Fooled Ya Frittata!

Once again I find myself in the position of getting ready to head out of town, and needing to clean out my fridge in order to eliminate waste.

Before bed last night, I noticed a carton of egg whites that was about 1/4 full.  And my veggie drawer was filled with garden goodies.  With these things fresh in my head, I believe I dreamed of preparing this morning’s Fuel Pull Frittata.

For the frittata, I chopped up onion, jalapeno, zucchini, garlic, and okra and sauteed them in a teaspoon of butter in my cast iron pan, seasoning all with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, I added a little scoop of turmeric to the carton of egg whites, and shook the carton like mad.  When the veggies were nice and softened, I poured the now-yellow egg whites over all the veggies.  After a nice crust formed on the bottom of the pan, I finished the frittata in the oven. 

Frittata with inflammation-fighting turmeric

Out popped a golden yellow egg and veggie dish, which I admit was a little bland upon first taste.  So I sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, Italian herb seasoning, and a little more salt and pepper.  Yum! Much better!

Fuel Pull Frittata

This frittata can be tweaked in so many ways. Use whatever veggies you'd like!  Add some feta, kalamata olives, pepperoncini, and sun dried tomatoes for a Greek style S frittata.  Throw in some salsa, black beans, corn, and taco seasoning for a south of the border E frittata.

To keep this breakfast in Fuel Pull mode this morning, I topped off my brunch with a Triple Berry Triple Zero Greek yogurt.

And now for a travel tip:  I filled the empty egg white carton about 7/8 full and threw it into the freezer. I did the same with an empty coconut milk box.  Voilà! Handy disposable ice packs for my cooler while traveling! 

These egg whites freeze well. 
I buy a case at a time and thaw as needed.

Welcoming Fall with Versatile Chili

All pumpkin spice hype aside, nothing says fall to me like a warm vat of chili. (Confession: I threw some frozen pumpkin into a batch of chili last week to use it up. But not today).

I love how the onset of fall also happens to yield a plethora of chili ingredients from the garden. 

Coincidence? I think not.

Today, I needed to use up a bunch of produce before leaving for our vacation in a few days. I came up with a great fuel pull chili that you can easily make into an E or S meal, as described below, following the main recipe.

This recipe is flexible depending on what you have on hand. What follows is what I threw into my electric pressure cooker.

Garden Veggie Chili
1onion, chopped

6-8 assorted peppers, chopped (you choose the heat)

4-6 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped 

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 pound lean venison or turkey (ground or cut into small stew meat)

1-2 T. chili powder

2 t. cumin

1 t. mineral salt

1/2 t. black pepper 

*1 cup kombucha (optional)

*1 cup water (or 2 if not using kombucha)
*See note below

Ready to zap!

Cook in your pressure cooker using the stew setting. Allow to de-pressurize naturally. Taste and adjust seasonings.  I added a doonk of stevia at the end to balance the acidity.

Enjoy as is, or add a nice dollop of nonfat Greek yogurt and some chopped jalapeños. At this point, the chili is still in fuel pull mode.

*Note:  My chili turned out a bit runny, but I was ok with it.  For a thicker chili, reduce liquid to 1 to 1 1/2 cups.

You can keep this fuel pull chili in your fridge, and doctor it up depending on your mood.

For a yummy E chili, add black beans and/or frozen corn to the above and heat through.

For a rich S chili, use beef instead of turkey or venison if desired, and top with sour cream (or stick with the yogurt) and shredded cheddar. 

My second bowl of S chili

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, this can easily simmer in your crock pot all day.

Happy fall!