Southwest Scram

I can't believe classes start tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous and scared and really happy all at the same time. I'll keep y'all posted on how my first week goes.

I always make new school-year resolutions, because for students, this is really the start of our year. It gives me a goal and something to work towards, which keeps me more focused in my classes and in other parts of my life. Here's my list of new year's resolutions:

1. Watch my spending, i.e., eat out less than 2 times a week, use more coupons, etc.

2. Finish all of my school work during the week, so I can have weekends free!

3. Keep improving my healthy habits! I've come a long way in the past few weeks, so my plan is to keep up the good work even with a crazy schedule.

Part of goal #1 for me is not letting so much food go bad. I throw away so much food, whether it's leftovers, produce that spoils, or sour milk. That was my dilemma this morning: I knew that a bunch of my produce was running out of time, so I wanted to make something that used as much of it as possible. 

I started raiding my produce drawer, and I found these things: red bell pepper, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, and 1/2 a can of black beans that I had leftover from the other night. All of these ingredients were screaming "something southwestern!" so I started chopping...and this is what I came up with:

HealthEasy Southwest Scram

Ingredients:

3 tbsp finely chopped red bell pepper

3 tbsp finely chopped red onion

1 tbsp minced fresh jalapeño

2 tbsp canned black beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp frozen corn kernels

3 egg whites

1 tbsp salsa (your choice!)

Fresh cilantro leaves to taste

Directions:

In a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray, combine peppers and onion. Cook until onion starts to become translucent. Add in the black beans and corn and cook until both are heated through. Add the egg whites and scramble everything together. Cook until egg is fully cooked and firm. Top with cilantro and salsa.

***You could also add some diced tomatoes in with the black beans and corn! My tomatoes were looking a little sad, so I thought it was best to leave them out.

Good luck to everybody starting classes this week! 

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Omelet

I've heard from a couple of you that you've tried some of my recipes, and I am so excited to hear it! I love getting feedback, so please feel free to leave some in a comment, or just tell me in person.

The May issue of Self is out. I picked it up at the store the other day so I could get this month's workout. Sadly, this one requires a stability ball, which I don't have (nor do I have room in my apartment to go out and get one). I was enjoying that I could do the other workout from home (all you need is a resistance band), because sometimes I just don't feel like driving to the gym. At least I still have a good home workout from month 1! 

This issue also has 28 new "recipe" suggestions (most of them are like "a bowl of cereal topped with banana and walnuts"), and I decided to try this one for a caramelized onion and goat cheese omelet. I still had some goat cheese in the fridge from when I made manicotti last week, so I jumped on the opportunity to use it up.

Recipe Notes: I just sliced an entire small onion. It ended up being about 1/2 cup post-caramelization. I just really like onions, so don't feel like you need to use that much. I also used skim milk instead of 1%, because that's what I drink. The goat cheese I had was soft goat cheese, so I used that and broke it up with my fingers a little bit instead of using crumbled goat cheese. Also, a tip for caramelizing onions: Use a medium-low heat. You want the sugars to really break down, and if your skillet is too hot, they'll just cook the outside of the onion. Keep it on medium-low when you add the eggs, because they'll burn before they're cooked through if the pan is too hot. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup thinly sliced onion

1 tsp olive oil

1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites

1 tsp 1% milk

1 oz. crumbled goat cheese

1/2 cup baby spinach (I gave this a rough chop so I wouldn't get massive chunks of spinach in a bite)

Saute onions in the olive oil until onions begin to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Whisk the egg and egg whites together with the milk. Pour in egg mixture and cook until the eggs set, 3-4 minutes. Top with goat cheese and spinach, fold omelet and cook until eggs are no longer runny in the middle, about 3 minutes. 

Taste Rating: 7.5

Not bad! I would definitely make this again. It could have used more spinach, so now I know for next time. Also, some possible variations: feta cheese instead of the goat cheese, add mushrooms when you cook the onions, tomatoes, maybe even some diced grilled chicken.

Easy Rating: 6

I think breakfasts should be easier than other meals. The only time anybody has time to cook it is on the weekend, so if you can't just whip something up, it's hard to justify making it. This whole meal took over 20 minutes, which makes in a no-go for weekdays. It wasn't necessarily difficult, it just took some time. 

Overall Rating: 7

Orange French Toast

I woke up this morning with a serious craving for French toast. The problem with French toast: it's usually made from white bread dipped in a creamy egg mixture and then covered in syrup and powdered sugar. Not exactly good for you. So I found a recipe in my "Healthy College Cookbook" for orange French toast that puts a healthy (and fruity!) spin on an otherwise very unhealthy meal.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups orange juice

2 eggs (Substitute: 4 egg whites)

1/4 c. skim milk

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sugar (I used a couple of drops of vanilla extract instead of sugar.)

1/4 cup strawberry jam

2 teaspoons butter or margarine

8 slices whole wheat bread 

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of orange juice and the strawberry jam. Heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until most of the jam is liquefied. Continue to simmer over low heat until the mixture reaches a thick, syrupy consistency.

2. Combine the other 1/2 c. of orange juice, milk, egg whites (or eggs), cinnamon, and vanilla (or sugar) in a bowl.

3. Melt 1/2 tsp. of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Dip the bread one piece at a time into the egg mixture, turning to coat both sides.

4. Cook each piece of bread in the skillet until both sides are golden brown. 

5. Serve with the orange strawberry "syrup" on top.

Taste rating: 9

I love this recipe. I probably even like it better than traditional French toast. It's heartier, and not nearly as sweet. The fruit syrup was my favorite part. I used a 100% strawberry fruit spread with the orange juice, so I felt good about getting all of the sugars from fruit instead of processed sugar. It just takes a little bit of time, so it probably is a good meal to save for the weekend when you have some time to make it.

Easy rating: 8

It's French toast. How hard can it be? The hardest part is just getting the soggy toast from the mixture into the pan without it falling apart. The syrup requires a bit of attention, since you have to stir it frequently, but that's not hard, just boring. 

Overall rating: 9

This was the perfect Saturday morning breakfast! My roommate, Jenny really liked it too :-)