One of my favorite, underutilized meals is breakfast. While I love breakfast foods, I never feel like eating when I first get up and I'm usually running late for class and just grab a granola bar after hitting the snooze button a few too many times. This leaves "real" breakfast a sacred meal for weekends. After vowing to be healthier, while still eating delicious food, this year, I began to analyze my weekend breakfast habits. Jacob is truly a breakfast snob after being spoiled by his parents with eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, french toast, and more on a regular basis. Meals like this were more reserved for snow days at my house. Hey, we just don't do mornings and french toast, while awesome, is simply not enough motivation to get us up and moving in time to eat it. As a result of Jacob's snobbery, our breakfast feasts were definitely packing on the pounds so I decided to come up with a delicious breakfast scramble that would pack lots of delicious flavor without all the calories.
First of all, let me note that his recipe was made for 2 people so if you're just cooking for yourself, half all these quantities. To start out, I warmed a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large frying pan on medium-high heat (more towards the medium side). Then, I added 1 small sweet onion chopped and about a tablespoon of pre-minced garlic.
I sauteed the onions until they began to become translucent and fragrant and then added 1 red bell pepper chopped. This would also be great with a variety of other bell pepper colors. On a side note for my fellow penny pinchers, grocery stores (i.e. Kroger) often put red, orange, and yellow bell peppers on sale 10 for $10. You can buy them and bulk and freeze already chopped (use that handy dandy food processor!) in already portioned baggies. They can even be frozen whole!
Continue to saute being careful not to brown to onions until the pepper become soft. If they begin to become brown, just turn the heat down a bit. I, once again, used my awesome Willams-Sonoma Professional Multi-Chopper for chopping my peppers and onions. Look at those gorgeous, uniform peppers!
Next, add in a few handfuls of leaf spinach chopped. I hate using such a vague measurement but, honestly, the amount of spinach really depends on your personal taste. Add a little if you're feeling apprehensive about eggs and spinach or a lot for a great serving of leafy greens. I removed the stems before chopping just because I personally hate their texture and find them a little bitter. Allow the chopped spinach to wilt stirring occasionally. I think this recipe would also be great with other veggies added like some fire roasted tomatoes (just $0.99/ can, try Hunt's fire roasted tomatoes with garlic) or fresh mushrooms.
Then, add I used the equivalent of 6 eggs in store-bought egg whites. You could, of course, use real eggs. Just make sure to thoroughly whisk these with a fork before adding them to pan. I also threw in about a 1/4 cup of sharp cheddar cheese. Sharp cheddar is a great way to impart that great taste without having to use as much cheese because of its bold flavor. Cook the eggs slowly moving them around the pan constantly. I use a stiff silicone spatula so I can get all the nooks and crannies without worrying about scratching my precious Teflon. When eggs are soft but still have some moisture to them, plate. KEY NOTE- eggs, kind of like cookies, continue to cook after they are out of the pan. The biggest mistake people make with scrambles is too overcook their eggs!
Enjoy your delicious breakfast, brunch, late night study snack, or whatever meal! I paired mine with some fresh strawberries and banana bread from my tequila-swigging gal Kaley. She makes all of her banana bread with all natural sugar (think sugar in the raw), whole wheat flour, and, of course, bittersweet chocolate chips! Hmmmmm sounds like I may need her to do a guest blog spot on her specialty.
Coming soon!- Duck Pizza!- re-purposing duck leftovers by making a pizza on whole wheat crust with homemade hoison sauce, herbed goat cheese, baby bellas, and caramelized onions
Also Coming Soon!- Carrot Souffle with Brown Sugar- the low cal version- an amazing, elegant, and impressive way to enjoy this beta-carotene packed veggie
Stay tuned and stay hungry my friends!
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