Ham and Egg Breakfast Burritos

Who doesn't like burritos? And how easy is it to prepare them? I think they make great compact food that you can take with you. This one is an easy and tasty recipe that you can use for breakfast if you are want low calories and still feel like you are cheating:)

If you want to, you can substitute 1/2 cup of egg substitute with fresh eggs in this recipe and the calories stay around the same. But if it's not enough eggs, and you want to use a full cup, the calories go up to 385 calories, so be careful with the amount of eggs you are using.

HAM AND EGG BREAKFAST BURRITOS

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 sprays nonstick cooking spray
3 large egg whites
1 large whole eggs
2 tablespoons nonfat milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chopped 95% fat-free cooked ham
2 8-inch flour tortillas, heated
1/4 cup salsa

Directions:
Cook red and green bell peppers and onion over medium heat in large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray for 3-5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Beat together egg whites, eggs, milk, salt and black pepper in medium bowl until combined.

Pour egg mixture over vegetables in skillet. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, until egg mixture begins to set on bottom and around edge. Lift and fold the partially cooked egg mixture with spatula so uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue cooking and folding mixture until eggs are cooked through, but still glossy and moist. Fold in ham; continue cooking until heated through, gently folding mixture occasionally.

Remove skillet from heat. To assemble, spoon 1/2 of egg mixture onto center of each tortilla. Fold bottom of tortilla up over eggs. Fold in one side and roll to enclose eggs.

To serve, top with salsa.

Makes 2 servings:
Per serving
Calories: 340
Fat: 9.5 g
Carbs: 36 g
Protein: 26.5 g

Garden Tuna Salad

If you like tuna salad, here is the easy way to prepare it with nutrition information. You can see that it's not that the calories are not that low, but you always have the option to bring it down.

Each egg is about 80 calories, you can just omit one and use 3 and bring the calories down a bit. You can use non fat mayo instead of low fat, and it makes a small difference too. If you don't like mayo, you can always substitute it with low fat sour cream which give the salad a fresh taste.

As an alternative, omit the tomatoes and olives and mix about 3/4 cup rinsed and drained green seedless grapes with the tuna salad; garnish with more grapes and sprinkle with chopped salted almonds.

I'm adding the calorie info according to these alternatives. You can choose which way you want to go:)

GARDEN TUNA SALAD

Ingredients:
2 cans (6 oz. each) water-packed albacore or chunk-style tuna, drained well
4 hard-cooked large eggs, shelled
1 cup finely chopped inner celery stalks, tender leaves reserved
1/4 cup drained capers
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion or shallots
About 3/4 cup low fat mayonnaise (or you can use low fat sour cream)
About 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
Salt to taste (keep in mind that capers are salty too)
About 4 cups inner romaine or butter lettuce leaves, rinsed and crisped
1 to 2 tablespoons minced parsley
Paprika (optional)

About 1 cup small cherry tomatoes, stemmed, rinsed, and drained
About 1/2 cup drained niçoise or black ripe olives
1 lemon, rinsed and cut into 8 wedges

Directions:
Put tuna in a bowl. Coarsely chop 2 eggs; add to tuna. Cut remaining eggs in half lengthwise and set aside.

Add celery, capers, and onion to bowl; mix well with a fork, breaking tuna into small pieces. Add 3/4 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and mix. Add more mayonnaise, if desired. Season to taste with salt (be cautious - capers are salty).

Arrange lettuce and celery leaves equally in four wide, shallow bowls. Mound tuna salad on greens, sprinkle with parsley, and dust with paprika if desired.

Set an egg half alongside each salad and garnish with tomatoes, olives, and lemon wedges. Season salads to taste with juice from wedges and more salt and pepper.

Makes 4 servings
Per serving (without tomatoes or black olives)
Calories: 325
Fat: 21 g
Carbs: 6.5 g
Protein: 27 g

Per serving with 1 cup tomatoes and 8 black olives
Calories: 350
Fat: 22 g
Carbs: 9 g
Protein: 27

Per serving with 3/4 cups green grapes and 1/4 cup salted almonds:
Calories: 385
Fat: 24 g
Carbs: 13 g
Protein: 28

Flan

This recipe comes out less eggy than a regular flan because it uses egg substitute which is just fine with me. As far as I'm concerned it's a dessert which is a must from time to time when you are dieting:)

Make sure you don't stir the sugar while it is dissolving because you will crystallize it, just swirl it around from time to time if you want to speed it up.

