Eggs in a Ham Cup

This recipe is from www.babble.com and can be found HERE

This is one of our new favorite weekend breakfasts, and here is how we do it:

Ingredients:
2 slices of ham per egg (so for us it's 8 slices)
4 eggs
Cooking spray
Salt & Pepper

Muffin tin (I use a large muffin muffin tin)

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray the muffin tin with the cooking spray to make the little cups of yum easier to get out.  Line 4 muffin cups with 2 slices of ham, letting it ruffle up the sides.  Crack 1 egg into each cup.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  We bake ours for about 23 minutes and it's just perfect-the egg is all set and not runny, but it's not hard and dry.  Enjoy!

Sweet Pepper Egg Rings

Emily found this idea on Pinterest. It's a really simple way to cook eggs that is T2DM friendly and at the same time delicious.

Ingredients (serves two)

1 sweet bell pepper (your choice of color)
4 eggs
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 pinches dill weed (one per egg ring)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the top off of the pepper and remove seed bulb and interior ribs. Slice four 3/8" rings from the pepper and save the rest for a salad or snack. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Place the four pepper rings in the pan and then crack an egg into each one. Add seasoning and then cook until the yolks are to your liking. Adding a cover will help the top of the egg cook, or you can flip them over after about four minutes.

Serve with your choice of toast and sausage. We used Jennie-O turkey breakfast sausage (two per person) and a whole Fiber One Hearty Wheat Multigrain english muffin with just a tiny bit of butter.

Per person net carbs: less than 15.

~David

Ratatouille

Ratatouille (that's fun to say!) is not only a lovable animated film title, it's also a very common and tasty vegetable dish that happens to be compatible with a diabetic diet. Everybody who cooks it does so differently; this is my take.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant, skin on, cubed
1 onion, sliced
2 red, orange or yellow peppers, cubed
2 yellow squash, cubed
2 zucchini, cubed
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thin or minced
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes with juice
1 container Cherub (grape) tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp fresh basil, ribboned
Salt and pepper to taste

Sweat onions in olive oil until lightly caramelized. Add garlic and cook for 2 min. Add in vegetables a cup or so at a time and stir into cooking ingredients. Add thyme and rosemary. When the vegetables are tender, add the canned and fresh tomatoes. Add salt and pepper. Cook until all ingredients are fork tender. Finally, add in basil and stir off heat.

This. Is. Delicious. And at 15 carbs per 1.5 cups, it's a winner. I'll eat 3 cups of this with a bit of chicken and call it a meal. 30 carbs ftw!

~David

Faux Mashed Potatoes

"Faux... you mean gross, right?" Well, not really. "But it doesn't have potato in it at all, WTF?" Granted, but it is tasty and, more importantly, I can eat it. I don't want it every day, but it's not bad at all. This is something I'll play with a bit. Might be really nice with a southwestern flair (a bit of corn and some smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin).

Ingredients

1/2 head cauliflower, rinsed and cut into equal size chunks
1/3 c. low fat cottage cheese
1 tsp. dill weed
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook cauliflower in water until fork tender. Put ingredients in a food processor and blitz for about a minute. Serve.

It'll do.

~David

Restaurant Style Salsa

I like salsa and I like good restaurant-style salsa the best. I found a pretty good recipe online (tastykitched.com) so I'm posting that recipe here.

Ingredients

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes with juice
2 cans Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies) or another brand you like
1/4 onion, small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole hot pepper (e.g., jalapeno)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 salt or to taste
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 chopped cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced

Toss the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to the consistency you like and then enjoy.

Hot and Sour Prawn Soup

The credit for this recipe goes to Gordon Ramsay. Say what you will about the man, but he can cook.

You'll need:

2 qts. chicken stock (see the recipe on this blog)
2 oz. fresh ginger peeled and cut into strips
2 stalks lemongrass
1 fresh cayenne pepper, cut into half lengthwise
Juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
2 - 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
1/2 lb. fresh shrimp
2 c. white button mushrooms
1/2 c. fresh cilantro (coriander if you're outside of the US)

Bring the stock to a boil and then take it off the heat. Add in everything but the shrimp and mushrooms and let infuse for 15 - 20 minutes. Strain and then add in the shrimp, mushrooms, and coriander (or cilantro). The shrimp will cook in the still-hot stock and you want the mushrooms a bit firm. Serve and enjoy.

~David

Postscript: I added onion to a recent batch for extra good nominess. :)

Fresh Chicken Stock

Stocks, in general, are pretty easy to make. Sadly, most people don't make them because they think they have to devote a whole day to the task. That's certainly true for beef stock, which takes many hours (two days is best) to extract the maximum amount of flavor from its ingredients. Simple chicken stock, however, only takes about an hour (two at most) and is really simple to put together.

You'll need:

1 fresh, whole chicken
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 leek cut in half lengthwise and then into 1 inch pieces
1 large (fat) carrot cut into half lengthwise and then into 1 inch pieces
2 celery ribs cut into 1 inch pieces
1 handful of fresh parsley and stems
10 (or so) sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 whole head of garlic cut in half
1 1/2 tsp. peppercorns, crushed
1 Tbsp. sea salt (if desired; not necessary)

Begin by butchering your chicken. Separate the legs/thighs and wings from the carcass. Then (carefully) cut the breasts from the carcass. Cut any excess fat off and make sure to pull the back skin off. Put the carcass in the pot.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and the cover with cold water until the carcass is submerged by one or two inches. The water must be cold!

Bring to a boil as quickly as possible and then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour. As soon as the stock begins to boil, you'll have to skim the insoluble particulate (grey scum) from the top of the pot a few times, so keep an eye on it. Add hot water if the volume drops to much. One hour is sufficient to make a clear and beautifully fragrant stock. If you want a darker stock, then that's another process which I'll blog about in the future.

Once cooked, cool the stock as quickly as possible (I put the pot into an ice bath to about 1/4 from the top to cool it quickly. Then strain and use or freeze in quart-sized containers for future use. The batch will yield 4 - 6 quarts, but YMMV.

You can get more volume by simply doubling (or even tripling) the ingredients, but you'll need a bigger pot and the stock will take more time. Rule of thumb is about an hour per chicken carcass.

~David