Santa Fe Breakfast.... Done Texas Style!

Decided to change things up this morning.

I usually do a 16 hour fast every day.... meaning I don't eat anything in the morning until 16 hours after my previous evening's meal.

But I had some stomach pains yesterday and figured it might be because I was taking  my NSAID and other supplements on an empty stomach.

Well - I can fix that.

Cue up a 1 quart pot with a 1/3 cup of dried grits, 1-1/4 cups of water and a sprinkle of salt on low heat for 10 minutes.  Stir continuously to prevent clumping and create that silky, smooth texture you need for grits.

Diagonal from the grits is a 16 oz ribeye that's been sitting in the fridge for 2 days with a dry rub of Adolph's Seasoned Meat Tenderizer, Salt, Pepper, Garam Masala, Cumin, Turmeric and Allspice.  As usual, I forked the steak pretty vigorously on each side to manually tenderize the meat and drive the spices into the inside.

Taste, Baby, Taste..... It's all about making food taste good.

So I put 4 minutes on the first side of the ribeye and flipped it and put the timer on for 3-1/2 minutes on the 2nd side cause the steak was about 3/4" thick and I wanted it medium.

Meanwhile back at the ranch or la casa - depending on which state you're in - I put 2 eggs into the non-stick pan and made up a slurry of 2 teaspoons of flour, salt, pepper, cayenne and water.  Yep - that's it - simplest and lowest calorie gravy mix in the world.

The flavoring for the gravy will come from what remains in the skillet when I take the steak out.

Turn the heat way down on the skillet for at least 3 - 4 minutes before you pour in the gravy mix and then stir it slowly with a spatula to keep it from clumping or sticking.

It reduces quickly so add warm water as necessary to get the thickness you want.

Plate the grits with a sprinkle of pepper, 1/2 pat of real butter and slide the over medium eggs straight out of the skillet and onto the grits.

Let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes.

Finish the plating with some avocado and diced tomatoes with the grits and eggs and a little gravy on the side.

Side the Ribeye with a cantaloupe, mango, apple, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro salsa and spoon some of the skillet gravy on top.

Black Coffee completes the ensemble.

Now some might look at this layout and say "Man - if you ate like that everyday, you'd weigh 400 lbs in a year!"

To which I say - "Maybe... Maybe not."

Let's break it down and look at the data.

First off, I didn't eat the whole steak - don't need to - it's too much - I ate about 1/3.  This was a bone-in 16 oz ribeye so I probably ate about 5 oz.

So here's the calorie count for this meal:

• 5 oz of grilled ribeye = 77 calories / oz * 5 oz = 385 calories
• 2 eggs prep'd with NO OIL = 2 * 60 = 120 calories
• 1/3 cup dry grits = 160 calories
• 2 teaspoons of flour = 56 calories; I only ate 1/2 the gravy but will count all the calories that went in.
• 1/2 oz butter = 60 calories
• 1/2 small avocado = 120 calories
• 2 tablespoons of fresh fruit salsa = 100 calories
• TOTAL CALORIES = 1001 calories..... Perfect.... about 1/2 my calories for the day.

So for 1000 calories, I got a wonderful meal that will hold me up through a 2 hour bike ride this morning which will burn at least 1000 calories.

So the next time you want Steak, Eggs, Grits and Gravy for breakfast, don't think you're blowing the diet.

Cook lean with no oil in a cast iron skillet and watch your portion on the ribeye and....

Enjoy.

That's what a Life of Discovery is all about!