Showing posts with label frittata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frittata. Show all posts

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

WIAW - Broccoli Frittata

Hello! Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks as always to Jenn! This is the last WIAW in March - aka Green month - I haven't eaten quite as many green vegetables this week, but over the course of the whole month it has definitely inspired me to try some new green combinations.


I'm a bit late writing this post today - now that the evenings are lighter, the children have been going to bed later, so Liam and I have lost at least an hour of "sit down time" once the children are asleep, the washing up has been done etc! Oh well better late than never...this is what I ate yesterday. The day didn't start off too green, so I put my meals on green plates/dishes instead...that totally counts right?!! ;)

Breakfast yesterday was amazing - so good in that that I had it again today! Chai banana porridge:


This was just oats, milk, mashed banana and 20g spiced chai powder. So good that it didn't even need a topping - the chai adds sweetness and extra flavour. Yum!

My sister started her new job today, so yesterday she came over for a couple of hours to spend some time in the garden. Izzy was off school as well, so I made Sarah Izzy and Toby macaroni cheese for lunch. I didn't fancy that though - it was way too hot to have a hot lunch! I had an iced latte instead (mmm!) and then when Sarah left I had some raw carrots with lemon coriander houmous:


I had planned to have a 2nd part to lunch, but I hadn't realised how late it had got - it was already 3pm by the time I ate this! Instead I had one of my current favourite snacks to keep me going until an early dinner - Greek yoghurt mixed with cocoa powder and vanilla stevia...


I've been eating this a lot this week - either eaten like this just with a spoon, or spread on toast. I also love it mixed with berries but I haven't got any in at the moment (Toby easily eats a punnet of blueberries in a day so as soon as I do buy them they disappear!!).

Liam's Nan was transferred from the local hospital to a nursing home today. Great news for her, but it does mean that she's now a half hour drive away instead of just down the road. Liam only found this out on Monday so he went to see her straight from work last night. Liam not at home for dinner = a chance to eat something he dislikes. I'd really fancied a frittata as my 2nd part of my lunch so I decided to make a large one for me and the children to have for dinner instead. Liam used to like frittata, but has recently gone off the texture of the eggs apparently. And he hates broccoli so this was perfect! ;-)


Broccoli and Cream Cheese Frittata
(serves 3)
  • 200g tenderstem broccoli
  • oil
  • 6 eggs
  • small pinch of salt
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 50g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia original)
1. First chop the tenderstem broccoli (I chopped each stem into 3 pieces) and lightly cook in boiling water just for 2-3 minutes.
2. Crack all the eggs into a bowl and mix with salt and garlic powder.
3. Add a small amount of oil to a frying pan and bring to a medium heat. Add the broccoli and then pour over the eggs. Mix around to get the broccoli evenly dispersed across the pan.
4. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on a low to medium heat for approx 4-5 minutes (until almost cooked)
5. Blob the cream cheese across the frittata and put under a medium-high grill for a minute or two until the frittata is thoroughly cooked/lightly browned as you prefer. Slice in the pan and serve with salad and/or buttered bread.

I sliced our frittata into 7 slices - 2 for me, 2 for Izzy and 1 for Toby to have for dinner with salad...and 2 more for me to have cold later as an evening snack - Liam was disgusted but I love it almost more cold than I do hot!!


When Liam came home from seeing his Nan, he brought a whole 4 cheese pizza with him!! He tried to persuade me to help him out by eating a few slices, but I resisted. I'd already eaten dinner and really didn't need it, so instead I ate the above two slices as my evening snack. It did strike me that the frittata would make a great pizza base. Not a new idea by any means - I've seen quite a few other people using omelettes as the base for pizza before - but one I definitely want to try sometime soon.

And that was the end of my WIAW - at least it ended on a green note!

Do you like frittata/Spanish omelette/tofu scramble? What would be your ideal fillings/toppings? My Grandma makes a traditional Spanish omelette with garlic, onion and potatoes which is gorgeous. I'm always too impatient to wait for the potatoes to cook though, so tend to just use whatever vegetables I have to hand instead. I do like blobbing either Philadelphia or goats cheese on top as well, gives it a nice texture contrast and different flavour. I also quite often mix smoked paprika in with eggs as well, not sure why I just stuck with garlic powder this time but it was still delicious!

