Kitchen Stewardship

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Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet asked how people make time for nourishing foods for breakfast, amid all the hustle and bustle of mornings and getting out the door.  I have to admit, being a stay-at-home-mom without kids in school yet makes this a whole lot easier, but there are still days when we have to be on the go.

It’s hard not to rely on boxed cereal, or at least high-carb things like toast, muffins, etc.  We do a lot of oatmeal, especially in the winter, but I know that getting protein in our bodies in the morning is important.  Particularly when I’m pregnant, I try to eat eggs often, two a day when possible.  Last year when I was expecting our little one, my son and I would eat scrambled eggs about four times a week.  Here’s the easy system to eggs-as-quick-as-cereal and the secret ingredient to the fluffiest eggs you’ll ever eat:

1. Put pan on stove and turn burner on medium heat.
2. Grab from fridge: butter, eggs, cottage cheese (secret ingredient!) and spinach, if any is washed.
3. Run stick of butter around pan a few times.
4. Throw handful of spinach in pan or a few cubes of frozen spinach (optional).
5. Use spoonula (one of my favorite kitchen gadgets!) to scoop cottage cheese into pan.  (Ratio is about 2-3 Tbs cottage cheese for every two eggs.  This is especially excellent for pregnant women because cottage cheese has a lot of protein, oh-so-important for growing babies.)
6. Break eggs directly into pan.
7. Mix with spoonula; turn heat to medium-low.
8. Continue to stir periodically as eggs cook.
9. During this time, you get the plates and forks out, put stuff back into the fridge, get toast going, put dishes away from last night’s dinner, coral kiddos into the kitchen…all the stuff you’d usually be doing before or after pouring the milk on the cereal.
10. Add optional shredded cheese, definitely if you’re expecting (bring on the protein!).
11. Eat!  Yummy!

Note:  Sometimes the water content of the cottage cheese makes the eggs look a little runny.  Don’t worry, they are fully cooked.  Decrease cottage cheese next time if you don’t like it.

Does this seem crazy?  An 11-step “recipe” for scrambled eggs, for heaven’s sakes?  There are some nuances I want you to notice and appreciate, though, and maybe you won’t think I’m so crazy, just extremely conscious in the kitchen.

• Getting everything out of the fridge at once saves steps.  You just need to make sure you know what you need when you open the door.
• If you put the cottage cheese in first, you don’t have to use an extra spoon to dip it out, because the spoonula (or spatula) doesn’t have raw egg on it yet.  Plus the cottage cheese gets a chance to melt a bit before meeting the eggs.
• Spinach combines with egg yolks to reduce inflammation — you can use frozen spinach too. I just open the box when I get home from the store and the spinach is slightly soft, use a sharp knife to cut it into 1″ chunks, and store in a bag. One or two chunks is great for scrambled eggs; just allow a little time for it to thaw in the pan.
• Scrambling in the pan avoids yet another dirty dish.  (Can you tell I hate doing dishes?)
• Cooking eggs slowly on low heat just makes them taste better and have better texture.  Thanks to my mom for that one!
• UPDATE:  The Schwarzbein Principle books confirm that cooking eggs over low heat is important to preserve the fatty acids in the egg yolk.
• If you can rationalize the time it takes for the eggs to cook by doing other need-to-do tasks, making eggs in the morning really doesn’t take any longer than pouring cereal, especially if people have different kinds of cereal and you have to get out multiple boxes.
• If you’re using a non-stick pan, my brother would say just wipe it out with a paper towel and use it again the next day!  Apparently avoiding dishes runs in the family (which is funny, because my mom doesn’t seem to mind it).
• If you use a cast iron or stainless steel pan, add water right away and bring to a rolling boil – this will release all the cooked on egg junk that is soooo hard to get off later!

Visit the carnival for more ideas!

Read the Food for Thought about why eggs are a Super Food for more inspiration!

Include other Super Foods in your day:

• Homemade Chicken Stock/Broth
• Intro to Super Foods Series
• How to Use More Beans
• Easy Homemade Yogurt

Hungry for more? Related posts:

1. Monday Mission: Eat More Eggs
2. Recipe Connections: Incredible Eggs!
3. Kitchen Tip: My Easy, Cheap Appetizer = Deviled Eggs
4. Monday Mission: Upgrade Your Eggs
5. Food for Thought: Spinach, the Ultimate Super Food’s Health Benefits