The ultimate pair: Jam and Eggs

Scrambled eggs on a bed of spinach tossed with Strawberry balsamic vinaigrette.

So, I have seen the eggs and jam combo on blogs lately and figured I would try it.

I ended up tweaking it a bit because when I woke up this morning I just couldn't stomach the idea of the cloying sweetness of jam.

Instead I tossed some baby spinach with some Strawberry balsamic vinaigrette (just the level of sweet I could handle).

Then I scrambled up some eggs with some nutritional yeast, shallots, fresh thyme and a dash of salt and pepper.

When the eggs were cooked I tossed in some chopped tomato and breakfast was served

 

I was trying out this new instant coffee I picked up at the store the other day.

This looked really promising and it was really strong which I liked but it did end up being a bit too bitter. 


And I made myself a little fruit salad to go with my eggs and kinda-jam.

I am contemplating quitting the YMCA because I haven't been making it to the gym like I used to. 


Then I thought, "Well, I have only gone to 2 of the yoga instructors classes - why not try all of them before the membership would expire at the end of the month?"


Which I think is a great idea. So, tomorrow I will be up at the early hour of 6:45 to hit Flow Yoga. My goal is to try most of the flow yoga classes over the next week.

Abby slept much better last night so we are going to head out for a nice, slow meandering walk to start our day:-)

Happy Thursday!

The overstuffed omelette

Spinach and mushroom omelette with Gruyere cheese.

This morning I made one of the best omelettes I have ever tasted. And no, I am not biased...

Did I overstuff the omelette with veggies? Definitely. I put in so much veggie filling that I could barely fold it over.

For the filling I chopped up 4 button mushrooms and 1/2 of an onion and they went into a skillet on low heat with a little bit of Earth Balance spread.

When the onion was translucent and the mushrooms tender, I tossed in 2 cups of chopped fresh spinach. I let that cook down until it was wilted then I pulled it out of the pan and set the mixture aside. Oh, and I did end up shredding a small amount of Gruyere cheese and adding that to the mushroom/spinach mix.

I whisked 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites together with a pinch of salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp. of water. I added a tiny bit more of the Earth Balance spread to the pan, turned the heat to low and added in the egg mixture.

Swirl the skillet a bit so that the egg mixture spreads evenly across the bottom of the pan. Then cover the skillet and let the egg mixture cook for a few minutes.

When the egg mixture is almost set, spoon in the filling into the center of the pan. Carefully loosen the edges of the omelette and gently flip the omelette in half. 

I also had some country potatoes and some plump ripe strawberries on the side.

And I always love a healthy squirt of ketchup on my country potatoes.

 Oh, and one huge mug of coffee.

I will tell you all about my trip to Ikea a little later.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Any excuse

Skirt steak with apricots, pea shoots and blackberries.

I have really been enjoying my new grill pan. In fact I have been using any kind of excuse to use it. 

For example, this morning I was planning on having some yogurt with fruit but the pan was sitting out on the stove and I couldn't resist it's siren call.

So this morning's breakfast went from yogurt to flank steak in the blink of an eye.

It's all the pan's fault...

The apricots are really ripe and juicy now.

And I also had a mug of coffee with soymilk.

For my workout today I have the choice between these two:

I will let you know what I think of the workout later today.

Happy Wednesday!

A jam of a find

I picked up some new jam to try.

It wasn't very sweet which I liked. It tasted like you were eating black raspberries out of a bowl.

Very yummy.

And I liked that it came in a clamp lid jar so that when I finish the container I will have a new jar!

Happy hump day everyone!

Strawberry fields

My ideas for breakfast started out with strawberries. Plump, sweet, giant strawberries.

I decided I also wanted to use this:

I mixed 2 Tbsp. of the mozzarella with one Tbsp. of Tofutti cream cheese and added one sprinkle of nutmeg and two sprinkles of cinnamon.

I spread this over a corn tortilla.

Then a layer of strawberries.

I topped it with another tortilla and put it in a pan on medium until the cheese melted. But the question of the morning is - Does non-dairy cheese really melt?

It does, kinda, sorta. 

