A New Birth

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Healthy AND quick!

Today I am using my blog to give a cooking lesson.
I am teaching you how to make my favorite quick (and healthy) breakfast. It's delicious and healthy!
(Did I tell you it's HEALTHY?)
Ok, so it will take longer to teach you how to make it than to actually cook it and eat it once you know how.
And I promise you, it will be soooo good that you will make it again and again.

How to make an
EGG MUG

Your first step is to assemble the ingredients, below.

Eggs, Egg Whites, sausage patty, Laughing Cow cheese, frozen peppers.

Some of the above ingredients are optional, which would make the Egg Mug even faster to make. I will explain as I go along which ones you can leave out.

Here are a few more necessary ingredients and tools.

Salt, pepper, cooking spray, microwave safe mug, measuring cup, fork.

And, you need a working microwave.

First thing, spray your mug generously with non stick cooking spray.

Add frozen peppers. Or fresh peppers, or chopped onions. Or, don't add anything.
This is one of the optional steps if you don't want veggies with your eggs.

Microwave your frozen or fresh veggies for about 30 to 45 sec on high.
Set aside.

Next, place your sausage patty
(I use Morningstar Farms

vegetarian sausage patties....yummy and very low fat)
on a microwave safe plate and microwave it for about 15 seconds,
just enough to soften it a bit.
This ingredient is also optional. Don't want sausage? Leave it out.
Rather have chopped ham? Use that instead. No need to soften.

Crumble the sausage patty onto the peppers in the mug.

Open one (or two) wedges of Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese.
Or maybe this flavor of Laughing Cow. Or this!

Drop them right on top of the sausage and peppers.

Note: if you were making this Egg Mug without veggies or sausage, you would be dropping the cheese wedge right into an empty mug.

Next...eggs.
You can use any combination of eggs. One egg and 1/4c (or 1/2 cup) egg whites; all egg whites, or all eggs.
Your choice.

Obviously egg whites are probably a bit quicker and easier..just pour.

Crack open one egg right into the mug on top of the rest of the ingredients.

And then add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of egg whites.

Add pepper (and salt if you prefer), or any other seasoning that rocks your boat.

Stir it up enough to break up the yolk if you used whole eggs.

Microwave it for one minute on high.
Make sure you use a good sized mug,
cuz this egg stuff will get big and puffy while it cooks.

Take it out after one minute..you will see that the center is partially cooked, and the rest still runny. Stir again with the fork, breaking up the cooked portion into chunks.

Back into the microwave it goes, for about 45 sec to a minute, depending on how full your mug is. Takes a bit longer to cook if you are using veggies and sausage in your eggs.

Take it out, stir.
If it is still a bit liquidy...pop it back into the microwave for another 20-30 sec.

Ah, perfect. Moist, but not runny.

Dump the eggs onto the plate you nuked the sausage on.

Immediately fill the mug up with hot soapy water.
Or cold.
Either one.

Sit down, and enjoy.
Mmmmm-mmmm good.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Withdrawal

Mid-August.
The time of year when the flowers are fading (and wilting) and the urge to get out and dig, transplant and plant has passed.
The time of year when you are sick of hot, humid weather.
The time of year when you realize that the nightfall comes quite a bit earlier than in June.

The time of year when.....

...there's NOTHING on TV.

Yep, for a somewhat of a reality show junkie like me (and Jim) this time of year is
TV Wasteland.

Now, I do admit, we watch a LOT less TV in the summer anyway. We are outside more, busy with this and that, eat supper a lot later, and don't really sit down on the couch until an hour or so before bed.

But, when we push the guide button and scroll through the channels....nothin.
We check our DVR cache...nothin. (Except shows that Taylor has recorded..and no, I don't want to watch Bachelor Pad.)

Our DVR cache is down to less than 20%! Unbelievable.

Some of you may chastise me for even feeling this way...the addictive nature of television, the scourge of the brain, much more productive ways to spend the evenings, etc, etc.
I do understand your point, and feel a bit embarrassed at times for enjoying some of the shows I watch.

It's our guilty pleasure.

We scoop a bowl of ice cream (or grab a Skinny Cow) or maybe pop some popcorn and settle in, snuggled together on our loveseat. We generally start watching about 15 min after a show starts, so we can zip thru those idiotic commercials.

Ah....the man or woman who invented DVR, we love u.

The countdown has begun...

Survivor...season premiere Sept 15th
Amazing Race...season premiere Sept 26th
House...season premiere Sept 20th
Biggest Loser...season premiere Sept 20th
Top Chef: Just Desserts...season premiere Sept 15th

Will I see you on the dark side?

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Game of Life

If you ask my kids if I was a "mean" mom, you might see them nodding vigorously.

Of course, their definition of mean might not be someone elses.

In our house, having a "mean" mom (and dad) meant:

-no TV on school nights (Sunday thru Thurs)
and limited time even on weekends.
-chores were assigned to all... (cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, dishes, etc)
-video games only on weekends (and waiting until age 12 to play!) and limited.
-at age 10, all kids start doing their own laundry: washing, drying, folding, putting away.
-outside activities (dance, sports, etc) were also limited, as driving 3 kids three different places at the same time was impossible!
-The same healthy food was served to everyone at supper, and if someone chose not to eat it,
the next meal was breakfast.
-Playing outside everyday was a given.
-Watching PG-13 movies were forbidden until they reached the
age of...yup, you guessed it, 13.
-Early bedtimes (7:30-8) until middle school, and then only until 9pm
-Everyone was expected to clean up after themselves.
-There were consequences for actions that broke the rules, for example, no TV or computer time for 2 - 4 weeks; no going to friend's houses, an even earlier bedtime!, etc.

-But, this "mean" mom loved her 3 children more than words can express; more than there are stars in the sky, more than life itself.
-This "mean" mom hugged her 3 kids a lot, kissed them over and over, and never, ever, spanked them.
-This mean mom brought them to the library, the zoo, hiking, camping, and swimming.
-This mean mom let them keep their own bedrooms messy if they wanted...up to a point.
-This mean mom ended up having three kids who grew up loving books, three kids who could function quite independently at a pretty young age, three kids who were well behaved, (at least in public :)
and
three kids who LOVE board games, especially Taylor,
and yes, three kids who also love to watch TV and play on the computer. (sigh)

The other day, Taylor babysat for her little cousins, and one of the first things they did was pull out our well worn and well loved LIFE board game.

Molly and Rebecca loved it too.

It made this "mean" mom's heart sing.