Fresh Apricot Breakfast Pudding - Gluten and Sugar Free!

 It's apricot season! 

This breakfast dish is full of juicy and tangy bits of fresh apricot, surrounded by a chewy-soft pudding. The perfect use for not-quite-ripe or overripe apricots.

And it's one of the simplest of all of Joseph's breakfast pudding recipes!

 Fresh Apricot Breakfast Pudding

 Serves 2 or more

1 T. ghee to melt in baking dish

4 fresh apricots, approx. 8 oz. when pitted (leave skin on)

Zest of one fresh lemon

1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon Homemade Vanilla

5 eggs + 1 yolk

3 of the tiny scoops found inside a bottle of Trader Joe’s 100% Pure Organic Stevia Extract, or 3/64ths of a teaspoon (read how to use and measure stevia here)

1/2 cup Minute Tapioca, uncooked

Follow the basic directions for creating a steam bath and baking a steamed pudding here. 

After melting the ghee in your glass baking dish in the steam bath, arrange sliced, thick wedges of two apricots around the bottom of the dish. Grind the other two apricots in the blender with the remaining ingredients, adding tapioca at the end while the blender is running. Then quickly pour into the baking dish or the tapioca will settle on the bottom. 

Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Serves 2 for a complete breakfast, or more for dessert.

Dark Chocolate Power Pudding - Gluten and Sugar Free*

Topped with Joseph's no-sugar whipped cream
and frozen cherries and raspberries.

Joseph makes many variations on his chocolate breakfast puddings, but this one was a big hit with our nephew, Matthew. So here it is, just in time for his Christmas birthday! Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Remember that if you eat a little more than half of it, you’ve eaten a pretty good-sized breakfast, containing all your protein (3 eggs), carbohydrate (tapioca), and fruit (banana & raspberry), with a perfect portion left over for a breakfast companion--perhaps a lighter eater of the feminine gender and size? (Double the recipe if you invite one of your brothers to share and use two baking dishes.) 

Eat celery sticks with nut butter on the side for some fresh veggies and you’re good to go 'til lunch time. It’s gluten free, and we usually skip the honey to reduce the sugar hit. Either way, you won’t miss the white refined sugar at all!

  

Dark Chocolate Power Pudding

1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter) or cocoa butter

4 eggs + 2 yolks

12 oz. ripe organic banana (approx. 2–3)

1/3 cup milk

3 tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened (Ghiradelli brand preferred)

3 of the tiny scoops found inside a bottle of Trader Joe’s 100% Pure Organic Stevia Extract, approx. 1/64th plus 1/128th teaspoon*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Homemade is best but extract will work) or 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla beans

Optional: 1 Tablespoon honey or more to taste (Note: Omit if kicking a sugar habit)

1/2 cup Minute Tapioca, uncooked

Prepare a steam bath:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Choose a glass baking dish or pie plate that will fit inside a larger pan holding water, so that the water comes up about an inch along the sides. A large roasting pan works well. It's easiest to put the pans together, measure in the water, then remove your baking dish and place the water-holding pan in the oven to warm. (Choose a baking dish that will make your pudding about as deep as a pie, or you'll have to increase your baking time.)

Melt the ghee in the pie plate by placing it in the warming steam bath for a moment. Then carefully remove the baking dish from the steam bath and set it aside. (Leave the steam bath in the oven.)

Make pudding: 

Using a blender, add the banana, eggs, milk, and blend on low speed. While running, add the cocoa, stevia, and vanilla. If you wish and your eggs are very fresh, taste for sweetness and add optional honey (1 tablespoon to start). It should taste sweeter than you want the end product to taste. Otherwise, trust the recipe and add 1 T. honey. While blender is still running, add tapioca and pour immediately into baking dish, before the tapioca settles. Bake in steam bath for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. Test by inserting knife in center; done when it comes out clean.

Serve warm or cold, with optional raspberry sauce. You can even cut it into little squares and serve as a light dessert to a crowd, serve fresh raspberries on the side, or top with stevia and vanilla sweetened dollops of whipped cream. 

*Back label says, “Stevia Rebaudiana, 45 mg. per scoop” – with NO ADDITIONAL SUGAR-DERIVED ADDITIVES, as you would find in nearly every other brand of stevia product. For more about using plant-derived stevia, read this.

