Spinach and Mushroom Brunch Frittata! GF & SCD!

Hello Hello Happy Tummies!

How was everyone's Memorial Day weekend?

Mine was great! Yesterday, I went to Coney Island beach with my friend, and boy, was it a sight to behold! There were so. many. people! Like, THOUSANDS!! A great way to spend Memorial Day.

What did you do?

So last month, I was lucky enough to fly home to Cincinnati to celebrate the spring birthdays in my family! It was so wonderful to see my family and my little niece. :) She's growing up so fast! I love being an aunt:)

Kisses for Grandma and a straight arm for Auntie C:) haha

On Sunday morning, we had a big birthday brunch. One of my sister-in-laws is also gluten free, so we got a beautiful GF cake from a local bakery. And it was GOOD. And it was heavy...as in...it weighed A TON! I mean, look at that frosting! 

Check out my dad's piece of cake....it was bigger than my head! haha :) Also -- check out my dog in the upper left corner of the photo...Roxy is such a little beggar!

We had quite the spread of deliciousness. I made my crowd pleasing guacamole. Every time there's a get together, I'm always asked to make it...it's THAT good! So we had that with veggie dippers.

We also had a marvelous fruit salad, and my mom's cheesy mexican egg bake.

My favorite part was our mimosa bar! We had bubbly with fresh squeezed orange juice, mango juice, and pomegranate juice. I may or may not have sampled all three!! :D

I contributed a delicious and healthy Gluten Free frittata! It had spinach, onions, and mushrooms. It's not vegan of course, but it was delicious and SCD legal.

Here's how you make it: (Serves 8)

12 eggs

6 egg whites

2 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 carton button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup real (aka from a block) pecorino romano cheese - grated (optional! Omit for Dairy Free. However, it is SCD legal)
3 Tbsp real (aka, not from the green can) parmesan cheese, grated (optional! Omit for Dairy Free. However, it is SCD legal)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Chop all your veggies. In a large frying pan, sauté your onion over medium heat in 1 tsp EVOO, pinch of salt and pepper, until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in your baby spinach to wilt. Transfer the onion and spinach to a plate and set aside. Add another tsp EVOO to the pan and brown your mushrooms by placing them in a single layer. Let them cook, untouched, for about 3 minutes. Flip each mushroom, and let the other side brown for another 2 minutes. Once brown, remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, egg whites, salt and pepper together in a large mixing bowl.
Stir in the pecorino romano cheese, if using. Then, stir in the vegetable mixture.

Spray your largest non-stick, oven-safe skillet with cooking spray and add 2 tsp EVOO. Pour in your egg mixture. Place on the stove over medium-high heat, untouched, for about 4 minutes, until the bottom starts to set. Then, transfer to the oven, and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.

When you take it out of the oven, immediately sprinkle with the parmesan cheese, if using.

Serve immediately.

How delicious was this frittata!?! It was savory and creamy, and beautifully hearty, yet light and healthy!

It looks beautiful with all the green from the spinach, and the golden brown mushrooms.

And it was so yummy! The mushrooms were chewy and earthy, while the spinach was fresh and springy. You felt like you were indulging in something decadent...however, it's secretly healthy!

The additional egg whites gave it a wonderful texture as well. They made it puff up in the oven, almost like a souffle. It deflated once we took it out, but it kept the light and fluffy texture.

Needless to say, we gobbled it all up!

What's your favorite brunch dish?

This week is going to be an exciting one! I just now am getting back from an audition. I've got another audition tomorrow, and then Thursday I'm shooting a commercial!

I've got another delicious recipe coming up later this week!

See you then!

Paleo Meringue Clouds & Almond Cookies! GF, Sugar Free, SCD, & Paleo!

Heeeeeey Party People!! :)

haha...just kidding.

How's everyone doing? Are we detoxing from the holidays? lol Again....KIDDING!!

Well, kinda. :) I know I ate lots of delicious food and had p-l-e-n-t-y of spirits over the holidays! haha

And Happy New Year!!! How did you celebrate? Did you watch the ball drop? I don't know about you, but it's just not the same without Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve.

So as promised, here are my delicious cookies! These are sinless...seriously. They're protein packed, sugar free, and insanely good.

And it's a tale of three cookies! You can make three different cookies out of the same "dough!"

My favorite, are the meringue clouds! They're made with just egg whites and honey!

Next, are my crunchy almond cookies! Again, just egg whites, almond flour, and honey!

And finally, my chewy almond cookies! Again, just egg whites, almond flour and honey!

Here's what you need: (Makes about 40 one-bite cookies)

Base:
5 Egg Whites
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Additional:
3/4 + 1 Tbsp almond flour

Optional:
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put your honey and vanilla extra in a small saucepan and heat until it becomes liquidy. Careful - it bubbles up when it boils, and is molten hot!! Once it is hot, carefully pour it into a Pyrex measuring cup (with a spout so you can safely pour it into the stand mixer.)

In the stand mixer, whip your egg whites until frothy. Then, add your cream of tartar and beat for about 7 minutes on high until they form stiff peaks. After about 4-5 minutes and they have tripled in size, slowly pour in the hot honey mixture. Let the stand mixer run for about 1 1/2 more minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare three baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper.

This is where you have the different options.

MERINGUE CLOUDS:

Spoon about 2 Tbsp worth of the mixture onto your baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the tops begin to turn golden brown. Then, turn off the oven, and allow them to cool/dry out in the oven with the door closed for about 3-4 hours. They will be wonderfully chewy -- like pillows.

ALMOND COOKIES

To the honey/egg white mixture, gently fold in your almond flour and cinnamon, so as not to deflate the egg whites. Spoon this mixture into a piping bag, or a gallon ziplock bag with the bottom corner snipped off. Then, squeeze about 1 Tbsp of this mixture onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. For Chewy Almond Cookies, remove immediately from oven.

For Crunchy Almond Cookies, bake for 15 minutes, and then turn the oven off and allow to dry in the oven for 2 hours.

These cookies were seriously amazing. When you're on the Specific Carb Diet, or gluten free for that matter, the holidays can be tough because there are all these delectable looking treats lying around, and you can't have any! So, I whipped these up and I was a happy camper all through the weekend.

The Meringue Clouds were light as air and chewy. These were my mom's favorite ones. And by allowing them to dry out in the oven, bits of them become a little crunchy like a meringue.

The Crunchy Almond Cookies were my favorite. They had the consistency of a delicate graham cracker with the honey and subtly note of cinnamon.

 They were crunchy and wonderfully sweet.

Finally, the Chewy Almond Cookies were melt-in-you-mouth good. They were chewy in the center with slightly crisp golden brown edges. Careful though - they can leave your fingers a little sticky!

What a treat for a grain/sugar free gal. These cookies were a life saver. They're gluten free, grain free, dairy free, sugar free, SCD friendly, and Paleo! (Say that 5x fast!!)

For dessert on Christmas, we had berries with cream. I made coconut cream for mine by reducing a can of coconut milk on the stove for about 30 minutes with 3 tsp honey. I then topped it with crumbled crunchy almond cookies and a meringue cloud. Guiltless and positively delicious!

I may just have to make these "bad boys" again while I'm home and have an stand mixer at my disposal!! :D

Happy New Year!!!!!!


Want more GFHT?  You can now get my e-cookbook, The Best of GlutenFreeHappyTummy for only $2.99 on Amazon!