Scrambled Eggs with Vegetables

It is my sweet husbands birthday today. We met 37 years on his birthday. When we were in high school. I am so glad I found him and feel like he is half of me. I can guess what he is going to say before he even says it. He is a great father and sweet grandpa. I am so glad I found him. I decided it would be fun to make him breakfast. He loved it.

 I was reading a great suggestion of adding vegetables to your diet first thing in the morning to get more vegetables into your daily diet. So that is what I did today. I added to eggs. It was wonderful. I have found that if you prepare vegetables the right way they are very enjoyable to eat. The average American falls short of the amount of vegetables they are suppose to eat in a day. We should be eating 5-10 servings a day. This recipe could make a great dinner as well.

Ingredients

3 T olive oil
1/4 thinly sliced onion
1/4 chopped red pepper (You could use other colors too)
1 clove minced garlic
handful of spinach
4 eggs beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper *optional
grated cheese *optional

Directions

1. Spray pan with non stick cooking spraying. Then pour in oil and heat pan to medium heat.
2. Put in to frying pan onions, peppers, and garlic and cook until softened.
3. Stir in the spinach and cook a couple minutes.
4. Stir in the eggs, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Cook until the eggs are all cooked.
5. Put on grated cheese if desired. Serve warm.

Frittata with vegetables and quinoa

This made a nice colorful dinner. The four of us ate the whole thing. You could have more sides if you wanted to make it go farther. It was a nice way to get a variety of vegetables into the meal. I have being reading lately all the nutritional benefits in vegetables and it gets me excited to incorporate more into my family's meals. This could be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner.      

Ingredients:
12 egg whites
6 eggs yolk (or use 6 whole eggs and 1/4 C of egg whites from the carton)
1/4 to 1/3 C Parmesan cheese
3 T milk
3 T basil fresh or 1 1/2 T dried
1 tsp sea salt with iodine
1/2 tsp pepper
2 T grape seed oil or olive oil
1/2 C cooked quinoa
1 onion minced
1 red pepper chopped in small strips
2  garlic cloves minced
3 C fresh baby spinach
3 T water
*jalapenos, green chili's and 1/4 tsp chili powder would be good in it too. 

Directions:

1. In a bowl beat or whisk the eggs together then add cheese, milk, basil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Heat skillet on medium heat and pour oil in onions and garlic and let cook till the onions are soft about 3 to5 min.Then pour in the spinach and cook till it starts to wilt about 2 min. Stir in the quinoa let cook about 2 more min.

3. Then stir in the egg mixture and tilt the pan around to get it spread out evenly. Cook lifting up the sides to let uncooked egg seep underneath the cooked egg.  

4. Pour in 3 T water and put on the lid. Turn down to med.- low heat. Cook until the top cooks all the way. Watch closely so the bottom doesn't get overcooked. Serve from the pan.  

Shitake Mushroom and other Vegetables Omelet

This was a nice breakfast for our holiday today. It was loaded with a lot of great vegetables. I was excited that my son enjoyed eating it. He sometimes is not a fan of lots of vegetables. The Parmesan cheese was a nice touch. The dried mushrooms worked great I have never used them before. :)

Ingredients: 2 servings
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
salt and pepper
2 T oil
1/4 Green pepper diced in pieces
1/2 C dried shitake mushrooms
1/2 C purple onions chopped
1 small jalapeno diced in pieces
2 Roma tomatoes chopped in small pieces
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 T oil (I used grape seed oil)
fresh Parmesan cheese grated

Directions:
1. Beat egg and egg whites together for a couple minutes. Heat frying pan on medium heat.

2. Pour in half the mixture. Swirl around in the pan. Heat and then lift up edge and let uncooked egg slide under. Let cook a couple minutes.

3. In the meant time. Heat another pan and pour in the oil. Throw all the vegetables into the oil and cook until tender about 5 min.

4. Scoop a couple spoonfuls of cooked vegetables on one side of the omelet. Fold the other half on over the top of the vegetables. Grate some cheese on top.

5. Repeat the process with the remaining egg. Serve warm. Top with salsa or ketchup.

Avocado Omelet

I have fond memories of a cooking class in high school. It was always such a treat to eat yummy foods. My children have enjoyed their cooking classes in high school too. It is wonderful they offer them still. One of the things that I remembered making was an avocado omelet. I loved it! It was something I had never had before. That memory is from about 35 years ago.

It is cool how food memories can bring us back to happy memories of the past. I am sure each of us can smell, see or make a certain food and have memories of that food, when we had it in the past come flooding back. Food is an important part of our lives. As long as we keep it in balance, it can bring a lot of enjoyment. I love being in my kitchen creating and having my family around. I think that is important time, for all of us. It is wonderful to create, and have family times in the kitchen. Modern convinces are wonderful, but it concerns me that those wonderful family times are being missed, with our fast paced world.

I loved coming home to my Mom in the kitchen making something. It was also fun to help her create as well. I have fond memories of baking Christmas treats as a family. Make time to create those memories for your family too. Those are the memories that last. =) A couple things my children have had fun with it is doing iron chef. They picked an ingredient, and then they all had to make something out of it. They also had fun video taping their own cooking show. Everyone has to figure out what works for them. Family time is so important.

I decided to try a new version of the avocado omelet. I have found sometimes chopping up the vegetables smaller helps my children to eat them more readily. You can be creative and make one too. The family loved it. They ate the pan clean. Success!

