Recipe - Bacon & Tomato Egg Muffins

One of my favourite Paleo breakfast recipes and perfect for food prepping. I either serve mine with Avocado or if I'm feeling for something a bit extra I cut the muffins in half and fill with protein or veg. Kind of like a mini slider if you will.

This recipe will make a batch of 12, perfect for a 12 cup muffin tray. Here's what I did: 

Ingredients - 

• 12 eggs
• 12 cherry tomatoes (quartered)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• tbsp bacon lardons
• 2 tsp of cilantro/coriander
• 1/2 tsp pepper (or to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 180 and grease all cups in muffin tray with coconut oil.
2. In a bowl add eggs and beat. Then add the bacon lardons, quartered tomatoes, cilantro, pepper and garlic powder. Stir mixture.
3. Divide mixture evenly into all muffin cups and place in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes. They should rise and are ready when they are a nice yellow colour.

 Serve straight away or cool on a wire rack and store in a container in the fridge (max two days). You can also store these in the freezer and microwave for a few minutes when ready to serve.

You can also tweak this recipe to add whatever vegetables or protein you like. For example why not try shredded pork and onion? What did you add to yours?

Food Prep Sunday - Series 1

Welcome to my first Paleo food prep post! Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed munching on it. Would love to hear how this worked for you.

This is what was on the menu this week, for the recipe click on the name of the dish below (all recipes are Paleo/Gluten Free) -

Breakfast

Bacon & Tomato egg muffins

Raisin Muffins

Lunch/Dinner

Coconut Cauliflour Rice

Chicken Curry

Chicken, Green bean and Sweet Potato Muddle

Snacks

Nut Bars (I had some left over from the weekend, the recipe will follow on in another post)

Curried Turkey Balls

Prep Time: 2.06 minutes (I was triple tasking and also preparing a roast at the 
same time so it may take you less)

Total Meals (to cover 5 days): 
X5 breakfasts
X10 snacks
X5 lunches
X5 dinners

Shopping List:

10 breasts chicken
1 pack of ground turkey mince
1 small box bacon ladens
3 small sweet potatoes
3 packs green beans
1 extra large head cauliflower
X2 avocados
X1 box cherry tomatoes
2 cans coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 box of 12 eggs

Total cost: £37.50 (avg cost 1.50 per meal/snack OR £7.50 a day)

Already in the larder/pantry:

Coconut flour 
Raw honey
Vanilla essence
X1 onion
X4 cloves garlic
Curry powder (I use garam masala and madras curry powders)
Black pepper 
2 Chicken stock cubes

How I Did It:

- turn on oven to cook turkey balls
- boil water in a big pot and when ready add all chicken breasts
- boil water in another smaller pot for the sweet potatoes
- prep all veg. Dice onions and garlic put aside together in one dish. Chop 
green beans in half. Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Ground cauliflower in food 
processor as described in method. Quarter cherry tomatoes. 
- boil sweet potatoes 
- prep your mixture for your turkey balls, the oven should be heated so pop them 
in and make sure you set your timer as per recipe instruction. 
- check your chicken breasts are thoroughly cooked and set aside to cool
- make you mixture for the bacon and tomato egg muffins, cover and set mixture 
aside. 
- cut your chicken breasts into cubes and divide into two portions. 
- in two frying pans divide and fry with coconut oil your onion and garlic mix. 
When browned add chicken
- add stock to chicken in both pans. 
- add halved green beans to one pan of chicken and add coconut milk.  In the 
second pan add coconut milk and curry powder. 
- drain sweet potatoes and add to chicken and green beans. Pepper to taste, I 
usually add some chilli flakes. Mix and divide between 5 plastic containers. 
- check on your balls! If they are ready divide into 5 plastic containers. I 
divide two per container. Keep the oven on. 
- make the batter for your raisin muffins and spoon mixture into muffin baking 
tray. Put in oven as per time in method. 
- in a large wok add your, bacon lardons, chopped onions and garlic. Once 
browned add cauliflower and coconut milk as per method. 
- remove chicken curry from heat and divide into 5 plastic containers. Keep 
chicken curry to one side of the plastic container so that you can add the 
coconut cauliflower rice when ready. 
- when coconut cauliflower rice has been cooked add to the plastic containers 
that contain the chicken curry. 
- check your raisin muffins are ready and leave on a wire rack to cool. Keep 
oven on. 
- grease the muffin tin with coconut oil and spoon your set aside egg mixture 
for your tomato and bacon egg muffins. Cook in the oven and went ready place on 
wire rack 

You're done!

Ensure all good has properly cooled down before putting in the fridge or 
freezer. 

See here for storage advice. 

Why Food Prep? The 7 P's

"Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance". The 7 Ps.

The benefits of food prepping are quite simple:

• saves time
• convenience
• avoid snacking
• eat clean
• saves you money
• keeps you on track with your fitness or weight loss goals
• portion control

Everybody food preps differently, depending on your lifestyle and commitments. I food prep every Sunday for a total of two hours. In this time I make all my meals for Monday through to Friday, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and two snacks. This may seem like a lot but it really isn't when you look at the bigger picture. For example an average day for me could look like this - 

TUESDAY - Gym Day

- Arrive at work 8.30am, Breakfast

- 10am - 11am Snack no.1

- 12pm - 1pm, Lunch

- 2pm - 3pm, Snack no.2

- 5pm - Dinner

- Head to the gym after work

- After gym protein shake

FRIDAY - Gym Rest Day

- Arrive at work 8.30am, Breakfast

- 10am - 11am Snack no.1

- 12pm - 1pm, Lunch

- 2pm - 3pm, Snack no.2

- 6.30pm home from work, eat Dinner

- Paint the town red........

The more you get into the habit of prepping you will find out what works for you and your schedule. By prepping all my meals in advance that two hours of food prep time on a Sunday is looking rather manageable. I don't waste any time in the week pondering an what to cook and then slaving over a stove or picking up something unhealthy (non-Paleo in my case).

Tips for Successful Food Prepping

• Have a plan.  I make a list of all the meals I want to cook ahead of time, usually before my grocery dash on a Sunday.
• Have a good inventory of Tupperware. I buy mine everywhere from Poundland to Tesco to   stealing/borrowing from my Mum's collection (she's been to a lot of Tupperware parties.) You will need enough to cover every meal you intend to make for the week.
• Make space in your freezer. Cooked food has a shelf life of 2 - 3 days depending on what it is. To be safe I keep two days worth of meals in the fridge and put the rest in the freezer.
• Use measuring cups. If weight loss is one of your goals make sure you use the specified portion amounts in recipes. 
• Maker freezer friendly foods. All the foods I prep for a week have to be freezer friendly. In the Summer months when I want more salad based lunches I prep a little differently but on the hole everything can be conveniently shoved into a freezer.
• Your spice rack is your best friend. I've acquired a large selection of spices during my food prepping time. They'll give your veggies/proteins a different delicious flavour every time.

Happy food prepping!