Recipe | Protein Packed Brunch for Two

Before I went off to college, I used to cook for my mom, sister, and I all the time. My mom's a great cook, but I know she misses my cooking... so it was no surprise that when I mentioned I was going to make some eggs for myself for a little late breakfast, early lunch, she sneakily asked "Oh are you going to make some for me too?"

She couldn't pick up her co-op delivery of fruits and veggies today because of the snowstorm last night, so I just threw whatever was in her fridge that I thought might go well together. I also tried sneaking in a ton of protein to show my mom the amount she really should be getting in each meal. 

Me and my mom finished the whole skillet because it was the only thing we planned on eating for lunch. If you're pairing it with toast, or waffles or pancakes or something else, you could stretch it to be like 3 or four servings.

The whole recipe is 60-65g of protein (I didn't take the time to figure out how much vegetable protein was in it... so this really is just counting the protein from the eggs, soy sausages, and black beans. So me and my mom both had around 30g which is more than enough for one meal. Obviously if you're splitting it up between more people, then you would be consuming less protein, so it's important to make the difference up in other food sources served with this or by doubling the recipe to accommodate more people. 

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 bell pepper, sliced

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

2 soy sausages, halved lengthwise and then cut into half-moons

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup miso ginger vinaigrette

3 eggs, whisked

Salt and Pepper to taste

As always, start off by sauteing the peppers and onions in the olive oil until they begin to brown.

Once they start to get some color (after about 5-7 minutes or so), add the cherry or grape tomato halves to the pan. Start blistering the tomatoes. Don't worry if they start breaking up, that's what you want to happen.

When the tomatoes start to blister and break down (about 5 more minutes or so), add the sausages. Refrain from salting everything until the very end. The vinaigrette that you'll be adding might be enough seasoning for some people and you don't want your dish to be too salty.

Let all the flavors mix together before adding the black beans and miso ginger vinaigrette. I used Wegman's brand of vinaigrette. If you can't find a miso ginger one, a sesame or sesame ginger or even a plain Italian would be a good substitute. If you're in a pinch and you don't have ANY vinaigrette to add, just add the juice of half a lemon and some Italian seasoning... that should be pretty tasty. Or just skip it all together... I'm never gonna find out!

Finally, after you've incorporated the beans and vinaigrette (or just the beans), add in the eggs and scramble to your desired consistency. The ratio is going to look like 5:1 eggs to veg/sausage/beans which, in my opinion, is better than having mostly eggs filling up your plate. Enjoy!