Frittata with Veggies and Feta

I love frittatas for Meatless Mondays.  They are so easy and versatile.  You just take some eggs and a little bit of milk, then dump in whatever leftover veggies you have in the fridge.  Done.  Leftovers heat up well, and I eat them for breakfast for the next few mornings.  Boo-ya!

Today's dinner version includes leftover steamed asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, and those cute little baby sweet bell peppers.  Oh, and feta, of course.

Frittata with Veggies and Feta


Ingredients:

• 8 eggs
• 1/4-ish cup nonfat milk
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil 
• 1/2-ish cup steamed asparagus, chopped
• 1/2-ish cup sautéed mushrooms
•  1/4-ish cup baby sweet bell peppers, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1/4-ish cup crumbled feta

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.
• In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and a few dashes of TSSS.
• Melt coconut oil in a 10" pan over medium heat, and swirl it around to coat the entire bottom as well as some of the sides (this will prevent your frittata from sticking to the pan).  Pour in the whisked eggs.  Add the veggies and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is evenly spread out.  Sprinkle the feta on top.
• Let cook on the stove top for a few minutes until the bottom is set and the top edges begin to firm up.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake until the top is set and the edges are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
• Remove pan (carefully!) from oven.  Slide the frittata onto a cutting board and slice and serve.

Baked Eggs and Rice

Another Meatless Monday here.  I was going to make some stratas but discovered last minute that I didn't have any bread.  But I had leftover cooked rice.  Ok, let's give it a try.

It came out very good.  Kinda reminds me of a steamed Vietnamese dish made of eggs, mung bean threads and black fungus.  You can obviously use any combo of veggies and even ground meat in here, but this was tonight's version.

Baked Eggs and Rice


Ingredients:

• Smart Balance
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/2 a container of mushrooms (approx. 2.5 oz.), chopped
• 1 large handful of kale, washed, dried and chopped
• about 1/2 cup cooked rice
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 6 eggs

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease two large (I used 12-oz) ramekins with Smart Balance.  Set aside.
• In a sauté pan, sweat the onion with 1 tablespoon Smart Balance over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms, kale, and TSSS, then cook, stirring often, until everything is soft.  Add rice and combine.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs with a fork in a separate mixing bowl.  Add the rice and veggie mixture to the eggs and combine.  Divide between the two greased ramekins.
• Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until eggs are set.

Veggie Strata

Stratas are great for the end of the month when you need to stretch that grocery budget because they use inexpensive ingredients that you probably have left over in the fridge anyway.  The base of a strata is bread, eggs and milk.  What you add to that is up to you.  Below is a basic veggie strata recipe using leftover veggies from my fridge today.

I like to make these in 8-ounce ramekins because they're pretty, and it's built-in portion control.  You can also make this recipe in an 8"x8" square baking pan.

Veggie Strata

Ingredients:

• Smart Balance
• 4 slices of 100% whole wheat bread
• 8 large eggs
• 3/4 cup nonfat milk
• salt & pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced into half-moons
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 4 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease 4 8-ounce ramekins with Smart Balance.  Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter the same diameter as your ramekins, cut out 4 circles from the 4 bread slices.  (Put the bread scraps into a plastic bag and throw into the freezer to use later as croutons or bread crumbs.) Place one bread circle at the bottom of each greased ramekin.  Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and salt and pepper to taste (I used approximately 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper).  Pour some egg mixture into each ramekin, just enough to cover the bread.  Set everything aside.
• In a sauté pan, heat olive oil on medium heat.  Add onion slices and sauté until soft, about 7 minutes.  Then add the rest of the veggies, garlic and salt and pepper to taste, and continue to sauté until everything is soft.  Set aside.
• By this point, the egg mixture that was poured into the ramekins should have all been soaked up by the bread slices.
• Top each soaked bread slice with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella and 1 tablespoon of Parmesan.  Add the sauteed veggie mixture, dividing it evenly among the 4 ramekins.  Then pour the remaining egg mixture evenly into each ramekin.
• Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet (this step is important, since the stratas will puff up while baking, and possibly bubble over, making a mess in your oven if you don't use the baking sheet).  
• Bake in the center rack of the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.  (If you are making one big strata as opposed to 4 ramekins, increase the baking time to 40 - 45 minutes.  The strata should be completely set and not jiggle when it's fully cooked.)
• The stratas will puff up while baking, but after they're removed from the oven, they will quickly deflate.  Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

You can serve these right from the ramekins, or you can take them out.  They should pop out of the ramekins very easily.