Mushrooms with Poached Eggs and Crusty Bread

Before we get started, it is important to learn how to poach an egg. I had to learn a year or two back, and I cannot go back to ife before I knew how to do such a fabulous thing like poaching eggs. So live a full, complete life and learn this necessary life skill my friends, I implore you! – – How to Poach an Egg from the Kitchn

There are not many things in life I enjoy more than a poached egg, bread and mushrooms. The earthy and simple flavors of this vegetable adds to a simple. balanced, perfect breakfast. I am such a fan of breakfasts that I would eat this dish anytime and for any meal. The crustier the  bread, the better in this situation. The nooks and crannies of it will absorb the sauce of the paoched egg, and it will be a flavor explosion in your mouth.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cups mushrooms, washed, rubbed dry and chopped, sauteed in olive oil for 5-8 minutes on medium heat until soft, with a couple teaspoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons scallions, chopped

1 teaspoon of fresh herbs of your liking, chopped

4 eggs, poached

1/4-1/2 a crusty loaf of french bread, as desired

Directions

Toast your bread if desired. Set some butter out on the table. Use the nice plates. Top sauteed mushrooms with scallions. fresh herbs of your liking, and salt and pepper. Place mushrooms on french bread slices and top with poached egg. Use a fork or your fingers and devour. The simple flavors of this dish are immensely satisfying.

 

xx

R

 

 

Breakfast of Champions

Overnight Oats

The Breakfast of Champions

Creamy, buttery avocado. Nature’s best sauce, egg yolk. All with freshly cracked black pepper and crispy seeded rye.

Who knew four ingredients could taste so good?

Mexican Poached Egg with Beans and Avocado

Delicious, cheap, and quick. My kind of recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup kidney beans

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 egg

1 slice sharp cheddar, or shredded sharp cheddar

1/2 avocado

Pepper, as desired

1/3 cup mushrooms

A couple springs of cilantro

2 tablespoons veggie broth

Directions

Saute kidney beans with broth, olive oil and mushrooms. Add pepper as desired and red chili flakes for extra heat if desired. Poach the egg with apple cider vinegar and water. Serve with the cheddar on top of the sauteed beans, cubed 1/2 avocado, and garnish with cilantro. Add poached egg on top.. The perfect lunch or breakfast or dinner. My heaven of a meal.

 

xx

R

Mexican Egg Pie

Recipes are simple. Food is simple. At least it can be.I am no master at making an elaborate roast or cooking a stew (yet), but I have learned how to use so many different kinds of foods that it has made cooking much more enjoyable. Ingredients that I did not know existed, like chia seeds and coconut oil, are now some of my trusted staples. Machines that I barely used last year are now my favorite toys. I use my blender and juicer often, and I find that I hardly ever eat frozen meals or processed foods anymore. I am picky about what I eat, but it has served me well.

I like to make this on the weekend when I cook lunch for the week, since the weekend is usually when I cook. During the week, I just replenish my juices or smoothies as I need them. There is something calming in making a big batch of food. It keeps things simple, when the week is hectic enough in the first place, and I am more of a grab and go girl. I like my peppers sliced by me on Sundays, in plastic bags with a side of hummus I pack in small plastic boxes, bento style. Lunch takes me to a peaceful time. I like my green juices frozen so they last cold and fresh for me on a long day. I like plastic blue bottles that have paid for themselves, filled with green smoothies of spinach, avocado, coconut oil, frozen berry blends, mango tropical blends, or apples and pears.

Lighter than other versions, and a fiesta in your mouth (see what I did there?). The Greek yogurt adds a nice creamy touch that would probably have been added with sour cream otherwise. Avocado, as nature’s butter, adds a decadence to this dish.

