Wednesday, August 17, 2016

My Current "Go To" Breakfast: Watchagot Frittata

As much as I hate phrases like "go to" or "close of business" or, goddess forbid, "COB" ...
this is indeed my "go to" breakfast.  I make it many days of the week.  In the microwave or on the stove or in the solar cooker.  In the solar cooker it has to be lunch or supper.

I call it:  Watchagot Frittata

Here's the recipe:
1-2 eggs, beaten up a bit
Stuff
oil/grease

The "Stuff" is where the magic happens.

This morning the Stuff was a banana and a tablespoon of baking cocoa powder.  I mashed the banana up well, mixed in the cocoa, added the eggs straight from the shells and beat them in.  Then greased a bowl and poured this in. I put a lid on it, mostly to keep the crap from the top of the work microwave from dripping into the food while it cooked (I do wipe the microwave out, but the other 20+ people who use it do not wipe it out).  I pushed the "1 min" button.  After a minute it's only partly cooked so I mix it up a bit and put it in for another minute.  It looked pretty done but the bottom we still wet (gross) so I flipped it over and 20 more seconds.   It's somewhere between an omlette and a brownie.

I did this in the solar cooker this weekend with an added bit of baking soda and vinegar and it was even more cake like.

Other Stuff options:

Banana with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Tastes more or less like banana bread but has the consistency of the center of french toast.

Chopped spinach or other greens (even dark green lettuces work well).  OK in microwave, good in a frying pan.  If you use kale or chard it's best to pre-cook a bit or used left overs.  Spinach is flimsy enough to cook right in the eggs.  Add spices if you like or it's nice topped with salsa.

Onion and greens, or garlic and greens.  Microwave or frying pan work.

Left over baked or boiled potatoes chopped and thrown in the egg.  THAT is really good.  The potatoes fry nicely in a pan, it's doable in the microwave but not nearly as good.

All of these except the banana based ones are really nice if you throw in a diced avocado.  The best spices for that are anything hot-peppery and/or cuminy.  Stuff you would put in stereotypical Mexican food.

Left over rice, quinoa, other grain.  Quinoa gets crunchy.  This is good in a frying pan, I haven't tried it in the microwave.

I find that 1 big egg can take up to 1 cups of Stuff, more if it is flimsy like spinach or precooked kale leaves.  So far, everything has been good.  Left over taco bar fixin's were especially nice, tomatoes on top after it was cooked, the rest mixed in.

I'm toying with the idea of hard fruits like apples and pears.  I think soft fruits like cherries and berries and plums would be too wet.  Might work with a tablespoon or more of flour, or even with crumbled stale bread for a bread pudding or cobble-esque effect.

Leftover pasta with not too much sloppy sauce works.  

It looks like anything that isn't terribly wet will work.  I've had some luck adding a bit of flour to soak up the soggy and mixing in an egg or 2.

FYI:  If you are cooking with a real stove, go with a metal frying pan with a metal handle, not toxic non-stick crap either, and you won't have to flip it.  You can brown the top under the broiler as long as you remember to preheat the broiler when you start frying the Watchagot Frittata.

This is an excellent way to use up leftovers without stretching them too much and ending up with even more leftovers.  This cuts food waste which is very fashionable.

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