When my husband switched to a lower carb diet, I joined him. Since I’m gluten free, it wasn’t a huge dietary shift for me, and, frankly, it helped me cut back on the rice I’d been using as a crutch since quitting so many other foods. Since this diet modification, I’ve been experimenting with lots more vegetable-based meals. And, we’re eating a lot more eggs.
One Sunday, we had a scrambled egg tutorial (this was followed by basic poached eggs and simple fried eggs). Since then, I just avert my eyes when he makes his scrambled eggs. It’s painful. Apparently my process was too complicated for him.
And by complicated, I mean the fact that I add a bit of milk, some salt, and a good dash of pepper to my eggs before cooking. He skips the milk, though, after recent discussions, has been properly greasing the pan before adding the eggs. I guess this is progress.
Still, when I make Sunday breakfast, I try to nudge him in creative directions. Nothing super-fancy. He loved to order breakfast scrambles when we go out, so I’m making various options to show him how easy it is to do for himself (and by easy, I mean ten minutes or less). Since scrambles are great any time of day, here are some ideas I’ve tossed in his direction.
As a bonus, many of these ideas make use of leftovers. I love that!
- Bacon and Eggs: I always make too many pieces of bacon when I cook it. Mostly because the husband can’t be trusted to keep his hands off of it. Plus I like having extra for salads and to toss into scrambled eggs — nothing is better than forking up that bacony flavor!
- Cheesy Scramble: After whisking your eggs, stir in your favorite cheese — something melty like mozzarella, Monterey Jack, goat, feta — and scramble away. The cheese adds salty flavor, so add additional seasoning after you’ve cooked your eggs.
- Corn and Beans: After roasting corn on the cob, I slice the kernels off for leftovers. I love tossing the roasted corn and a some black beans (or any bean, honestly) into my skillet. Add some diced jalapeno if you like. Throw in some onions if you have any. Add the eggs. Cook. Top with a bit of Cotija cheese and salsa. If you have an avocado, go wild!
- Kale and Goat Cheese: Wilt the kale, stir in some goat cheese (or any other soft cheese), add the eggs. Simple.
- Pesto Eggs: Yes, pesto. Add it while cooking the eggs or top your eggs — with whatever ingredients you’ve chosen (see the sausage idea below) — with pesto. So good.
- Salmon and Spinach Scramble: It always seems we have leftover salmon, and I hate to see it go to waste. I always have lots of spinach in the house, both fresh and frozen. Sauteeing the spinach and the salmon before adding the eggs to the pan makes for an amazing breakfast dish. I season the eggs based on how I’ve prepared the salmon, and top the finished dish with a bit of my favorite red pepper sauce for added flavor.
- Sausage and Eggs: Bulk sausage (without casings) cooks up quickly and adds a lot of flavor to a scrambled egg dish. I like to toss in spinach or leftover roasted veggies. If I have leftover sausage in casings, I simple dice it fairly small.
- Vegetable Scramble: This may be verging a bit into frittata territory, but scrambles are a great way to deal with leftover roasted veggies. Cut them into very small pieces, saute for a minute, add eggs! You can even toss in a bit goat or other cheese.
Any other ideas for great scrambles? Please share them!
Tip of the Week
I am a firm believer in adding salt and any other seasonings to my eggs before I whisk them, unless I’m using other salty ingredients. While many cooks believe salt should be added at the end, I find the flavors blend better if whisked into the egg batter. And, after much trial and error, I don’t find the texture of my eggs to be any different than when I add the salt at the end of the cooking process.
Menu of the Week
Obviously, we’re having breakfast for any meal you choose. For our household, this means a simple meal of salmon and spinach eggs. While this is more than enough for me, the husband accented his with fresh fruit. And, yeah, we took a long walk after this meal because it was so deliciously filling!
- Salmon and Spinach Scrambled Eggs
- Mixed Fruit