Super Easy Potatoes, Eggs & Ham Skillet Meal (Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free options)

Perfect for a Sunday afternoon, when you want to serve something delicious and filling to your family, without wearing yourself out in the kitchen. 

Super Easy Potatoes, Eggs & Ham Skillet Meal

Today was one of those Sundays... I felt like I needed a nap almost all day. I like making Sunday a day of rest. Our lives are so hectic, it's nice to reserve at least one day a week where you can connect with people you love, get some relaxing in, and even have some alone (NAP) time.

Wrapped burrito-style.

This yummy skillet meal makes a mean breakfast burrito for on-the-go, or just eat it as-is on one of those plate thingies, you know, those things you use to hold food, like when you sit at a table, together, as a family?

I quickly made this meal today and figured out a new great way to steam and soften the tortillas. Microwaving tortillas makes them tough and they dry out quickly, and I do not recommend it. Using tortillas strait out of the package, cold, is yucky too in my opinion - Plus they crack and break spilling the filling all over the place. FOOD FIGHT!

Not.

I used a couple of left over Perfect Baked Potatoes (recipe on blog) for this quick to prepare meal.

It is easy to make this a gluten-free or dairy-free meal by how you select your ingredients.


Potatoes, Eggs & Ham Breakfast Skillet Recipe:

Serves 6 generously

1 T. deodorized coconut oil
1 T. organic butter
2 cold leftover baked potatoes, cubed
1/2 large red onion, diced
2 c. ham, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 large free range eggs
1/4 c. organic milk or purified water
20 grinds fresh black pepper
1/8 t. garlic powder
2 c. shredded cheese blend of choice, optional
1/4 t. smokey paprika, optional
1/2 t. BioSalt or sea salt, to taste
2 scallions, minced
1 tomato,diced
1/4 t. onion salt
Large flour tortillas, steamed, optional (for making breakfast or brunch burritos)
Sour cream, optional (We love to use our Favorite Reduced Fat Sour Cream Blend)
Salsa, optional


Method:

Melt the coconut oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add cubed potato and saute 1 minute.

Add the onion and saute 1 minute.

Add the ham and saute a few minutes, until starting to brown.

Whisk the eggs with 1/4 c. milk or water and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a separate skillet with a lid, place a small metal cooling rack inside. Fill skillet with about 1/2-inch of water. Place the skillet with lid on, over medium heat and let the water start to steam.

Add the red bell pepper to the ham mixture and saute until everything is starting to brown nicely.

Place the desired number of flour tortillas onto the metal rack above the simmering water. Place lid on and steam tortillas a couple minutes, until warm and soft. Remove from heat and keep lid on.

Push the ham mixture to one side of the skillet and pour the egg mixture into the empty side.

Scramble the eggs until just barely cooked through (you can add a dab of butter if desired).

Mix the eggs into the ham mixture. Season with salt and mix. Top with cheese and let it melt.

Sprinkle with smoked paprika if desired. Top with tomatoes and scallions. Sprinkle with onion salt.

Serve hot along with sour cream and salsa as garnishes.

Make into fabulous breakfast or brunch burritos using the steamed flour tortillas.



Photos of the process:

Prep your ingredients.

Add potatoes to the melting coconut oil and butter.

Add the onions and saute.

Add the ham and saute.

whisk egg mixture.

Brown the mixture.

Prepare a pan for steaming the tortillas.

Place tortillas onto rack over steaming water.

Steam as many tortillas as needed.

Place lid over tortillas to steam gently.

The skillet mixture is sizzling and browned.

Push ham mixture aside and pour egg mixture into the pan,

You can now add additional butter to the eggs. 

Gently scramble the eggs.

Mix the just cooked through eggs into the ham mixture.

The skillet is ready for toppings.

The tortillas are steamed and flexible.

Top with shredded cheese blend.

Let the cheese melt.

Season with salt and stir the cheese in a little.

Top with fresh tomatoes.

Top with scallions.

Sprinkle with onion salt and smoked paprika to taste.

The skillet meal is ready to eat!

Laying out the goods onto a soft warm tortilla.

Fold 1.

Fold 2.

Fold 3.

E-A-T


ENJOY,

Leila.

Refreshing Lime Quinoa Salad - Gluten Free & Healthy

This healthy, vibrant salad is very fresh tasting and delicious. It's an easy keeper in the fridge and is a nice staple to have around for quick meals.

The lime makes the salad bright tasting and the maple syrup tempers the acidity perfectly.

You may serve this with gluten-free corn chips, served over top romaine lettuce or baby spinach, as a lettuce wrap filling, or eat it as-is. It's all good.

You can omit any salt in the recipe so that the salad stores well in your refrigerator a few days without getting watery. Add a touch of salt, to taste, to the portion that is served.

I hope you enjoy this nutritious, easy to make salad as much as we do!




Refreshing Lime Quinoa Salad Recipe:

Salad:


1 c. quinoa
2 c. water
1 can black beans, rinsed well
2 large tomatoes, diced small
4 small scallions, including the green tops, minced (or 2 large)
1/2 c. chopped cilantro leaves

Dressing:

zest of 2 large limes (about 1 heaping T.)
1/4 c. fresh lime juice (about 2 large limes)
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil (or rice bran oil)
2 T. real maple syrup
1/2 to 1 t. BioSalt or sea salt
1 to 2 t. salt-free seasoning of choice, optional


Method:

Place the quinoa in a large fine mesh strainer. Rinse the quinoa and soak at least 15 minutes in a bowl of water, and rinse again.

Simmer the quinoa and the 2 cups water in a pot, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand on the burner for another 10 minutes.

Strain off any excess water, then let cool as you prepare the rest of the salad.

Combine the dressing ingredients together in a serving bowl, to taste.

