Veggie Frittata

I’m a creature of habit.  I always sat in the same seat in class, whether they were assigned or not.  I park in the same area every time I go to a place.  And I default to salad for lunch almost every day of the week.  In the summer, that’s perfectly fine and I pretty much never get sick of it.  I’m able to get so much gorgeous produce from the local farmer’s market or farm stand so I’m always excited to try that week’s haul.  But in the winter, I pretty much get the same produce from the grocery store every week and it’s easy for salads to get boring.  Plus, I don’t always want a cold lunch when it’s so cold outside.  I’ve always loved warm meals and frequently when asked what I feel like eating, I’ll say “Idk..something hot.” lol

So the other weekend, we went to visit my husband’s sister who lives on a farm in New Hampshire.  Her chickens have finally started laying eggs, so she sent me home with a ton of them.  As I was in my kitchen that Sunday trying to figure out what to make for lunch that week, I figured a frittata would be a great way to 1) mix up my usual salads with something warm and 2) use up all those eggs I now had in my fridge.  I’d never made a frittata but I figured it couldn’t be too hard!

I had lots of leftover veggies in my fridge so I figured I’d just throw them all in.  You can use whatever veggies you want! Anything you think would taste good with eggs.  I’d say throw in whatever veggies you normally like in an omelet.  I happened to have cherry tomatoes, spinach, onions, mushrooms, and yellow peppers.

I heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil in my cast iron skillet over medium heat and then began sauteing all the veggies, which I had chopped into bite-sized pieces.  

As the veggies cooked, I cracked 10 eggs into a bowl, added in 1/3 cup of almond milk, 1 tsp salt, a few dashes of pepper, 1 tsp of Italian seasoning, 1 tsp of basil, and  whisked it all up until it was mixed.  Then I added in a handful of shredded cheddar cheese.  It was probably about 1/2 a cup, but it’s up to you! I honestly don’t think you could use too much or too little cheese haha Just add it based on your preference.

As I said, I used 10 eggs, but that was because they were on the smaller side.  If I had large eggs, I probably would have only used about 8. But just like the cheese, it honestly doesn’t matter that much! As long as you have enough egg mixture to fill your skillet, you’re good.

Once the veggies were pretty tender, I poured in the egg mixture and let it cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Just until the edges started to pull away from the sides of the skillet.

Then I popped it into the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.  You just need to cook it until the egg looks fully set in the middle.  Once it was done, I let it cool on the counter.  Then I cut it into slices and popped them into tupper ware containers for the week.  Super simple and it made for such a yummy lunch! I looked forward to eating it every day! I’ll be doing this more often for sure. Especially since there are so many different combinations of add ins!

Ingredients:

  • 10 medium eggs or 8 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup milk of your choice (you could also use heavy cream for a richer frittata)
  • 2 cups chopped veggies of your choice (I used cherry tomatoes, spinach, onions, mushrooms, and yellow bell pepper)
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • pepper to taste
  • cast iron skillet

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet over medium heat.
  3. Chop your veggies into bite-sized pieces and add to skillet. Cook until tender.
  4. In a large bowl, crack your eggs then add in milk, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, and pepper.  Whisk together until mixed and add in cheese. Give it one final mix.
  5. Pour mixture into skillet and allow to cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until you can see the sides begin to pull away from the skillet or begin to cook.  No need to stir the mixture! Just let it cook.
  6. Pop skillet into the oven and let cook for 10 minutes or until the center is fully set.
  7. Let cool and enjoy! If meal prepping, you can slice and place in separate containers.

Crazy Easy Mac and Cheese

So the other day at the grocery store, they had pork shoulders buy one get one free.  Great deal! So on Monday morning, I put my pork in the slow cooker with plans to have pulled pork for dinner.  Usually while I’m at work, I’ll brainstorm some ideas for what else I’m going to have with whatever meat I thawed out…but on this day I was stumped.  We had just had mashed potatoes for dinner the night before and I didn’t want to do potatoes two days in a row….and rice didn’t seem like a good choice.  Then suddenly it hit me, MAC AND CHEESE.  We had pulled pork and mac and cheese at our wedding, so clearly it’s a household favorite haha

Normally I like to make mac and cheese and then bake it to get it crispy, but I wasn’t going to get home until kinda late and I wanted something that would come together fast! I kinda just threw this mac and cheese together (in 15 minutes, no lie) and it turned out SO GOOD.  So I’ll let you guys in on the recipe…really nothing fancy.  Just simple, easy, and DELICIOUS.  I used earth balance vegan butter and almond milk to cut down on the dairy, but you could totally use any kind of butter or milk that you’d like!

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