If you want to give it a nice orange scent which doesn't really do much for the taste, just add 2 teaspoons of grated orange rind (be careful not to add the whites, just the outer skin) to milk and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes. Don't forget to let it cool down before you add it to the rest of the ingredients so that you don't cook the eggs into an omelet:)

FLAN

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated skimmed milk

Directions:
Place 1 cup sugar in a large heavy skillet over medium heat; cook 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves (do not stir). Continue cooking until golden, and stir well. Immediately pour into a 9-inch round cake pan, tipping quickly until sugar coats bottom of cake pan, and set aside.

Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar, egg substitute, vanilla, and milk; stir well. Pour into prepared cake pan; place in a large, shallow pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Remove cake pan from water; let cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Cover and chill 4 hours.

To serve, loosen edges of flan with a knife or rubber spatula. Place a serving plate, upside down, on top of cake pan; invert flan onto plate. Drizzle any remaining syrup over flan.

Makes 8 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)
Per Serving:
Calories: 210
Fat: 0.2 g
Carbs: 44 g
Protein: 9

Florentine Frittata

This recipe from Cooking Light is like my guide recipe. I change the ingredients according to what I have in hand.

I don't use butter, and use butter substitute spray instead which works out just fine.

Serve it with a nice mesclun salad and you have a complete meal which is really satisfying. Enjoy:)

FLORENTINE FRITTATA

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (16-ounce) carton egg substitute
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
2 teaspoons butter
2 cups thinly sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 (7-ounce) bottle roasted red bell peppers, drained and sliced
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
Combine the first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside.

Melt butter in a 10-inch cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add potatoes; cook 9 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

Pour egg mixture over onion mixture. Arrange bell pepper slices on top of frittata. Cook 7 minutes or until set. Sprinkle with cheese.

Wrap handle of pan with foil. Preheat broiler. Broil 5 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned. Cut into 4 wedges.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)
Per serving:
Calories: 265
Fat: 8 g
Carbs: 32 g
Protein: 20 g
Fiber: 6 g

Cheese Omelet

I have to start from somewhere, but I couldn't decide if I should start with menus, or with recipes that are low in calories. So, at the end I decided to post some of the recipes so that I can maybe put menus together for a 1,200 calorie day.

So here is a basic scrambled egg recipe. I know everyone knows how to prepare it. But I'm just adding it for the numbers so I know how many calories I'm consuming.

If you were to prepare this recipe without cheese, you would be consuming around 90 calories.

I actually use 1/2 cup of egg substitutes instead of using an egg and an egg white which is around 60 calories. For me, it's easier to prepare, but I've used real eggs just in case you would prefer it.

If you were to use skim milk mozzarella instead of cheddar = 165 calories
feta cheese instead of cheddar = 165 calories
swiss cheese instead of cheddar = 200 calories
provolone cheese instead of cheddar = 190 calories

Feel free to add any herb that you like to spice up this basic egg dish. I like adding fresh basil just because I have it handy on my balcony:)

CHEESE OMELET

Ingredients:
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 oz. cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk eggs and salt just until blended; do not overbeat.

Heat an 8-inch nonstick frying pan with sloping sides over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Pour egg mixture into pan and swirl to spread it out to edges of pan.

As egg mixture sets on pan bottom, lift edge with a spatula and tilt pan to let uncooked egg flow underneath. Continue the process, working around pan sides, until no uncooked egg mixture flows underneath and top is still moist.

Sprinkle cheese in a strip down the center of the omelet, in line with the pan handle. With the spatula, fold one side over the strip of cheese.

Run spatula under omelet to loosen, and tip pan to slide omelet, folded edge first, onto a warm plate. Flip remaining edge over filling as omelet leaves pan.

Makes 1 Serving

Calories: 205
Fat: 14.5 g
Carbs: 1.5 g
Protein: 16.5 g