Broccoli and Olive Frittata

1 medium yellow bell pepper

1 medium red bell pepper

2 broccoli crowns, cut into bite-size pieces (or 1 pound frozen broccoli)

1/2 cup pitted ripe olives, halved

6 organic eggs, softly beaten

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

2 Tbsp chopped fresh sweet basil or 1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 cup cashews, ground fine (for garnish)

1. Quarter and seed peppers, then broil them for 5-10 minutes or until lightly charred. Place in a closed brown paper bag, and let cool for 5 minutes. Peel and thinly slice. (If you don't mind the peel, leave it on and just slice the roasted peppers into thin slices.)

2. Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees F.

3. Grease a 9-inch round pan. Place broccoli, peppers, and olives in the pan, making sure to arrange them evenly. Beat remaining ingredients except cashews together in a small bowl and pour over vegetables.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center has set. Broil for the last two minutes to brown the top. Cool, slice into wedges, and serve warm or cold garnished with ground cashews (in place of Parmesan cheese). Serves 4.

Note: You can use this basic recipe for any type of frittata that you desire. Other ingredient ideas include basil, pine nuts, and pesto. You can add spinach to almost any frittata. Be creative.

Try #1 - February 11, 2022

This was delicious and very satisfying. I used frozen broccoli but cooked it before putting it into the pan. I left out the olives, because olives are gross. I made this in the morning but will also try putting it together the night before and refrigerating so I can stick it in the oven in the morning.

Ham and Broccoli Breakfast Bake

4 whole wheat English muffins, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups leftover ham, diced
8 oz. block extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper

1. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, toss together the cut English muffin pieces with the broccoli florets, diced ham and about 3/4 cup of the shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese. Once tossed, pour into the baking dish.
3. In the same mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, paprika and crushed red pepper.  Add in a few dashes of salt and pepper as well.
4. Pour the egg mixture over top of the ingredients in the baking dish.  Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
5. In the morning, sprinkle the remaining shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese over top of the casserole. Bake, covered, at 375 for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the casserole puffs up and slightly browns on top.

Source: www.mops.org/ham-and-broccoli-breakfast-bake

Swiss Chard and Salmon Frittata

5 eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups swiss chard, packed down (stems removed)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 2 teaspoons dried basil)
1 (170 g) can boneless skinless salmon, chunk, drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Whisk together eggs and water in a small bowl, and set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in an 8 inch non-stick skillet over medium high heat.
3. Cook onions and garlic for 1 to 2 minutes. Add Swiss chard and basil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the leaves are wilted. Remove mixture from skillet and reserve.
4. Using a paper towel, wipe skillet clean and then reheat over medium heat.
5. Spread swiss chard mixture and salmon over the bottom of the skillet.
6. Pour egg mixture over top, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden and the eggs have set.
7. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top.
8. Gently turn frittata over with a spatula and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden and fully cooked.
9. Remove from skillet and cut into four wedges.
10. The Swiss chard can be easily replaced by fresh spinach or kale leaves.

Source: http://www.food.com/recipe/swiss-chard-and-salmon-frittata-211100

Try #1 - May 9, 2013
I was pleasantly surprised that the kids like this so much!  I've decided that I don't love the taste of swiss chard... but this was a decent dish to use it in, and I was happy that it was well received by the kiddos.

Spinach, Rice, and Feta Pie

2 tsp butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups cooked long-grain rice
3/4 cup (3 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1 (10-oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Olive-oil flavored cooking spray
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, and saute 3 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well-blended. Bring mixture to a simmer; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly.
3. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in cooked rice, feta cheese, and spinach. Add eggs, stirring until well-blended.
4. Pour spinach mixture into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over pie. Bake at 400 for 35 minutes or until golden.

Source: The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook

Angela's Quiche

8 slices bacon
4 ounces cheese, grated (monteray jack or colby jack are my favs)
2 Tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cups milk

1. Cook bacon until crispy. Crumble and set aside, leaving grease in pan. Cook onions 2-3 minutes in grease from bacon. Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate. Line bottom of plate with cheese and crumbled bacon.
3. Combine eggs, butter, onion, salt, flour and milk; whisk together until smooth. Pour into pie plate.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, until set. Serve hot or cold.

Source: Let's Eat!

