Creamy microwave scrambled eggs

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Perfect scrambled eggs in the microwave: It's all in the timing

Do you eat breakfast at work? I often eat breakfast at the office — I'm just not hungry before leaving the house. My favorite low carb breakfast: eggs. Which is why I've been experimenting with making scrambled eggs in the microwave in my office kitchen.

I've found the secret to making fluffy, moist scrambled eggs that aren't dry or rubbery. It's all in the timing. The trick is to undercook them, then stir briskly to break up the curds and use the residual heat to finish cooking the eggs. The result: creamy, dreamy scrambled eggs you'd think were made on the stove.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial with visuals:

I keep eggs, shredded cheese and butter in the office refrigerator

1. Keep a dozen eggs, a bag of shredded cheese, and a stick of butter in your office refrigerator. My office has salt and pepper, but if yours doesn't, bring that too.

Crack the eggs in a bowl

2. Crack two eggs into a bowl. We have real utensils and dishes in our office kitchen, but paper bowls work fine too. Add salt and pepper.

Add shredded cheese and butter

3. Add shredded cheese (optional) and a few bits of cold butter. Whisk it all together with a fork.

After one minute in my office microwave

4. Microwave on high for 30-60 seconds. I'm giving a range here because microwaves vary. Start checking after 30 seconds. The eggs should look liquid, with just the first solid curds forming around the edge. Stir vigorously with a fork, blending the curds into the uncooked eggs.

After a total of two minutes in my office microwave

5. Return the bowl to the microwave and cook another 30-45 seconds. It is very important not to let the eggs cook too long in this step. They should look like the photo above when you take them out: Cooked around the outsides, but liquid and raw in the center.

Stir again, breaking up the curds with your fork

6. Stir again, very vigorously, breaking up the curds with your fork and mixing the uncooked egg into the curds. The residual heat will cook the remaining raw egg without turning it dry and rubbery. You'll end up with a creamy bowl of perfect scrambled eggs.

Perfect microwave scrambled eggs

7. Sprinkle with more shredded cheese if you like and eat immediately.

Warning: Your coworkers may start asking you to make their breakfasts, too.

Best low-carb products at Natural Products Expo West 2016

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Visiting with Nikki Frezza of Nikki's Coconut Butter

Disclosure: I tried all the products listed below at the Natural Products Expo West trade show. Some of the companies below also sent me home with small free samples.

Last month I walked the exhibition halls at Natural Products Expo West, the largest trade show for health-conscious food and beauty products. I was specifically looking for low-sugar and low-carb foods to fit in with my new eating habits. Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

1. Lily's Sweets stevia-sweetened chocolate. I have tried just about every non-sugar-sweetened chocolate on the market, and Lily's is my favorite without question. It's smooth and creamy, melts evenly, and there's absolutely no bitter aftertaste, which you can sometimes get with stevia. The Lily's team gave me some samples at the show (the Blood Orange flavor is fantastic), but I can assure you that I spend plenty of my own money on Lily's chocolate bars every week. Look for the small snack-size bars at Whole Foods.

2. Nikki's Cashew Cookie Coconut Butter. Nikki and I belong to a small group of women food entrepreneurs on Facebook and have been sharing our journey building our companies for several years. She has taught me so much about branding, balancing health and work and aspirations, and overcoming manufacturing challenges. This was the first time we actually got to meet in person and I could have hugged her for an hour. I love all of Nikki's flavored coconut butters (they're like peanut butter but made of coconut), but her brand-new Cashew Cookie Butter is the first with no added sugar, which means it fits perfectly into my current eating habits. It's smooth, rich and absolutely delicious.

3. Ginger's Healthy Habits Veggie Trail Mix. One of the things I've missed most since reducing the carbohydrates in my diet is the salty crunchy category. I love chips! These veggie trail mixes totally hit the spot. I loved the Garlic/Herb and Pepperoni Pizza flavors. With zucchini, kale, tomatoes, olives, nuts and seeds, these two flavors really felt like a decadent savory snack. All thumbs up.

4. Terra celery root chips. Terra makes chips out of several exotic root vegetables, and these celery root chips are so new they're not even on the Terra website as I'm writing. They're not zero-carb, but they're lower than potato or sweet potato chips, and they had a very interesting flavor. Look for them in stores soon.

5. Mikey's Muffins. These Paleo English muffins made from almond and coconut flours come in three flavors (Original, Toasted Onion, and Cinnamon Raisin) and definitely satisfy my bread cravings. Like all English muffins, they're best toasted to golden brown.

6. Mr. Cheese O's cheese snacks. Made of real cheese and available in Original, Cheddar, Tuscan Herb, Sweet Chili, Zesty BBQ and French Onion flavors, these little rings offered all the crunch of a typical junk food cheese puff with very few carbs and truly delicious taste.

7. La Onda Almond Dip. I wish I'd gotten more information about these products because their website is lacking. But they were delicious, like hummus but made from almonds. I'll update this if I find out more.

8. Siete Foods grain-free tortillas. I have cut just about all grains out of my diet, but I still need a bread-like vehicle, especially in the morning. These almond flour and cassava-coconut tortillas were very good. I liked the slight chewiness and can see wrapping up a veggie omelette in these for breakfast on the go. They're definitely at their best when they're warmed.

