Okay – it’s almost FALL!!! The season when kids head happily back to school (or I happily send them back to school, at least), the leaves start to change, the god-forsaken heat starts to break and people gather together for tailgates for FOOTBALL!  As a Penn State grad and a current college town resident, I dig tailgates.  I can honestly take or leave the game unless I’m sitting in the stadium, but I love the pre-game. My husband is a huge NFL fan and we love following the local Tar Heels as well as our Nittany Lions.

In The South, tailgating is taken to a whole new level. I’m talking table cloths, cutlery, signature cocktails, monogrammed everything – it is a class act.  Full disclosure – it may be the same up in State College, PA, but when I was there I wasn’t worried about the pre-game food unless it was a Grilled Sticky (I still need to figure out a GF version of that!).

One tailgate staple around here is the intrepid Deviled Egg.  Growing up, up north, I didn’t gain an appreciation for the art of the Deviled Egg until I moved to North Carolina. I’m not a huge mayonnaise fan (unless I make it myself) so I didn’t really jump on the deviled egg bandwagon. And then…I bought a hard boiled egg machine and everything changed.

I have a well-documented level of frustration with making hard boiled eggs. As I stated above, I can make my own mayonnaise, but I can’t cook a stinking hard boiled egg.  Enter my egg cooker – this little $15 miracle makes PERFECT hard boiled eggs almost everytime and I was so excited about it, I made a lot of eggs, like a lot. So, what is one to do who has a lot of hard boiled eggs? Make Deviled Eggs of course!

I decided to use avocado in place of mayonnaise and the marriage was magical. The result was a beautiful light green filling and a gorgeous presentation.  You can really flavor this any way you want – horseradish, wasabi, sriracha, Texas Pete, curry powder – you name it. You can enjoy a second signature cocktail,  knowing that this part of the spread is healthy, full of good fats, protein and a ton of flavor.

GO TEAM!

Paleo Deviled Eggs

Prep Time: 20min.
Cook Time: 15min.
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

6 eggs – hard-boiled and peeled

1/2 avocado

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbl. Olive Oil (or avocado oil)

1 tsp. curry powder or cumin

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

pinch cayenne pepper

sprinkle of paprika

 

Instructions

1. Slice the eggs in half and remove the yolks and set the whites aside
2. Place the yolks in the bowl of a (mini) food processor
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor except for the paprika
4. Blend until smooth and uniform in color.
5. Either spoon or pipe the filling back into the cavity of the egg whites
6. sprinkle with paprika
7. Chill for 20 min. and serve.

Notes

These can be made ahead of time, but be aware that the filling will darken – as avocados tend to do.  To help with the darkening, you can add some lime juice to the mixture during processing.