Saturday, May 26, 2012

Vegetable Frittata

You know sometimes you just want breakfast for dinner, right? Nothing else sounded very good the other night and I was in a hurry and feeling like I hadn't cooked for my family in several nights. These words might have been spoken to my husband the night before, "I am too exhausted. You figure it out!" I had to leave to run a quick errand for VBS and when I came back he had figured it out. I was still to busy to even eat so I finished my tasks for the night and ate popcorn and celery with Sunbutter for dinner, no lie!

So Thursday night I decided to redeem myself. I thought about making pancakes because the kids would both love that, but I have really been trying to eat a little better amidst my busyness,which = fewer carbs and I had eaten at Qdoba for lunch with the other VBS ladies. Tortilla soup was awesome there along with my perfect portion size quesadilla by the way!

So I clicked on to one of my favorite blogs, Kalyn's Kitchen, for a phase one egg recipe. Three out of four people in this house like eggs and I decided to make the other one eat it anyway! Plus this recipe had a decent amount of veggies in it which made me super happy.

Start by adding these ingredients to the pan; one smaller zucchini diced fairly small, about half a red onion, 3-4 green onions, 2-3 minced garlic cloves, a dash of pepper and some basil and oregano, which I did add after I took this picture. Saute that mixture for about 5 minutes in a bit of olive oil.

Then add one can of diced tomatoes drained very well. I pressed all the liquid out with my spatula. I also picked fire roasted tomatoes because that is all I had but I LOVED the flavor that added and will always do that when I make this now.

Let that cook for about 3 more minutes. My picture isn't blurry. It is just steam.

I should have warned you at the beginning to get your eggs ready so you can just dump them in at this point. I had already cracked 6 eggs and scrambled them in the bowl with a little milk. Pour them in and stir them gently.

While that was cooking I grated some fresh Parmesan into the pan. Just a guess because you know I don't measure but I probably ended up with 1/2 cup of Parmesan. This Pampered Chef grater makes it very, very fine and light though so if you are using pre-shredded you may want to use a little less.

I also stirred in about 1/4 cup of feta cheese at this point making it more Greek of course but also very delicious.

I stirred gently for several minutes as the eggs continued to cook. I think I cooked this on lower heat for about 7 minutes. I am guessing again though. You want the eggs to be nearly finished with not too much liquid left. You can see that it was still pretty liquidy at this point. I just continued to move the egg around trying to let the liquid run down to the bottom of the pan.

A frittata is meant to be cooked in an oven proof skillet so it can go directly from the pan into the oven to finish cooking, but I do not have an oven proof skillet. It is on my list of wants. So I moved it to this Pampered Chef stoneware and pressed it firmly into the bottom. I topped it with a bit more feta and few of the green onions I had left.

Then I placed it under the broiler for about 5 minutes. I would have liked to have left it in there for a few more minutes but my family was sitting at the table waiting to be served already. For goodness sakes I guess this is a restaurant! Next time I will either use more eggs or a smaller pie plate because it was also a bit thinner then I had hoped for using this dish. I think it also needs to sit for just a few minutes to firm up a bit so it is easier to cut into pie shaped pieces.

It was however the best thing I have made in quite some time! I haven't cooked much lately either so that wasn't really saying much now was it? Husband and son approved! They scarfed theirs down and remarked several times how good it was. Daughter actually ate hers and she hates eggs! She said she liked it but she also asked how many bites she had to eat in order to have dessert. She has a one track mind.

I served mine over spinach because you know my rule about eating something green. I didn't make the kids eat the spinach this time though. I guess I was feeling nice. Next time I might just cook the spinach right in there. I did actually eat some toast with this meal but only because it was sprouted grain bread which is pretty good for you.

This one is my very favorite and as you can see it comes from Trader Joe's. We always buy a few loaves and freeze them when we go there. They last quite a while for since we don't eat a ton of bread. I should mention that we do keep it in the fridge after opening. I like this one best because it isn't as dry as some of the others can be so it is great for toast and sandwiches.

Only 8:37am on Saturday morning and I have actually finished a blog post! Now maybe you still have time to make this for breakfast this morning or maybe not by the time I edit all my spelling and actually type the recipe. Perhaps for dinner tonight. You must put it on your to do list if you don't get to it this weekend. The very best part of making it for dinner Thursday night was that I got to eat the leftovers for breakfast Friday morning which = AWESOME!

Here is the link to Kalyn's recipe and my recipe typed below that. I did make a few changes but nothing major. Just the fire roasted tomatoes and Parmesan instead of Mozzarella. I also left out the Spike seasoning and used milk in the eggs instead of cream. Her method was also a bit different.

Vegetable Frittata
1 zuchinni, diced into small pieces
1/2 a small red onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 green onions, diced
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
one can fire roasted tomatoes, drained very well
6 eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp. milk
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or Mozzarella
1/4 cup feta cheese + more for topping

Directions: In a large oven proof pan saute the zuchinni, red onion, green onion, garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the well drained tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes. While this cooks, beat eggs with milk in a bowl. Add eggs to pan and cook for 5 minutes or so until eggs are barely starting to set. Add Parmesan and feta stirring it gently a few times to let the eggs cook. Watch carefully until most of the liquid is absorbed. Leave in oven proof skillet (or transfer to oven safe dish if you don't have one). Top with remaining cheese and a bit of green onion and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Watch carefully. Remove when cheese it starting to brown and let set for a few minutes to firm up. Slice and serve.

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