health

A Piece of Quiche, Please

I'm almost always thinking about food. When I'm hungry, I'm thinking about what I want to eat. When I'm full, I'm thinking about what I want to eat when I'm hungry again. I wake up excited about breakfast, and I got to bed knowing that when I wake up, I get to eat again. Food is just constantly on my mind.

My obsession started when I was really little. Growing up in the restaurant business, I was surrounded by delicious food all the time. On the plus side, I had a huge appetite. When my cousins and I were in elementary school, my mom would sometimes take us to McDonald's. I'd get a Big Mac, eat it in a matter of minutes, and then stare at my cousins while they ate to see if they'd offer me any of their food.

Eating healthy, however, is new to me. I only started watching what I ate a couple years ago. And while my love for food hasn't waned, I have become more thoughtful in listening to what my body needs. Instead of immediately satiating cravings, I'll think through whether I've had enough protein, greens, or carbs for the day.

One thing I like to make that's easy, satisfying, and relatively low-carb is quiche. I line the bottom and sides of a baking dish with thin slices of potatoes and/or sweet potatoes. I sautee onions and spinach and whisk together some eggs. And that, my friends, is all it takes to make quiche. It's also why I try to have potatoes, spinach, and eggs in my fridge, at the very least.

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Step-by-step instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Thinly slice a couple of medium-sized potatoes.
  3. Pour a tablespoon or so of coconut oil or avocado oil in the baking dish.
  4. Use one of the slices of potato to spread the oil around so that the bottom and sides are lightly coated.
  5. Cover the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the potato slices. Think of the potatoes as the pastry part of a pie - it keeps all the filling together.
  6. Once the potatoes are laid out in the baking dish, put them in the oven to soften.
  7. While the potatoes cook, sautee an onion and a bunch of spinach. I usually throw in whatever vegetables I have in the fridge. The quantities don't have to be exact. Sauteeing reduces it all down anyway.
  8. In a separate bowl, whisk together 5-6 eggs. When I have almond milk on hand, I add a couple splashes of it. It helps the quiche puff up more.
  9. Pull the potatoes out of the oven. Evenly spread the sauteed vegetables across the bottom.
  10. Sometimes I add a layer of cheese on top of the vegetables.
  11. Pour the eggs over the vegetables.
  12. Bake for half an hour or until the top of the quiche has a nice golden crust.

Grain-free Tahini Brownies

I have one week before I start Whole30 again, which means I have one week to satisfy my cravings for at least another month!

Even though I'm not doing Whole30 right now, I try to keep to a paleo diet. I came across these brownies from one of my favorite bloggers, Ambitious Kitchen, and decided to give them a go.

They turned out better than I thought they would!

Here's the recipe I followed:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup tahini

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking pan with coconut oil. Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, and mix the batter well.

Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 22-30 minutes.

ALTERATIONS

After I added the wet and dry ingredients together, the batter was still a bit too thick. I added splashes of water until I got it to the right consistency.

I added a whole bag of chocolate chips instead of just 1/3 cup. Oops!