Add the cooked quinoa to the salad dressing and toss well.

Add the drained black beans, tomato, scallions, and fresh cilantro and toss well.

Serve warm or chill and serve cold.


NOTE: 

If you plan on storing in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, only add salt at serving time, as you eat it. This prevents the tomatoes from releasing as much juice, eliminating liquid at the bottom of the bowl. If liquid does accumulate, no worries, just stir and serve.

Enjoy,

Leila.

Mexican Black Bean, Avocado & Corn Salsa

Chow down on this delicious salsa, which is almost a meal in itself!

My daughter brought this to my Mother's Day dinner this year and it was a big hit. She doesn't really measure everything when she cooks (I wonder who she got that from), but I had her write down what she estimated was in her salsa.

The next day, I went about recreating it (because we ate it all - and it was a double batch!), writing down the exact amounts of everything as I went. It turned great, although I liked my daughter's even better - because hers was made with love. Both of my eldest daughters cooked for me on mother's Day and it was wonderful!


Here is my daughter's salsa recipe, with the exact measurements I worked out. This recipe doubles perfectly, if you want a bigger batch.

Feel free to play with the seasonings to suit your tastes.

Note: Her version did not have the onion salt, fresh tomato, lime zest or fresh minced jalapeno. Nor did it have fresh ground black pepper (she was out of it). She used garlic salt instead of garlic and salt.




Black Bean, Avocado & Corn Salsa Recipe:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained (or 1 1/2 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed)
1 can Rotel (Mexican-style tomatoes with green chilies)
Zest of 1 lime, optional
1 lime, juiced
1 avocado, cubed
1 tomato, diced, optional
1/4th bunch cilantro, minced
2 large scallions, minced
2 t. minced jalapeno, to taste, optional
1/2 T. mild flavored olive oil
1/2 t. sea salt or BioSalt, to taste
1/2 t. onion salt
1/4 t. garlic powder (or 1 small clove garlic, smashed)
1/8 t. chili powder
1/8 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. ground coriander
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste


Method:

Dice the avocado and place in a medium sized bowl.
Pour the lime juice over top and lightly toss.
Add the Rotel, oil and seasonings to taste.
Add all of the other ingredients and gently mix together.
Taste for seasoning and adjust as desired.
Let the flavors blend an hour or so before serving with gluten-free corn chips.

Enjoy,

 Leila.

An easy refreshing tropical meal: Coconut Black Beans & Rice with Fried Bananas

Leila's Coconut Rice with Black Beans & Caramelized bananas (vegetarian or vegan, and gluten-free)

This is a quick and tasty dinner to make. We love it at our house. My daughter will even eat the leftovers cold in her school lunch (her doing, not mine). It is a nice family meal for when you don't feel like eating meat. You can easily make it vegan by using all coconut oil instead of butter. This meal is also naturally gluten-free (just check your salsa ingredients).

I adore caramelized bananas! My mom would make them for me as I was growing up. At the time, she always used real butter, and we ALWAYS salted them. They are like nature's version of salted caramels. The trick with the bananas is not to use too high of heat, or you will scorch them instead of caramelize them. Being patient is worth it. Make the bananas as the rice is cooking. Also prepare all the garnishes as the rice and beans finish up.

Bananas this ripe and even riper, are used.

Lay the bananas cut side down in the prepared pan.

They are looking caramely on the edges and are ready to turn.

Leila's Coconut Rice with Black Beans & Caramelized bananas
Serves 4.

Ingredients:

The Rice:
2 c. basmati rice (white or brown) with 1/2 t. sea salt or Leila's BioSalt, cooked in a rice cooker according to rice cooker directions
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (can use 2 cans to up the protein and fiber)
2 T. raw agave nectar, optional *

The Caramelized Bananas:
1 T. coconut oil (deodorized or virgin)
1 T. real butter, or ghee (clarified butter)
4 to 6 very ripe bananas (or as many bananas as you can cram in the pan!)
Sea salt, or Leila's BioSalt, to taste (my BioSalt recipe is in my first blog post)

Garnish with:
the Caramelized Bananas (above)
raw baby spinach leaves
diced pineapple, fresh or canned
golden raisins, optional (or chopped dates)
scallions, minced
shredded jicama
red bell pepper, chopped, optional
sugar snap pea pods, optional
fruit salsa (like peach-mango salsa)
cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Method:

The Rice: 
Cook the rice, 1/2 t. salt and water amount called for in your rice cooker until done.
Leave the rice cooker on the keep warm setting.
Fluff the rice and stir in the can of coconut milk. Toss gently to blend.
After the coconut milk has been absorbed by the rice, add the canned black beans and toss.
Let the rice cooker's keep warm feature warm the beans and rice mixture.

The Caramelized Bananas:
Melt the butter and coconut oil in a large non-stick frying pan, over med-high heat.
Peel and cut in half lengthwise 4 to 6 very ripe bananas.
Place banana halves, cut side down into the melted fats in the pan.
Let the bananas start sizzling before you turn the heat down to medium heat.
When the underneath sides look golden brown and caramelized, sprinkle salt over them and turn them over. Caramelize the other side and lightly salt. Turn heat to very low to keep warm, until use.

Putting it all together:
On individual serving plates, first put a bed of baby spinach, then portion the rice & bean mixture over top. Top with caramelized bananas, pineapple, and other desired fruit and vegetable garnishes.
Finish off by topping with the fruit salsa and cilantro.

At our house we load up on the fruit and vegetable toppings and we like a generous amount of fruit salsa.


* Note: You may omit the agave and use Lakanto's Golden zero-cal granular sweetener instead. I would add it to the cooking water so that it will fully dissolve.


Enjoy!

Author: Leila Wood.