Paleo Mushroom, Onion & Spinach Frittata (with optional sweet potatoes)

I'm a big fan of breakfast foods. Yesterday afternoon, my husband and I stopped by Whole Foods to buy a few things for dinner. While shopping browsing, he suggested we get some fancy sausage for Sunday breakfast. That prompted us to buy bacon. Then my brain thought frittata, so I grabbed some veggies for that. One thing led to another and we walked out of there with quite the haul.

As soon as I awoke, I got started on breakfast. It was a pretty easy dish to put together though.

Paleo Spinach, Onion and Mushroom Frittata

Serves: 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T. fat of choice
• ½ onion, diced (I used yellow)
• 8 oz. sliced baby bella mushrooms (could use button/white mushrooms)
• 3 large handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 cup of roasted sweet potatoes, diced (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 eggs, whisked
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler to high.
2. Heat fat in a cast iron skillet (or other oven-safe pan) over medium to medium-high heat.
3. Add onions and sauté for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Stir in mushrooms and allow to cook down for 5-7 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
5. Season with sea salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Toss in the spinach until it is wilted.
7. Add sweet potatoes, if using. I happened to have some leftover from a previous meal.  
8. Add garlic and stir to distribute. Spread the veggies out evenly in the skillet.
9. Pour the whisked eggs evenly over the veggies and let the frittata cook for about 7 minutes, or until bottom is set. Push away the edges a couple times and tilt the pan so the uncooked egg will cook properly.
10. Put frittata (in pan) on the middle rack of the oven. The broiler will cook the top of the egg. Broil for approximately 5-7 minutes or until the top is slightly browned.
11. Remove from oven and cut into 4 pieces. Remember, the pan is extremely hot, so use your oven mitts!  
12. Serve with sausage, bacon and fruit. 

Blueberry-maple sausage and applewood-smoked bacon from Whole Foods

This is a great basic recipe for a frittata. You could easily swap out some of the veggies for other veggies. I considered buying asparagus instead of the spinach. You could also add a little meat directly to the frittata.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did! I will definitely be making more frittatas in the future. It was so easy to make and different from the usual omelette or fried eggs. 

Question of the day: What meats and/or veggies would you put into your ideal frittata? I would love a sausage, mushroom and onion frittata drizzled with pizza sauce. Pizza frittata! That may be next on the docket.

Please like and share this recipe with your friends and family. Feel free to use the Pin It button located below this post. If you don't see the Pin It button, please click on the title of this blog post and that will pull up the individual post. You should then see the Pin It button at the bottom of the post. If you like this dish, please comment so others will know. Thank you! 

Paleo Easter Treats: Recipe Round-Up

Source: Angie's Suburban Oasis

Happy Good Friday to all!

Sunday is Easter and many of you will be spending time with your friends and family celebrating the holiday. Some traditions may include coloring Easter eggs, conducting Easter egg hunts, making chocolate bunnies and indulging in other spring-related treats. I've rounded up a list of Paleo treats you could make for the special day.

1. Carrot Cake Pancakes by Multiply Delicious
2. Carrot Cake Cookie Bars by Real Sustenance
3. Paleo Creme Eggs by The Paleo Mom
4. Healthy Easter Basket Ideas by Robb Wolf
5. Lemon Curd Bars by The Nourishing Gourmet
6. Carrot Cake Muffins by Livin Paleo
7. Chocolate Almond Butter Bunnies and Eggs by Healthy. Happy. Life. (recipe calls for peanut butter, but use almond butter or Sunbutter to make it Paleo)
8. Lemon Cookie Tarts by Healthful Pursuit
9. Healthy Cadbury Creme Eggs by Chocolate Covered Katie
10. Carrot Cake Milkshake by Chocolate Covered Katie

If treats aren't really your cup of tea, here are some great resources on how to color your eggs naturally, without the use of food dyes. 

1. What's Cooking America
2. Better Homes & Garden
3. Vegetable Gardener

Growing up, we always had Easter egg hunts. My parents did an incredible job hiding the eggs. They would hide green eggs in the plants around the house, pink eggs against pink furniture and so on. They usually put a combination of candy and money inside the eggs. My brothers and I took the hunt very seriously. We did this up until I was 16 or 17 (and my brothers are older than me). 

