Sun-dried Tomato & Arugula Frittata

I love having breakfast for dinner- probably more than actually having breakfast for breakfast.  Frittatas are great because you can basically throw in whatever you have on hand.  I came up with this variation this afternoon simply by looking though my fridge for about 60 seconds.  Regardless of what the photo looks like, this meal was delicious.  Even with suspicious ingredients, my husband really liked it.  If you don't have arugula on hand, use spinach instead.  I also think mushrooms would be good in here, so throw some in if you'd like!  This is a quick meal, perfect for the end of the week.  Serve it with a piece of toast and some fruit and you'll have a meal your whole family will enjoy.

Sun-dried Tomato & Arugula Frittata
Recipe by me

Drizzle of olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups arugula or spinach
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4 whole eggs and 3 egg whites
1/2 cup milk, cream, half-and-half, etc.
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
zest of 1 lemon
1/4-1/2 Pecorino Romano cheese (or parmesan), grated
salt and pepper
 
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  
Drizzle a 10-inch skillet (that is oven safe) with olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Add the onion and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until the onion is soft and translucent.  
In the meantime, whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and frothy.  Add the milk, lemon zest, feta cheese, and salt and pepper.
When the onions are done, add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula, and cook for one minute so that the arugula begins to wilt.  Add the egg mixture and gently stir to combine.  Let it cook on the stove for 3-4 minutes without stirring.  During this time, grate the Pecorino Romano  over the top of the frittata.
Place the skillet in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes.  Then, turn the oven on broil for just a couple of minutes to get a nice golden crust on top.  Cut like a pie (I cut it into 8 slices and we each ate 2) and serve immediately... enjoy!

Something Healthy: Katherine’s Green Drink

Because I am pursuing a master’s degree in Health Promotion, I am often asked for advice on how to eat healthy. So I thought I could devote a theme to my blog on ways to do just that. For the most part, I try to ‘healthify’ any meal I make, but some are better than others. In the future, look forward to more “Something Healthy” posts.

My advice to go along with this post is to strive to eat a serving of vegetables for breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I never crave a salad when I first wake up. Most people eat veggies for breakfast by adding them to omelets and frittatas. Not a terrible idea, but I wouldn’t recommend eating eggs every day. Other methods do exist. I’m sure you have all seen those green drinks and smoothies at grocery stores. The most common brands are Odwalla and Naked Juice. These drinks sound and look healthy (the green color), but I have a better alternative for you, I promise.

My parents came to visit me recently for my husband’s graduation. While they were here they bought me one of those huge bags of fresh spinach from Costco. I love spinach, but let’s be honest, those bags are huge. I worried I would not be able to finish it before it went bad and freezing wasn’t really an option because I do not love frozen spinach and my husband especially does not care for it. So I started experimenting with it! And this is what I came up with.

Katherine’s Green Drink

2 cups fresh spinach

8 medium strawberries (fresh or frozen), halved

1 medium banana, sliced

½-1 cup of cold water

1. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth

2. Enjoy!

This drink/smoothie is surprisingly delicious. The banana contributes most of the calories and sugar, but it does its job well! It adds sweetness without adding extra sugar, and it also adds creaminess you would otherwise get from yogurt, milk, or cream. If you don’t want the sugar, use less of the banana or skip it altogether.

Let me now introduce you to a good friend of mine. Meet Sparkpeople’s Recipe Calculator. This allows you to input ingredients from recipes and spits out the nutritional information.

Let me point out some selling points from the nutritional information from my green drink. If you ate the amount the recipe makes (about 20 oz) you will only consume 151 calories, 6.4 grams of fiber, and 15 grams of sugars (from the banana). Let’s now compare to Naked Juice “Green Machine.” An 8 oz serving gives you 140 calories, 0 grams of fiber, and 28 grams of sugar. However, the typical bottle size is about 16 oz. If you drink the entire bottle you will get 280 calories, 0 grams of fiber, and 56 grams of sugar. In addition, the “Green Machine” only contains 100 mg of spinach whereas my version has 85 grams of spinach. I would definitely recommend my version with a slice of whole wheat toast for a quick and satisfying breakfast.

*Note: Smoothies are often the key component to many silly diets out there. I’m not advertising this smoothie as a weight loss plan. Consuming ample amounts of fruits and veggies (especially leafy greens like spinach) is strongly associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, cancers, and other chronic diseases. My goal here is to enable you to eat more fruits and veggies and to enjoy doing it!

Baked Berry French Toast

For our date night meal tonight, I made Baked Berry French Toast served with orange juice in champagne glasses. It was quite the delicious recipe. It is one of those meals that just makes you feel good inside because it is warm and sweet. I loved it, and Landon said we should have it again sometime. The frozen berries thaw into a lovely, sweet sauce (that was Landon's favorite part). I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone. The only tricky part was making sure the bread baked through enough that it was no longer soggy. When I first took it out I thought it was done, but when I touched one of the pieces it was still pretty gooey. Don't be afraid of overcooking it slightly. I liked the pieces that had a little crunch to them. Here is the recipe.

Baked Berry French Toast

- 1 egg
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup nonfat milk
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ cup sugar
- 8 slices ½-inch thick whole wheat bread
- 2 ½ cup frzn raspberries
- 2 ½ cup frzn strawberries (I also used blueberries)
- 1 Tb cornstarch

Directions

-preheat the oven to 400 degrees

-whisk the egg and egg whites in a shallow baking dish. Whisk in the milk, powder, vanilla, ¼ cup sugar, and cinnamon. Add the bread, turning to coat. Let the bread stand for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.

-lightly coat a 9-by-13 inch baking dish with cooking spray

-combine the frozen berries, ¼ cup sugar, and cornstarch, and spread evenly on the bottom of the baking dish

-arrange the bread slices in a single layer over the berries.Bake until the bread is golden brown and the berries are bubbly. 20-25 minutes

-place 2 slices of French toast and some of the berry mixture on each of 4 plates. Spoon a bit of the berry sauce over the toast.

Nutritional Information: Calories: 315, Carbohydrates: 66g, Fat 3g, Protein: 9g

ENJOY!