Wholesome Goodness

My sweet husband prepared breakfast for the two of us for the first few days of our vacation.  By day three, however, he confessed to me that he wanted to eat something besides scrambled eggs for breakfast.  After discussing our options, they being few considering my gluten allergy and our small-town location, we decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for a couple of cooking lessons for him.  I explained that scrambled eggs didn’t have to be boring.  Bring in a few vegetables and seasonings, and you have endless variations.

We really enjoyed spending time in the kitchen together, and he got quite an education.  Although he is always eager to help, I typically give him salad or clean-up duty because he’s not terribly comfortable in the kitchen, and I figure it will take me longer to explain to him how to properly prepare a cabbage for sauteing than it will take for me to do it myself.  (I’ve been realizing that this strategy is not going to work with kids.  If I’m not willing to spend the extra time to teach them how to cook, they will leave home without knowing how to boil water.  Yikes!)  Since we had no schedule and nowhere to be this week, leisurely preparing food together turned out to be quite a treat.

Here is the second of our efforts, a meal I’ll call Breakfast Tejano.  I would be happy to serve this to company, probably with some sliced avocados, a little 5 Minute Salsa, some cheese, and maybe even corn tortillas.  We didn’t have access to these extras yesterday, but breakfast was delicious anyway — and healthy too!

I started by preparing the refried beans.  Once I added the beans to the pan, I heated up another saute pan for the stir-fried vegetables.  After adding the veggies to that pan, I put the eggs on in another pan to scramble.  It would work just fine to make the beans and vegetables first, then keep them warm in the oven until your eggs are done if you don’t have a helper. 

For the best possible scrambled eggs, try to find some local, free-range ones with deep, rich, orange yolks.  They have infinitely more flavor and pack a bigger nutritional punch than even organic store-bought eggs.  Cook them over medium to medium-low heat in coconut oil or Kerrygold cultured butter, stopping before they are fully cooked and dry.  Overcooking damages the egg proteins. 

Alison’s Refried Black Beans

2 tablespoons high-quality butter or virgin, unrefined coconut oil
1 small onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, partially seeded (optional)
2 cans or 3 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup prepared salsa (optional)
1 tablespoon chili powder (start with 1/2 tablespoon if you don’t like highly seasoned food)
1 tablespoon ground cumin (start with 1/2 tablespoon if you don’t like highly seasoned food)
sea salt to taste
splash of water, broth, or extra virgin olive oil

Heat a pan over medium heat.  Add the butter or coconut oil and melt.  When hot, stir in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and saute until soft. 

Add the black beans, salsa, and seasonings and cook until hot.  Using a potato masher or a fork, smash the beans roughly, adding water, broth, or extra virgin olive oil until you reach the right consistency.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

Stir-Fried Peppers and Onions

2 tablespoons high-quality butter or virgin, unrefined coconut oil
1 medium onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 orange bell pepper, julienned
1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add butter or coconut oil to pan and, when hot, toss in the sliced onion.  Saute for a minute, then add the bell peppers.  Cook until brightly-colored and tender-crisp.  Just before removing from the heat, stir in the cilantro leaves to wilt them.