A Green Breakfast

This morning I made a delicious green breakfast for myself and MM. I have been on a smoothie kick the last week, starting off with my usual berry/banana/nonfat vanilla yogurt/almond milk smoothie, and moving on to a newer, more adventurous kind: the green smoothie. After doing some perusing on Pinterest, I discovered that the green smoothie is not only healthy, but surprisingly delicious for most experimenters. I skimmed through various ways of greening your smoothie, and settled on this:

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 cup frozen mangoes
• 1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach

Refreshing, nutritious, and fruity! I even put it in Lactard’s Jose Cuervo to-go cup and brought it to work with me. Earlier in the week I told MM about my new love for green smoothies and he scoffed, stating that it sounded gross and he wasn’t interested. After some more persuasion, I finally got him to agree to try it this morning as a side to the “green eggs” that I whipped up. Lo and behold, he declared “I need to drink one of these every day of my life.” Damn right, you do.

Green eggs is an egg scramble that I make when I have pesto in the fridge. It’s pretty simple, all you need is:

• 1/2 cup of chopped shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped grape tomatoes
• 6 eggs (3 whole eggs, 3 whites only), whisked
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (I use fat free)
• 2 TB my homemade spinach pesto
• cooking spray

Sautee mushrooms and tomatoes in cooking spray over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add egg mixture and pesto and stir to combine. After about 30 seconds add the feta. Stir frequently until cooked through (Sriracha optional). Personally, I love mushrooms in scrambled eggs and I put grape tomatoes in everything, but you can really use any vegetables you want; it’s the pesto and feta that make the dish.

MM gave it two (green) thumbs up!

More Fittata, Please

This morning I made a delicious frittata for myself and my friends. I think it’s becoming one of my favorite brunch items to make, because it’s so easy, cheap, and always different from the last one. Since Lactard was at the brunch, I decided to use goat cheese in this particular frittata. The goat cheese gave the frittata a softer texture, which I loved.

• 1 dozen eggs (I used 9 whole eggs, and 3 whites), whisked
• 1 bunch of basil, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups of spinach, coarsely chopped
• 8 oz plain goat cheese, crumbled
• salt and pepper
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 8-10 asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 Campari tomatoes, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients and set aside.

Use a large cast-iron or ceramic pan (or something that is oven-safe) to cook the vegetables. Place the pan over a medium flame and heat the oil. Add the garlic and the onions and sauté for 4-5 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the pepper and asparagus and sauté for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and continue to sauté for 2 more minutes.

 

Add the egg mixture to the pan and stir lightly to combine the ingredients. Let the eggs set for about two minutes. Place the pan into the oven, uncovered, and cook for fifteen minutes or until the eggs have cooked (time may vary based on oven).

Check it a few times to make sure the eggs are not runny on the top. When you take it out of the oven, there will still be a little liquid on top, but that’s okay because it will continue to cook when you take it out of the oven.

Let the frittata rest for a couple of minutes before cutting into slices. Serve with sliced hearty bread (warmed in the oven, of course) and bacon or chicken sausage. These portions serve 6 or 8 people, but you can refrigerate leftovers and reheat in the oven for 5-7 minutes at 275 degrees, or in the microwave for 2 minutes.