Chinese Eggroll Eggs

 

In trying to practice the 20/80 rule, I am increasingly trying to find new and different flavors for breakfast.   One morning, I was scrounging around in the fridge trying to find something vegetable oriented to go with the breakfast eggs.  I found a head of Chinese cabbage intended for the next batch of Kimchi.   So I ripped off a few of the outer leaves and went to work at my stove.

Let me preface, that I love a good eggroll. This is one of those things that I miss on the GAPS diet so stumbling upon this idea has been a delight for me. This recipe/idea could be considered Egg Foo Yung, but I think the ingredients make it taste more like egg rolls.  Either way, it definitely has that strong hint of Chinese food that I love.

I start out by slicing up onions, mushrooms, and the Chinese cabbage.  I fry all of this in a bit of beef fat and olive oil, until everything is nice and wilted down and soft. I sprinkle in salt and garlic powder. Then I pour in whipped up eggs to cover, stirring the eggs into the veggies a bit and cover with a lid.   I let the eggs get about done and then I turn the omelet over and brown the other side. 

Transfer to a plate; add a side of Kimchi, and some Braggs.   Yummy!

 

Real Mayonnaise

 

I confess, I like mayonnaise, the stuff that comes out of the jar, made out of soybean oils, and that has “natural flavorings”.   But for the most part, I stopped it eating it years ago when I stopped consuming soybean oil and MSG.

I have gone through those periods of time when I have made homemade mayo but the flavor really wasn’t as good. And as is my habit, if I consider it  unhealthy and can’t easily duplicate it, I just leave it out of my life.  In most cases, I can be just as satisfied with mustard or salsa as a condiment….But I really like a good homemade ranch or blue cheese dressing made with mayo.

On one of those rare occasions, when I had a few moments of free time and decided to flip through my grandmother’s Household Searchlight Recipe Book (copyrighted 1937) to see what it had to say about mayonnaise.  Mom, always told me the old-timers made their mayonnaise and how good it was. And while the modern recipe that we find all over the internet and in the modern cookbooks is good, to me it was just not good enough, yet I knew it needed a touch of something to make it better.  With cookbook in hand, it took me about two seconds before I was doing one of those hand slaps to head and saying “why didn’t I think of that!”

The secret to having that store bought flavored mayonnaise is so simple, add a little honey.  And if this still is not quite right, do half lemon juice and half vinegar.

The recipe reads like this:

1 egg yolk (without the white)

2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar (or a blend of half lemon and half apple cider vinegar)

1 cup of sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of honey

dash of cayenne

Place the egg yolk, lemon juice/vinegar, honey, salt and cayenne in a blender or food processor.  Turn on and then begin to gradually drizzle in the oil….blend until smooth.  Adjust honey, salt, vinegar to taste.

Once you get your ingredients worked out just right, add a bit of whey for safe keeping and it will keep for several days.

A quick and simple method:

Recently, I had a friend encourage me to make mayo with my immersion blender.  Put in all the ingredients and then the blender…and you have a no fuss mayo, without having to drip the oil, and almost instant mayonnaise!!  I tried this and it worked—EXCEPT, for this version I had to use the whole egg (white) to make it whip up. It did alter the flavor a tad but overall, still very good.

And a last word on this topic, please make sure if you are making mayo from scratch that you use an egg source that you can trust.  If you are using eggs from the supermarket, for safety sake make sure the eggs shells are in good condition with no fissures or weak spots in them.

 

 

Pickled Eggs

These have become a new staple in our home.  I have always liked pickled beets and I have always put boiled eggs in my leftover pickle brine, coming out with lovely purple eggs with all the pickled flavor.

Recently, I have learned to make pickled eggs differently.  They taste different but super good. Even the daughter that does not care for boiled eggs likes these.

You start by hard boiling your eggs.  You will need to cook a few extras just in case you have some that do not peel perfectly. (You do not want to use any eggs that have the yolks showing or that are split.)  Once your eggs are hard boiled (and this varies with altitudes) drain the hot water off of them, gently roll them around in the pan while running cold tap water over them…you want to gently crack the shells….Cover with cold tap water and allow to cool. Then further crack and peel.

