Breakfast Frittata- Leftover Style!

When you have leftovers in the fridge you don't know what to do with, throw them in a pan with some eggs and bake them! We had leftover mini potatoes from fondue we served with friends, cooked bacon from a breakfast for my daughter and her sleep over buddies, and super greens from a salad. Saute them all in a pan, pour eggs over and bake for 10 minutes. A tasty breakfast (wth a cleaned out fridge) is served!

Breakfast Frittata - Leftover Style

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 red onion, sliced into 1/2 rings

parboiled mini potatoes

cooked bacon (or any meat you have)

greens- whatever you have (spinach/chard/mini kale)

6 eggs whisked with 1/4 cup 1% milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute onions and potatoes in butter and olive oil over medium heat until onions soft and potatoes are slightly brown. Toss greens on topped and mix until wilted. Add egg/milk mixture to pan and let set. Gently lift edges to let runny eggs pour under set portion. 

Bake for 10 minutes until eggs are cooked. Enjoy!

Easy Make Ahead Breakfast Burritos

Sadly, winter break is coming to an end and my family is all headed back to work and school.  Our mornings can be rushed, so I made a batch of breakfast burritos the kids love to have in the freezer ready to go on those crazy mornings. You can tailor them to your liking by adding salsa, sausage, green onions... whatever makes your mouth happy!

 Easy Make Ahead Breakfast Burritos

8 eggs
10 flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
8 slices cooked bacon, chopped

Scramble eggs over medium heat. Chop cooked bacon and make assembly line. 
Place spoonful of scrambled eggs on tortilla, top with grated cheese and a bit of bacon. Wrap both ends over egg mixture and then roll. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze for 6 hours. Take out of freezer and wrap each burrito in wax paper or saran wrap and place in freezer bag. 

Right before rushing out the door to school or work, take burrito out of freezer, remove from plastic wrap and wrap in damp paper towel. Microwave for 2 minutes, put in new paper towel and enjoy on the go! 

Polenta Breakfast Bake

I love having my kids home for the holiday break and with our long leisurely mornings, it's fun to throw together an easy breakfast bake that we can nibble on all day long. This dish is gluten free and  can be made and cooked in under an hour. Try it with your family!

A few of the simple ingredients:

 Polenta squares, bacon, eggs and cheese ready to bake

Polenta Breakfast Bake
2 tubes precooked polenta
8 slices cooked bacon, diced (I use Kirkland precooked bacon)
8 eggs
3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup finely grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
chopped basil for garnish, if desired

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
Cut polenta into cubes and place in bottom of dish. Sprinkle diced bacon and gruyere on top of polenta. Whisk eggs, milk, Dijon, salt and pepper in bowl. Pour over polenta, bacon and Gruyere cheese and top with Parmesan.  Bake for 35 minutes or until eggs are set and browned a bit. Enjoy!

Spinach Cheddar Strata

Addison Elementary School is an amazing place to work. We have an awesome teacher/staff community who are very close to our incredibly involved parent group. I love working at this wonderful school! 

We have a lovely teacher lounge that the PTA community upgraded in the past year and all of us on staff sign up for a week to clean the kitchen area and provide a snack to our fellow co-workers on Friday of our assigned week.

Having little snacks in the staff kitchen to look forward to at the end of the week are a treat! For my "kitchen duty" week I brought a Spinach Cheddar Strata and a make-your-own Yogurt Fruit Granola parfait. Yum!

Spinach Cheddar Strata

8 cups cubed French or Italian bread
1 medium onion, finely chopped 
12 eggs
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1  teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 lb fresh spinach, sauteed with a bit of olive oil until wilted and then drained
12 ounces shredded cheddar

Cook onion over medium heat until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add spinach, kosher salt and pepper to taste and sauté until wilted.
Spread 1/3 of bread cubes in buttered 9 x13" casserole dish and top with spinach mixtue. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat layering twice, ending with the cheese.

Whisk together eggs, mustard, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and pepper in large bowl and pour over strata. Chill covered in refrigerator overnight so eggs can soak into bread.

Let strata stand at room temp for 30 minutes and then bake at 350° until golden brown and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Parmesan Rice Cakes

Our family loves to mix an egg with left over pasta in a bowl, sprinkle with parmesan and zap in the microwave for a quick breakfast or snack (see here for how we do it!) My husband gave me a rice cooker for Mother's Day and my daughter made a huge batch of rice last night, so we had lots of leftovers. I thought it would be tasty to make rice cakes in a similar fashion to our egg pasta, but instead of microwaving a bowl, I lightly fried them as little cakes and they turned out great! Perfect way to use up left over rice~

Parmesan Rice Cakes

1½ cups precooked rice

2 eggs

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 green onion, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk eggs in medium bowl and add rest of ingredients except oil. Add 1 tablespoon of oil in non-stick pan over medium heat. Add large spoonfulls of rice mixture in pan and press lightly. Cook 3-4 minutes per side until brown. 

Serve with additional green onions and sour cream if desired (my daughter loved eating them with apple sauce, like she does with lattkes!)

Baked Vegetable Frittata

Eggs and veggies are wonderful combined together and make a perfect meal any time of the day. Last time I made a spinach and cheese frittata, I baked it in the saute pan. This time I transferred the sauteed veggies into a buttered glass pie dish, and which was thicker and just as delicious!  The beauty of this recipe is that you can use any vegetables you have in your fridge- I had a HUGE zucchini that my friend gave me from her mother-in-law's garden. I sauteed it with a small amount of red onion and seasoned it with thyme, kosher, salt and pepper and sprinkled a little bit of Jarlsberg on top. Delish!

Baked Vegetable Frittata

3-4 cups diced vegetables (ideas: zucchini, mushrooms, red, yellow or green pepper, spinach, kale, tomatoes, squash, asparagus, broccoli, potatoes)
1/4 red onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 eggs, beaten 
1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar, Jarlsberg, crumbled feta, parmesan)
kosher salt
pepper
whichever herbs you like- fresh basil, dried thyme, oregano

Saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add vegetables and saute until softer, but still firm (I cooked the zucchini for about 5 minutes) and season with salt, pepper and herbs. Put vegetables in buttered glass pie dish. Pour beaten eggs over veggies and spinkle top with grated cheese. Bake in 350° for 25-30 minutes until set. Enjoy!

Scrambled Eggs with Cream Cheese and Chives

 I used to love when my mom made scrambled eggs with a little dollop of cream cheese for me when I was a kid and had a hankering for them this morn- top them with fresh chives and it's a perfect breakfast treat!

Scrambled Eggs with Cream Cheese and Chives

2 eggs (I used 1 egg and 2 egg whites)
1 tablespoon light (or regular) cream cheese (break it into little bits)
nonstick spray
1/4 teaspoon chopped chives
sprinkle of salt and pepper

Whisk together eggs, cream cheese, salt and pepper. In a small frying pan sprayed with cooking spray, cook eggs over medium heat, stirring constantly until set but still soft. Put onto plate and sprinkle with fresh chives. Enjoy!