Ingredients:

8 eggs
1/4 C milk
2 T butter
Salt and white pepper, to taste
2 avocados
2 leek chopped in small pieces
3 garlic cloves minced
1 C cilantro chopped up
1 dash of cayenne
1 tsp cumin
2 T olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 C water
1/2 C sliced cheese (I used Gouda)
Directions:
1. Beat eggs with milk for about 2 min. They will turn a pal yellow.
2. Heat a skillet on med. low. Place butter in the pan. Let the butter melt.
3. Pour the eggs in the pan. Let the eggs cook a couple minutes.
4. In the mean time. Place avocados, leek, cilantro, garlic, cumin, Cayenne, and olive oil in the blender or food processor. Pulse 1 or 2 minutes. It was the consistency of guacamole.
5. You scoop the avocado mixture on top. (You could mix it into the eggs after beating them as well)
6. Lift up the edges on the egg , pour 1/4 to 1/2 C water to the sides. Place lid on and let steam. It should cook 3-5 min. I then put a few slices of cheese on and let it cook a couple extra min. I served it right out of the pan. Saves on clean up time.

Asparagus, Tomato and Spinach Omelet

This is a wonderful way to serve your family a lot of vegetables in one dish. Asparagus is a great price in the store. Today is the last day Sunflower Market has it on sale. My son tends to be picky about vegetables, and he ate the all of it with out picking anything out, it was amazing. In fact he went back for 2ND and 3Rds. It was a new way to eat asparagus, and I really liked it. It was fast and easy too. Yeah!

Ingredients: served 4

4 eggs beaten
4 asparagus chopped up slightly bigger than a green onion
1 T oil
1 C spinach torn in small pieces
3 roma tomatoes chopped in small pieces
small hand full of cilantro chopped in small pieces
1/3 of an onion chopped in small pieces
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 C water
optional* 1/4 C brown rice cooked

Directions:

1. In a skillet pour in the oil. Heat the pan to med. heat, and add asparagus and onion. Fry for a couple minutes.

2.Then pour in the rest of ingredients and stir. Stir until all mixed together. Pour in 1/8 C water and put on the lid. Let it cook on med low. Check often. Should cook in 5-10 min.

I just served it out of the pan.

Eggs Rancheros with Brown Rice

This is a fun recipe you could make for a Valentines breakfast or dinner. We had it last night for dinner and ate it in one sitting. :) It was really good. I liked having all the vegetables in it. I wonderful complete meal.

Ingredients:
2 T coconut oil or oil of your choice
1/2 of green jalapeno chili chopped fine.
3 garlic cloves minced
1 onion chopped fine
1 red pepper chopped and seeds taken out
4-5 mini peppers * optional
1 C cooked sweet brown rice *optional
3 tomatoes (peel and take the seeds out of 2 tomatoes)
2/3 C Kefir or cream or milk
8 eggs beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful of chopped up cilantro
1 avocado peeled and chopped into pieces
salsa or taco sauce

Directions: Serve 4-6

1. Heat oil in frying pan, on med. heat. Pour in the garlic, onions, peppers, chili, and cook until soft. Then add 2 of the chopped and peeled tomatoes, and cook another 3-4 min.

2. While cooking the vegetables, pour the eggs, and kefir* blend in the blender, or by hand beat. (I put some of the peppers in the blender too. If you have people who you are cooking for, who don't like chunks of vegetables. It is another way to make them not as noticeable.)

3. Then pour egg mixture into the pan with the vegetables. Mix until combined. Stir in the rice too. I put the lid on and stirred it occasionally. You can stir it less if you want it to be more of an omelet.

4. Once the eggs are all cooked. stir in the cilantro, or throw it on top. Garnish with cut up tomato and avocado. It tastes good with salsa or taco sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

* The kefir or cream add a creamy texture to the eggs that we liked.

Spinach Omelet

This was a fast and easy dinner last night. My family really liked it. They asked for seconds. Next time I will have to make more. When I get positive responses long after the meal, I count it as a success. I only used one pan to make it in, and I served it in the same pan. Nice dishes night. =)

Ingredients:

6 eggs
1 C spinach fresh
1 T fresh Marjoram *optional
1 C cooked brown rice
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 C pepper jack cheese

Directions:

1. I heated up the frying pan. Sprayed with non stick spray. Broke the 6 eggs into the pan, and beat them. Stirred in the spinach. brown rice and marjoram. Cooked until started to thicken up.

2. Poured on cheese on top. Poured 1/8 C water into the pan with the egg and put a lid on top. Cook on med heat. Until completely cooked. You could leave the lid off for a minute or to at the end to dry out the top a little. Tasty!

Healthy Crustless Quiche

This idea came to be to try this and it worked out great. It rose up so nice and light. I have never liked the crust with quiche. I had this recipe that was crust less, but it used Bisquick :( so I decided to experiment with it, and the end result was great! I was so excited. My son asked for a 2ND helping that is a really great sign. :) I had a 2ND helping too. :) You can have fun being creative with other additions. I went conservative this time. I wanted to see how it would work. :) It is another very quick easy meal.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 C Milk (I used non fat this time it worked great)
8 eggs
1 1/2 C Spelt Flour Or other whole grain flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
2 T Coconut oil or oil of your choice
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Onion chopped in 4 pieces
1/2 to 3/4 C Mozzarella Cheese
Optional items you could try: Peppers, Cup of spinach, Cup of frozen broccoli. Not all at the same time:)

Directions: Heat oven to 375

1. I poured all of these ingredients into my blender start with the milk, then the eggs,flour, Baking powder, Baking Soda, Coconut Oil, Salt, Pepper, and Onion. (You would add the optional items now too) Turn on the blender for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Till all the onion is chopped, and it is all mixed up.

2. Pour into greased squared Pyrex. I then poured in the cheese and mixed in.

3. Bake for about 30 min or till knife comes out clean.

I poured homemade salsa on mine. You could serve with fresh fruit or a spinach salad. :) Success! Enjoy! (You could try it with a gluten free flour if spelt doesn't work for you)