Leftover Makeovers: EGG-cellent Frittata (see what I did there?)

I have issues w/ portion control both cooking and eating.  We're a family of 3 yet I inherited this gene from my mom where I always just cook for like 10 people meaning we eat a lot of leftovers.

Waka waka waka

Most leftovers get eaten as lunch or dinner the next day.  Some get lost and turn in to unintentional science experiments in the back of the fridge.  Sad face.  True story.

Little annoys me more than wasted food.  No, that's a false statement.  Many things annoy me. One of the several things that annoy me greatly is wasted food.  There we go.  Yes.

If I've gone particularly crazy on the leftover front and have more than say 2 days worth, I like to give the leftovers a little makeover before they're relegated to science experiment status (a.k.a. Poltergeist).  This frittata is VERY adaptable and works well w/ pretty much any leftovers: potatoes, broccoli, chicken, ham, roasted veggies always work really well, whatever.  

Puffy and golden!

Frittata is good for breakfast, lunch or a light dinner.  I love a slice of this paired with salad.  It also freezes well so you can bake and stick it in the freezer for when you don't want to cook which is me for the months of June, July and August when it's hot. Give it a try!

Leftover Frittata

makes 8 servings in a 9" (oven safe!) pan

2-3 c leftovers (try using dryer foods like things that weren't cooked w/ sauces)
       I happened to have some leftover steamed broccoli, about 1/2 cup of ham, diced, and    
       some roasted fingerling potatoes for this one)
1/2 c shredded cheese of choice (I've even used sliced cheese on top)
5-7 eggs (depending on how many leftovers you're starting with)
1 tbsp fresh chopped herbs such as parsley, basil or green onions (if using dried, 1 tsp is fine)
1/2 c milk (I've used half and half)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp salt
pepper

Preheat oven 425 degrees.  Start with an oven proof skillet on medium heat.  Unless yours has a metal handle, make sure it's oven safe (to 450) before beginning or else you'll have to transfer to an oven safe dish (or a greased pie plate works) before sticking it in the oven. Heat oil in skillet and drop in your leftovers to warm them through.  While those are going, crack your eggs and add milk, salt and pepper.  Depending on how well seasoned your leftovers are you may need to use more or less salt.  Hard to tell until it's done but when in doubt, underseason - you can always add more later but not the other way around!  Whisk in the flour, herbs cheese and olive oil to the egg mixture and stir lightly.

Add the egg mixture in to the pan and move everything around a few times until the eggs start to set - 2-3 minutes.  Put the entire pan in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.  The bake time will actually depend on how deep the pan is so for fully set eggs, bake it until the middle is puffed and golden.  When you pull it out of the oven the center should bet set completely.  Cool for at least 30 minutes.  

You can cool and freeze the whole thing or wrap up individual slices for a quick meal.  If freezing whole, thaw in the fridge overnight before serving. Either microwave or put it in the oven for 350 for about 20-30 min.

Yummy for bfast, lunch or dinner!

Notes: 

I got rid of my nonstick skillets a long time ago and while before stainless I would've never have attempted a frittata in anything but a nonstick skillet, just make sure there's a light coating of oil on your skillet if you are using steel or aluminum.  I can't say I have experience with nonstick pans going in the oven but do recall reading the box on one in the past and saw it was rated for up to somewhere in the 400 degree mark so do your research.  Or just use a dang pie plate but make sure you grease or spray it or you'll be cursing my name as you're scraping egg shards off it.

You can always just saute the veggies in the pan if you don't have leftover issues like me.

Other People's Food

I follow several food blogs.  Made this for dinner last week (with a few minor tweaks) and it was AH-MA-ZING.

Yes, this post is definitely 'phone-it-in' level effort but hey, that's the life of a working mom!

Can totally be vegetarian if you took the bacon out.

The end.

PS: Working on more posts that are a tick above phone-it-in level.  Enjoy!

Comfort Food - Eggs & Rice

Growing up, I had pretty specific tastes. I never liked eggs or milk. My mom said I didn't like eggs because I was born in the year of the chicken. She tells me lots of crazy things that don't make much sense. I can't explain why I didn't like milk as a child either. Maybe because Allen (middle brother) always stole my bottle and I never got the chance to get used to cow juice. I know I drank apple or orange juice - which I'm thinking he liked as well. My mom says he really loved milk though. He used to steal my bottle and hide behind the sofa with it.

Exhibit A:

Notice the coy, "She'll never notice if I'm super stealth and quiet" look on his face.

I only had one exhibit.

