Low-Fat Breakfast Frittata

This is the type of recipe where you can add or remove any fresh, healthy component and it will still taste great. For example, next time I might use tomatoes, onions, spinach, and different types of cheese. But these are the ingredients I had on hand, so that's what I used.  

Note that I did not use any type of fat to "grease" the pan and the eggs did stick a little, but nothing I couldn't handle with a spatula :)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. zucchini slices
• 1-1/2 oz. chopped green pepper
• 3 oz. chopped broccoli 
• 2-1/2 oz. shredded mozzarella
• 6 lg eggs

I simply layered the items in a quiche pan as listed, topped with cheese, and popped into the oven  at 350F for approximately 15 minutes. It was delicious!

What veggies might you substitute? What about herbs? I'm always looking for new & yummy ways to wake up my breakfast.

https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076

Amount per serving
Calories	76
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g	3%
Saturated Fat 1g	5%
Cholesterol 5mg	2%
Sodium 134mg	6%
Total Carbohydrate 3.4g	1%
Dietary Fiber 1.1g	4%
Total Sugars 1.6g
Protein 10.7g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 71mg	5%
Iron 0mg	2%
Potassium 285mg	6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet.2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Tomato Pie - Summertime Deliciousness!

 

Tomato Pie ('Mater Pie)

By now, anyone with access to fresh tomatoes might have an overflowing bounty of them. Here in Tennessee, we've had so much rain that the tomato crop certainly has benefited greatly from the weather. Your first instinct might be to use them for this recipe, but in truth, unless you've grown romas, you might wind up with a soggy pie if you use those gorgeous, fat & juicy tomatoes from your garden. That's what happened to me when I made this the first time. LOL You'll have to squeeze those tomatoes free of their juice before you use them for the pie, or you can just buy some Romas and begin. Here's what I did:

5 BIG roma tomatoes - they were the size of my closed fist!

Slice them in 1/4" slices and arrange them in a colander so that when you sprinkle them with salt, they will all get some.

Let them sit for at least 30 minutes or longer, to help them release their juices. While that's working, you're going to put your pie crust in the pan (I used a cast iron skillet) and pre-bake it at 350 for 30 minutes. This is vital! 

Now it's time to assemble the rest. 

1/2 cup (or more) of your favorite mayo

1/2 cup (or more) shredded parmesan cheese

3 (or more) cloves of minced garlic

1 cup (or more) shredded mozzarella

a good handful of fresh basil leaves that you've shredded

Mix all of this together and set aside.

Is the pie shell done yet?

Once it is, you're going to line the bottom with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. This will help protect the crust from getting soggy. It works!

Now take some paper towel and blot your tomatoes dry - as dry as you can anyway. 

Next, arrange the sliced tomatoes in the pie crust in whatever way you choose. I tried not to stack but to keep them offset from each other. You'll want to do this so that the topping that you mixed earlier can ooze down and get to all the tomatoes! There's no science to this. Now just spread the mayo & cheese mixture over the tomatoes in an attempt to coat everything. Top it off with another handful of parmesan on top and place it in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is that beautiful toasted cheesy color.

Voila!

A word of warning! As good as it looks, you will be much better off if you let it sit for at least 10 minutes so that the juices & cheese set some. Otherwise, you will not get slices, but rather you'll have more of a tomato & cheese soup :) Ask me how I know. ;)

I served this with grilled chicken, but I have it in mind to alter this recipe and put some grilled chicken in there before I bake it! I'll let you know how that turns out!

Enjoy! Please come back and let me know if you make this delicious 'mater pie!

Updated Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia

Ever since I posted the recipe for parmesan encrusted tilapia nearly 5 years ago, it's been a pretty popular search term for My Tasty Space.  It's a wonderful recipe, and so easy to make.  A couple of months ago, though, I decided to try and update it, to see what I could do with it.  The results were so delicious, I felt I HAD to share them here.  So here's my updated Parmesan encrusted tilapia!

• 1-1/2 lbs tilapia
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup regular breadcrumbs - I used seasoned
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbs. butter (unsalted)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• garlic powder
• garlic salt
• onion powder

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, melt butter and combine with olive oil. 

Rinse fish and check for bones.  Towel the fillets dry. I put my fish in a large metal bowl and pour the butter/olive oil mixture over them, tossing the fish to be sure they're evenly coated.

In a large zip-type bag, combine breadcrumbs, and sprinkle a liberal dose of garlic powder and onion powder. I don't measure, I just sprinkle.  I also toss in a healthy sprinkle of Lawry's Garlic Salt and some pepper.  Toss this around so that it's well mixed.  Add the fresh Parmesan cheese.

