Category Archives: Breakfast

Breakfast Pitas

A friend had bought several wheat pitas and didn’t want them all so she gave me a few. Being that I was moving in three days and didn’t have much food left in the fridge, I used up the rest of my eggs to make breakfast pitas! So between this post, my breakfast strata, country-style skillet and short cut, you have no excuse to not be well-fed in the mornings!

Ingredients:
1 wheat pita
2 eggs
1 tbsp sriracha
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Step 1: Break the eggs into a sprayed frying pan and cook until whites harden. Flip and cook on the other side another 2 minutes.
Step 2: Cut one half of the pita open to create a pocket. Stuff the cheese into it, and then the cooked egg on top.
Step 3: Squeeze on a little bit of sriracha (or Tabasco, or salsa, whatever). Then fold one open end over, rolling the pita into a little football-shaped taco. Enjoy!

The nice thing about pitas is that they are portable, and more spill-proof than burritos, which tend to leak out the end.

Breakfast Strata

This breakfast strata is filling, delicious, cheap and surprisingly easy and customizable. All your typical breakfast favorites make an appearance: eggs, milk, bread, cheese. Then you add in some breakfast meats if that’s your thing (bacon, sausage, ham) and/or some vegetables if you like that sorta stuff (spinach, onion, peppers, asparagus), bake it up nice and warm and gooey and enjoy! Whatever you like and have on hand can be mixed in. This turned out divine!

Ingredients:
6-8 eggs, lightly beaten
2 slices bread
1-2 cups cheese (cubed, sliced or shredded)
1/4 cup milk
4 slices ham (or bacon or crumbled sausage)
1/2 cup chopped spinach

Step 1: Beat the eggs and add the milk, mix well. Lay the bread in a sprayed 8×8 oven safe pan.

Step 2: Layer the meat, veggies and cheese on top of the bread.

Step 3: Pour the eggs over top.

Step 4: Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until the eggs are fully cooked. Let it cool a few minutes, cut into pieces and enjoy!

Tastes even better than it looks, which is pretty darn good!

The bread is slightly mushy but holds texture, and the flavor combination was just perfect. This can easily be vegetarian, but it’s just not the same without eggs so I’m not sure if it can be vegan. Maybe a tofu egg substitute? I’ll have to dabble more in vegan cooking in the future.

Faster breakfast skillet: Corned beef hash & eggs

This is the short-cut version of my breakfast skillet recipe. Because sometimes we have an extra 10 minutes in the morning, but not 30. By using canned beef & potatoes you eliminate the time needed to dice up and pre-cook the potato.

Ingredients:
1 can corned beef hash
2 eggs

sprinkle shredded cheese

 Step 1: Open the can and put it in a frying pan. Doesn’t that look tempting? Haha… but we will eat it anyways!

 Cook the beef and potatoes about 5 minutes, until the potatoes start to crisp and turn brown. Put half the mixture into a bowl and save the other half.

 Step 2: In the same pan, spray with cooking spray and crack 2 eggs. Cook a minute until the whites harden. Flip the eggs and cook on the other side. If you like runny yolks, you can cook just a minute and place on top of your beef hash. I like my yolks cooked through so I left it in the pan about 5 minutes total.

 Step 3: Slide the eggs on top of the hash and sprinkle on some cheese if you like.

I’m sure the health level of this is questionable at best, but you can’t beat it for a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs breakfast in only 10 minutes!

Country style breakfast skillet

Weekends are great for me, because I can both sleep in AND have lots of time for cooking awesome breakfasts. I’m not normally a ‘breakfast person’, but sometimes the mood strikes and I want something big and filling and delicious in the AM. I had plenty of potatoes, that’s usually a staple in my breakfast favorites. I also had some frozen turkey bacon (go ahead and groan, any males reading this, but it tastes delicious. As long as you don’t expect ‘real’ bacon taste) and ground beef. Kind of just making it up as I went, I came up with a restaurant-worthy breakfast skillet.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound turkey bacon (go ahead and use real if you have it)
1/2 cup corn or other veggie (if you like that kind of thing)
2 potatoes, diced
1/2 onion, diced
4 eggs
Spray on vegetable oil or 2 tbsp oil

Step 1: Dice up the potato and onion, spray the pan with oil. Microwave the potato for 5-8 minutes to soften. Cook on medium heat for at least 10-15 minutes, until the onion and potato chunks are soft.

 Step 2: Cut up the bacon and add it and the ground beef to the pan. Cook until the ground beef is thoroughly browned. Add vegetables if you’re using any. Transfer the cooked skillet to another bowl and keep warm.

 Step 3: Spray the pan again and add 2 eggs. Let them cook a few minutes, until the whites thicken. Carefully flip them to cook the other side.

 Step 4: Put about a cup of the skillet mix into a bowl, slide the cooked sunny-side up eggs on top. Viola!

This was amazingly delicious, hearty and filling. If I had the time, I’d make breakfast like this every day! But then I’d also probably weigh 50 pounds more than I do now… Anyways, enjoy!

Applesauce oatmeal breakfast muffins

Most mornings I enjoy waking up early enough to make myself a big warm breakfast. But some days I’m just too tired to wake up early. So over the weekend I decided to make myself some muffins that I can freeze and reheat any time. I found a recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins, and changed it a bit. I added nuts and dried fruit to add a little crunch and flavor. This recipe made 18 muffins, and I would probably eat 2 at a time because they were small. But at just over 50 calories each, that’s an indulgence I don’t have to feel guilty about!

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashion rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup non-fat milk
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. sugar
1 oz chopped mixed nuts
3 diced dried prunes

Step 1: Mix the milk, oats, egg whites and applesauce. Spray a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

 Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, fruit and nuts of choice.