Creamy Asparagus Soup with Poached Egg on Toast

1 3/4 lb asparagus, woody ends removed
Olive oil
2 medium white onions, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 small eggs
8 slices of ciabatta bread
Slab of butter
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Chop the tips off asparagus and set aside. Roughly chop asparagus stalks.
2. Heat a large, deep pan and add a good glug of olive oil. Gently fry the onions, celery, and leeks for about 10 minutes, until soft and sweet, without coloring. Add the chopped asparagus stalks and stock and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on.
3. Remove from the heat and blitz with a handheld immersion blender or in a standard blender. Season the soup bit by bit with salt and pepper until just right.
4. Put the soup back on the heat, stir in the asparagus tips, bring to a boil and simmer for a few more minutes until the tips have softened.
5. Just before serving soup, poach the eggs (for a couple of minutes, so they're still runny). Toast bread slices. Using a slotted spoon, remove the poached eggs to a plate and add a slab of butter to them.
6. To serve, divide the soup between 8 warmed bowls and place a piece of toast into each. Put a poached egg on top, cut into it to make it runny, season and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Source: Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life

My Spinach Souffle

I believe I have sufficiently altered this recipe enough to make it my own. Plus, trying to read all my scattered notes from the original recipe made it difficult and not user-friendly. The version below is much better!

2 cups frozen spinach or 2 qt.-saucepan fresh spinach, heaping full
2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
4 small golden potatoes, diced
3 Tbsp flour
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2 carrots, shredded
4 eggs, slightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cook spinach briefly with a little water and drain well.
2. Saute onions and potatoes in butter. When potatoes are soft, add flour and cook for about 1 minute. Add pepper and salt, stir. Add milk. Stir and cook over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken. Once sauce is thick, add cheese and shredded carrots and stir to combine.
3. Combine spinach, white sauce, and eggs, and pour into a buttered 8x11 casserole dish. Bake 35-40 minutes, until knife inserted comes out clean. Serve with a side of corn.

Zucchini Casserole with Parmesan

From Angela's blog

4-6 medium zucchini, grated
4 eggs
1/3 cup light cream (15%) (can use whole milk)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2-3 Tbsp Parmesan

Spread the zucchini in a large baking dish. In a bowl, beat the eggs then add cream, salt and Italian seasoning. Mix well and pour over zucchini. Stir gently to coat.

Bake in preheated oven at 350° for about 25-30 or until the egg mixture sets. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake another 5 minutes.

Serve warm. (Reheats well.)

Try #1 - August 21, 2010
Easy... healthy... delicious... we ate the whole thing! This was a real crowd pleaser - Abby and William (not to mention Nathan) gobbled it up! I added a smidgen of frozen spinach. I think you could also add shredded carrots.

Bean Soup with Eggs

From "Extending the Table"
Nicaragua

1 lb. black or red beans, presoaked
2 qt. water (2 L)
1 tsp salt
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
salt to taste
2 Tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup milk (optional)
1/4 cup sour cream (optional)
4-6 eggs (1 per person)

Combine beans, water, 1 tsp salt, and garlic in large saucepan or pressure cooker. Cook until beans are tender. Remove beans from saucepan. Return 2-3 cup beans to broth along with butter, onion, green pepper, salt, cilantro, milk, and sour cream. Bring soup to a boil and carefully break in eggs. Cook over medium heat without stirring until eggs are cooked. Dish into soup bowls, placing one egg in each bowl. Serve with tortillas and salad.

*Options:
- Instead of cooking eggs in soup, chop hard-cooked eggs and sprinkle over soup.
- Instead of stirring sour cream into soup, add a dab of sour cream or yogurt to each bowl at the table.

Serve leftover beans with rice.

Breakfast Casserole

Part of a delicious Father's Day breakfast!

4 slices bread
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
6 eggs
2 cup milk
1 teaspoon ground mustard (or 1 Tbsp regular mustard)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1.Cut bread into 1-in. cubes. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. In a skillet, brown the sausage and onions over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Sprinkle the sausage and cheese over bread cubes.
2.In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour over the sausage and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Try #1 - June 20, 2010
For Father's Day... turned out well, although the dijon mustard could definitely be tasted (Nathan liked the slight spicyness of it... I might have preferred less). Also, it took longer than 30 minutes to really firm up.

Cheese Pie

Another one of my favorite recipes from home. Sounds like breakfast, but we actually used to have it for dinner. Would also make a good lunch. Yummy comfort food. Thanks, Mom!

1/2 lb bacon, cooked
1 cup Swiss cheese
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 cups milk
1 cup Bisquick
4 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Layer bacon, cheese, and onions in a pie pan.
2. Blend milk, Bisquick, eggs, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour into pie pan over bacon, cheese, and onions.
3. Bake in at 400 degrees (or a little less?) for about 30 minutes, or until pie is firm and beginning to brown on top.

Crustless Spinach Quiche

From Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cookbook

INGREDIENTS
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
1/3 cup pesto
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
5 eggs
1 cup chunky spaghetti sauce

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375. Spray round quiche dish, 9 x 1/2 inches, with nonstick cooking spray (a round cake pan will work as well).
2. Mix 1 ½ cups of the cheese, the whipping cream, pesto, spinach, and eggs until well blended. Pour into quiche dish.
3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake 2 or 3 minutes or until cheese is melted. Meanwhile, heat spaghetti sauce in small saucepan until hot; keep warm. To serve, cut into wedges. Serve with spaghetti sauce. Serves 6.