Yes, it did melt but not in the glossy gooey way dairy cheese does. The non-dairy cheese melted to a certain point and then just stayed that way. Like it was frozen in time with matte makeup.


But the flavor was pretty tasty. The Daiya cheese did have a wonderful, slightly smoky flavor that paired really well with the sweetness of strawberries.

So it was not a true quesadilla experience but definitely a doable option if you are going non-dairy.

Oh, and I had a big mug of coffee. 

I was up (off and on) last night with nightmares. Anyone else feel like they are dragging the next day after having more than one nightmare in a night???

A pea-full morning

My pea shoots were starting to wilt in the fridge so I broke them out for my breakfast.

I was thinking, as I was doing my usual blog check this morning (my version of the morning paper:-), that my blog must be a sad (or shocking) disappointment if anyone is hoping to see things like cereal or oatmeal on a regular basis.

This is what I had for breakfast this morning:

Sauteed pea shoots with a soft boiled egg.

The pea shoots took less than 2 minutes to cook. I put in a small amount of coconut oil in a pan on high heat - tossed them till they wilted and plated them.

Many of the recipes for pea shoots recommend trimming off some of the stalk but I like the bit of extra tangy bitterness it adds so I kept them whole.

While I was stir frying the pea shoots, I put one egg in a pan of cold water and set the burner to medium high. When the water started to simmer, I turned down the heat and set the timer for 4 minutes.

I decided that the dish needed a little sauce so I added some of my homemade dressing.

I loved this dish! The pea shoots had a wonderful crunch and mixed with the creaminess of the soft boiled egg? MMMMM!

And it looked so pretty.

OK, enough of my love of egg yolks:-)

And one mug of strong coffee.

I really need to start adding more fruit into my diet...

Blueberry pancakes

I am trying to power through my yucky mood from last night with a bright start to the morning:

Blueberry pancakes.

 I am really liking this pancake mix (my sister recommended it):

And I also like that they assume you will be using soy or rice milk rather than regular milk.

I reduce the recipe by 1/3 which results in two small pancakes - a perfect serving size for one.

I dropped blueberries onto the batter before I flipped them.

Here is one side of the pancake - 

Where are the blueberries?? Well, check out the other side - 

And since I am a traditionalist when it comes to pancake toppings - 

And one mug (and only one) of coffee.

On the to do list for today? Make an appointment for a much needed haircut and hit the gym for my 'leg' day.

Happy Monday everyone

Too good to be true?

I am easily swayed by rave reviews. I have been seeing ads for this product everywhere:

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus

And then when I looked around the internet for reviews - it has a surprising amount of really positive reviews. Will I buy it? I am still on the fence.

Has anyone else tried this? And how did you like it?

After pulling myself away from the computer I made this for breakfast - 

Mixed berry kefir with muesli, scrambled egg whites with nutritional yeast, 1/2 scoop of Amazing Grass in water, coffee and an apple.

 

 

This looks like a lot for breakfast but each of the bowls are small. In fact, the bowl that has the egg whites is a children's size rice bowl.

I am going to have to get more nutritional yeast because I am going through it like nobody's business - I love how it makes egg whites look like regular eggs (yes, I am easily fooled) and the extra cheesy taste doesn't hurt either.

Egg whites with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast, black pepper and a sprinkle of paprika and parsley.

I may torture myself later by going to the store to stare longingly at the Clinique cosmetic counter...

Seaside Brunch

Everyone else was content to hang out and chat this morning so we didn't end up heading out to brunch until 11am.

We decided to go to Toasties in downtown Pacific Grove.

More coffee!

My niece chose scrambled eggs with potatoes and toast.

I was in the mood for eggs over easy and potatoes.

My other niece enjoyed bacon and banana chocolate chip pancakes.

MMM, bacon...

Banana chocolate pancake.

Then fueled by copious amounts of caffeine and sugar (is there any better combination) we did the next logical thing.


Manicures!


My niece went from this:

Pre-manicure.

To this:

Post-manicure.

My hands were transformed from this naked state:

Pre-manicure.

To this:

Post-manicure.

Now it is time to shop!