My taste for eggs didn't actually change until I was an adult though. I love milk now too. To me, rice & eggs are comfort food and this is one of my favorite things to eat. Did you really need a recipe to cook this up? Probably not. But maybe you have all these ingredients in your house but never thought to put them all together? Maybe?? What absolutely makes this dish is the sesame oil. If you don't have any or haven't ever used it, go get some. It's used as a condiment, not as a cooking oil or anything. It's very fragrant and nutty - I loooove sesame oil. Mmm!

Make sure you already have some leftover rice or cook some rice up and have it standing by. Once the egg is done, this comes together pretty quick.

Heat skillet. Crack egg.
I put a little pepper on mine, you don't need salt since you'll be adding soy sauce for seasoning.

Egg is cooked, sides are browned.

Serve over rice.
Sprinkle w/ sesame seeds, totally optional.

Sprinkle w/ green onions.
Add soy sauce

Add sesame oil.
Voila.

Rice & Eggs

serves 1

1 c. cooked rice, I prefer Jasmine

1 egg (more if you're hungry!)

2 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1/4 tsp. sesame seeds, optional

1 tbsp. green onions, sliced & optional
pepper to taste

Fry up an egg - if you don't like the sunny side up, over easy works great too. To serve, put the cooked egg on the heated rice. Garnish with soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, green onions & pepper. When mixing the sesame oil, egg yolk and soy sauce, it makes this great sauce that compliments the fragrant rice really well.

Hope you try it and leave a comment!

Greek Breakfast Pizza

Gabe and I got married a few years ago. Just like any other bride-to-be, I had what may be the most motivating factor in weight loss: wedding photos. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!

So, just like anyone who's getting ready to do the weight loss thing, I jumped on the fad diet. My poison of choice? South Beach, baby!

I fell off that wagon not but a few months after the wedding but, I will say that I took away several habits from the South Beach Diet that I still follow to this day. This breakfast pizza is hands down my absolute favorite thing I learned from the book.

Of course, I jazzed this puppy up with some bacon and mushrooms which the original recipe does not, but you can definitely omit. Gabe won't eat it w/o the bacon though so that's my excuse for using the bacon.



Greek Breakfast Pizza
Adapted from The South Beach Diet book

Serves 2

1 whole wheat pocket pita
3 slices bacon, optional
1 c. mushrooms, sliced
4 c. pre-washed baby spinach
1 green onion, sliced
1 Roma tomato
2 oz. feta cheese
2 eggs
garlic powder, optional
salt, pepper, olive oil

*Note: pitas freeze really well!

Slice the pita in half horizontally. Put the cup sides up and toast.

I use my toaster oven.

Bacon. The root of all that is good in this world. We use three slices in our household.

Cut the bacon into little pieces - about 1/2"

Throw them into a cold non-stick pan to render a little bit of grease. The pan should be on medium to medium high heat.

If you're using uncooked bacon, just brown and drain off the grease into a bowl and whatever sticks in the pan, just leave it. Cut up the bacon and proceed as follows!

While the bacon heats up, get the mushrooms sliced. I use criminis, as always!

There we go. Give up that yummy porky goodness.

Throw into the pan and toss until the mushrooms get slightly browned.

I like using some green onions, just a small handful for flavor.

Then we have the triple washed baby spinach. You can use frozen chopped if you have it.

When the mushrooms look like this:

Go ahead and add the spinach:

Looks like a lot of spinach, but you know how spinach wilts down to nothing.

Going..

Going.....

Wilted. Add 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and a dash of garlic powder.

Here's the pita all toasty and a little crunchy.

Golden brown edges. Look for those, people. Creates a nice texture contrast.

Throw in those green onions and toss.

So put the spinach mixture onto the pitas and throw into the toaster oven to warm.

I use the same non-stick pan. Dish tyranny, remember?

Crack the egg. Crack iiiit.

Look at those pretty eggs.

Slice the tomato, 1/4" thick. Thicker if you like.

Pretty.

Then the feta. Yummy yummy feta. Please don't use the crumbled stuff, it's so bland compared to the blocks.

Don't forget to salt & pepper the eggs, for the love of god. Gabe's been cooking eggs for years and still can't remember that very important step.

Put the slices onto the pizzas and then..

Crumble the feta on top of the tomatoes and throw it back into the toaster oven to get warmed through.

Cook your eggs how you like, but I like when the edges get a little crunchy but the yolk is still runny.

Bonus: Use the top of the toaster oven to warm your plates!

That cheese gets all warm and the tomatoes too. DE-lish.

Then, throw the egg on top.

Add some orange slices.

Gabe calls them the Sydney Opera House oranges.

See the resemblence?

Dig in. Thank me later.

Make this for a brunch party - they'll love it!