Lunch this Week: Double Cheddar and Vegetable Frittata

I’m picky when it comes to eggs. I didn’t even eat eggs until I was an adult, and I learned that eggs (specifically omelets) are a great hangover remedy… and are pretty tasty when mixed with cheese, veggies and bacon.

One of my favorite ways to eat eggs is as a frittata. Frittatas are so versatile. They are ready to eat in less than 30 minutes most of the time and are great for cleaning out your produce drawer.

Every week I try to make one thing to eat for lunch for the whole week. I do this because then I don’t have to try and think about what to make every day and it helps keep me on track “diet” wise. I’m not on a diet per say but I’m always trying to eat as healthy as possible. And it is easiest for me to do that when I plan ahead. A lot of people have problems with eating the same thing every day for a week. And I can understand that because it can get boring.  I’ve found the key to being able to do it successfully is to make something you WANT to eat and look forward to eating.

This week I made a frittata! It has two kinds of cheese and all of my favorite veggies. And it was pretty hard to only eat once slice this morning because it is very tasty.

Double Cheddar and Vegetable Frittata

*Serves 6

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

-          8 eggs

-          1/3 cup milk

-          ¼ cup sharp cheddar, small dice

-          ¼ cup mild cheddar, small dice

-          1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

-          ½ cup diced red onion

-          1/3 cup sliced roasted red peppers

-          1-2 tablespoons canola oil

-          1 ½  tablespoons butter

-          2 handfuls spinach

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat a large sauté pan (10-12 inches and oven safe) to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon canola oil and mushrooms. Sauté for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally until lightly browned. Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside.

3. Reduce pan’s heat to medium low and add onions. Add additional canola oil if needed. Sauté for 8 minutes or until onions have softened. Add roasted red peppers and toss together for a few moments then remove from pan and add to separate bowl with mushrooms.

4. Remove pan from heat and very carefully wipe clean with a paper towel. Return pan to burner and add butter. Heat pan to medium heat.

5. In a large bowl whisk eggs and milk until fully combined. Add to pan once butter is fully melted and slightly bubbly. Add mushrooms, pepper, onions, and spinach to eggs. Stir gently to distribute veggies evenly. Cook for 2 minutes and then sprinkle diced cheese over top. Transfer to oven and cook for 10-12 minutes.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

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Florentine Omelet

If there is one thing in the kitchen that I am utterly useless at, it’s making the perfect omelet. I can never seem to get it juuuust right and believe me I have tried countless times. Brent however is a total rock star when it comes to making them, and this is my favorite that he makes. It takes a bit of effort but it’s well worth it. After several hours of begging and promises to give him back rubs, he wrote the recipe down so I can share it with you.

Brent’s Florentine Omelet

*Serves 2
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- slash of milk
- ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2/3 cup heavy cream + a splash;
- ¼ cup onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon of garlic
- 1/3 cup artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
- ½ cup frozen spinach, thawed and excess water removed
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded Italian cheese
- salt and pepper

Directions:

For the sauce: sauté onion and garlic in 1 tbl butter on medium heat until translucent. Add artichoke hearts and spinach, then toss to combine allow to cook for a minute. Add heavy cream and let reduce by half over medium heat. Whisk in parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for an additional minute or two, then serve over omelet.

Breakfast Paninis

When I was a little girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, I remember my mother telling me that pancakes were for dinner one night. I thought she had lost her mind. I can clearly recall thinking: you can’t have breakfast for dinner – it’s just not right. Now at 26, breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things to do. Usually I will do this when it will be just me for dinner. It’s really quick, affordable, and perfect for one person because I almost always have everything I need on hand.

As I sat at work, waiting for my computer to find the file I needed, I started brainstorming about what to do for dinner. By the time I finally had the file – dinner plans were set. Breakfast sandwich!

Personally, I am a huge fan of the breakfast sandwich. I won’t lie; I love them because bacon and cheese are a fairly standard choice. While I have always loved bacon (sadly I could eat a pound of it by myself), I haven’t always been a huge fan of eggs. As a kid I would dip my sausage, bacon, or toast in the yolk of a sunny side up or over easy egg, but I wouldn’t touch scrambled or eat the whites. It wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 and managing a restaurant inside of a charming hotel that had a Sunday brunch that I actually started to even consider trying them. We had an omelet station on the brunch and the omelets just looked so GOOD! And after a long Saturday night, they were calling to me. I would load them up with every veggie possible, some bacon, and a ton of cheese. Not to mention a good amount of salt and pepper. Nowadays, I will eat eggs in a variety of ways but never plain or by themselves. I guess you could say they have to be “masked” in some way shape or form.

Back to dinner! Tonight I made a breakfast sandwich for dinner. It was super simple and ready to eat in about 15 minutes. This delightful dinner had crispy bacon, eggs with red bell pepper and onion, and creamy havarti cheese on a ciabatta roll. Say it with me now: Mmmmmmm!

Ciabatta Breakfast Sandwich

Steps:

1- Start your bacon or sausage or even ham.

2- Dice up onion and red bell pepper. Sauté till soft in a small sauté pan.

3- Whisk together your eggs with a little splash of milk and S&P. I used two eggs.

4- Once the veggies are soft, add a little more butter and then add your eggs.

5- Here you can either scramble your eggs or make them omelet-like. I was going for omelet-like but I got distracted and had to switch to scrambled. Tastes the same but omelets are easier to work with in a sandwich.

6- Slice ciabatta and layer each side with sliced cheese. Place the eggs on the bottom half, the bacon of the top half, and then put the two halves together and mush down.

7- Here you have several choices: 1-eat as is, 2- toast up in the oven or 3- press it.

8- I pressed mine using my decade old George Forman that is still kicking. It took about 3-5 minutes for the cheese to melt and the bread to get a nice crunch to it. Before adding it to the grill, I find that lightly brushing the bread with a little EVOO helps keeps it from getting burnt.

Interesting Food Fact: Ciabatta literally means “carpet slipper”. Who knew? Well… the Italians I guess.

My thoughts on this dish: Quick and simple – which I love. Havarti was a great choice for cheese because it melts really well and got nice and gooey. I love ciabatta and it had a nice crunch on the outside, but still chewy and soft on the inside. I would have loved if my eggs where omelet style, but scrambled with the peppers and onions was good too. And with all the cheese on there I didn't have to worry about the egg falling out of my sandwich. This is always a good thing in my book.

Kitten ^..^