Spray the cooking sheet or aluminum foil with a cooking spray, to prevent the fish mixture from sticking.

Now, toss 1-2 pieces of fish into the bag to coat well.  Place them on the sheet and repeat the process until all fish are coated.  Then take the leftover crumbs and spread them evenly over the fish.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes with your fork.  

Serve with something yummy, and a side of something yummy, and voila!

Parmesan encrusted tilap-ia!

Yummy, HEALTHY Banana Bread

I know, it's been forever since I've posted here. The truth is, I just don't think in terms of blogging much anymore, because of course, I've continued to cook!   But in any case, here I am, posting a recipe that I've adapted from The Wishful Chef.  I omitted the dates that were called for, as I had none, and substituted some vanilla nonfat yogurt. For the topping, I replaced the optional brown sugar with organic sugar.  It came out simply delicious.

Yummy!

 

The Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt 
• 2 eggs 
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted 
• 4-6 ripe bananas 
• 1/4 cup pecans or chocolate chips (optional) (I used neither)
  
• Crumb Topping
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons butter, (I melted it)
• 1 tablespoon rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon organic sugar (optional)

 The Process:

Combine the crumb topping ingredients and set aside.  Spray or butter the bottom of your loaf pan and preheat your oven to 350 (F).

Start by having a willing pair of hands squish your bananas up while you do things like measure the flour, baking soda, and other dry ingredients together into a bowl.   You blend in your banana, eggs, butter, yogurt and once it's well combined, you can blend it into the dry ingredients. Just pour into the loaf pan, sprinkle that topping you made earlier and set aside, and bake for 1 hour.  It really is a very easy recipe, and SOOOOO good!  Of course, being healthy doesn't hurt either! :)

Enjoy!

Baked Eggplant

I have made eggplant parm before.  The problem has always been, though, that frying eggplant improperly, as I’ve invariably done, left me with little circular pieces of heart attack on a plate. 

So this time, I decided to at least try and bake it – just to see if I could. I’d paid a very good price for some small eggplants, so if it failed, it wasn’t a huge loss.  Here’s what I did…

2 eggplants, each one could fit in the palm of my hand – about 1 lb.
2 eggs, scrambled
1/4 c. flour
garlic powder
salt & pepper
panko bread crumbs
lemon juice
water

The day before, I peeled the eggplants.  Then I sliced them into 1/2 inch slices.  To prevent them from browning, I dipped each slice in a bowl of cold water that I’d mixed approximately 2-3 Tbs. of lemon juice in.

I then lay them in a colander to dry for most of the day.  Before bed, I put the now dry slices in a zipper bag in the fridge.

The next day, I took them out and they were still a nice white color, and they were DRY.

I put about 1/4 cup of flour into a bowl.  In a 2nd bowl, I scrambled 2 eggs.  In a 3rd bowl, I put about 2 cups of panko breadcrumbs that I’d seasoned with garlic powder, salt & pepper.

First, dredge the eggplant slices in flour.  This helps the egg stick to them, and also helps to keep them from absorbing too much egg and getting soggy.

Next, drag the floured slices through the egg, then into the bread crumbs.

Place each slice onto a baking sheet that’s been sprayed with some sort of cooking spray.

I baked mine in a 375° oven for about 30 minutes or so – testing them with a fork every few minutes.   When the fork went in without resistence, I knew they were done.

They came out so well just like that, I ate a couple of slices just plain! Each of my kids did too!

Of course, I reallllllly wanted sauce and cheese on them, so I did that next – spreading just a spoon full of sauce on each round, a slice of mozzarella cheese  on each, and then popped them back into the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. 

In the past, I’ve always felt guilty about ordering an eggplant parmesan sandwich in a restaurant because of all the fat that’s been absorbed into the eggplant by the frying method.  But I’ll tell you what!  THIS eggplant that I made with my own two hands?  COMPLETELY guilt free – and absolutely better than any restaurant dish I’ve ever ordered. Hands down!

The OMG-SO-Good apple pie, revisited

Apple pie is like the official mascot of Fall, isn't it? Once the apple trees are laden with their beautiful babes, we start thinking of pies, crisps, crumbles, cakes and more.

I, of course, am one of those people. Just this last couple of months, I've followed and created so many delicious apple recipes, my family have been VERY happy with me.

One such recipe that I had to come searching my own blog for was my apple pie. Of course, things had changed and I had a different kind of apple, but it turned out even better than I remembered!

You will need:

• 7 Macintosh YORK apples or other similarly tart apple
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbls. butter
• 2 Tbls. flour
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Ready-to-use pie crust (the kind you unroll)
• an extremely helpful 6 yr old named Libby
• Deep dish pie dish is helpful.