 Step 3: Mix the wet & dry ingredients, and spoon into the muffin tins.

 Step 4: Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, until dry all the way through and brown on top.

Step 5: Cool and enjoy! Adding 1 cup sugar or brown sugar would likely make them taste even better, but would add more calories.

Grilled ham, egg & cheese

I wanted something different for breakfast one morning, and had a craving for grilled cheese. Eggs are highly recommended as a breakfast food to keep you full longer, so I figured I’d put an egg on it too. Something seemed to be missing, and when I realized I had sliced ham in my freezer the perfect breakfast had taken shape!

At less than 10 minutes to make, this hot, melty breakfast sandwich is perfect any day of the week.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pieces bread
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 slice ham
  • 1 slice cheese

Step 1: Butter one side of both pieces of bread and begin heating a small frying pan on medium.

Step 2: Crack the egg, you can beat it if you like scrambled or leave the yolk if you like it messier. Spray the pan and pour in the egg. Let cook until nearly solid, then flip and cook 1 minute on the other side.

Step 3: Put one slice of bread butter-side down in the pan, the egg on top of the bread, ham and cheese on top of the egg. Top with the other bread slice, butter-side up.

Step 4: Cook for ~2 minutes, until bread is brown and toasty. Flip with a spatula, and cook on the other side until golden brown. Slice diagonally and enjoy!

 

If I had the ingredients, I would probably add tomato or avocado too, just to see what it was like. This was melty, cheesy, hot and delicious!

Hearty Mexi-Breakfast Burrito

One day I planned on walking to class in the morning. It was really cold, and I woke up a little later than I planned. But I was starving, and wanted a good breakfast, so I spent the 10 minutes to whip up this filling delight, wrapped it in foil and took it on the road! It was creamy, hot, tangy, and amazing in every way. Totally worth the short amount of time it takes to make.

Ingredients:
1 flour tortilla
1/4 cup black beans
1/2 avocado
3 tbsp salsa
2 tbsp green onion
2 eggs
1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Step 1: Scramble 2 eggs and cook until done. While cooking, heat the beans & tortilla in the microwave for 15 seconds.

 Step 2: Put the egg on the tortilla with the beans, add chopped avocado, onion, salsa and cheddar.Fold up one end, wrap one side and then the other. Make sure it’s nice & tight. Then wrap the burrito in foil and you have a hot breakfast to go!

Tomato & green onion omelet

I had recently made meringues and had the yolks left over. So the next morning I made myself an omelet. Easy and delicious, and keeps me from wasting perfectly good eggs. 
Ingredients: 
1 roma tomato, diced
~2 tsp diced green onion
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
sprinkle cheddar cheese
Step 1: Dice up the tomato & green onion.
Step 2: Whip the eggs, add an ounce of milk if you like.
Step 3: Spray a small frying pan with oil, heat over medium and add the eggs. Season with salt & pepper or seasonings of choice. 

Step 4: As the eggs begin to cook, use a spoon or spatula to push the sides down and mix the middle a little. This helps to move the cooked egg and cook the rest.
Step 5: Once most of the egg has set, add tomato & onion. Once you can shake the pan and the egg isn’t very runny at all, flip the omelet. Cook the other side for a minute or 2, until cooked all the way through.
Step 6: Put onto a plate and sprinkle with cheese if desired. Enjoy!

Spinach & feta egg white omelet

I had some egg whites still left from my coconut cream pie the other day, so I decided to take an extra 10 minutes and make a hearty breakfast. I had spinach and green onions which I had recently bought, and some feta still in the fridge, so that left itself perfectly to my egg white omelette. And I calculated it on Sparkpeople.com, the whole thing is just barely over 100 calories!
Ingredients:
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 handful spinach, cut or torn (~1/4 cup)
1 green onion, diced
1 tbsp feta

 Step 1: Heat a skillet and spray with oil. Add the egg whites, torn spinach, onion and feta on top. Heat until you can see the egg bubbling and a spatula lifts the edge completely.

 Step 2: If you’re brave or talented, you can simply flip the omelet by tossing the skillet. However, I used 2 spatulas on either side to lift and flip. Cook another 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until egg is full cooked and beginning to brown.

 The feta delivers nice little pockets of salty cheesiness, the green onion is still slightly crunchy and flavorful and the spinach is perfectly wilted. Enjoy with your favorite breakfast beverage. As always, substitute whatever veggies and/or cheese you prefer.

Breakfast BELT with avocado & feta

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I’ve read several articles lately that say a breakfast with eggs are the most filling. Since it was the weekend, and I had one egg left and several veggies in the fridge I had just bought yesterday, I wanted to make a super-healthy and filling breakfast.
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Tim Horton’s makes a breakfast BELT sandwich with bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato on a bagel. To lighten it up, I used one slice of wheat bread as the “B” and in place of the bagel, no bacon, lettuce tomato one egg and added a slice of avocado and a sprinkle of feta for healthy fat and flavor.
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Ingredients:
1 slice wheat bread
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
1 romaine leaf
1/2 roma tomato
1 slice avocado
1 tbsp feta cheese
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Step 1: Put 1 tbsp in a pan, and fry the egg. If you like the yellow, you can leave it runny. I cooked it all the way through.

Step 2: While the egg is cooking, layer the lettuce, tomato, avocado and 1 tbsp feta on a slice of wheat bread (toasted or not).

Step 3: Lay the cooked egg on top of the feta, and enjoy! The feta gives it a tangy flavor, while the avocado is creamy and soft. If you’re vegan you can omit the egg and cheese.

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