Breakfast Egg Skillet and Bloody Mary

Some days just call for a spicy, ice cold Bloody Mary and a big hearty breakfast.

Today was that day.

The shining ingredient? Celery salt. Boy, do I love celery salt. I put it in both the skillet and the drink because I love it so much.

The egg skillet works perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The eggs keep me full and the vegetables burst with flavor. The entire dish takes about 10 minutes to make and requires little fuss.

The Bloody Mary, on the other hand, requires a bit more effort than the skillet, but is more than worth the time. The spices blend together perfectly, creating a salty drink that is almost a meal in itself.


Egg Skillet (serves 1-2)

-2 eggs
-5 baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
-14 grape tomatoes, halved
-4 green onions, chopped
-2 cups fresh spinach
-1/2 avocado, cubed
-1 tsp celery salt
-red pepper flakes
-cracked pepper
-fresh fruit

Warm a large skillet pan on medium heat. Spray with a non-stick spray and add the sliced mushrooms. When the mushrooms have cooked for about 1 minute, crack the eggs into the skillet. Then add the tomatoes, green onions, and spinach. Sprinkle everything with celery salt, red pepper flakes, and fresh cracked pepper. Place a lid on the skillet to allow the tops of the eggs to cook. When the eggs are slightly white on top, take the pan off the heat and add the cubed avocado. Serve hot and enjoy with your favorite fresh fruit.


Bloody Mary (2 servings)

-2 cups cold tomato juice
-juice from 1/2 lemon
-1/2 Tablespoon horseradish
-1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
-1 teaspoon curry powder
-1 teaspoon sweet paprika
-1/2 teaspoon Sriracha
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-1/8 teaspoon black pepper
-1 teaspoon celery salt, plus more for the rim of the glass
-1/4 to 1/2 cup cold vodka (depending on your own preference)
-dill pickle spears for garnish
-olives for garnish
-lemon slices for garnish
-celery stalks for garnish
-ice cubes, if desired

In a pitcher, combine all of the ingredients, minus the vodka. Place the mixture in the fridge for at least 25 minutes. When mixture is chilled, mix the vodka into the pitcher. Run a slice of lemon around the rim of your serving glass and dip the glass into a dish of celery salt. Fill glass with ice, if desired, and pour the mixture into the glass. Garnish with pickle, celery, lemon, and olives.

I love when restaurants get super creative with their Bloody Mary garnishes, so get creative with yours!

Quinoa Collard Wraps

Hello, friends. I feel like I haven't posted in ages, though it's only been a week and a half. Maybe because the new year has come and I feel like I have a fresh start again. The new year always invigorates me and makes me feel like I can conquer the world (or at the very least, conquer some bad habits). One of my resolutions this year is an ongoing resolution I made in 2012: no more frozen/boxed dinners. I originally made this resolution to inspire myself to cook more meals and eat healthier foods. Not only are frozen meals usually loaded with sodium, but they never fill me up! I find myself gazing longingly at the refrigerator an hour after dinner, wishing that Lean Cuisines made bigger portions. Making myself cook my own food has significantly increased my creativity in the kitchen, and makes me feel great from the inside out.

After a tough morning at yoga (I knew all those holiday goodies would take their revenge), I came home and made myself a quinoa collard wrap. I found the recipe in the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook by Sara and Hugh Forte--the one I received as a Christmas gift. Nothing feels better than re-charging my body with wholesome foods and this recipe caught my eye immediately. Now, I must tell you, these wraps took some dedication. I thought I would just come home and whip some ingredients together and call it a day, but they demanded effort. First of all, there were a lot of ingredients. Second, my fingers kept getting stained red from the beets, so I was continuously stopping to wash my hands. Despite the amount of time it took to prepare the wraps, I do not regret making them. In fact, they were so tasty and healthy that I will probably make myself another one for tomorrow's lunch. 

Cozy Cooking

Cooking for one person can be difficult sometimes. I mean, yes, there are some benefits to preparing food for just myself. For instance, if a recipe flops, or I just feel like eating cereal all day, or if I eat the same dinner 5 nights in a row because I make too much, no one is forced to suffer but me. Unfortunately, though, I tend to encounter many problems cooking for just myself-- the main issue being my inability to cook just 1-2 serving meals. I never think to look at the servings, so I end up with enough food for lunch and dinner all week (talk about a boring food life).

In an attempt to counter my issue, I like to reassess my fridge situation every day or two and see which foods can be combined with others.

Enter: chard, leek, and butternut squash.

As you can remember, a few days ago I made a dish that required leek, butternut squash, and chard, among other ingredients. Today, I was able to successfully re-purpose these ingredients to make an entirely new dish. I do this constantly. You may call it creative, but I call it smart. There is no use in wasting perfectly tasty vegetables simply due to a lack of culinary imagination! Look up some new recipes, or create your own.

The entire plate was cozy and comforting. Beginning at the top and moving clockwise, you are looking at goat cheese, caramelized butternut squash, sauteed garlic, leek, and chard, couscous with dried cranberries, and freshly cubed avocado. This dish is loaded with nutrients and completely satiated my appetite.