Eggs and A Sort of Greek-Inspired Omelet

Eggs

Not all eggs are created equally. After buying too too many tasteless, boring eggs, I decided to investigate a little deeper. I am still learning.

But here are a few of things I am learning about buying eggs:

1. The BEST choice is to buy pastured eggs from your local farmer or farmers' market. This

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

means the chickens were raised with significant outside time in fields, just like farms used to keep them. I have read that non-soy feed is apparently best if they are fed anything other than what nature provides, but talk to the farmer. He or she would know more about that than I do.

2. If you have to buy eggs in a store, you will find your better choices in the cooler in the health food section. Look for Grade A Eggs (not AA or AAA or B). Then look for: Omega-3, grain-fed, organic, hormone-and-antibiotic-free, and cage-free. ("Cage-free" is often a questionable claim though because what matters is the hens are significantly outside in the sunlight on the earth, not on a cemented "chicken-patio" with a window, but they probably won't make that distinction.)

I have learned to write a date on the top of the carton and tear it off and put it in my egg bin. I toss old eggs. I only repurchase egg brands I have been really pleased with.

Better, healthier eggs have much higher nutritional values, less fat, and they taste better, MUCH better.

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Now Let's Cook!

I love omelets and have a few specialties, most of which involve the vegetables I love in them. Today, while perusing sites about fresh seasonal vegetables, I decided to be adventurous and try something different. I came across a few Greek recipe sites and I had to try something similar, ala my own version:

A Sort of Greek-Inspired Omelet

Remember my julienned vegetables? You'll need a big handful.
Tomatoes.
2 fresh eggs
2 TBSPs milk
fresh ground pepper
dried parsley flakes (from the cupboard)
Pam Olive Oil nonstick spray
Fresh Sweet Butter or Soy Free Earth Balance or sunflower oil

(All of these things should be in your kitchen if you've been following my grocery lists, except the dried parsley flakes, that I have never known a kitchen cupboard to be without.)

One small regular frying pan.
One small non-stick frying pan.

Put aside about 1/5 of one tomato, cut into bite-size slices and put on a plate.
Chop up the rest of the tomatoes.

Spray your regular frying pan with the Pam Olive Oil spray and put in 1 tsp. of butter or soy free Earth Balance or sunflower oil. Heat up the pan nicely.
Throw in one big handful of the julienned vegetables and all of the chopped tomatoes. Start out hot, tossing constantly. Add pepper and parsley flakes.
After about five minutes, lower the heat and keep cooking, turning occasionally, until the juice from the tomatoes is all reduced. This will take about 30 minutes. (Really.)

While it's cooking, add a little more pepper and parsley flakes. Do this a couple of times or to taste. It'll get very soft and gushy looking.

Whip your eggs and 2 TBSPs of milk in a bowl.

Then spray the non-stick pan with Pam Olive Oil and 1 tsp. of Earth Balance.

(Believe me, you will be glad you went to another pan for this part. I didn't and got a sort of scrambled–but still tasty :-D–version the first time, because in my recipe I'm not working with much oil.)

Heat to medium.

Toss your gooey cooked vegie mixture into the egg bowl and fold it all together. Then pour the whole thing into the non-stick pan. Cook until brown and then carefully flip it and cook the other side.

Serve on the plate with the cut up tomatoes.

It really doesn't look like your ordinary omelet and it takes a bit long to do the vegies right, and I was sure they would taste overcooked, but this was pretty tasty.

Total Calories: 340

Let me know if you tried it and how it worked for you or if you came up with any variations. I'd love to know!

-bbffair