More Egg White Ideas or how to use up those left over veggies

Consistently, some of my top read posts are those related to breakfast.  This tells me that like me, many of you are looking for quick, easy, and healthy ways to start your day.  As I've mentioned, I have an egg white breakfast treat 4-5 times a week so I'm always looking for new variations.

In addition, I know many of us are trying to get all those servings of veggies in every day.  When I have left overs, I've taken to adding them in to my egg whites lately.


The top photo is egg whites with left over sauteed spinach (shallots, olive oil, garlic, ginger) mixed in with a tsp or so of low fat feta cheese and the one just above is leftover simply steamed asparagus, chopped and stirred in to the egg whites.  The spinach one took an extra 20 seconds or so in the microwave to fully set. Otherwise, these were made as described in my previous post.


These are really low calorie so I usually have a slice of whole wheat/whole grain toast to go along and a big cup of soy or almond milk.


I hope this will inspire you to get some veggies in at breakfast!

Recipe for Egg White Breakfast

I have some version of an egg white breakfast treat about five mornings a week.  They are so easy to make (2 minutes in the microwave) and very portable if you want something for on the go.  With a slice of homemade multi-grain bread, this low calorie, low fat breakfast can carry me to lunch time.

Time: 3 minutes
Yield: one serving


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup liquid egg whites
• 1 TBSP grated low fat cheddar jack cheese
• Cooking spray

Method:

• Spray microwave safe glass bowl with cooking spray
• Add egg whites and cheese to bowl, stir briefly  (make sure bowl is no more than 2/3 full)
• Cook on high in microwave for 2 minutes
• Remove carefully (will be hot) and serve with toast or wrapped in a tortilla or English muffin for on the go

Done!  And served with my other favorite in the morning. Ah, yes my pretty.

Printable recipe


Other egg white breakfasts:
Turkey pepperoni egg white treat



Salsa egg whites version 1



Salsa egg whites version 2

Recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread-Daring Bakers Challenge

I used to be a chocolate chip kinda girl, now more an oatmeal raisin one.  Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate but when reaching for a cookie, I'm more likely to go for the oatmeal raisin one.  Well, the truth is I'm happiest when I can have an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie!  I don't know why oatmeal raisin cookies were on my mind when I came up with this recipe for February's Daring Baker's Challenge.  I'm glad they were though, because this Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread is terrific.  


The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.


The challenge instructions were quite good and very helpful in putting this together.  Here are some of the great tips Lis gave us:


Quick breads can be created by the following methods:

• Muffin (or the two-bowl) method – The dry and wet ingredients are kept separate and then are combined quickly and gingerly by adding the wet to the dry, and folding the two together with only a few strokes. The idea is to not over-mix, basically moistening the ingredients and leaving the batter slightly lumpy, with wisps of flour showing (even small lumps are fine) so as not to overdevelop the gluten in the flour which will keep the bread tender. An over mixed batter creates tough and rubbery muffins/quick breads. Since over-mixing will cause "tunnels" – holes where the air bubbles can escape – which will make the quick bread tough.
• Creaming method – The butter and sugar are beaten and creamed together until smooth and fluffy. Next, the egg and liquid flavoring are added to the butter and sugar mixture. The dry ingredients and other liquids are folded in last. This method is best when baking cakes since a lot of air pockets are added into the mixture. Folding in the ingredients creates even more air pockets to keep the cakes light and fluffy.
• Cutting in method – The chilled fat is cut into the flour. The fat results in a flaky texture since the fat melts while in the oven. This method is best used when baking biscuits, scones or pie crusts.
• Depending on the recipe and the type of quick bread, there are also three different types of batter:

• Pour Batter: This type of batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 1:1. Because there is so much liquid in this type of batter, the result is very moist and dense.
• Drop Batter: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 3:1. This batter will result in a moist but fluffy baked good.
• Stiff Dough: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 7:1 This batter will result in a very light and fluffy baked good.
• Lower gluten flours are best to make quick breads you can replace 4 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with cake flour in most recipes or replace 2 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with corn flour (cornstarch) if you wish to lower the gluten levels of your flour.
• Flour should be sifted to aerate it which gives more rise therefore a lighter crumb to the final baked goods.
• Add fruit, nuts, etc. after lightly combining the wet and dry ingredients. Then give the batter one more light-handed stir and you're done. Is the batter still thick and lumpy? That's exactly what you want.

With all that good information and some sample recipes to look at, I was ready to go.  I wanted a moist but fluffy quick bread so I used the muffin (two-bowl) method, sifted my dry ingredients and approximated a 3:1 dry to liquid ratio with my ingredients (a little more of the wet ingredients because I assumed the oats would soak up a fair amount).

Yield: 1 loaf (9x5 pan)

Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup cake flour
• 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
• ¼ cup sugar (plus more to sprinkle on top-optional)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 TBSP cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup 2% milk
• ¾ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup macadamia nut oil
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup golden raisins
• Baking spray (or butter)
• Parchment paper

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray (or spread with butter) and line with parchment paper sling. Lightly spray parchment.
• Sift flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.
• Stir in oats and raisins.
• In a second bowl, mix together the egg, milk, yogurt, oil and honey.
• Stir wet ingredients into dry, just to mix.   Batter may be a little lumpy, that is okay, don’t over mix.
• Pour into parchment lined loaf pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
• Sprinkle top with sugar when removed from oven (optional).
• Cool 10 minutes in pan on a rack then remove from pan and continue cooling.
• Serve room temperature, warmed or toasted.