My husband and I don't have any kids, so the Easter egg hunt won't be on our agenda. However, the carrot cake pancakes and lemon cookie tarts both sound amazing though. I may have to indulge a bit on Sunday and try out those recipes. Sunday is the the last day before I get serious about getting lean. While some will be ending their Lenten sacrifices, I will just be starting my purification period. 

What will you be doing for Easter? Do you have a special meal planned? I would love to hear about how you celebrate the holiday. 

Hoppy Easter and enjoy your weekend! 

Whole30 - Day 7

Amazing how fast time flies. We're already a week into Whole30 and I have no desire for any "cheat" foods. Blasted sugars, be gone! My sugar addiction has ended! It's incredible what one's mind can do. Oh, and sharing your daily food intake for anyone to see. That may have an impact. Pre-Paleo, I ate homemade sweets (almost daily), pastas and breads. I always made sure we had a veggie at each meal though. I definitely think it has helped to become Paleo first. That allowed me to cut out the grains, dairy, legumes, processed foods and refined sugars. It's a lot easier to get rid of honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar than going from the Standard American Diet to Whole30 overnight.

The National Championship game wasn't the most exciting, so I went to bed early on time without the feeling of missing it. My workout consisted of 3x15-minute circuits with cycling on the trainer and Crossfit exercises (jump roping, 100 squats, 100 sit-ups and 25 push-ups). Love starting my day off with a workout. It helps to get solid rest the night before though. Breakfast was a quick throw-together of random leftovers. Work was extremely busy. I didn't get a chance to eat my lunch until 1:30pm. It was another somewhat mild day (mid to upper 40s) so I wanted to take a walk. No time though. Something I noticed today is that I've curbed my snacking desire. I used to snack mid-afternoon at work, but haven't done so since starting this. Granted, there have only been 5 work days since starting Whole30, but that's still an improvement.

It was nearly 7pm before I had everything ready for dinner. We had an appointment at 6pm, so it interrupted my cooking a bit. While changing into my pajamas (so I didn't mess up my pretty Desigual skirt), I looked in the mirror and thought I was looking a bit thinner. That is a good sign!

We are implementing a new tradition here. Each week, we are going to try a new produce item. This week was rutabagas. Who knew they were so delicious?! I can't believe I've been missing out on them my entire life. I already have next week's food picked out. What could it be?

Breakfast: Small yam & carrot cake leftover from a couple nights ago. Half of a small apple dijon burger leftover from last night. Wilted spinach. One fried egg. Cinnamon applesauce (for some reason, it sounded good).
Lunch: Leftover apple dijon burger salad, similar to last night's meal. Lettuce, burger, sauteed onions, avocado, egg (cooked in my microwavable egg cooker).
Dinner: Roasted cabbage. Pulled pork with rutabaga hash browns. Fried egg on top. A few sips of Passionberry Bliss Kombucha to wash it all down.

Learning photography as I go along. Left: Breakfast photos. Right: Dinner photos.

Something I noticed with today's menu, I ate an egg at every meal. I don't usually do that. It just happened that way. Just an FYI - I buy Omega-3, free range eggs. Ideally, I'd buy them from a farm, but haven't found one nearby yet.

Anyways, it took me 45 minutes to eat my plate of food because I was still cooking more rutabaga hash browns for our lunch tomorrow... so I was running into the kitchen every few minutes to stir them. So glad to be finished cooking. Leftovers are put into containers. My husband washed the pots/pans and cleaned up the kitchen. He rocks!

I'm feeling pretty drained after two solid days of work (shouldn't tomorrow be Friday?!). I'm planning on running over my lunch hour tomorrow since it will be another mild day. It takes 7-8 minutes to get to the State Park near my office. I better take advantage of these 50-degree winter days while they last. This weekend's highs: 22 degrees both days. Brrr!

What time of day do you workout? Do you workout twice or more in a day? I typically workout in the morning or lunchtime. In order to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time, I don't have the ability to workout after getting off work around 5pm. You do what you have to do.