Optional Raspberry Sauce

2 c. frozen raspberries

1 teaspoon Framboise raspberry liqueur

1/4 c. water

1 scoop stevia (as above, one tiny white scoop = 1/64^th teaspoon)

Honey to taste

Place in small saucepan and simmer until thickened. Use cool, warm, or hot as topping. 
*(NOTE: Honey and liqueurs may have a sugar-like impact on your system, so vary this recipe according to your needs. If you're currently trying to kick a sugar habit, use stevia-sweetened whipping cream as a topping instead; it whips up just like cream with sugar would.)

You can see the transparent tapioca balls inside.

 

This creamy variation uses 16 oz. cooked taro root
in place of instant tapioca.

 

Naturally Sweet "Pumpkin" Pie Breakfast Pudding



Lucky I caught this picture at all, it was disappearing so fast!

I LOVE pumpkin pie for breakfast! But since we’re not eating sugar any more, Joseph invented this amazing stand-in and I can’t really tell the difference. He uses leftover sweet potatoes, which require a fraction of the natural sweeteners pumpkin would need.

For us, when combined with stevia, only a tablespoon of real maple syrup does the trick. You might need two if your tastebuds are accustomed to the jaw-socking sweetness of refined sugar. If you’ve used fresh eggs from a source you trust, you can taste the pudding mix before baking; it should taste slightly sweeter than you want the final dish to be. (Don't do this if you're using commercial eggs.)

This will supply a complete, balanced breakfast with protein, carbs, and fat if you split it between two people.

Naturally Sweet “Pumpkin" Pie Breakfast Pudding
Serves 2 or more

1 tablespoon goat butter

10 oz. cooked organic sweet potatoes (aka garnet yams)

5 fresh eggs + 1 yolk from free-range chickens

2 tablespoons cream

1 tablespoon real maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon green stevia

Prepare a steam bath:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Choose a glass baking dish or pie plate that will fit inside a larger pan holding water, so that the water comes up about an inch along the sides. It's easiest to put the pans together, measure in the water, then remove your baking dish and place the water-holding pan in the oven to warm.

Melt the goat butter in the pie plate by placing it in the steam bath for a moment. Then carefully remove it from the oven before the butter burns. Set aside.

Place peeled sweet potatoes, eggs, cream, and maple syrup in blender. Turn on low. While it's running, slowly add the spices and stevia. (Taste if you've used safe eggs and adjust sweetening.)

Pour into the pie plate and sprinkle the top with fresh-grated nutmeg. Bake in steam bath at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Cut and serve like pie. Serves 2 for breakfast, or serve as a very mild but filling dessert.

If your family traditions differ slightly (adding allspice, etc.) feel free to adjust the spices accordingly, but keep the same proportions as your pie recipe. Joseph derived this version from my Gramma Jo’s original recipe. J You can also serve this in a crust; just bake it like you would any pumpkin pie!

Emu Egg Figgy Pudding

This is one of the special recipes from a category we call Breakfast Puddings. We might try to eat the whole thing between the two of us as a meal because it contains a balanced amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. But you could also serve it as a holiday dessert with a little stevia-sweetened whipped cream.

Joseph’s Irish Frittata

This is a great way to use up the leftover potatoes and onions from your St. Patrick’s Day boiled dinner! (Leave out the cabbage, though.) Joseph used leftovers from our Polish-Irish Turkey Kielbasa Dinner, giving the frittata a wonderfully tangy undertone.

Joseph’s Irish Frittata

Serves 2

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 eggs
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup leftover boiled potatoes, sliced
1/2 cup leftover boiled onions, chopped
Goat feta cheese, crumbled, 1 to 2 oz. to taste

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Gently stir in potatoes and onions. Set aside.

Heat oil in an iron skillet, then set the heat on medium-low (4 on our electric stove). Pour in the egg mixture, spreading the potato and onion pieces evenly around the pan. Sprinkle with the feta cheese.

Cook for five minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees. (Joseph says this is necessary because all electric stoves are cooler and hotter in different places). Cook another five minutes on the stovetop, then place the skillet under a hot broiler until the frittata is sizzling and cooked on top. Serve with buttered, gluten-free toast. Serves 2.