First things first, I put the bottom pie crust into my glass pie dish and threw it in the oven while I prepared the apples. I poked the bottom of the crust with a fork several times, though I have no idea what that did for it LOL

Thanks to AMAZINGINLY fast shipping from Amazon, I peeled my apples in record time with my new apple peeler and then cored and chopped them into chunks.

My daughter mixed the sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl.

Once the apples were chopped into bite-sized pieces, we tossed the apples into the bowl with the sugar mixture and made sure every single apple piece was coated!

Next, we layered the apples into the pie dish, being careful because it's hot now. We cut the butter up into small chunks and placed it around the apples.

Next, we placed the top crust on to the pie, pinching the pie crust closed along the edges. We cut a couple of ventilation holes on top and then rimmed the edge of the crust with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning. I painted some scrambled egg white on top of the crust to help encourage that golden brown..ness.

Into the 375 degree oven (on a cookie sheet to prevent messy, burning spills). I baked ours for about 45 minutes or so - it really depends on the apples you use. The firmer the apple, the longer in the oven. But don't let them get TOO mushy. My suggestion for after the pie is done is to let it sit for a little while - an hour is good. That lets the juices settle and of course, the pie cools down from the molten lava stage. Top with some GOOD vanilla ice cream and you're in HEAVEN!!!!!

OMG This is so good Apple Pie

We went apple picking this past weekend and now are the proud owners of WAY TOO MANY APPLES! Since the only varieties that were available to pick were Macs and Cortlands, that's what we have. Of course, they are crying out to be made into any kind of apple-y goodness I can think of so I went on the hunt for a good, easy apple pie recipe. I adapted several recipes that I found on the net and made it my own way and it came out simply FABULOUS. Please excuse my messy counter - I have a habit of starting things without thinking ahead LOL

You will need:

• 7 Macintosh apples or other similarly tart apple
  
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbls. butter
  
• 2 Tbls. flour
• 1 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Ready-to-use pie crust (the kind you unfold)

First things first, I put the bottom pie crust into my glass pie dish and threw it in the oven while I prepared the apples.

Next, I cored the apples (didn't peel them), and then cut them into quarters, and then eighths. In a separate bowl, we combined flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt and mixed.



Next, we layered the apples into the pie dish, being careful because it's hot now. After each layer, we'd sprinkle a GENEROUS helping of the sugar mixture, until we'd used up all the apples.

Then we cut the butter up into small chunks and placed it around the apples.


Next, we placed the top crust on to the pie, pinching the pie crust closed along the edges. We cut a couple of ventilation holes on top and then rimmed the edge of the crust with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning. I also swiped a bit more butter on the crust to help it brown. I'd suggest milk, though.

Into the 375 degree oven (on a cookie sheet to prevent messy, burning spills).

I baked ours from
to


So, roughly 40 minutes. Essentially, you just want to make sure the apples are done.

The finished product. So you're saying "Ok, but you said this is CARAMEL apple pie - where's the caramel, Dawn?"

I'm not a big fan of caramel but hubby is and I do love to make him happy, so I dug this out of the fridge:

Scooped some out into a microwave safe measuring cup and microwaved it for 30 seconds.

Then I brushed it on:


Voila!


A generous portion of french vanilla on top, sprinkled a little cinnamon on and OMG This is SO GOOD Apple Pie!

Revised Pepper Stuffed Chicken

Pepper Stuffed Chicken

• 1 Tbls Olive Oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. basil
• 1/4 c. Feta cheese
• 4 chicken breast (with skin & bone)
• 3/4 c. white wine (I use Apple Fruitesia from Shaws market)
• 1 T. butter

Preheat oven to 425 F.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil, add the onion, pepper, garlic, salt & pepper, and herbs and cook until onion is translucent and peppers are soft. Let cool. When cooled, add the cheese, tossing well to distribute.

In the meantime, prepare chicken. Loosen the skin of the chicken and stuff 1/4 of the mixture in between skin and flesh. Sprinkle the tops with salt & pepper and place in a metal baking dish.

Roast chicken for about 30 to 40 minutes (mine needed about an hour, and I checked them with a meat thermometer first) or until chicken juices run clear when pierced. Remove hte hcicken from the pan and keep warm.

Heat the pan on the stovetop, about med. high heat. Add the white wine and using a whisk, get all the browned bits. Let the pan juices reduce reduce to about half. Remove the heat, add the butter, whisk well, and serve over the top of chicken.

Per Serving:
639 calories; 35g fat; 8g carb; 2g fiber; 202mg cholesterol; 321 sodium.