A Frittata... Kind Of

Dinners around here are usually simple affairs using up whatever ingredients we have. Often, we don't have a lot to work with as we let our refrigerator get pretty empty in between grocery shopping trips. One staple we pretty much always have is a huge Costco bag of frozen broccoli. I'm warning you now that you will probably find broccoli sneaking into lots of recipes thanks to this.

One such recipe is a frittata we had for dinner recently. Well, kind of a frittata. I don't think I used enough eggs for it to fully qualify as a frittata and I also ended up scrambling the eggs a bit to get them fully cooked instead of baking the top in the oven. But bear with me here, we'll loosely define it as a frittata.

I started out with a bit of chopped onion and sliced cremini mushrooms. I set that to soften in the pan with a bit of olive oil.

 Meanwhile I cooked some broccoli and chopped up a ham steak.

 In a bowl, I mixed up 4 eggs (because that's how many we had left, I'd probably go with 6 for this amount of veggies and ham), a spoonful of sour cream, salt, and pepper.

 Once the mushrooms and onions were nice and soft, I added the broccoli and ham to the pan. I let them warm up in the pan for 2 minutes then added the egg mixture over top. I also sprinkled a bit of gruyère over that. I let that cook for a few minutes until the bottom was cooked.

This is where, if you were truly making a frittata, you would put it into the oven to cook the top. Instead I tried to flip parts of it over so it ended up being more of a scramble. It couldn't stick together since the ratio of fillings to eggs was so high.

Still delicious though!

This is definitely another one of those recipes where you should use whatever you have on hand. Here is what I used:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 c chopped onion
• 8 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
• 2 cups broccoli, steamed
• 1 ham steak
• 4 eggs (use 6 to make it more like a real frittata)
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• salt & pepper
• spices for additional flavor, such as basil, paprika, red pepper...
• 1 tbsp shredded gruyère

1. Heat up the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and mushrooms. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes. I like to cover the mushrooms at first and remove the cover halfway through to let the liquid evaporate.
2. Chop broccoli and ham into bit size pieces. 
3. Mix together the eggs, sour cream, and salt & pepper. Add any spices you may wish.
4. Once the mushrooms and onions are nice and soft, add the broccoli and ham to the pan and let the flavors meld together for a few minutes.
5. Add the egg mixture and cheese over top and let cook for a few minutes. The bottom will start to cook through and the top will start to set. At this point, if you want to make a real frittata, put your pan in the oven on broil to cook the top. If you're doing it the easy way like me, try to flip over your frittata or just sections at a time. Serve immediately once the egg is cooked through.
6. Feeds 2, including 1 with a hearty appetite.

Pumpkin Bread

Every year I get excited when I see the cans of pumpkin out in the end caps of the supermarket. Every year I yearn to make all the pumpkin things! And so I purchase pumpkin and then... nada. I get uninspired. Or I make pumpkin things that leave me feeling, eh. But I don't learn. This year, I purchased pumpkin at Costco, so that means 3 huge cans of it! Luckily the pumpkin bagels were a great pumpkin recipe and the one I'm sharing today also turned out to be a success. Maybe I will start to like the pumpkin recipes as much as the idea of all pumpkin things!

So Pumpkin Bread from lovegrowswild.com. Yes! So good! Very pumpkin-y, very molasses-y (from all that brown sugar), and very easy. It turned out moist and delicious - I highly recommend it!
Here is the pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/264727284322021276/

Follow the recipe as stated and you're bound for success.

first, mix the dry goods

then cream the butter and brown sugar, now add the eggs

 

mmm, looking smooth and delicious

milk and vanilla, and 1 cup of pumpkin purée

after pumpkin addition

adding the flour mixture slowly

ready for the oven!!

perfect loaf 

(about to be frozen in slices or else you know I'll eat the whole thing in a day)

It's fantastic still warm from the oven, cooled off, and even frozen then defrosted in the toaster oven.

As for the pumpkin bagels, there are still a few left, but not many! Pumpkin things for the win this year!

Easy veggies

Remember this veggie dish?

Case in point for how versatile it is and that the possibilities are endless, last night I made it with 1 sweet potato, 1 small red potato, 6 Campari's (bigger than cherry size tomatoes, but smaller than regular), and 1 eggplant. I sprayed the veggies with canola oil spray and drizzled balsamic glaze on top, as well as a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and thyme.

mid-assembly

assembled and ready for toppings

ready for the oven

after an hour in the oven at 350 degrees

Well that doesn't look so appetizing, but I promise you it was delicious. If I had thought of it before baking it (or had looked back at the recipe I posted), I would have added some garlic powder and just a little bit of gruyère. We ate it with some pasta and it was a satisfying meal. 

All credit goes to my mom for this dish - it's one of her go-to's and I can see why!

Happy birthday to my dad today! <3