BLT and Avocado Egg Salad (Paleo)

We all have our OCDs, right? Some just happen to be more, ummm, quirkier (?) ones then others.

Like when I was little and had to use the bathroom, I HAD to lock the door, jiggle the door knob to make sure it was locked, and then peek behind the shower curtain to make sure an axe murderer/monster/sister wasn’t there.

And then there was the need to hold my breath and touch something white every time I passed a cemetery.

Not to mention my (still) OCD of rereading my favorite book series starting the first day of Spring every year.

Hey- don’t judge! We all have our quirks (some just worst then others 😉 )

And another mandatory quirk of mine? Having some form of green eggs and ham/bacon every Dr. Seuss day (which happens to be tomorrow!) And that means either having

1) Avocado Deviled Eggs

2) Natural-Colored Green Eggs (and Ham) 

OR:

BTL and Avocado Egg Salad (Paleo)

Ingredients:

4 hard boiled eggs

1 avocado

2-3 cooked strips of organic bacon, broken into pieces

2 medium tomatoes, diced

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Chop eggs into small pieces and set aside. In a bowl, use a fork to mash up the avocado. Add in eggs and the rest of the ingredients and mix altogether. Let sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour before eating (I think it tastes better when it sits, but I won’t blame you if you can’t wait 😉 )

Advertisement

Stuffed Cabbage in the Crock Pot (Paleo)

Crock pot recipes have always intimidated me. I don’t know why since most of the recipes are just “throw everything in and walk away.”

I guess images of coming home to my house burned down have just got in the way.

So, I’ve been taking it in baby steps. Following recipes to the T (which was an accomplishment in itself) and waiting for days I was home all day to make sure the house didn’t catch flame.

And, since I wait for days when I’m home, I’ve been starting to play around with recipes. Literally. Play around. As in the case of this stuffed cabbage. Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed playing “doctor” and “mending up” cabbage leaves that had rips and holes in them.

Don’t ask.

So, in conclusion, I’ve become more at ease with my crock pot. Now, I just need to practice leaving the house while it’s on. Maybe I’ll drive around the block or something for practice…

Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

Side note: since Dr. Seuss’s  birthday is tomorrow and green eggs are suddenly all the rage, I’ve reposted my green egg recipes at the bottom of this post 🙂

Stuffed Cabbage (Paleo) 

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

1.5 lbs organic, uncooked ground turkey (or beef)

1 cup raw cauliflower rice*

1/2 cup carrots, coined

1 onion

1 (28oz) can of fire roasted crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp dried basil, divided

1 tbsp dried oregano, divided

1 tbsp garlic powder, divided

salt and pepper

*To make cauliflower rice, place raw cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until it resembles rice. For this recipe, don’t cook/steam the rice

Directions: 

Bring a pot of water to a boil, cover with a colander, and add in whole cabbage. Cover with a lid and let steam for 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, remove and let cool. Carefully remove the cabbage leaves (I find that cutting off the stem helps). If cabbage leaves are still stiff, place in the pot of boiling water in bunches for about 30 seconds. Set leaves aside. (Note: Don’t panic if the leaves rip or have holes- it’s easily repairable.)

Place uncooked meat and cauliflower rice in a large bowl and set aside. Place the carrots and onion in a food processor and pulse into small pieces. Add this to the meat and cauliflower.  Mix altogether and set aside.

Pour HALF of the tomatoes into the crock pot. Add in 1 tbsp basil, 1/2 tbsp oregano, 1/2 tbsp garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir. With the leftover seasonings, add this to the remaining can of tomatoes and stir. Set the can aside for later.

Now, Spread out cabbage leaves. If there are rips or holes, use extra leaves to cover and “patch up” the area. Place some of meat mixture onto a leaf and roll it on up, tucking in the sides once finished. The amount of meat you use depends on the leaf size- I just kinda eyeballed it. Place stuffed cabbage in the crock pot. Repeat until all meat is gone (I got 14 rolls out of this).

Once all rolled up and placed in the crock pot, top with the remaining crushed tomatoes. Cook in the crock pot on HIGH for 6 hours.

Dr. Seuss Recipes:

Natural-Colored Green Eggs (and Ham)

Avocado Deviled Eggs

Natural-Colored Green Eggs (and Ham)

Tomorrow is Theodor Geisel’s (AKA Dr. Seuss’s) 109th birthday. How would a college student know this? Just the perks of working at a preschool, I guess. All this week, I’m been teaching lessons based around the Cat in the Hat, Marvin K. Mooney, Thing 1 and Thing 2, etc, etc.

I need to spend more time with people my own age.

Anyway, one of the things the kids made this week was green eggs. Eggs + green dye. Definitely not my thing. So, I made my own with natural food coloring- spinach. Simple and much better than digesting artificial coloring. I wish I could’ve shared this with the preschool, but I have a feeling they would have turned it down (unfortunately, kids can become very picky eaters at the sheer mention of spinach). If however, you have picky kids, but want to still make this for Dr. Seuss Day, I recommend pureeing the spinach and eggs together before said kids enter the room. The color green might distract them from asking questions. Of course, you can just make this for yourself instead 🙂

Natural-Colored Green Eggs (and Ham)

Ingredients:

2 free-range, organic eggs

fresh spinach, packed (2/3 cup will get you the color in the picture. I normally use 1 cup for a rich green color)

1/4 cup water

1/2 tbsp chives

salt and pepper, to taste

Optional: slices of organic ham

Directions:

In a food processor, puree all ingredients together until green throughout (this will make the eggs bubbly. Don’t worry, it’ll go down while cooking). Then, simply scramble the eggs as you normally would do. Serve with ham, if desired.

Who says green eggs are only for kids anyway?