Spinach, Tomato & Cheese Frittata

Hello all. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I spent mine cleaning, finishing up school projects and burning my hand to hell. But more on that later.

First, I give you my first frittata. Not my first attempt at a frittata but my first successful one. I have to say, it's all in the pan. I followed the recipe to the T and shouldn't have either. I should have put more trust in my lovely pan and not used so much oil; a mistake I will never make again. Maybe that's why it burned me. The pan could sense that I didn't trust it to release the beautiful frittata at the end.... uhhh, yeah. Maybe. :)

Spinach, Tomato & Cheese Frittata
from Self magazine
Serves 2

• 3 tsp olive oil, divided (this is what the recipe calls for...however, if you have a good nonstick, oven safe pan, I would scale this down to 1 tsp total)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I was out so I used 1/2 tsp powder instead)
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (I used one can petite diced tomatoes...drained, rinsed, and thoroughly dried)
• 2 large eggs plus 6 egg whites
• 3/4 cup low-fat cheddar cheese
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375°F and adjust top rack so that it is 8 inches from the broiler. 

Heat 1 tsp (nice pans: 1/2 tsp) oil in a large skillet. Sauté garlic for 1 minute, then add spinach and tomato. Continue sautéing for about 3 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 6 egg whites (if using liquid egg whites like Egg Beaters, 1 cup + 2 Tb.) and season with some salt and pepper.

Add cheese and spinach mixture to the bowl. Mix well.

Heat 2 tsp oil in pan (nice pans: 1/2 tsp, if any). Pour in egg mixture (see all that oil?! craziness.) and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes. Switch oven to broil and leave frittata under the broiler until lightly browned & crispy.

I didn't broil mine. My beautiful pan can only take oven temperatures up to 400°F. So I thought I'd deal without the browned crust. I even cooked mine at 350°F instead just to be safe, it took about 15 minutes. 

Nutritional Information (for half): 326 calories, 18.3 g fat (7 g sat), 2 g fiber, 31 g protein

After patting off the excess oil, this was very tasty! And so healthy! And so filling! There were a ton of pluses to this meal. I paired mine with roasted potatoes because they are just so yummy! I am very excited to try this frittata again, with much less oil. Obviously, the nutritional information would change with less oil so here's the info for the (nice pan) directions. :)

Nutritional Information with less oil (for half): 287 calories, 14 g fat (6 g sat), 2 g fiber, 31 g protein

Apparently our oven is uneven and, being so used to my favorite pan, I grabbed the handle of the pan, fresh out of the 350° oven, to jostle it a bit. OUCH.

You can't see it very well but even after 5 minutes under cold water, the bottom part of my hand was RED and the pain was intense. It hurt for a couple hours and I was just hoping that the burn wasn't severe.

Luckily, it wasn't. When I unwrapped it the next morning, I was greeted with this. Barely a scratch. 

However, I feel obligated to use this opportunity to advocate the use of hot pads. No matter how silly this seems, I'm serious. It could have been a lot worse. Mistakes happen but try to be careful in the kitchen, and know the procedures on burn treatment . :)

Yesterday, I watched Food, Inc. I had wanted to watch it for quite a while but had heard that it was very graphic concerning the treatment of animals. Finally, I took the plunge. A lot of the stuff I already knew, but mainly because I am constantly reading on health and food issues. The research to become a vegetarian actually included a lot of the material covered. But it was still astounding to see video and pictures of those poor animals. 

It also helped to affirm my decision for health reasons. People often ask me if I find myself craving meat. And my answer has actually been, not yet. In the beginning of the film, however, they showed a hamburger and french fries. A real hamburger, not something from McDonald's. And I actually found myself remembering how great they tasted. But then, after hearing that 70% of the United States' beef is "cleansed" with ammonia before being packaged, I quickly lost that desire. I urge everyone to watch this movie and stop turning a blind eye to what you're putting in your body. They are other, less extreme, options than vegetarianism. Buying locally raised, humanly produced meats is one, supporting food reform in Washington is another. 

Don't forget to enter my Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Chocolate giveaway! It ends Thursday!!