Ingredients

1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

6 eggs or 3 eggs and 1/2 summer squash, grated

1 avocado, diced

1 cup spinach

Parsley, as desired

Cilantro, as desired

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 cup nonfat milk

Earth balance, for greasing the baking dish

1/2 cup red kidney beans

1/2 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Lightly whisk eggs and Greek yogurt or egg and summer squash mixture with yogurt. add in 1/4 of sharp cheddar or desired cheese of your choice. Mix in spinach, herbs, diced tomatoes, and nonfat milk. Pour into a greased baking dish (round works best) and top with beans. Top with remaining sharp cheddar. Bake until golden on top and the frittata isn’t runny in the middle, about 20 minutes. Top with sliced avocado and serve for a breakfast for 6 or throughout the week. Great as a breakfast, lunch or dinner and has the hearty veggies and protein to keep you going.

xx

R

The Lean Green

Cannot get this song out of my head currently.

Hello beautiful readers! This is a new green smoothie/green juice for you! I cannot go all vegetable for a juice, yet, but I am slowly experimenting. I have been spending my Sundays after my yoga shift at the bookstore near the studio, and Barnes and Noble is commercially satisfying to me. It has any book I have been wanting to read but can’t afford to buy currently, and putting myself on library lists are quite time consuming (I am in place 217 out of 338 for Gone Girl for example),

Lean Green Juice

5 kale leaves, washed

1 cup spinach, packed

1 apple, Granny Smith is especially great in this one

3 cucumbers

1 Anjou pear, washed, sliced

1/2 cup parsley

1/4 cup cilantro

Feel free to omit the herbs if you are a juicing newbie. It takes a while to get used to the taste, but I promise it is incredible. These herbs get all the bad stuff out of your body, and helps you feel your best, but then again what green things from nature don’t?

Directions

Juice and rock your life.

Lean Green Smoothie

1 cup coconut water

1 bunch kale

1/2 cup spinach

1 apple, chopped finely

1/2 pear, chopped finely

Parsley and cilantro, as desired

Directions

Blend and drink.

Pesto Scrambled Egg Whites

Personally, I like my eggs whole. I love that egg whites give you so much protein, but the yolk houses so many awesome benefits for you. However, I do understand that people want to lower their cholesterol and if you are eating your eggs from other sources like baked goods or breads, you may want to stick with some egg whites to give you the energy you crave in the morning rather than break two eggs. I buy the carton egg whites instead of using actual eggs in a carton because I don’t like to waste. I have read that egg yolk is called nature’s most delicious sauce, and I could not agree more. Avocado is nature’s butter. Look at nature giving you all the things you need. Go nature!

Pesto is amazing and adds so much flavor to everything. I will not like that it is one of the most addicting sauces. I prefer pesto to red tomato sauce any day. You can add the jarred kind, which is still delicious albeit a tad high in oil and sodium, but making your own is incredibly easy if you have basil, walnuts (cheaper than pine nuts), parmesan, pepper, and olive oil. Simply pulse 2 cups fresh basil leaves, or kale, or spinach (let’s get some nutrition in there), and add 1 cup walnuts and some parmesan and olive oil until it is a sauce like mixture. Keeps well in a glass jar for a week or two (if it ends up lasting that long)!

Here is the pesto recipe if you are interested! I used kale and garlic because I like that tangy taste and it was a tad too mild for me the first time around.

PESTO

5 leaves, dinosaur kale or flower kale, or any kale that is on sale (See what I did there?), stems removed and washed

2 tablespoons parmesan

Freshly cracked black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil, I used light olive oil because I like the taste a bit better, since it does not overpower the dish

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed

Directions

Process in a food processor. I used a blender that is high powered and it did the same thing, and add more olive oil until you get the right consistency. This is more of an experiment than anything as well, and please feel free to use fresh basil leaves instead of the kale, I am just a kale addict.

Take the freshly prepared pesto and toss with egg whites (I used 2). Serve with whole wheat toast or your favorite bread with a side of avocado sprinkled with olive oil and sea salt if desired.

