Friday means Frittata

Yes, I know. It’s Thursday. But, hey you need time to get the ingredients for tomorrow. :)

I live alone and sometimes cooking lunch or dinner is challenging. What can I make with minimal, basic ingredients? What can I make that will save and/ or freeze for that long day after work when I just can’t make myself cook or for that matter go to the worst place in the world… the grocery store? Yes, my hell would be to be trapped at QFC UVillage for an eternity. Ton of people, ton of squeaky carts and a ton of things I shouldn’t eat (a.k.a., maple bars).

Anywhooo, I was looking for a great healthy option that is “savable.” I opt’d for a frittata – egg, starch and veggies. Yes, I know 8 eggs and cheese doesn’t always equate to healthy, but fresh ingredients are always better than processed. And remember, don’t eat the whole thing at once unless you are training for a marathon or some other such calorie-burning event.  

3 Mushroom Potato Frittata

* Ingredients *

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced white onion

2/3 cup chopped white mushrooms

2/3 cup chopped Cremini mushrooms

2/3 cup chopped Portobello mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped spinach

1 large russet potato, shredded

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1/4 cup milk

8 eggs

Optional: Sour cream

* Instructions *

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Heat olive oil in skillet. Sauté mushrooms and onions for 2-3 minutes. Add spinach and sauté for an additional minute. Transfer to 10 inch baking dish or skillet. 

3. Layer potatoes on top of mushroom mixture. Top with cheese.

4. Beat together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and rosemary. Pour over mushroos and  potatoes.

5. Bake for 30 minutes.

6. Cut into wedges. Serve with sour cream or other creamy topping. 

FYI: I highly recommend this recipe. Probably more than anything else that I have posted. I burned my hand taking the pan out of the oven, and the taste was still worth the injury. Enjoy!

V-Day... The Baking Recap

Well if you don’t have pink paper around to do fancy gift boxes that get ripped open, you still have an option to bake in wash of pink.

I did two projects this year for Valentine’s. The first (and perhaps a bit of an after thought) was pink and red cupcakes for people at my office. Unfortunately, they flew off the plate. Next time, I might need to create some sort of ticketing system based on sugar need. LOL.

A fun add-on to cupcakes is paper shapes glued to toothpicks. Of course, for this batch - it had to be hearts.

Next up on the baking “to do” list was a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting for my first Valentine’s day dinner. (I get 2 this year. As I explained to my favorite valet this morning, my Valentine’s Day is gonna be spread out.).

I was on a bit of a time crunch this year so I adapted the cake recipe from this one on Allrecipes. My suggestion, add a full cup of the strawberry puree. A half a cup doesn’t add enough flavor or texture.

My big effort in this cake was the candy hearts. These were made by melting Wilton Candy disks and then piping them into the desired shape. Since they don’t offer pink… or at least the store was out, I melted red and white together in the microwave to get the color combo that I was looking for.  

Alright, I am going out to watch a baskeball game or run around in combat boots or something. All this pink talk has me feeling entirely too girlie, princess.

All *Wrapped Up*

OK. So first of all – 2011 resolution update. Doing so-so on the marathon hopes. I got training partner. Unfortunately, we have only trained one time together. But, I’m up to 6 miles without much strain. I hoping by the summer races that I will be in good shape.  

Doing much better on the skiing pledge. So far this season, I’ve hit up Whistler, Baker, Crystal, Mammoth, Big White and Revelstoke. Revelstoke is the big winner – great mountain, friendliest people and all and all an awesome trip. The season still has a lot of skiing left to be done and hope to hit up a couple more hills. Suggestions?

Blogging has fallen a bit by the way side. Funny how you can’t type while skiing or running…
This week I’ve gotten back to some activities around the only holiday that lets you freely decorate in pink: Valentine’s Day.  

Overall, I am not a Valentine’s Day fan. For the couples, do you really need a holiday to tell someone that you love them? That should be done daily. Well, I guess boys need the occasion to express themselves. :)

For singles, this holiday might as well be called “Throw salt in my wounds” day or "I have awesome friends" day. 

For either group, it is a good chance to take a trip back to the 3^rd grade a do a little decorating with paper. I even whipped out my elementary school bunny scissors for the night.

Playing with paper doesn’t always mean cards made with doilies or eating paste.

I used the occasion to wrap some small tokens for the special people in my life. Some red card stock and a little wire mirrored a Chinese food delivery box. Woven ribbon topped pink wrapping paper. Finally, in a throwback to Mrs. Moore’s placemat project, I wove 1 inch x 1 inch strips of paper to create a quilted gift box.

Seem like too much effort? Don’t worry. These boxes can be used year after year.     

FYI, perfect soundtrack for your V-day craft night : Country Strong Soundtrack.  Yep, that’s right. I now like country music. Still “eh” on Gwyneth Paltrow.