Breakfast Casserole

This is a great all-in-one low calorie breakfast dish. It turned out a tiny bit dry but we remedied  that by loading it up with hot sauce (salsa would be another great choice). Next time I might try adding some chopped tomatoes to give it a little more juice.

Ingredients:

3 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, 12 ounces

4 medium scallions, sliced

3 large eggs

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese, small-curd

2/3 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp poultry seasoning, or ground sage

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

6 slices bacon, reduced fat

Directions:
Place the oven rack in the center of the oven; preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray a 1 1⁄2-quart shallow baking dish with nonstick spray.

Spray a nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until nearly crisp, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes. Add the potatoes and scallions; continue cooking and stirring until tender, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Beat together the eggs and egg whites in a large bowl until blended. Beat in the cottage cheese, 1⁄3 cup of the cheddar cheese, the Parmesan cheese, flour, poultry seasoning or sage, baking powder, salt, and pepper until combined. Stir in the cooled potato mixture and spread evenly into the baking dish. Bake until golden and set in the center, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1⁄3 cup cheddar cheese. Let stand until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes, and serve hot or warm.

This works well re-heated too!

Servings: 6

Points: 5

 

Eggs Baked with Spinach and Feta in Tomato Shell

I found this recipe on NPR and thought it would make an excellent breakfast. Unfortunately, my tomato shells completely fell apart in the oven but they still tasted great.

Ingredients:

4 large ripe tomatoes

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 medium eggs

4 tablespoons feta cheese

1 pound spinach

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut off tomato tops and set aside (may be used later as garnish). Run a paring knife around the inside edge of the tomato and scoop out insides, creating a tomato shell. Sprinkle the insides with salt and pepper and turn the tomatoes upside down on a towel to dry and drain out any excess liquids.

In the meantime, steam or saute the spinach. To steam, fill a pan with a thin layer of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the burner, add the spinach and cover the pan until the spinach wilts. Drain out excess water once the spinach is cooked. (Note: I sauteed the spinach by heating olive oil and garlic in a pan and then adding spinach until just wilted and finished with a little bit of fresh lemon juice).

Stand the tomatoes right side up in a pan, and place approximately 1/4 cup spinach into the bottom of each, pressing down to make room for other ingredients. Break an egg inside each tomato shell. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and feta cheese. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

 

French Toast

The other morning, we had some leftover French bread that needed to be used up so I decided to whip up some French toast, which I hadn't had in ages. I used the recipe out of my Joy of Cooking cookbook with a couple modifications.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup milk

4 eggs

2 tbsp maple syrup (and for the love of God, please use real maple syrup, don't even get me started on that log cabin crap.)
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

8 slices white bread

butter, as needed

I also added cinnamon, b/c you can't have French toast without it in my opinion

Powdered sugar for topping

Additional maple syrup for drowning.

Directions:

Whisk together first 5 ingredients (plus cinnamon). Heat butter in pan. Dredge both sides of bread through the mixture, transfer to pan and cook, flipping as needed. Top with sifted powdered sugar and real maple syrup.