This recipe is a guideline.   For a quart you want to use the following…

12 very hard boiled eggs

5-6 cloves of peeled garlic

The eggs and garlic go into the quart jar

Then in a sauce pan combine the following:

2 cups of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of salt (sea or non-iodized)

To that add about 5 TBSP of honey(you can use more or less)

Added in about an 1/8 tsp of the following spices and then adjusted them to taste–Mace, nutmeg, and ginger.

15 whole cloves and a good shake of paprika to give it all a good reddish color.  Oh yes, and a sprinkling of black pepper.

Hot Peppers are optional.

Bring all of this to a boil and pour over your boiled eggs packed into a quart canning jar.  (Wide mouth is necessary)  Put on the lid and when cool transfer to the refrigerator.  Allow to sit for two weeks. (If you can wait that long!)

 

Spinach Omelet the Perfect Gaps Meal

The GAPS/SDC diets require some forethought into what is for dinner.  We all have unexpected events that interupt our days and our meal planning. My family has always liked omelets and so for us the omelet is a regular favorite meal.

Omelets are quick and easy to make.  The other benefit to omelets is they can be stuffed with just about anything that your family likes and they go well with a variety of side dishes.

One of our favorites is spinach with cheese.   I cook a bag of frozen spinach up with some onion and mushrooms and keep it warm while I am making the omelets

The secret to a good omelet is not to let it brown.  Eggs are not meant to be browned. Once they reach that point of doneness the flavor begins to change to something less than desirable. Eggs whites are best cooked to just barely done.

When making an omelet, you do not need a fancy omelet skillet, they can be made in any good skillet. The skillet needs to be evenly heated to a med-low heat before pouring in the eggs.

While the skillet is heating prepare your stuffing and set aside.

Next whip up 2 or 3 eggs in a bowl.

Add a tablespoon of butter to your skillet and pour in the eggs.

Then take a fork and draw in the eggs in from the outer edge into the center of the pan allowing the uncooked egg to fill in the spaces in the skillet. (You may want to lift the pan and rotate it a bit at this point)

If there is a lot of uncooked egg you may want to repeat the above process.

I cover my skillet with a lid and let the eggs steam for about a minute this is usually enough to firm up any uncooked portion of the omelet.

Once done, I quickly add in the stuffing, fold the omelet over and transfer it to a plate.  When making several I then place the plate in the oven to keep it warm.

Once you are comfortable with the process, this is one of the quickest SCD/GAPS meal that you can make. So the next time you forgot to plan or something comes up that keeps you from getting your regular meal prepared remember the simple and fast omelet.

 

Egg Foo Young, Spinach, and Cucumber Salad

I love Asian cuisine.  When we were first married my husband and I were stationed in Hawaii and it was there that I learned to love the diversity of flavors that one finds in the Asian and Polynesian foods.  While rice, soy sauce, and all those sweet sauces are not allowed on our diet the basic tenants of Asian cooking is very much an option for us.

Egg Foo Young is one of those options and simple to make.  You start with the veggies of your choice.  I decided on a cubanelle pepper, an onion, a couple of stalks of celery, all sliced very thin.  To this I added in some finely diced mushrooms and a little grated carrot.  Oh yes, and a couple of good sized cloves of garlic crushed.   In a separate bowl I whipped up 8 eggs and then added this to my veggie combination.  Then I add salt, black pepper, and a good shake of powdered ginger.

About this time my Darling Hubby walked into the kitchen and offered to help.  I put a frying oil mixture of coconut, palm, and seasame into a small iron skillet and put him to work.

 

This allowed me to make the next portion of our meal.   I crushed about 4 cloves of garlic and chopped up a cayenne pepper then added this to a skillet with coconut and seasame oil and allowed it to flavor the oil for a few minutes.  Then I tossed in thinnly sliced carrot and cooked them until tender.  Afterwards I topped off the pan with a bag of fresh spinach that I cooked until just done.

Along side of this I made a cucumber salad.  Simpy cucumber, sweet onion, sweet peppers with a dressing made of a splash of apple cider vinegar, a drizzling of olive oil and a spoonful of honey to sweeten. And of course salt and pepper to taste.

It was a fine meal and one that the family all totally enjoyed.