A perfect loaf, if I do say so myself! Breakfast treat, dessert, afternoon tea?  Yes, yes and yes.

This is the first time I used the parchment sling with a loaf pan-it works like a charm, so don't skip that step. So easy to remove the loaf, just lift the parchment.

Printable recipe


Here's more info about the Daring Bakers and some of my other baking challenges:

Biscuits (aka scones in some parts of the world!)

Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Simple Biscuits-Daring Bakers

Mmmm, fresh out of the oven!  We don't eat biscuits as a general rule although I used to eat them frequently enough when I lived in the South.  I was surprised how much we both enjoyed these when I made them for our monthly Daring Bakers challenge.

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host.. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!  Aud hails from down under, hence the "scone" reference.


This lovely, simple recipe has so many possibilities beyond the simple, yet fabulous plain biscuit (scone). Cheese biscuits come to mind as the first variety I might try next.


Tuck this away for when you want a quick and reliable biscuit recipe!


Yield: 8 biscuits
Time: 20 minutes (or 60 minutes if you follow the options)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup/140 grams plain all purpose flour
• 2 tsp/10 grams baking powder (make sure it is fresh)
• 1/4 tsp/1 1/2 grams table salt
• 2 TBSP frozen grated butter (grated on large holes of box grater)
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold 1% milk plus a dab for brushing the tops

Method:

• Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
• Sift the flour, salt and baking powder three times.
• Optional: place sifted ingredients in refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill.
• To the sifted dry ingredients, rub in the grated butter until the mix looks like a mix of large sand pieces and pea sized pieces.
• Add the milk to the bowl with the dry ingredient/butter mixture and mix with hands until a sticky dough is formed.
• Turn dough out on to a floured surface and sprinkle the top with flour.
• Gently knead a few times, then fold into thirds several times, gently pressing out between folds.
• Pat dough out into an approximately 6 x 4 inch rectangle.
• Using a floured biscuit cutter (approximately 2 inches) cut 4-5 biscuits pressing down, not twisting.
• Reform dough and cut out 2 more biscuits.
• Use scraps to form final biscuit.
• Place biscuits in baking pan.
• Optional: place formed biscuits into refrigerator for 20 minutes.
• Brush top of biscuits with milk and then bake for approximately 10 minutes.
• Serve warm.  Can be cooled to room temperature and stored in freezer bag in freezer.
• Reheat briefly.

Biscuits formed, ready for fridge

Out of the oven

Mmmm, ready to eat

If you are interested in more information about the Daring Kitchen challenges, here is the website.

Printable recipe

Another Daring Baker challenge I participated in:  Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Scone Muffins

When I'm out for my morning bike ride, I sometimes have some creative ideas for the kitchen.  Take these scone muffins...I wanted to make something portable for a brunch time snack.  Thinking about what was on hand during my ride, I came up with the idea of using a package of King Arthur Scone Mix as a base for some savory muffins.  These were really good and around 180 calories each!

Ingredients:

• 16 oz scone mix
• 1 large egg
• 1 ¾ cup low fat buttermilk, plus more for brushing
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped Canadian bacon
• 1 cup egg whites, cooked with 1/3 cup chives, chopped
• ¾ cup shredded low fat cheddar cheese
• Baking spray
• Fleur de Sel (or other large crystal salt)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Add egg, salt, and buttermilk to scone mix and mix until well moistened.
• Stir in bacon, eggs, and cheese.
• Spray 12 cup muffin tin with baking spray.
• Divide batter between muffin cups.
• Bake in upper third of oven for 20-25 minutes until browning on tops.
• Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes on a rack.
• Brush tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with Fleur de Sel.
• Cool 10 more minutes and remove from pans.
• Serve warm or store in airtight container and serve room temperature or reheated (cut in half and cook 20 seconds in microwave).

You could do the same thing with your favorite muffin batter or quick bread mix.  The texture of these was great, I'm sure from the scone mix (which makes up great scones by the way-unsponsored).  The salty top was a nice touch, so don't skip that part.  

These transported well, reheated well, and tasted great.  I'm claiming this recipe to be a home run!

Printable Recipe

Recipe for Breakfast Quinoa

When I was on the mainland recently, I saw Breakfast Quinoa on a restaurant menu.  I didn’t try it but was intrigued.  I like quinoa-it’s healthy (more protein than any other grain and contains all eight essential amino acids), adapts well to whatever you put with it, and is easy to make.  I wondered how it would do following the method I use for my overnight oatmeal.

And the answer is--- not well.  It really just sat there overnight in the fridge and didn’t do anything.  The next morning the little quinoa pearls were all on the bottom of the bowl and the liquids all on top.  Boo.

Undeterred, I poured it all into a saucepan and cooked it for 15 minutes.  Now that’s more like it!  I dressed it up with some almonds and raisins and enjoyed a hearty warm bowl for breakfast. 

However, it is summer so I stuck the leftovers in the fridge and tried it cold the next day.  Not bad, not as good as overnight oatmeal but certainly enjoyable.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup organic quinoa, rinsed and drained


• 1 cup light vanilla soy milk


• ½ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt


• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract


• 2 tsp ground cinnamon


• 1 TBSP agave


• Sprinkle of raisins, almonds or other tid bits

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, except the sprinkles, and bring to a simmer.


• Cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.


• Serve warm or cold with your choice of sprinkles.

Printable Recipe