Potato Frittata

I visited a friend in Virginia and on the way back to NYC, I stopped at a Le Creuset store. Despite every instinct I had, I walked out of the store with only the one item I had intended to purchase: a 10 inch cast iron skillet from my wish list. There's a life lesson there about how you can make your own dreams come true, but this post is about eggs.

During the work week, I usually eat baked oatmeal for breakfast with Greek yogurt. With my new skillet, I knew a frittata was in my future. It was great immediately for Sunday breakfast and just as good the next day at my desk.

Ingredients & Tools

• 6 eggs
• 6 strips of bacon
• 2 russett potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• a "handful" of kale
• Kosher salt
• pepper
• oven-safe skillet
• saucepan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, dice, and cook the potatoes.

Chop and cook the bacon. Your loved ones will immediately show up in the kitchen. "Is that bacon?"

While the bacon is cooking, prepare the eggs. Crack 6 into a large bowl. Look, no shells!

Add the ricotta cheese, some salt and pepper, and stir. Set the egg mixture aside.

Once the bacon has cooked, drain off the fat and add one chopped onion and some handfuls of kale to the skillet. Cook until the onion is translucent.

You'll want to eat it at this stage. Be patient.

Add the potatoes.

Add the eggs. Cook on the stove for 2-3 minutes while stirring gently.

Cook the frittata at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

This is a hearty breakfast that made my Monday so much better.

Baked Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker

In 2008, Stephanie O'Dea used her slow cooker every day of the year. Every. Day. She blogged about it and hers was one of the first food blogs I followed regularly. Since then, she's written a cookbook called Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking and followed it up with another one because she's that popular. Her blog is alive and well! Check it out here.

I tried her baked oatmeal recipe 5 years ago and I've made it nearly every week since then. It's perfect for a healthy breakfast on the go. I usually eat it at my desk at work with Greek yogurt. I made a few variations because this recipe can easily be tailored to your specific tastes.

Ingredients & Tools

• 3 cups of rolled oats [do not use instant]
• optional 1/4 cup ground flaxseed 
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of 2% milk
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1 mashed very ripe banana
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/3 cup of dried cranberrires
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• nonstick cooking spray
• slow cooker

Combine the dry ingredients--oats, flaxseed [if you're using it], baking powder, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Mash the banana and add it to the wet ingredients--eggs, milk, and vanilla.

Add the dried fruit to the dry mixture and stir in the wet ingredients. Less than a minute of stirring combines everything well.

There's little sugar in the recipe, but excellent sweetness from the ripe banana and dried fruit. If your family prefers dried apricots or something else, use it. This recipe is very adaptable. I tried fresh blueberries a few times, but they just explode and don't add much flavor. When they're in season, I do add fresh berries when it's already baked, right on top of the yogurt.

It'll look and smell delicious even at this stage.

Spray the slow cooker's stoneware with a nonstick spray and pour the mixture in. Evenly distribute it.

Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours. The cooking time will depend on the size of the slow cooker. The bigger it is, the faster it will cook. This is one of the few things that can burn in the cooker. Check on it after two hours, but do not continuously remove the lid. Heat and moisture will escape and the total cooking time will increase.

This is not like granola. The consistency is somewhere between cake and cookie and so, so good.

Serve alone or with yogurt. 

Healthy Whole Wheat Pancakes

The close of 2012 and the start of 2013 have been wonderful. My husband and I have been spending time with our family and friends and substantial time with just each other. Vacation euphoria is a good way to describe this feeling. We rang in the new year with some good friends, Cards Against Humanity, and a delicious dinner. There have been many rich, indulgent meals during this break: squid ink pasta with a seafood ragu at Marea, duck breast at Gramercy Tavern, the traditional Christmas ham with my family, and a questionable number of desserts.

On New Year's morning, we turned our attention to more balanced eating [and exercise!]. I made whole wheat pancakes with apples and you should too. You can skip the syrup and get in a serving of fruit before heading to the gym to use that new membership. The batter makes about 10 medium-sized pancakes and they reheat well.

Ingredients & Tools

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 2 apples
• 1/4 brown sugar
• cooking spray
• frying pan
• small saucepan

Combine the dry ingredients and mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients including the eggs and vanilla. Add them to the dry ingredients and mix.

The batter may be a bit thinner than traditional pancake mixes, but it cooks just like the pancakes you may be used to. Set the batter aside and prepare the apples.

You could use other stone fruit for this part of the recipe. The apples release some of their own sweetness and with the brown sugar, I think this is far better than the artificially flavored syrups.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into bit-sized pieces. I had a fancy tool for the job.

Add the apples and the brown sugar to a small saucepan. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until the apples are tender and the sugar has created a simple syrup. Stir occasionally.

As the apples cook, prepare the pancakes. Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to control the size of my pancakes. As you can see, they still decided to kiss in the middle of the pan.

Cook over a low flame on one side for 3-4 minutes. Look for bubbles to form on the outer edge of the pancake. This tells you when it's time to flip.

The second side cooks quickly, in under 2 minutes. When the pancakes moves easily with a slight tilt of the pan, they're ready to eat.

Spoon the apples and syrup over the pancakes. Cheers to a healthier start to the new year!