Tagged: Atkins

Spinach, Feta, and Sun-Dried Tomato Mini-Frittatas

This is in my top 10 best things I’ve ever made, not to mention extremely easy!  I was hungry for eggs, feta, and sun-dried tomatoes, but didn’t feel like a plain old omelet.  I’ve recently seen a lot of recipes for ham, bacon, and/or toast-lined baked eggs made in cupcake tins, so I was inspired to throw this together and see what happened.  I didn’t have ham, bacon, or toast, so instead of whole eggs I thought I’d whip up a frittata-style mixture, as I thought that would help hold it together in the muffin pan.  I was right!

You’ll need:

  • 8 eggs
  • 4 egg whites, or a scant half cup of Egg Beaters
  • 1 10-ounce package of frozen cut spinach, thawed
  • 1 cup of crumbled feta
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
  • Hot sauce to taste (optional)
  1. Whisk eggs, egg whites, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a large bowl until combined and frothy.
  2. Stir in spinach, feta, and tomatoes.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  4. Butter a 12-muffin tin, or two six-muffin tins.  Alternatively, you can use a bit of olive oil to lightly coat the cups.
  5. Pour mixture into the prepared muffin tin(s). Try to make them equal, and try to leave about a half-inch of room at the top as these should expand a little.  I used a liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout to do this.
  6. Bake for 20-28 minutes, until the tops are just barely starting to brown and the eggs look set (see picture above–the top is shiny but not wet).
  7. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
  8. Remove from pan (I used a small spatula to go around each mini-frittata and they all just popped right out).
  9. Enjoy!  The picture below is the cut half of a mini-frittata.  I had already scarfed the other half…

Eggs and Bacon

Is there anything better than eggs and bacon?

This is eggs and bacon the way I like them: extra crispy bacon and runny-yolked eggs.

For the bacon, the oven is clearly the way to go.  It’s so easy, and you can’t really mess it up unless you burn the bacon…which I like.  Set your oven at 350 degrees, lay your bacon strips on a sheet pan, and throw it in the oven for 12-20 minutes depending on how thick your bacon is.  I would check at 12 minutes just to see how it’s going.  Say hi.  I actually talk to my bacon a bit and coax it along into perfection.  I have a crush on bacon.

For the eggs, you want a preheated pan, a little olive oil or butter (or both! go wild), and as many eggs as you’d like.  Crack the eggs into a little bowl and dig out all the shell you got in there while you’re heating the pan on medium, or medium-low if your range runs hot.  After about 5 minutes, check to make sure your pan is hot.  Don’t burn yourself!  Just quickly tap the side of the pan to check.

Put the oil/butter into the hot pan and swirl it around.  Slide the eggs in there, carefully if you like the yolk runny, and cover with a lid or plate.  This helps the egg cook on both sides.  After one minute, check on your eggs.  If they’re still liquid-y, re-cover and let cook for another minute.  Once they look almost done, as in no runny white, you can carefully flip them and turn off the heat.  Let it sit for 30 seconds or so to solidify the egg white while keeping the yolk runny. Don’t be afraid to check on it obsessively like I did when I was first making eggs this way.  Just lift a corner with a spatula to see if the white is cooked to your liking.  When it’s ready, add salt and pepper if you’d like and enjoy!

If you really preheated your pan, this should be a very quick operation.  If you find it’s taking forever, your heat may be a little too low.  If it’s loudly popping and sizzling for more than a few seconds after you put the eggs in the pan, your heat is too high–turn it down to low or medium-low.  You’ll get the hang of it!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, comment below, whatever you’d like.

Quick Eggplant Snack

This is my absolute favorite way to cook eggplant.  You don’t waste any of the eggplant, and you can use any spices you like in place of the garam masala. I love the cinnamon-y, clove-y, peppery smell and taste of garam masala so I’m always looking for new ways to use it.  Eggplant is a great canvas for many different spices and flavors.  Try these with garlic, hot pepper, or maybe even balsamic vinegar instead of garam masala.  You can double or triple this recipe with no issues.  I have kept the baked rounds in the fridge overnight and they were just as tasty microwaved the next day.

You’ll need:

  • 1 good-looking eggplant
  • 2 teaspoons of garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt
  1. Wash your eggplant under cold water.
  2. Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
  3. Sprinkle both sides of the rounds with salt.
  4. Place rounds in a colander over a bowl or in the sink.
  5. Let rounds stand for two hours or so–you can probably leave them overnight in the fridge if you’d like.
  6. Preheat oven to 350.
  7. Rinse the rounds under cold water.
  8. Dry the rounds thoroughly on paper towels or kitchen towels; they should be green and leather-like.  If they’re not, dry more!
  9. Brush both sides of rounds with oil.
  10. Sprinkle both sides with garam masala.
  11. Arrange rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet; otherwise, the rounds may get stuck to the baking sheet and fall apart when you try to get them off.  Not that I would know that from experience…
  12. Bake for 20 minutes, or until sliced are soft and browned.  I find this is just enough to get rid of the bitterness of the skin.  If you’d like, you can try cooking these longer to turn them into “chips,” but I haven’t had good luck with that so far.
  13. Enjoy!

Weigh-In Day: Gluten Attacks?

Well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news.  The good news is I lost 2.6 pounds over the past week!  Woohoo!  The bad news is I’ve had stomach issues for months, and this past week and a half have been only able to eat once or twice a day.  The worst news is that I have to eat the gluten equivalent of one to four slices of bread daily until at least Monday to get tested for celiac disease.  Pausing Atkins now.

Some people on the all-knowing interwebs have suggested I go gluten-, lactose-, and fructose(!)-free and see what happens to determine whether or not I have problems with those things.  That’s all well and good, except I don’t have the patience or willpower to so drastically change my diet without solid evidence.

Low carbing may be drastic to some, but in the past it’s helped me to feel great–I had more energy, no weird blood sugar crashing, and sustained weight loss.  This time around, I started off really sick and I’m getting sicker.  I don’t think it’s due to low carbing, as I’ve started eating bread and pizza this week for the celiac test and feel much worse.  But I’m willing to consider anything, any type of diet, if I have medical proof of what’s wrong with me.

So it should be interesting!  I have a feeling I’ll end up having to go everything-free AND get my stupid gallbladder removed (that’s a short but extraordinarily painful story for another day), but I’m a bit of a pessimist.  On the brighter side, I think I’m going to cook a gluten-, lactose-, and fructose-full Easter dinner for my family, so they’ll be excited!

Weigh-In Day: Mini-Goal Accomplished!

Happy Sunday, peeps.  I finally broke through my plateau!  I lost 2.2 pounds this week, bringing the total lost to exactly 12.0 pounds – my next mini-goal!  My goal was to lose 12 pounds in 12 weeks and I’ve done it 4 full weeks early.

What’s my next goal?  I will lose a total of 25 pounds in 6 months.  So, I need to lose 13 more pounds by August 5, an average of 0.68 pounds per week.  Easy!