white wine (omit if you're super strict paleo)

4 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

Salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons plain coconut (or Kerrygold grassfed) butter

1. Preheat oven to 375*.

2. In a large oven-proof skillet, melt the coconut oil. Saute the red onion until it starts turning translucent. Add the artichoke hearts, capers, and lemon juice. Cook together about 1 minute or until artichoke hearts start to thaw slightly.

3. Season the chicken thighs with salt and black pepper and add to the skillet. Top each thigh with 1/2 tablespoon coconut butter.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

I served mine on top of mashed cauliflower, which sopped up the fantastic, delicious sauce. I'm seriously addicted to this dish...in fact, I'm making it for dinner again right now! :)

WIAW #49

Between the snow piled up and the cold, I'm seriously over winter at this point. Hello? Paging spring, come in spring!

While warm weather and sunshine would be nice, all that tasty fresh spring and summer produce would be even better. As much as I enjoy cooking with squashes and cauliflower, I'm nearly over them as well. 

Sigh. Its gotta come sometime, right?

Maybe a little WIAW action will lift my spirits! Let's give it a go...

I've been loving this breakfast lately! "Oat bran" without the oats, topped with chia seeds and almond butter. Fantastic swap for my much beloved and missed oatmeal while I'm eating paleo.
"Oat Bran" Without The Oats recipe from Carrots 'N' Cake 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk 3 egg whites 1 banana, mashed 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or almond) extract 1. Whisk together almond milk and egg whites. Stir in remaining ingredients. 2. Pour into a saucepan and cook until set. (This doesn't take too long, maybe 5 to 7 minutes?) 3. Top with whatever you wish - nut butter, seeds, fruit, raw honey, etc.

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A recycled photo but one that I could use practically every week if I wanted to. The usual chicken and salad lunch....aka Snoozeville. I was doing pretty well at making enough leftovers to bring for lunch, but have definitely dropped the "prepping food" ball lately. 

Steak, onions, and salad - a crazy easy dinner but a winner! I kept the steak simple, using only salt and pepper and broiling it to medium-rare. Sometimes the simplest method yields the best results.
What's your favorite whip together dinner? Always love those great ideas floating out in blog-land!
Have a great Hump Day! ;)

Crossfittin'

Happy Monday everyone! 

Hope you all had a great St. Patrick's Day and are feeling alright today. ;)

For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling great after St. Pat's. I only ended up having one beer yesterday and that was more to celebrate my Open WOD 13.2 do-over success! 

(photo via Crossfit Games page)

I'd done 13.2 on Friday morning and ended up being pretty disappointed in my performance, completing only 6 full rounds (or 180 reps). I couldn't stop thinking about how I coulda, woulda, shoulda done better, so Sunday morning I gave it another go. Thankfully, it ended up being worth it! I added 43 extra reps, bringing my total up to 223 reps (or 7 full rounds plus 5 shoulder-to-overheads and 8 deadlifts)! :)

Obviously I'm nowhere near close to ever making it to Regionals, but that doesn't matter to me. I just want to push myself to do the best that I can. And, so far, I'm very happy with my personal performances!

Last month was my Crossfit one year anniversary and it is crazy to think about how much I've learned this past year; how well I've improved in this short of a time span.

And it is also crazy to think about how far I still have to go.

But that is the best part - knowing that I will again improve so much this year. And by this time next year, I will be even stronger, faster, and better!

A few of my favorite reads:

Four Reasons Every Crossfitter Should Participate in the Crossfit Games Open
All true, but especially #4. On Sunday, only one other friend and I were redoing the WOD. Yet a handful of other members (and my babe!!) came to watch us get at it. So much fun having them there and cheering us on - such a great community!

What Is A Crossfitter?
Exactly. 

Chicks + Muscles
Your workout is our warm-up! ;)

21 Confessions of Crossfitters
Haha these are great! Well, except for #18 - that's just crazy talk.

Irish Car Bomb Brownies

Since it will be Saint Patrick's Day this weekend, I figured it was in my blogger duties to share a yummy holiday recipe! (That and these photos have been taking up space on my computer for a year now...)

Most St. Patty's Day themed recipes I've come across are either: 1) green or 2) boozy. And well, this one is no different. It is, in fact, both. These brownies are actually have three different kinds of booze in 'em. 

Go big or go home right? ;)

Seriously though, these were fantastic! They looked gorgeous with the bright green swirl running through the dark chocolate-y color. And the ganache was ridiculously sinful - it has over a pound of chocolate in in so how could it not be?

