microwaved eggs

I love my microwave.  Yes, I know it's totally uncool to declare my love for a machine that makes atrocities like Easy Mac possible, but I'm going to hazard a guess that most people who declare war against microwaves don't have kids.  At least, they don't have infants and can usually eat breakfast before 5:30 PM.

I've read about microwaving eggs for awhile now, but I haven't tried it until tonight.  I really should have done it earlier.  Ever since Ramona's been born, I've basically let myself eat whatever it was that I wanted.  This has actually been a good thing because my milk supply is amazing and the ratio of fats and carbs and protein in my milk has been sufficient to grow a very happy baby who is in the 95th percentile in both height and weight.

Mushroom omelet from the hospital about 20 hours before Ramona was born. I GUARANTEE this egg was microwaved.

This has not, however, been so great for my waistline.  Well, I guess it hasn't been that bad either, I'm down 5 lbs, which sounds wonderful, but isn't when you consider that I'm about the same size as I was before so there's some not-so-great redistribution going on.  Suffice it to say, I should probably start monitoring what I'm eating again and my current plan is to get back to what I was doing for the gestational diabetes and monitor my carb-to-protein intake.  I used to eat a ton of eggs while I was pregnant, but now it's a big process to figure out how to get out a pan, cook an egg, and then eat it all while holding a baby.

Enter the microwave.

2 eggs
salt, pepper, whatever else you put in your eggs
oil

Grease a microwave-safe bowl with a little bit of oil.  Whisk together the two eggs plus whatever seasoning you're going to put in.  Microwave on high for ~45 seconds.  Remove the bowl and stir.  See if there are still wet bits.  If so, microwave for 30 second increments until everything is cooked.

So how do these microwaved eggs taste?  Like eggs.  Their texture leaves a bit to be desired, but they're protein and it's nothing that a little bit of sriracha can't fix.

The Accidental Vegan... Pancakes

One of my friends took over my house last weekend to make a short film.  I think it's going to be really hilarious, but I'm definitely happy to have my house back.  I spent the weekend helping another one of my friends cook for everyone in the cast and crew and it was a lot of fun.  Perhaps my calling is actually to run a family-style catering business for small events.  Or maybe I'm supposed to be an astronomer.  The two jobs are so very close in description that it's really hard to distinguish the two.  Right.

So I've been ogling this Mark Bittman recipe since last Thursday, with no room to make it.  Once everyone left, I was planning on making it, but I had no milk or pine nuts, so I put off making it until tonight when I finally caved because I was really craving something carb-y and sweet.

Veganized Bittman Cornmeal Pancakes

1.5 c cornmeal

1.5 c boiling water

0.5 c soy milk

0.5 t kosher salt

1 T sugar or honey or maple syrup

1 t vanilla extract

2 T grapeseed oil

1/2 c chopped almonds

Whisk together cornmeal and salt.  Add in the boiling water and let sit for 5ish minutes or so to let the cornmeal really absorb the water.  Stir in soy milk, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and almonds until smooth.  Don't worry about over mixing because there isn't any gluten or chemical leaveners in these pancakes.  Cook in a hot nonstick pan until golden brown on one side and then flip.  Since there aren't any leaveners, there won't be bubbles, so you sort of just need to let the pancakes sit there for awhile (perhaps 3-5 minutes).

nomcakes

The results?  Dense, delicious pancakes that also happen to be gluten free.  Bittman suggests to serve with honey, but I really liked my version straight from the pan.