The EASIEST Vegetable Frittata in the World (Bacon Optional!)

Tags

AIP, Autoimmune Protocol, Autoimmune Protocol Reintroduction, Dairy Free, Eggs, Grain Free, Lunchbox Ideas, Paleo, Primal, Quiche

(Image by TSL)

I’m currently on the Autoimmune Protocol, a nutrient-rich elimination diet that removes foods that irritate the gut, cause gut imbalance and activate the immune system. You can read more about the protocol and why I’m doing this here. This recipe is only suitable for the autoimmune protocol if you have successfully reintroduced eggs. 

I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you’re twenty minutes.(Oscar Wilde)

It seems Sarah Ballantyne and her autoimmune protocol are gaining considerable global traction. And, I can understand why. I’m a believer. It has taken me some time, not to mention a pretty big level of commitment, but I am currently finally free of the autoimmune symptoms that have been plaguing me for 23 years. TWENTY THREE YEARS! That’s pretty amazing…

But that’s not the purpose of this wee post.

One of the best things about undertaking a protocol like AIP, other than the health benefits you hope to achieve, is the support you receive from other people within the ‘AIP Community’ from around the world. There are blogs and Facebook groups, forums and Pinterest boards. And without exception, I have found the people in these groups to be knowledgable, encouraging and understanding. It can be a bit of a lonely road when most of your friends eat a pretty standard diet and you can no longer go out to restaurants, have a coffee or a glass of wine.

And, one of the most common questions asked within these groups is around how to provide food for a family when you are so restricted by the elimination of all potentially inflammatory foods – often for a long period of time. It’s a valid question, especially when there are young children involved.

In this, I am very lucky. LM has totally supported my weird food journey from the first. He’s happy to eat whatever I eat and considers himself my ‘Primary Recipe Tester’. And while its true that the food we eat is full of great flavour and super healthy, we are certainly limited because of the restrictions – particularly by way of spices, nightshades (tomatoes!), nuts and eggs.

First you gotta’ crack some eggs…
(Image by TSL)

Then, you mix everything together and pop it into a greased dish
(Image by TSL)

…and pop it in the oven until its ready!
(Image by TSL)

Regardless of whether we are on the autoimmune protocol or not, Casa TSL is a gluten-free and dairy-free zone*. LM has a violent reaction to cow juice and just feels better when he’s not eating gluten. But, it is fair to say that I feel a little guilty about the fact that his diet is so restricted because of me.

Because of that, even though I’m not eating eggs at the moment, I’ve taken to making him one of these SUPER easy frittatas. It takes no time to whip one up on a Sunday night and its a much healthier alternative to the sandwiches that traditionally fill a lunchbox, with a big hit of protein from the eggs and loads of vegetables.

LM calls this his frittata-ta-ta-ta-ta…. While the base recipe remains constant, I mix it up and throw in pretty much whatever I feel like (read: whatever’s in the fridge). It’s kind of LM’s Potluck Frittata-ta-ta-ta-ta…

The EASIEST Vegetable Frittata in the World

• Servings: 6 (12 for little people)
• Time: about an hour
• Difficulty: easy-peasey
• Print

Ingredients

Base Frittata:
1 x large courgette (zucchini), grated and squeezed in a clean tea towel to remove as much moisture as possible
1 x large carrot, grated
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
salt (I use pink Himalayan salt) & freshly ground pepper
12 x happy eggs, beaten
1 x Tablespoon lard or coconut oil

Optional extras:
garlic
Shredded kumara (sweet potato),
cheese (here we use goats curd or sheep’s milk cheese)
onion
chopped bacon or pancetta
leftover roast meat
leftover roast veggies
smoked salmon
broccoli/cauli’ florets
Sliced leeks
Brussels sprouts
wilted spinach/silver-beet/chard
additional herbs

Method

1. Heat your oven to 180°C (fan forced)/360°F. Grease a ceramic dish with your lard or coconut oil (my dish is 19cm square)

2. Crack your eggs into a large bowl. Add salt and pepper. Whisk well.

3. Stir in your grated courgette and carrot, chopped fresh parsley, and any other ingredients.*

4. Pop in the oven for approximately 45 minutes (until the edges are golden brown). The frittata will puff up a little in the oven and then flatten out as it cools.