Friday, 25 February 2011

Re-vamped apricot & almond flapjacks, take 2

I started off today with a great gym workout. There were only 2 other people max in there at any time, woohoo. I did 45 minutes cardio (rowing, cross trainer, wave) and then some free weights arm exercises using 4kg weights (I usually use 2.5kg so this is good for me!) and some leg weight machines.

By the time I walked home, showered etc it was almost 11am, so I kept breakfast light. I picked up some kiwis on offer in Lidl the other day - they don't have a furry skin and they have golden flesh...


they look so vibrant! I will enjoy one whole soon, but these were chucked in the blender with half a banana and an apple...


plus a little leftover kale, some milk and a pinch of xanthan gum...


whilst this was blending, my daughter asked what colour it would be. She thought green, I thought yellow, we were both kinda wrong. This was a creamy colour with flecks, not really thick enough - very foamy!


despite the fact that the bowl was pretty full, I topped it with a packet of Bear tropical granola...


Those arms you can see in the background? That's my daughter, waiting not so patiently for me to finish. She likes me to save her the last few spoonfuls, making sure there's still some "crunchy" bits left...what can I say, the girl's got good taste! She's also never not hungry - she'd already had a me-sized bowl of banana porridge topped with almonds & golden syrup while I was at the gym, and she was already by this time asking what was for lunch & dinner. Ooops, not such a good habit of mine to pick up!

Lunch time soon came around though. I try to cook a slightly bigger lunch on Fridays as Liam has work in the afternoon/evening. Today I made a frittata using 6 eggs mixed with frozen broad beans and sweetcorn...


topped with baby spinach and goat's cheese (I'm loving this combo!)...


before grilling to finish it off...


Served with a blob of ketchup (and bread rolls for the others)...not the prettiest meal but delicious nonetheless...


I love having a warm lunch, so much more filling and interesting than a sandwich! (although some sandwiches can be delicious too of course!)

This afternoon I did some baking. First off, flapjacks. After making my Mum some healthier apricot & almond flapjacks a couple of weeks ago, she asked me to make her another batch with a few adjustments. This time I did x1.5 of the recipe to fill the pan, added some sultanas and substituted the molasses with honey, using slightly more honey and slightly less apricot fruit spread than the original version.

These turned out really good so I'll write down the recipe for me to follow again!

Apricot and Almond Flapjacks
(makes 12)
  • 225g butter
  • 120g apricot fruit spread
  • 90g honey
  • 275g porridge oats
  • 100g apricots, chopped
  • 30g sultanas
  • 45g almonds, chopped

 Same method as before. For a more detailed step-by-step method see the original recipe post, but briefly - melt the butter, apricot spread and honey in the microwave/in a pan. Then stir in all the other ingredients, this time I had the help of a toddler to stir the mix...


this is what they looked like before going into the oven at 175C...


and 25 minutes later...


Mum let us keep one to try...


before taking the rest home with her...


Verdict: nicer than the molasses version (which had a slight tang/aftertaste) but still soft & crumbly rather than the soft & sticky I was after. Mum loved them though, she likes the subtle sweetness so I think a sticky version would probably be too sweet for her. Next time I think I'd add slightly more sultanas too.

Whilst the flapjacks were baking, I got the blender out again to whizz up some of Katie's cocoa fudge babies. I made about half the amount of her original recipe, and used cashews instead of walnuts as that's what I had in - these were not planned at all, I read a reference to them earlier which jogged my memory that I wanted to give them a try!


I'm so glad I made these!



A little sticky to roll out but absolutely delicious! The only downside is that they're too easy to eat! I've eaten 6 today already! My Mum had one (and added them to the list of things she wants me to make her!), daughter had one and I've put the remaining 4 in the freezer to hopefully keep them safe from me until tomorrow at least! So chocolatey, these reminded me almost exactly of the chewy chocolate oat cookies I've been making recently, although a lot healthier without all the added white sugar obviously!

Luckily I managed to stop myself eating any more babies before I completely ruined my appetite for dinner! Simple roast butternut squash and red pepper...


topped with a big blob of sweet potato houmous...


Yum. I love roasted butternut squash, so glad I rediscovered it! & the sweet potato houmous is still lovely, almost all gone now, time to get thinking of other variations!
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