Breakfast of the gods, no?

xx

Creamy Scrambled Tofu with Fresh Herbs

Tonight was productive. I watched Lars and the Real Girl (incredible by the way, why Ryan Gosling does not have a national holiday named after him is beyond me), planned some recipes to make this week, juiced, went to a meditative but also physically challenging yoga class, perused for the perfect thank you card, found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe I need to test out on my office before mailing to a dear friend in Chicago, and now I am in bed with a cookbook and some fictional reading to ease my mind before I have to get up and do it all over again. Tomorrow should be exciting though because I am going to a happy hour at one of my favorite places in Philadelphia, Tria, with some college friends, Andrew and Allyson, and maybe I can catch a yoga class before a late movie. Even though I am very very sick of Philadelphia, it is home, and I need to explore as much of it as I can before saying goodbye to it once and for all. I am not sure when that will be, but I never imaged living here for a long time. It isn’t where I want to put roots down, and maybe that is normal for someone who is 23 and can’t imagine being rooted down anywhere, but living here for most of your life really makes it one small town instead of a city. It is the perfect place for some people, it just isn’t the perfect place for me. It’s taken on that charmless charm that only comes about after staring at something too long. You stop seeing the beauty of it. To fix this little dilemma of me underappreciating my little town city, I made a list of happy hours to hit soon with one of my crazy gorgeous best friends and decided to take advantage of the free Art Museum nights coming up.

My family does not eat much of my cooking. They adore my baking mostly because it is sweet and they are suckers for that sort of thing, and surprisingly enough they also like my lightened up baking.

My mom doesn’t enjoy most of my plant centric foods, and she would rather slap a small child than drink one of my green smoothies, even though she needs it more than any other family member. This is one dish she can’t get enough of. Her arteries are thanking her. So for all your picky friends, this one is a winner.

Ingredients

1 package silken tofu

Assorted fresh herbs, I used thyme, parsley, cilantro

Juice of one lemon

1 dollop plain greek yogurt

Chevre, about 3 ounces, or any other soft creamy cheese

1/2 cup jarred red peppers, rinsed

Freshly cracked black pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

Drain silken tofu and cut into rectangles, and then halve them. Preheat skillet and add olive oil. Add tofu and all ingredients except pepper and cheese. Cook through, about six minutes or until the tofu is browned and golden. Add pepper and cheese and serve with a side of fresh spinach salad or wheat toast.

Good as a breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Eziekel French Toast with Sliced Berries and Cinnamon

Dear Breakfast,

I am utterly obsessed with you.

Often, the mornings are hectic for me, and with Septa being difficult as usual, my mornings are definitely times I want to be left alone for the most part. When I don’t have to rush to work, which probably will never happen because I am probably never going to be a morning person, this is the go to breakfast. 

I have had to settle for making it on weekends.

But this French toast makes my life complete. You can substitute the ingredients you like, but I am going to give you the vegan version.

Ingredients

2 slices original Eziekel bread, or cinnamon raisin if you are feeling fancy (I get mine from Trader Joe’s but it is a gluten free bread made with rice and lentils, and it is a sprouted whole grain) Feel free to use any bread for this, I just go gluten free because my body hates me if I don’t for the most part, so I save the days I suffer for when I am not cooking at home.

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or soy milk 

1/2 banana

A pinch of Pink Himalayan salt

A pinch of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

6 strawberries, washed and sliced

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

2 teaspoons orange blossom honey or pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon Earth Balance or PAM, for skillet

Chia seeds, optional

Directions

Mash banana with the salt, nutmeg, milk, and cinnamon.Toss in bread to the wet mixture, if you want a nice crunchy toast, feel free to toast the toast first. Grill in a skillet until both sides are nice and brown. Top with more cinnamon and honey or maple syrup if desired.Top with berries and prepare to watch the rest of the world disappear, until  you finish this awesome breakfast.

xx

R

Happy mornings!