Recipe | Loaded, One Pan Breakfast Scramble

0

What you'll need:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 red potatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, diced

4 eggs, whisked

1/4 cup fresh mozzarella, cubed or shredded

1 avocado, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric 

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Set a large, oven-safe skillet to medium-high heat. Start sauteing your potatoes in the olive oil until they start browning - about 10 minutes total, flipping occasionally. Next, add the onions, and once they start becoming translucent (after 5 minutes or so) add the garlic. Add some salt and pepper and stir to combine.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and add your whisked eggs, spices, tomatoes, and more salt and pepper. Scramble the egg mixture until they begin to set up. Add the mozzarella to the top of the mixture, and then transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until the eggs are cooked through and the cheese is melted, about 5-7 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and top with your fresh avocado. 

Enjoy!

Read More »

Update | Friday Thoughts

0

With graduation rounding the corner quicker than I had realized it would be, I'm finding myself experiencing some anticipated, but still not welcome, anxiety. I am extremely excited to start working in the field I've been passionate about and studying and preparing for for the past four years, but it's a bit scary. I've been trying my best to focus on the present and just deal with things as they come, but I still find myself constantly thinking about the future and what I'm going to be doing after graduation.

In an attempt to calm myself down, I've been trying to schedule some "me time" whenever I possibly can within my schedule of going to class, my internship, working at the coffee shop, and babysitting. Today is one of those me-days. I have an unexpected day off! I was supposed to babysit from 6:30am-2pm, but I was told I actually wasn't needed for the day, and since the schedule was already made for the coffee shop & I requested off for babysitting, I wasn't scheduled to work there either.

I started the day kind of sluggish, but in a good way. I set my alarm for 8am (even on a day off, I feel like I'm wasting the day if I sleep past 8. I know... I'm working on being less crazy about this). I guess by body is getting used to my routine of waking up earlier than that most days, because I naturally woke up around 7:30. I tossed and turned for a while, trying to snag a few extra minutes of sleep, but my body was already awake and it was not going back to sleep for anything.

So I laid in bed for a while, talked to Chris, checked twitter and instagram, and snuggled with Benji - the normal situation before I got out of bed, ate a banana, got all ready for the gym, and then whined and complained to Benji (yes, my cat) about not wanting to walk outside because it was 12 DEGREES OUT. Eventually I made myself feel as guilty as possible about not going, and dragged my butt over to the gym and had a mostly cardio-focused work out.

I came home, showered, and ate this delicious breakfast:

...which was VERY easy to make:

1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/4 chopped avocado
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp (or more) of your favorite hot sauce
a pinch each of salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika
1 tbsp chia seeds

Cook the zucchini over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until they start to brown. Scramble in the eggs. I usually whisky the hot sauce directly into my eggs, but you can add it separately if you want. Add in the spices and cook your eggs to your desired done-ness. I usually cook them VERY dry. Add the zucchini and eggs to a bowl, stir in the chopped avocado and chia seeds, and enjoy!

I would have liked to add some chopped tomato and some onion instead of the onion powder to this as well, but I don't have any on hand at the moment. Today is a day for doing anything and everything that calms me, so grocery shopping might be on the list for later today. Yes, grocery shopping is definitely something I consider me-time. I love it. I'm also a big fan of cleaning, which is another thing I will be tackling today. And lastly, reading. It may be reading for my abnormal psychology class, but the book we're required to write a paper on for Tuesday is actually extremely interesting, so it doesn't seem like a chore. Maybe I'll do a review on it for the blog... who knows.

If you've made it to the end of this unnecessarily long blog post, thank you for reading. Sometimes you just need to let your thoughts out, and this blog is one of my outlets for that. I hope you're all enjoying your Friday!

xo Sam

Read More »

Recipe | Protein Packed Brunch for Two

0

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!

Read More »