veggie frittata

Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as vegetables, cheeses and meats. The dish frittata originated in Italy. It can be your main dish or a side dish. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Here is a recipe for a simple vegetable frittata. You can alter the ingredients as you like, even adding meat if you fancy. 

Vegetable Frittata 

Ingredients

red onion, chopped

tomato, chopped

green onion, chopped

baby bella mushrooms, sliced 

bell pepper, chopped (any color, I used orange)  

yukon gold potato, sliced on mandolin, then cut 4 ways

spinach, chopped

6 organic eggs, equal parts egg whites

grapeseed oil

fresh ground peppercorn + sea salt to taste

shredded cheese (any kind, I used mexican shredded cheese blend, about 2 tbsp)

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large pan, set to medium heat, drizzle grapeseed oil into pan. Add all veggies except for spinach.

 

3. Sauté all the veggies for about 5-7 minutes, until tender. Add spinach and sauté for a couple more minutes. Set aside from heat.

4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg whites added salt + pepper to desired taste.

5. Pour veggies into egg mixture. Then pour eggs and veggies into a round ceramic baking dish.

6. Sprinkle cheese on top and pop into the oven for 25 minutes. 

7. Let it cool for about 5 minutes and serve. 

I had a slice of the frittata with a smoked salmon salad for lunch, great combination! 

 Happy cooking!

-Kat   

On November 28, 2008

I became vegetarian the day after Thanksgiving in 2008. I told my family at that dinner that it would be my last "meat" meal. They all thought I was crazy and they didn't get it. No one understood why in the hell I would want to give up meat
So that was the last time I enjoyed my mother's turkey, a recipe passed on by three generations.
This November will mark four years of this journey, which has had it's ups and downs to say the least. This post if for people who are transitioning into vegetarianism and want some understanding.

Now, I cannot say I never ate meat after my decision. About 8 months after I started my meat-free diet (to be clear, I am a pesco-lacto-ovo vegetarian) I decided to try eating meat again. Honestly I don't remember why I wanted to go back but I did. I started out with a Publix ham and turkey sub. Gross. One of my once favorite things tasted so different to me. I figured OK, maybe I just need to get used to it. I made picadillo, a latin dish made of ground beef. The meal came out great but when I tasted it, it just didn't feel right. The last thing I ate before I ran back to my vegetarian lifestyle was a chicken salad- I couldn't even finish it. I took the chicken out and just ate the salad.

Throughout that time period I had a couple more slip ups, like taking a bite out of my brothers "sausage" dog at a Santana concert, or accidentally eating a meat taco that my friend ordered instead of my bean one. I ate the entire taco, was definitely too drunk to notice the difference. EVERYONE slips up once or twice. But the consistency in my life got better. I started eating fast food MUCH less, stopped replacing meat with MORE carbs, and recognized that I needed to learn more about food.

I became vegetarian because I love fruits and vegetables! So I needed to get myself acquainted with the food group. I began juicing at the beginning of this year and HOLY SHIT what an amazing addition to my diet. I have a profound belief in finding a diet for life. Something you can stick to day in and day out. And I have found mine.
I want to share with you my love of cooking, stories from my life, and some advice (which will hopefully help!).

People ask me all the the time, WHY? Why don't you eat meat? I can never answer because there truly are too many answers! It started out as a challenge to myself. I really just wanted to see if I had the will power to do it. And it morphed from there. I do eat fish sometimes, I eat cheese, some dairy products and eggs. ALL other animal foods I do not eat. I do it for my health, to help the Earth by not adding to pollution caused by animal farming, because of the cruelty to animals in the farming industry in America. When I buy fish I buy responsibly farmed or wild caught. I try to buy organic produce and food as much as possible. I am not perfect and I am not rich so this can become difficult but I try my best to buy the cleanest, most responsibly farmed food I can find.

After all, you are what you eat.

Are you vegetarian? Have you thought about becoming one? Give me your thoughts. Let's discuss.

-Kat