9. Wild Zora Original Meat and Veggie Bars. There were bars galore at the Expo, but it was extremely hard to find bars without a lot of sugar or carbs. (Even the ones that were sweetened only with fruit had enough fruit to make each bar high in total sugar.) The Wild Zora bars are made with beef, lamb and turkey mixed with fruits, vegetables and spices. I know it sounds weird, but I thought these were delicious. My favorite: the Mediterranean Lamb Bars with Spinach and Turmeric, although the other flavors are also excellent.

Roast chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

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To paraphrase a popular chick flick:

In winter, we eat chicken with garlic.

On pink plates.

Note: This recipe is super easy when you buy one of those huge containers of peeled garlic cloves from Costco (or whichever big-box store you frequent).

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Roasted Garlic Chicken

by Erika Kerekes January-28-2016

Chicken. Garlic. Oven. What else do you need?

Ingredients

• 8 large chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on
• 1 Tablespoon herbes de Provence, Italian herb mix, or any other dried herb mix you prefer
• 1 cup fresh garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a large roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray.Lay the chicken pieces in the pan, skin side up. Sprinkle them with the dried herb mix and scatter the garlic cloves around them. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice over the chicken. Put the lemon halves in the roasting pan. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil, then shower it generously with salt and pepper.Turn the chicken pieces over so the skin side is down. Put the roasting pan in the oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes. (This step crisps the skin.)After 15 minutes, turn the heat down to 350 degrees. Bake another 40 minutes or until the chicken thighs are cooked through and very tender.Serve the chicken skin side up with the garlic cloves and pan juices poured over.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 55 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 4 servings

Copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino

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My kids have always loved coffee.

My older son, now 16, developed a taste for coffee with milk (not milk with coffee) when he was a toddler. The Starbucks baristas gave him some funny looks when he ordered his own decaf before he could see over the counter.

My younger son, now 13, drinks his coffee black most of the time. Decaf, of course - we'll never know if the old wives' tales about caffeine stunting your growth hold water, but I don't take any chances in the height department given my five-foot-nothing stature.

Younger son, however, also has a sweet tooth. When he spent his allowance one too many times on a huge-ass blended coffee drink, with its many, many grams of added sugar, I decided to bribe him with a copycat version where I control what goes into the blender.

This copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino tastes better than the original, in my opinion. I buy sugar-free hazelnut syrup via Amazon Prime. Not even the 13-year-old minds the lack of sugar.

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Copycat Starbucks hazelnut Frappucino

by Erika Kerekes November-16-2015

This hazelnut-flavored blended iced coffee drink has a fraction of the sugar and calories of the real thing. Trying to cut down on added sugar and trim your expensive coffee habit? This recipe is for you.

Ingredients

• 4 cups ice cubes
• 1 cup strong coffee
• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 2 Tablespoons sugar-free hazelnut syrup
• Dash of ground cinnamon
• Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

Add ice cubes to blender. Pulse a few times to break the ice into smaller pieces. (If your ice maker generates crushed ice, use that instead.)Add coffee, almond milk, syrup and cinnamon to the blender. Blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds.Pour into two glasses, dividing evenly. Top with whipped cream if desired. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 4 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 5 mins Yield: 2 large servings

Paleo fried chicken with almond crust

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I've been trying to eat fewer grains lately. This is tough for me - no one is a bigger fan of the white starch category than I am. But hey, I'm coming up on 50. I figure it's time to make a few adjustments.

I came across a few "Paleo" recipes for fried chicken coated with almond meal instead of flour. I doubt I'll ever move all the way over to a true Paleo diet - it's pretty restrictive - but I thought I'd give almond-crusted fried chicken a try.

It. Was. Stupendous.

I went full-on Paleo and fried the chicken thighs in coconut oil, but if you're not following the Paleo diet strictly you can use any other high-heat frying oil, like grapeseed oil or canola oil.

ON THE SIDE: I served my fried chicken with my Not Ketchup fruit "ketchup" sauces, of course. Sweet and tangy, they're the perfect partner for this crispy, salty, umami-rich fried chicken. Pick up a bottle at NotKetchup.com or Amazon.com today!

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Paleo Fried Chicken With Almond Crust

by Erika Kerekes August-19-2015

Fried chicken coated in almond meal and spices and fried in coconut oil. Grain-free, Paleo and delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups almond meal or almond flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups coconut oil (can substitute grapeseed or canola oil)
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Instructions

Crack the eggs into a medium-sized bowl and whisk until frothy. In another bowl, mix together the almond meal, garlic salt, smoked paprika and pepper until combined. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.Heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a deep, heavy pot. I use a 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven. Get the oil up to about 350 degrees F. If you're too impatient to use a thermometer (like me), wait until the surface is visibly shimmering. Dip a piece of the chicken first into the egg, then into the almond meal mixture. Make sure the chicken is coated all over with the almond meal. Drop the chicken gently into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. You'll have to work in batches, frying three or four pieces at a time (depending on the size of your pot).When the chicken is golden brown, put it on a rack set over a sheet pan (or just on a sheet pan if you don't have a rack). When all the chicken is fried, slide the pan into the oven for 15 minutes. This will ensure that even the thickest parts of the chicken are cooked through and will re-warm the pieces you fried first.Serve hot with your favorite flavor of Not Ketchup for dipping.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 4 servings