*this time I added sautéed red onion and pancetta, and a little goats curd

E N J O Y !

*I hope to be able to reintroduce some high quality dairy eventually

 

 

 

SUPER SIMPLE Breakfast Burger Patties

Tags

AIP, Batch Cooking, Breakfast, Breakfast Ideas, Breakfast on the run, Breakfast Sausage, Dairy Free, Easy Breakfasts, Gluten Free, Lewis Carroll, Lunchbox Ideas, Paleo, School Lunch Ideas, The Autoimmune Protocol

(Image by TSL)

Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. (Lewis Carroll)

I’m currently on the Autoimmune Protocol, a nutrient-rich elimination diet that removes foods that irritate the gut, cause gut imbalance and activate the immune system. You can read more about the protocol and why I’m doing this here.

One of the most often heard questions for newbies who give up grains is, “But, what do I eat for breakfast?” No toast. No muesli. No corn flakes. No cocoa-pops. No pancakes or waffles. Answer – there are a hundred and one ways you can eat eggs.

But, what on earth do you eat when eggs are off the menu, too?

To be honest, it does require a paradigm shift. I have found you kinda’ have to get rid of the notion that ‘breakfast’ has a separate set of foods to lunch and dinner. And, as with all things AIP, it needs some planning ahead. So, here at Casa TSL there are quite a lot of hash-style ‘combos’ made up of leftover mash or roasted vegetables (parsnip, kumara*, celeriac, pumpkin, carrot) with some animal protein – often bacon – and some form of vegetable, usually wilted greens of some description, all finished of with some bone broth and a side of fermented vegetables. And – I promise I’m not pulling your leg – it tastes great. Even LM thinks so!

But sometimes a change is in order.

The thing about breakfast is that it comes with a sense of urgency. Unless it’s the weekend, people generally do not have time to linger. You want something fast.

(Image by TSL)

Enter the super simple Breakfast Burger Pattie**… I’ve started making these every time I make the trek to my butcher. A kilo of whatever mince*** tickles your fancy on the day + whatever herbs you have handy + a little garlic, and salt & pepper (and, if you want to be really sneaky, throw in some finely chopped liver. It’s a great way to add it to your diet without noticing it’s there).

I mix everything together thoroughly with my hands, before measuring out patties of around 120g each (or just over 4 ounces). Pop them in the oven, and then once cooked and cooled, they go into individual wrapped parcels into the freezer.

Simples!

Pop one out of the freezer the night before and – at it’s most basic – it’s ready to eat with some avocado and, maybe a piece of fruit, in the morning.

• Servings: 8 - 10 patties
• Time: 40 minutes
• Difficulty: easy-peasey
• Print

(Image by TSL)

Ingredients

1 kg good quality mince meat from happy animals (I used 500g beef mince, 500g pork mince this week)
3 – 4 Tablespoons fresh herbs of choice (today I used parsley, coriander and chives)
2 cloves garlic, minced OR 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Generous pinch of salt
100g fresh liver, finely chopped, lamb or chicken (optional)
2 rashers bacon, finely chopped (optional)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F.

2) Throw all the ingredients into a large bowl and give it a seriously good mix with your hands. Don’t be shy!

3) At this point, I’m a bit anal – I want my patties to be the same size so I weigh the sausage mixture and work out how many patties I can make at close to 120g (just over 4 ounces). If you are not anal, skip this step!

4) Form evenly sized patties with your hands and place on a rack over an oven tray.

5) Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

E N J O Y !

