Hi everyone! I’m back! I am so sorry for not writing a post in a while but life has been kind of busy. I am very excited to write this blog since it has been so long and am also excited to share some new recipes with you. After months of snacking on junk at work and at home, I decided it was time for a change! I have wanted to go back to my healthy eating but hadn’t decided what I wanted to do. I was inspired and challenged by my co-worker to go 12 days without sugar. We decided that together we would try to limit our sugar intake but still have been adding natural sugars such as fruit into our diets. To be perfectly honest, I have a sweet tooth (as you may know because of how much baking I do), so this has been a challenging week so far. I have realized though, that the best way to avoid sugar, is to make sure you are still eating well. What I mean is that when you do this kind of healthy eating, you may not be getting yummy sweets, but make sure to spoil yourself with yummy healthy non-sugary options! You deserve it!
This week, to make sure I was getting some yummy healthy food, I went to lunch (twice) at my new favorite restaurant: Beefsteak. For those of you who haven’t been, you have to go! It is a fast food restaurant like Chipotle, Cava, etc. but instead of choosing many options that may be high in calories or fat, Beefsteak offers you to choose as many vegetables as you want that they steam in front of you. To accompany the vegetables, Beefsteak offers grains, various sauces, salads, proteins, and crunchies. This may sound simple but BOY is it delicious! Beefsteak is a Jose Andres resturuant like Cava and Zaytinia, so if you’ve been to those places, you’ll love Beefsteak for sure! If you haven’t been check them out- locations include: Dupont, Foggy Bottom, Tenleytown, and a new one in Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD. http://beefsteakveggies.com/where-we-are/
If you aren’t convinced yet….check out the picture of Monday’s lunch below:
Convinced yet? #veggiesareyummy
In addition, I made sure to prep myself with yummy breakfast options this week while I was not eating sugar. Since I am always looking for easy, on-the-go breakfasts to take to work, I decided to make egg muffins with a cauliflower hash brown crust this week. I was very excited to use cauliflower rice for this (it’s all the rage apparently and I gotta keep up with the times).
For those of you who have asked, here is the recipe below:
CAULIFLOWER HASH BROWN EGG CUPS
Author: Karina – Cafe Delites
Get recipe here!
Serves: 12 cups
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower, stalk and leaves removed, cut into florets
1 extra large egg, whisked
½ cup cheddar cheese (or Mozzarella)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½-1 teaspoon salt (to your tastes)
Pepper (optional – to taste)
½ teaspoon garlic powder (or 1 teaspoon onion powder)
12 small-medium sized eggs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 230C | 350F Lightly spray a 12-hole muffin tin with cooking oil spray (or grease with butter), wipe over excess with a paper towel and set aside.
Pulse the cauliflower in two batches for about 30-50 seconds until a fine ‘rice’ is formed. It’s ok if there are a few bigger pieces in there. (Be careful not to over process or the cauliflower will form a raw puree.)
Measure out 3 cups (480g or 17oz in weight) of the cauliflower rice into a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 8 minutes or until soft. Alternatively, lightly steam over a pot of boiling water or in a vegetable steamer until soft. Remove and allow to cool for a good 5 minutes before handling.
Using paper towels, an old tea towel or a cheesecloth, squeeze out as much liquid as you can until hardly any liquid can be squeezed out. (It’s easier to wrap the cauliflower in the towel (or cloth) and squeeze it into a ball over the sink. Less mess)
Transfer back into your bowl (make sure there’s no liquid in it), and add the whisked egg, cheeses, salt and garlic powder. Divide the mixture into each muffin hole and firmly press them with your fingertips to create a ‘nest’ or cup.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has melted, the cups are golden and the edges are browned. Remove from the oven; break the eggs into each cup; season with salt and pepper; return to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, or until the whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking.
Allow them to cool for 5 minutes before handling them, or they may fall apart. Lightly slide a knife around the sides of each cup. Using a fork, gently lift one side first to make sure they’re not sticking to the bottom, and lift out of the pan.
Garnish with red chilli flakes and parsley (optional) or leave as is.
Let me tell you these egg muffins were delicious! I even ate them cold and they were still delicious! For those of you interested in making them, I have three pieces of advice:
1) Bake your cauliflower crust as long as you can until it gets crispy: While mine were still delicious, I would of liked it better had the crust been crispier. I have found that this is a problem generally when working with cauliflower.
2) Add something extra: It is so yummy to add in cheeses or vegetables to make your egg muffins a little fancier. I added some feta cheese but would like to make it with spinach and cherry tomatoes next time.
3) Bake the eggs the second time to your liking: When I followed the recipe my eggs came out hard when generally I like runny eggs. Again, keep an eye on your muffins and take them out when the egg is the consistency that you like.
So the moral of my blog: you can eat well without eating junk!
Happy cooking and beteavon!
xoNo #yumola #12dayssugarfree #goodeats #beefsteak #eggmuffins
#yumola 