Breakfast on a Budget

     Hey everyone, I talked about something serious in my last blog on how healthy food isn't as expensive as most people think. (Click here if you missed it! ) Today I want to show you how that shopping list transfers into daily life and meals. I did use a few items that I already had on hand, but only things you generally do, things like salt, pepper, egg. Anyway, on to some good breakfast!

     This is one super simple dish, it only takes a few ingredients and can be altered to suit your own taste very easily. So if you don't like onions, swap them out for mushrooms! See, that simple. Here is what I used personally. (I also added some Havarti cheese, but that's not healthy so I cheated and added it after the pic was taken.)

This is all I had, one egg, about a tablespoon of "chopped" up raw spinach a teaspoon of alfalfa sprouts, and a little bit of green onion (I also added some dried minced onions as well). This was for me a decent portion and while I'm not stuffed, I was full from it. However, if you want a little bit more, add a banana as a side. (Remember we got those too yesterday and they are normally fairly cheep.)

All I did was beat the egg with just salt and pepper. No added water or milk, just the egg by itself. You won't want this to be super fluffy like scrambled eggs, think more of an omelette. In fact this is inspired by a Japanese omelette.

     Get your pan warmed up, I normally set mine at about medium heat, maybe a bit higher. Make sure not to go too high because we will not be flipping this, so the egg will only cook on one side. If you are using two eggs or more you might have to do this in batches. Takes a bit more time and skill, but isn't too hard. Just repeat the process by laying the prior egg roll up at the end you start rolling the cooking one. (This will make a bit more sense in a moment! I promise!)  So go a head and put your beaten egg in your pan and add your "mix in's" on top of the egg. Don't mix it or mess with the egg! Just let it cook.

     As you can see to the left how it's almost like when a pancake is ready to flip. That's when it's done. Make sure you swirl the pan a bit. If you like your eggs a bit on the runny side, they can jiggle, if not, you want it to be pretty firm. It will continue to cook slightly after you roll it, but not much, so be sure not to overcook it!

     Now that your egg is all cooked, start rolling it! I find that a rubber spatula works best for this because it has enough flex to not break the egg. But just gently roll up the egg, below you can see how it looks with all that filling inside. If some spills out, that's okay, you can just toss it on top of the roll.

     That's it! You're ready to have a healthy breakfast. The cost of this total was only pennies. (one egg roughly $.17, the spinach maybe .05 worth, and the sprouts maybe .03) Not bad at all. Like I said this would be roughly one serving. You don't need to add meat because the egg and sprouts are a good source for protein but you can if you want. Even adding a banana to this wouldn't add much. (.49/pound you can have a whole pound of bananas and still not go over a dollar!) 

~Skadia, the money saving breakfast eating panther