* sweet potato to you guys up north

** aka – breakfast sausage

** ground meat to the Americans!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Thighs Stuffed with Salsa Verde

Tags

AIP, Bacon, Chicken, Dairy Free, Doug Larson, Gluten Free, GRUB, Lunchbox Ideas, Main Course, Paleo, Salsa Verde, Stuffed Chicken

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Thighs Stuffed with ‘Knock Their Socks Off’ Salsa Verde
(Image by LM for TSL)

 

Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon. (Doug Larson)

So, the teenager mentioned he was coming to dinner. We haven’t seen that much of him of late. He’s getting more and more independent – he finished school forever in December and then he passed his driver’s license…

I had this leftover-but-still-so-good ‘Knock Their Socks Off’ Salsa Verde sitting in my fridge… And, then LM decided it was a good day to drive to Vaucluse to visit our friends at G.R.U.B. (that’s the Grass Roots Urban Butcher, for the uninitiated)… And, then I had this brainwave – what if I put the salsa verde inside my protein of choice instead of spooning it on after it was cooked… And, of course, everything tastes better with bacon…

And so, the bacon-wrapped chook thighs stuffed with salsa verde were born.

The lovely Peter at G.R.U.B. skinned my chook filets for me. He even offered to flatten them, too. But, I have to admit to finding it strangely therapeutic to bash lovingly use a meat mallet to flatten the filets all by myself.

And, this recipe was a cracker! We’ll definitely be having these again at Casa TSL. Any leftovers make for great lunch-box fillers. I reckon it would work equally well with veal or pork, or – with a slight variation in preparation – with fish, too.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Salsa Verde

• Time: Just over an hour if you have the salsa verde handy!
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

(Image by LM for TSL)

Ingredients

6 (or more!) large happy* chicken thigh fillets (boneless & skinless)
6 (or more!) rashers happy* bacon
‘Knock Their Socks Off’ Salsa Verde**
salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/360°F/Gas 4.

2. Lay chicken thighs skin side down on a board. Using a meat mallet, gently pound chicken into schnitzel thickness (that’s a technical term).

3. Cover one side of each flattened thigh with a generous spoon of salsa verde

4. Roll chicken thighs up and wrap with a rasher of bacon.

5. Secure with a cocktail stick/toothpick. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.

* pasture raised and free of nasties

**or, sub with either your favourite pesto or – in a pinch, and to make the dish AIP compliant – a couple of cloves of garlic and freshly chopped herbs to taste

Is it Just Me, or is This Plain Ridiculous…?

Tags

Apple, apple slices, Australia, Braeburn, Comercialisation, Convenience, Diet, food, Fruit, goulbourn valley, Goulburn Valley, Henry David Thoreau, Lunchbox Ideas, Ridiculous Products

(Image source unknown)

Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits. (Henry David Thoreau)

A slight departure from my usual offerings today because I have to reason-check something with you guys. I need to make sure I’m not going off on one of my crazy wee tangents. I want to ensure the world didn’t go completely bonkers while I wasn’t looking.

Here’s the thing. The lovely LM and I were sitting in front of the goggle-box at some stage this past week when I noticed an advertisement for packaged apple slices. Yes – you read that correctly, fresh(ish) apple slices wrapped and sealed in plastic. I thought it was a joke, seriously. I mean, why would anyone want buy packaged apple slices?

But no, upon a little investigation, the folks at Goulburn Valley are indeed producing “the perfect snack of choice in a convenient ready-to-go pack. GOULBURN VALLEY Fresh™ apple slices are the easiest way to get the goodness of fruit with a guaranteed crunch and without all the fuss!”

Goulbourn Valley Fresh
(Image from here)

This is a real product. And, it claims to remove all the fuss from eating an apple. What fuss? Is it just me, or does an apple not already come perfectly packaged in its natural form? I am genuinely nonplussed at this concept.

More Goulbourn Valley Fresh
(Image from here)

Here in Australia apples are available all year round. They are one of my go-to fruits – especially when slices are spread with this amazing macadamia butter that I buy at the Farmers Market. But that’s another story. As for preferred variety, it’s a toss-up between Braeburn and Pink Lady for me, but there are so many other options. And, they all come neatly encased as nature intended.

Ok – so, I’m an adult. I will accept that sometimes a fussy child may wish for apple slices for their morning-tea. Well, here’s the solution for how to keep a cut apple fresh in a lunchbox. All you need is an apple and a rubber band…

The Rubber Band Trick!
(Image from Pearl Trees)

Please tell me what you think. Is it just me, or are packaged apple slices just ridiculous?