Swirly goodness

Irish Car Bomb Brownies

recipe from A Spicy Perspective

For the brownies
1 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, melted
12 ounces chopped chocolate
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
10 ounces Guinness

For the Bailey Irish Cream swirl
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
Green food coloring, if you wish

For the whiskey ganache
1 pound chopped chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 to 3 teaspoons Jameson (or other Irish whiskey)

*Tip: If you don't have any Jameson on hand and don't want to buy an entire bottle, look for mini bottles aka "nips" in the store!*

1. Preheat the oven to 375*. Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil.
2. First, make the cream cheese swirl: in a bowl, cream the cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar together until completely smooth. Add 1 egg and 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream (and food coloring, if you desire); beat until smooth. Set aside.
3. Now let's start the brownies: in a second bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
4. In a third bowl, melt the butter and 12 ounces chocolate together in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring well after each. Alternatively, melt together in a double boiler in the stovetop. Either way, let cool slightly before proceeding.
5. And in a fourth bowl, beat 1 cup of sugar and 4 eggs together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Next, slowly add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Then, slowly add the flour mixture. Now, stir in the beer.
6. Pour half of the brownie batter into the baking pan. Top with the Bailey-cream cheese mixture. Top with the remaining brownie batter. Using a knife, swirl the two mixtures together.
7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan.
8. Once cool, make the ganache. Pour the heavy cream, Irish Whiskey, and 1 pound of chopped chocolate in a bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Or, again, use a double boiler. Pour over the top of the brownies and smooth with a spatula. Place in the fridge for the ganache to set.
9. Once ganache has set, lift the brownies out of the pan using the foil edges. Cut and serve. The brownies cut much better while they are cold, but taste better at room temperature.

Happy St. Patty's everyone! Drink a green beer for me!

Also, check out last year's Guinness Brownies HERE

They were also amazing (so fudgy) and take a lot less work and dishes to make!

WIAW #48

And we're back with another WIAW!

Or perhaps I should say WIAINYC? 

Nah, that sounds weird. 

Well whatever - this is What I Ate...in New York City! (Spoiler alert: nothing healthy! Whoops.)

Delicious mac n cheese from Macbar

Mac Quack w/ duck confit, caramelized onions, fontina cheese, and "fines herbes."

McSorley's

You only have two beer options here: light or dark. I went for light!

The Meatball Shop was fabulous! Great food and super reasonable prices.

Chicken cordon bleu slider, classic meatballs with classic red sauce, cheesy polenta, and a snickerdoodle & brown sugar ice cream sandwich.

Brunch at East L.A. in Hoboken, NJ
Huevos Con Chorizo: chorizo & cheesy scrambled eggs, rice, refried beans, tortilla, side of avocado. And a super strong mango margarita.

Grimaldi's!

Brick oven pizza topped with black olives! <3

Bagels & Schmear (Am I the only one who thinks the word 'schmear' sounds gross?!)

New York-style everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese. 

Pez!

Lots of different flavors of Pez from the factory tour in Orange, CT.

More pizza, this time from BAR in New Haven, CT

Mashed potato, bacon, and onion pizza. Heaven!

I was in a serious carb-coma after this weekend. 

Bring on the veggies!

German Apple "Pancake"... Muffin...Thingy

I only started Crossfit a year ago so this is my first time competing in the Opens! Even though I have absolutely, positively no chance in going to the Games - or even Regionals - it is still a really cool experience to compete with over 100, 000 other Crossfit athletes worldwide!

This morning I completed the first workout, Open WOD 13.1. It feels really good to get that first workout done and under my belt, especially since it was pretty fierce sounding:

I finished with 121 reps! (So, for those not familiar with Crossfit, I completed both sets of 40 & 30 burpees, plus 30 45# & 21 75# snatches. Make sense?) Overall, I'm pretty happy with my score. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and I am now thinking of how I'd do it differently next time but whatever. I'm going away this weekend (NYC!) so there's no opportunity to redo it and that's just as well...I'm already sore!

ANYWAY, let me dish up what you actually came here for: the German apple pancake. Well, that's what the recipe was named at least; I might have said it was a muffin. (Perhaps there's a reason its called a pancake in the first place? Anyone German here?) 

But really it doesn't matter what it's called as long as it is delicious, right?

One bit of advice I have for you: make sure to cook 'em completely. Mine were just a tad underdone and, while still yummy, they were a bit eggy in the middle, as tends to happen when using coconut flour.

German Apple "Pancake"...Muffin...Thingy :)

recipe from Civilized Caveman

makes 7 to 8

6 eggs

1 cup almond milk (I used unsweetened)

3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 apples, cored, peeled, and diced (I used Fuji)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons raw honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Chopped pecans, as many or as little as you want

1. Preheat oven to 425*. Grease large-cup muffin tin or 8 ramekins (placed on a baking sheet) with extra coconut butter.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs through maple syrup.

3. In a small bowl, whisk coconut flour through nutmeg.

4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; beat until well combined. Set aside.

5. In frying pan, melt the 2 tablespoons coconut oil and raw honey. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Cook 1 minute. Stir in the apples. Saute a few minutes and get 'em all coated up.

6. Divide the apple mixture evenly among your greased tin/ramekins. Top with an even amount of the egg/coconut flour mixture.

7. Bake for 20 minutes at 420*. Then, reduce the heat to 375* and continue baking for another 20 minutes, or until cooked throughout.

8. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans before serving. I liked topping mine with a little extra maple syrup, too!