My Favorite Breakfast

I don't make this nearly enough...in fact, this should be our breakfast everyday.  It's healthy, jammed full of nutrition, and it's so good!  AND, it doesn't leave me hungry in an hour!
(this is for 2 adults)

Egg Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
4 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
cheddar cheese (freshly grated!), as little as you need

Bean Ingredients:
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
drizzle of olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cumin

Tortilla Ingredients:
4 corn tortillas
1 Tbsp olive oil


Directions:
1.  In small pot over low heat, stir together black beans, olive oil, garlic, lime juice, and cumin.  Stir occasionally as the rest of the food is cooking.
2.  In saute pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Add peppers and cook for another 2 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, in small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.  Add cayenne.  Pour over onions and peppers, stirring constantly until eggs set and are cooked through.  Grate cheese over top and allow to sit for a minute to melt.
4.  On a flat skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Place tortillas on skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden.
5.  Serve beans on the tortillas, with eggs on the side.

Mexican Baked Eggs

Another recipe from my favorite cooking blog (closetcooking.com)...haven't tried this one yet either, but it's in my "make very soon" pile!  :)

http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/09/mexican-baked-eggs.html

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes or 4 cups diced fresh tomatoes
• 1 (19 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated cheese such as jack and cheddar

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, cumin, chipotle chili powder, and jalapeno saute until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the tomatoes and black beans and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.
7. Place half of the mixture into one or more baking dishes, top with the eggs and spoon the remaining mixture around the eggs.
8. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until the eggs just start to set, about 5-8 minutes.
9. Top with the cheese and broil until it melts, no more than a minute or so.

Huevos Rancheros

We had this in a restaurant in Guatemala (at the Men's Bible study)...it was so good!
The kids needed to be talked into this a lot, but Belle and Derek ended up eating every bite! Julie ate about half of it, but she's still having issues with egg allergies (although the doctor insists she is no longer allergic...she has a rash and eczema today) :(

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons olive oil
5 6-inch corn tortillas
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 or 2 chile peppers from can of chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce
2 Tablespoons snipped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
8 eggs
1 Tablespoon water
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese or queso fresco

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil over medium0high heat. Dip tortillas, one at a time, into oil just until hot. Drain on papertowels (do not stack), reserving oil in skillet. Keep four of the tortillas warm on a baking sheet in oven. Set aside remaining tortilla.
2. For salsa, add onion and garlic to the skillet; cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomatoes, chile peppers, cilantro, and cumin. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Tear reserved tortilla into pieces; add to blender. Cover; blend or process until mixture forms a coarse puree. Keep warm.
3. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 Tablespoon oil over medium heat. Carefully break eggs into skillet. When whites are set and edges turn white, add the water. Cover skillet and cook eggs to desired doneness (3 to 4 minutes for soft-set yolks, or 4-5 minutes for firm-set yolks).
4. To serve, place a warm tortilla on each of four serving plates. Top each with two fried eggs. Spoon warm salsa over eggs; sprinkle with cheese. If desired, garnish with green onions.

Kickin' Eggs

I read through a book this morning about the 50 best things to eat when trying to lose weight...it's part of the Fat Flush Dieting program.

Anyway, it had a lot of really useful information that I'm going to try to incorporate into our meals. I always want to eat/cook healthier but never know exactly what to use. (Although, I'm pretty sure that our fondue pot full of hot melted cheese won't work for this diet! LOL!)

In the book, it talked about how cayenne pepper and a few other seasonings are really good to add to foods because it raises your core body temp and your metabolism, causing you to burn fat quicker than without it! COOL, huh?! Just sprinkle some cayenne on top of your food and now you're burning fat like 20% faster!

And, it mentioned something about putting cayenne or cumin on eggs...so I thought I'd give it a try...so I used that and my own veggie ideas, and this is what I came up with...and Chris and I both LOVED it! Even the kids went from screaming at me when I told them I wanted them to just taste it (love the drama of ages 7, 4, and 3!), to telling me that it was actually pretty good!

We LOVE hot stuff, so it was a no-brainer for me...but if you don't love heat, just sprinkle a tiny bit. It adds a wonderful smoky flavor, brings out the flavors of the veggies and meat, and makes the need for salt nearly vanish completely! It was so awesome!

This is enough for lunch for one...just multiply ingredients for more people.

Kickin' Eggs

Ingredients:
drizzle of olive oil
1/8 cup onion, diced
handful frozen spinach
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1 very small tomato, diced
2-3 slices very thinly sliced deli ham (mostly fat free), diced
2 eggs
tiny sprinkle of salt
pepper to taste
sprinkle of cayenne, to taste

Directions:
1. In skillet, heat olive oil, onion, and spinach over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until spinach has thawed completely. Add bell pepper, tomato, and cook for a minute or two. Add ham, and stir until well blended.
2. In small bowl, whisk eggs. Add to veggies. Stir constantly until fully cooked.
3. Remove from skillet onto serving plate. Sprinkle with a very small amount of salt (with the ham and cayenne, it doesn't need hardly any!), pepper, and then as much cayenne as you can tolerate.