Frittata Bites with Chard, Sausage, and Feta

As I've been reading foodie books like "My Life in France" by Julia Child, I make note of all the recipes that seem intimidating to me for whatever reason. Sometimes it's because it uses yeast (my nemesis!), sometimes because it require skill I don't think I quite have, sometimes it's time-consuming or complicated. I'm not actually sure why frittatas were on this list, maybe I usually think of it as being served at high brow sorts of affairs.

At any rate, I was looking for recipes to use up the dozen or so eggs in our frig and found this frittata which also used a green, which was convenient, because I also had some extra kale. I certainly didn't have anything to be worried about with this one. It was a bit time-consuming--mostly baking time and setting time, which I didn't account for. Totally my fault, not the recipes. I added a pinch of garlic salt and a handful of sun-dried tomatoes, and of course, exchanged the chard for kale. It was delicious!

Frittata Bites with Chard, Sausage, and Feta

from epicurious.com with my adaptations

Ingredients:

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1 12-ounce bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs removed (I used kale)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
• pinch of garlic salt
• 8 ounces mild Italian sausages, casings removed, sausage broken into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (I used milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 1/2 ounces)
• Fresh Italian parsley leaves (I used dried parsley)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Spray 8 x 8 x 2-inch glass baking dish with nonstick spray.
• Bring large pot of salted water to boil.
• Add Swiss chard (or kale, or spinach, or whatever green you have on hand) and cook just until wilted, about 2 minutes.
• Drain.
• Finely chop chard, then place in kitchen towel and squeeze dry (or use your snazzy new salad spinner!). Set chard aside.
• Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add onion and garlic salt to skillet and sauté until soft, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add sausage and sauté until brown and cooked through, breaking up with fork, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Add tomatoes a few minutes before the sausage is done.
• Remove from heat and cool.
• Whisk eggs, cream, salt, and pepper in large bowl to blend.
• Add chard and cooled sausage mixture, then feta; stir to blend.

We're definitely getting our greens in tonight!

• Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish.
• Bake frittata until set in center, 45 to 55 minutes.
• Transfer baking dish to rack and cool frittata 15 to 20 minutes. Place platter atop dish with frittata.
• If you want to be all fancy, use oven mitts and hold baking dish and platter firmly together and invert frittata onto platter; place another platter atop frittata and invert again so that frittata is right side up. Cut frittata into 20 pieces.
• If you're serving at home for breakfast or breakfast for dinner, cut into 12 pieces.
• Transfer frittata pieces to platter. Garnish each piece with parsley; serve warm or at room temperature.

Fresh from the oven.

The boys inspect the source of all that smell-goodness.

Post-dinner status. Not much left for leftovers.

Gingerbread Steel Cut Oats

I discovered steel cut oats several months ago when I was going through Jillian Michael's "Master Your Metabolism" cookbook. While her recipe is still the standard (and eventually I'll link to it here), I love to experiment too. This recipe was the "happy accident" of a new blogger I accidentally found, Beth at Budget Bytes.

Gingerbread Steel Cut Oats

by Beth at Budget Bytes, with my adjustments.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked steel-cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 cup dark molasses
• 1/2 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. In a medium pot, bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil. (Beth uses 4, but I like my oats a bit thicker. I also use part almond milk, part water). Once it reaches a boil pour in the uncooked steel-cut oats. Stir with a spoon and reduce the heat to low.
2. As the oats simmer on low, stir in the salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Let the oats simmer until it is to your desired thickness, about 20-30 minutes.
3. Once the oats have thickened sufficiently, turn off the heat and stir in the molasses and raisins. (Beth used 1/3 cup, but that way too strong for me).
4. Makes four one-cup servings.

As I continue to reduce the amount of processed foods we eat at home, I've been looking for more breakfast items to make in advance. This is great because I can enjoy one serving, and put the other three away for the rest of the week.