Breakfast

Poached eggs over a bed of sautéed kale with garlic has become our staple breakfast. Now that the chickens are finally laying (3 months without fresh eggs has been painful), we’re thrilled to share with you this delicious nutritious breakfast for wholesome foods seeking people.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs with Sliced Avocado and Parsnip, Cauliflower, Carrot Mash. © Liesl Clark

I’m on Day 12 of my first Whole30 adventure, feeling great, and this breakfast is fast, simple, uses 90% of its ingredients from my own land, and doesn’t dirty any pans. What’s not to love? Let me explain.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs (Serves 2)

2 Tablespoons coconut oil, olive oil, or ghee

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 bunch kale, chopped

pinch or 3 of sea salt

4 fresh eggs

Here are the ingredients for one serving. © Liesl Clark

Put oil in a cast iron skillet or your best non-teflon skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is heated, add the garlic and sauté until just starting to become golden. Add red pepper flakes and stir around for a few seconds. Then add the kale and continuously stir fry it until it has reduced by half. You’ll know when the kale feels cooked through. Sprinkle the sea salt on top.

This is what your “poached” and steamed eggs will look like when they’re done. © Liesl Clark

Add the eggs on top, without scrambling them or breaking the yolks. Quickly put a top on your skillet, to seal in the steam. Let everything cook for 1 minute, then turn your heat off. Within 3-4 minutes, your eggs will be poached. Lift the cover off and your eggs should be lightly poached on their bed of deep greens!

Covering your eggs to steam, and turning the heat off underneath is the key to this dish. © Liesl Clark

Serve this with sliced tomatoes or sliced avocado, or any veggies that look great in the fridge. We often sauté crimini mushrooms in ghee with a teaspoon of marjoram and a pinch of sea salt as a favorite side veg.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs with Marjoram Mushrooms © Liesl Clark

Your skillet, after making the garlic kale poached eggs, will be nicely oiled and the kale/eggs are easily removed from the pan with a spatula. Simply wipe your skillet with a kitchen rag and your skillet is ready for the next meal!

We were hungry for something new at breakfast-time, and my mostly-vegetarian family just loves nuts. Inspired by Our Paleo Life, we were able to come up with a recipe that is better than any Kind Bar we’ve bought. These nut bars are perfection, and have become a family breakfast or snack-time staple. This recipe, like all my recipes, is meant to be played with, to suit your palate and what’s in your cupboards:

Use any combination of the following nuts, to reach a total of about 6 cups:

Almonds

Walnuts

Pecans

Pumpkin Seeds

Hazelnuts

Chop nuts into smaller sizes, so you have pieces of nuts that’ll stick together well in a bar.

Add:

1/2 Cup Flax Seeds

1/2 Cup Toasted Coconut

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt (I use a Fleur de Sel)

1/4 Cup Cacao

1/4 – 1/2 Cup Agave

1/2 Cut Raisins

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

3-4 Tablespoons Molasses

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Mix everything together in a bowl and place the mixture into a glass baking dish lined with parchment paper that comes up the sides.

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Press the mixture down with your overlapped parchment when you pull it out of the oven, to compress the bar mixture. Pull out the square mixture with the parchment paper sides and place on a wire rack to let it cool for 30 minutes. Press your large square again when your mixture has cooled and then turn the whole thing over and place on another square of parchment so the bottom is facing up.