Author Archives: michcorbett

Spinach and Veggie Bacon “Frittata”

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Frittata is one of my favorite brunch foods because it’s more fun than scrambled eggs or omelets, it feels indulgent, and it’s healthier than french toast or pancakes. It looks tricky but it’s actually super simple once you have the technique down.

Another great thing is that you can completely customize it based on the contents of your fridge/freezer. This week my fridge has been pretty under-stocked (I had to have matzo because we ran out of bread if that helps you visualize) but I did find:

  • organic version of egg beaters 
  • shredded mixed Italian cheese blend
  • frozen spinach
  • veggie bacon

Again, you can really use anything that’s in your fridge and if you are a real eggs person then you should crack the eggs in a bowl and mix them like you would do for an omelet because the trick of the frittata is not to touch it once the eggs hit the pan. You want it to come out of the pan, don’t you?

The first thing you want to do is prepare your ingredients. That means cooking anything that needs to be cooked. So in my case it was the veggie bacon and frozen spinach. As you might know, seasoning eggs is what will make them amazing or amazingly bland. You have two options for seasoning your frittata: season the vegetables, or season the egg mixture. This is easier if you’re using real eggs since you’ve already put them in a bowl to scramble them so you can just season in the bowl. Since my egg beaters were in a carton, I decided to season the spinach with some herbes de provence, salt, and pepper while it was cooking. Again, you can totally get creative with seasoning– do you like spice? Try red pepper flakes or cajun seasoning– some of my favorites for spinach! Once all your fillings are cooked, remove from pan and set aside. 

I want to talk about the pan for a minute– I used a small, non stick skillet. The trick with these skillets is to use olive oil or butter (not Pam– that will damage the non stick coating), and to get them pre-heated before you put the eggs in so that you get a nice golden brown color on the frittata and the eggs don’t stick to the pan.In order to watch the amount of oil I put in the pan I have one of these handy oil spritzers. I did use the same skillet for prepping my ingredients so I re-applied olive oil once I removed the spinach.

To build the frittata: distribute all non-cheese fillings evenly along bottom of pre-heated and oiled skillet, pour egg beaters (or egg mixture) over fillings to almost cover (this will be about 1/2 cup eggs), sprinkle cheese on top, cover and let cook for 3-4 minutes or until edges are golden brown and top is still wobbly.

This will get your frittata about 85% cooked. So you’ll need 5 minutes of your oven’s time to finish the job. Turn on your broiler. Place skillet in oven for 5-6 minutes until frittata cooks through. I would check on it after 4 minutes because you don’t want it to dry out. You’ll know it’s ready when the top is firm. REMEMBER THAT THE SKILLET HANDLE WILL BE HOT!! I know it looks inviting to touch it but don’t do it without an oven mit!

Turn your frittata out onto a plate and enjoy!

 

Mixed Vegetable “Gratin”

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Last Monday through Friday, two colleagues and I participated in Jill Pettijohn’s juice cleanse. It was a tough week, but what was tougher has been the days since the cleanse. Apparently, there is a specific way to break a cleanse and for the first 2 days you have to essentially avoid meat, sugar, flour, bread (basically all things delicious and hard to avoid). So needless to say there have been a lot of fruits, vegetables, and nuts in my life. Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of these items (in fact, I am having a mild love affair with raw almonds and organic ground peanuts) but for dinner I needed something a little more indulgent. You may laugh at my new definition of indulgent, but this recipe has cheese which was an amazing treat after 7 days of vegan-ism.

After finding some organic gruyere in the grocery store it was my mission to find a recipe that included cheese and vegetables. This was the recipe I used as a base. And these were the vegetables I decided to use:

The whole recipe is pretty simple which is great for a lazy Sunday night. First, slice the zucchini, onion, broccoli, and tomato. With the onion, you want to slice as thinly as possible so that you’re not munching on raw onions at the end of the recipe. Add all ingredients in a mixing bowl and add 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp hot sauce, 2 tsp basil, and a pinch of garlic salt. The recipe recommends Tobasco’s green pepper sauce, but all I had was Frank’s red hot. If you have a green pepper hot sauce, I would definitely use that. The flavor of the green peppers will mingle better with the basil.

Mix all the ingredients together until they’re well coated and spread them into a baking dish. Sprinkle the top with finely grated Parmesan and Gruyere cheese. This can be done to taste. I used 1 tsp of Parmesan and probably 2 Tbsp of Gruyere.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes. The tomatoes blend with the olive oil and seasoning to make a nice sauce.

This is a great side dish or main meal you can feel great about eating.

 

 

Spicy Tomato Baked Eggs

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I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who didn’t like breakfast foods. I mean, think about it. You can eat breakfast for any meal of the day. You can have something savory or something sweet. You also have some great basics on which to build flavors and unique combinations.

Because of my work schedule and the fact that I already wake up way too early for my own liking, the weekends are really the only opportunity I get to spend time making breakfast (Ignoring the occasional breakfast for dinner night, which is amazing). This morning I was feeling a little adventurous so I decided to try something besides my standard egg beaters omelet.

These spicy tomato baked eggs start with a few simple ingredients. I made individual servings in ramekins so the ingredients below are for 2 servings:

  • 2/3 to 1 cup jarred tomato sauce (depending on how much you like tomato sauce)
  • 2 Tbsp basil (fresh if you have, but I have this)
  • 2 eggs 
  • 1/3 cup shredded low fat cheese 
  • salt 
  • red pepper flakes (to taste based on your heat tolerance)

Based on the empty state of my fridge this morning, I am betting that if I had these ingredients you definitely do!  If you are making this for more than 1 or 2 people you could prepare it in a baking dish, but I opted for ramekins because they’re adorable and fun (and also because I registered for a million of them and am trying to convince Geoff that they were necessary).

Prep is super simple. Pre-heat the oven to 350. I used the toaster oven because it seemed more efficient. Pour 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in each ramekin. Sprinkle basil over the top of the tomato sauce. Because my basil squeezes out from a tube, I made a lovely circle of it, perfect for cracking eggs into! Using a spoon, make a well in the middle of the tomato sauce and basil and crack 1 egg into the center of the well. Sprinkle with salt and the cheese and top with red pepper flakes.  Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes until eggs are set. 

Some options for serving:

with some toasted bread and a spoon (more like breakfast)

over a bed of arugula or salad greens (more like lunch, brunch, or breakfast for dinner)

over pasta (more like dinner)