Bacon & Veggie Frittata and a Funny Story

So a funny thing happened to me yesterday as I was checking out of my favorite little grocery store. A woman walks in and starts talking to my cashier about a return she has in her hand, asking if she needed to leave it at the front while she finished her shopping. The item was a big bag of gluten-free all-purpose flour by Bob's Red Mill. I had to chuckle a little when she held it up with a frustrated face and said, "It's NOT Paleo..." She obviously bought it by mistake, after making the decision to go Paleo. The majority of the ingredients are on the "Paleo No-No List": Garbanzo Bean Flour, Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour, White Sorghum Flour, and Fava Bean Flour. Beans, Potatoes, and Sorghum are technically NOT Paleo, however Tapioca Flour/Starch comes from the cassava root. While being the least preferred flour on the Paleo list, because of it's high carbohydrate content, Tapioca is used in some Paleo cooking by itself.

As a lot of you already know, a "Gluten-Free Diet" is much different than a "Paleo Diet". Gluten is a protein that comes mainly from wheat (and also other grains, but we'll get into that on a different day), so being gluten-free basically means being wheat-free (or better yet, grain-free). The problem is that this gluten is extracted from wheat and is added or injected into other foods and food products to increase protein value and also for texture purposes. You can still eat unhealthy foods while being completely gluten-free. Going Paleo encourages lots of vegetables and whole foods, while there are a TON of processed food products on the shelf that are considered gluten-free. A couple years back, before becoming a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant, I actually worked in a small bake shop completely dedicated to offering gluten-free food to the community. The entire kitchen was gluten-free, and we sold products on the shelves that were gluten-free. However, I never felt completely 100% okay with recommending these gluten-free food products to people suffering from severe food allergies and/or Celiac Disease because I felt like the best advice would be to eat 100% Paleo. Most of our products were baked goods, and you may not know that to keep the product tasting good when wheat is removed, sugar is added in - LOTS of sugar, which is definitely not good for anyone. I always tell my clients that if you have a sensitivity to gluten, like most people do and probably don't even realize, it's best to only eat the processed gluten-free foods when you're occasionally cheating on your Paleo diet. So...Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour would be a better choice than going full-blown wheat flour, but there are so many other options for flours and baking that are Paleo approved and healthier choices. 

I personally have fallen in love with coconut flour and use it for most of my baking. I enjoy almond flour as well, but find it to be extremely nutrient dense- meaning it makes me feel really full for too long. After all, how many almonds should we eat in one sitting? It really shouldn't be more than a handful. I keep my portion size as small as possible when eating something made with almond meal/flour. I also recommend eating these flours as little as possible and trying to exclude them as much as you can, because we're better off without them anyway. Veggies and quality meat should be the main focus, tweaked to each individual's needs! So here's a recipe that doesn't require flour and is SUPER DELICIOUS and easy to make!

Bacon & Veggie Frittata

• 6 eggs, scrambled
• 2 slices of nitrate-free bacon, chopped
• about 1/8 cup red onion, finely diced
• about 3 cups of chopped veggies (in this one I used broccoli, zucchini, and yellow squash)

Preheat broiler to 450-500 degrees. 

Heat iron skillet to medium heat on stove top.

Add chopped bacon and cook for a few minutes until it doesn't look raw. 

Add red onion and cook for a minute or so. 

Add the rest of the veggies and sautée until tender, keeping the bright color of the veggies. 

Add the scrambled eggs and mix with the veggies with a fork. 

Cool for a minute or two and then place in the oven until eggs rise and are a light golden brown on top.

Remove from oven carefully, let cool, slice and serve!