Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–I’m so glad you’re here!
This week, I’m featuring recipes that will help you toast in a healthy(er) new year. Yesterday, I featured halibut in parchment paper–a delicious and easy way to prepare this slightly temperamental fish, that is also healthy.
Today, I’m featuring a vegetable frittata.
I remember back when I was in college, reading an article in a mind and body wellness magazine that urged readers to begin their days as “gently” as possible, preferably with just broth and vegetables, a mineral water and a rinse in body-temperature bath of fresh spring water. The writer warned against “shocking” the body at the start of the day. As I was probably still nursing a Jolt Cola from the night before, I know I dismissed this idea as a crock.
Over the years since then, I know I have done any number of nutty things to get myself going in the morning, including cold showers, lots of coffee and shots of sugar. None of which, I’m sure, did my body any good.
I wasn’t raised that way. In fact, if we had had a particularly bad night, or had particularly stressful things scheduled for the day, my mother always made sure we got really good breakfasts: oatmeal, eggs, whole-grain toast–food that would stick with us and give us energy for the long haul.
Since giving up my day job more than a decade ago, I have embraced the morning meal as a serious concern. But the problem with morning food is that it tends to be sweet, pastries or…bacon. The idea of gently easing my body into the day has stuck with me–perhaps not to the extent of the description above, but I really like the idea of making the morning meal more than a throw-away–more than just a bowl of cereal you eat while standing in your bathrobe in front of the open refrigerator.
Enter the frittata! And better yet, enter the “clean-out-your-refrigerator-frittata!”
This morning, Mr. Stone Soup announced that he would eat breakfast at home (I usually pack it to go for him) and I immediately knew that I would make a refrigerator-clearing frittata–after all it’s trash day and it’s the perfect time to rescue any still usable vegetables from going into the compost bin. This morning, I found a bag of pre-cut and pre-washed broccoli florets leftover from a veggie tray I had made for a holiday get-together, many of which were still perfectly serviceable; I found a half a bag of spinach, 1/2 a red bell pepper, about a cup of leftover roasted potatoes, a wilted leek (with the white bits still crisp and crunchy), and a slightly withered-looking green onion. Perfect!
I pre-heated my oven to 425*, pulled out my 10″ Finex cast iron skillet and heated it up. I swirled in a healthy dose of pecan oil in it and went to work sautéing the vegetables, starting with the leeks and onion and ending with the spinach.
Once the spinach was a little wilted, I whisked up 7 or 8 eggs (don’t exactly remember–the number I thought would fit into the skillet) with a little milk, salt and pepper and poured them into the pan:
Once the eggs started to bubble a little, I sprinkled some fresh thyme over top, and popped the whole thing into the pre-heated oven. About 10 minutes later:
We sat down to eat a really super-delicious and healthy(er) breakfast. I love this breakfast for so many reasons: first off, it’s delicious; second, it provides a good serving of vegetables and healthy protein; third, it rescued some kind of scraggly vegetables that might not have been used up otherwise. So: good for our bodies, good for the planet–and isn’t that a great way to start the day?!
Click here for a template recipe for a basic frittata–but really, just use whatever you have leftover in the fridge. In this case, I used only vegetables, but I’ve used leftover bacon, chicken and sausage in this recipe. This recipe is very flexible, so just have fun with it! **Also–I just realized this recipe is a “frittata for one.” Just multiply the amounts for however many you’re cooking for–in the recipe, I used a 6” Smithey skillet, which actually made enough for two.**
Tune in later in the week for more healthy(er) new year meal ideas! Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
