January 21, 2012

Juice Pulp Egg Bake

I borrowed a friend’s juicer because I was interested in “juicing” for breakfast during the week. I get to work at 8 a.m., but I’m not usually interested in eating breakfast until about 9:30 a.m. Sometimes I’m busy at that time, so I don’t have a chance to eat until 10 or so. Since I work out at 11:45, I have to be careful what I eat or else it will be too heavy in my stomach. I planned to make juice mostly from vegetables so it wouldn’t be high in sugar and would have more protein and vitamins. I picked up some bulk carrots, chard, and cucumbers, and already had apples, lemons, strawberries, spinach, and radishes. My first juice consisted mostly of the above in random amounts. We were just shoving different veggies down the chute to see how much juice would come out. I used an apple and a few strawberries for a little sweetness. While we (or at least I) knew that the juice yield would seem small compared to the amount of veggies we used, we both were shocked at how much pulp collected in the pulp bin. I’ve read that people use this to bake with or add to soups or whatever, but I suspect the majority of people who juice just throw this out! It seems like such a waste (unless you compost). Lo liked the pulp straight out of the bin, but I knew I wanted to make something with it because he wasn’t going to eat that much of it.

Eating the pulp from the bin

It definitely tasted like something that could easily be added to soups, but I didn’t have any plans for soup. I just stored it in a glass container in the fridge to use the next day (freezing it would work too). I decided to make an egg bake since those are so easy and versatile. The pulp had quite a bit of a lemony flavor (I think I used 2 lemons), so I wanted to add lots of pepper to balance that flavor. I also wanted to make it with a quinoa crust, which is made by just spraying the pan with cooking spray and coating the bottom with uncooked quinoa – the liquid will cook the quinoa to give it a slightly crunchy crust. Here’s an approximate recipe of what I did:

Juice Pulp Egg Bake with Quinoa Crust

Cooking Spray
2 tablespoons of uncooked quinoa*
8 eggs (or a few whole eggs and mostly egg whites)
1 1/2 cups of milk
pulp from juicing (it was about 3 cups worth – any amount will work)
Lots of pepper
dried dill weed, to taste
salt, to taste
other seasonings to your preference (garlic, onion – whatever)
cheese of your choice – I used a parmesean blend

Red Quinoa coated
Baking Dish

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking dish with cooking spray – I used a 9 inch Pampered Chef dish but wish I would have used a 9×13 because it ended up a bit thick. Sprinkle quinoa in the pan and tilt around so that the quinoa sticks to the cooking spray, coating the bottom of the pan. Set aside. Beat eggs and milk together; stir in pulp (or other cut veggies). Add preferred seasonings and stir. Pour mixture in the pan and top with half of the cheese. Bake for 40-60 minutes (depending on the thickness of the bake). Mine took closer to 70 minutes, but that’s because I used a pan too small, didn’t have the oven all of the way preheated, and Pampered Chef pans take longer for any dishes compared to glass or metal. Once done, sprinkle the extra cheese on while still hot. Let cool for 10 minutes or so before cutting and serving. This one was slightly dry once reheated, but I think I just cooked it too long. It would have probably been better with more milk or eggs in proportion to the large amounts of pulp that I added – or even some cheese stirred into it. Egg bakes are really good topped with salsa too. Lo topped his with sriracha.

I assume if you aren’t used to eating a lot of fiber, this may be a little much for you – it’s essentially all of the vegetable fiber. Start with a small piece and drink tons of water that day.