egg white, spinach, & goat cheese freezer wraps

When I knew how bad fast food was, but long before I cared, I would stop at McDonald's or some other like establishment for breakfast on mornings when I was in a hurry or maybe had a long night and was craving comfort food.  Now that I believe there is a correlation between feeling like crap and eating that crap, I need a quick and easy, portable breakfast item.  Introducing, freezer wraps!  The amazing thing about freezer wraps or burritos is that you can make any type you want and have a variety awaiting you for when you need them!  Mexican type burrito, Greek wrap, big ones, small ones, whatever fits your fancy.  This post happens to be about egg whites and spinach wraps, because I had those ingredients on hand. But don't worry, I will make more soon -- I ate one of my last of these this morning!

Also, I don't have children, but I can imagine this would be a great idea for an easy go to, healthy breakfast on hectic school mornings!

I prefer to use liquid egg whites because I want less calories and would feel bad wasting all the rest of the egg.  However, liquid eggs are more expensive, so if you don't care about calories or cholesterol, etc go ahead and use a dozen whole eggs (just note that my nutrition counts and budget is for liquid egg whites).  In fact, it is probably healthier to use the whole eggs because you don't have any added ingredients and you don't take the risk of whatever chemicals (can anyone say BPA?) may have been used in the packaging.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.  Next, thoroughly grease a 9x9 glass casserole dish--there is nothing worse than having eggs stuck to a pan.  Put your spinach any other veggies you want to add (I had some leftover broccoli slaw in the fridge so I threw that in as well) in the dish.  Red bell peppers would be a great one to try!

Take your egg of choice and pour or crack them in to a large bowl.  Add your salt and pepper (optional) and sour cream and whisk the eggs up until they are scrambled.  Pour the eggs over the spinach and toss a little goat cheese on top.  Push the spinach down a little pit so it is covered by the egg mixture or it will burn in the oven.

Bake your eggs for about 30 minutes.  Baking time may vary depending on your oven, so just make sure the eggs are cooked through.  I like mine pretty done.  

Let your eggs cool slightly and then chop them all up so they have a scrambled texture.  Lay a large piece of aluminum foil out on a plate or cutting board and place your wrap on top of it.  I used Flat-Out this time because they grocery store I was at didn't have my favorite brand of wrap/tortilla, Joseph's. Scoop a 1/2 cup of the egg mixture and place it almost in the middle of the wrap.

Sprinkle on 1-2 TBS of goat cheese (you could also you use feta, but man oh man I love goat cheese)  and squirt some Sriacha on top (or hot sauce of your choice.  Or nothing if you don't like spice).

Take the end of the wrap that the eggs are closer to and fold it over the egg mixture pretty tightly.  Take the both ends and fold them in and the roll the wrap shut.  Then tightly seal the wrap in the aluminum foil.  When all your wraps are sealed, place them in a gallon sized freezer bag, squeeze out all the air, seal, and pop in the freezer!!  DONE.

To reheat I take it out of the aluminum foil, wrap it in a damp (not wet!) paper towel, and toss it in the microwave for 3 minutes.  No need to thaw!  You made need to adjust your cooking time based on  your microwave.  For your first one I would suggest starting with a lower time and building your way up as you check to see how warm it is.  Better to test it than to overcook the wrap and have a hard as a rock breakfast.  Yikes.  You will also have a hard as a rock breakfast if you don't wrap the wrap (hehe) in a paper towel first.  The flat-out will get dried out and turn rock solid.

rotisserie chicken broth (traditional and slow cooker)

I love rotisserie chickens.  It is such an easy meal on a day when you don't feel like cooking.  Not only can you have some chicken right then with a quick side (I like breast meat and a small side salad), but you can pull the leftover meat off the bone and freeze it for use in soups and salads or other meals you want to add some chicken to.  Additionally, you can use the chicken bones to make your own homemade, inexpensive, healthy chicken stock.

Why go through the work of making your own broth when the stuff at the store is not very expensive?  Well, if you look at a regular can of chicken broth, you will see a long list of ingredients similar to this one from a Swanson broth: CHICKEN BROTH, SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, DEXTROSE, YEAST EXTRACT, CHICKEN FLAVOR, FLAVORING, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, CHICKEN FAT, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, CHICKEN BROTH POWDER.

I don't know about you, but since I do not know what half of those are, I would rather spend a few minutes making my own. Not to mention, there is no reason to let those chicken bones go to waste.  Plus, the best thing about this recipe is it doesn't need to be a recipe!  You can use whatever ingredients you want or have on hand.

Start by getting out your full bag of chicken stock veggie and herb scraps (see basics page for what this means).  If you are using fresh vegetables, gather those and chop them up.

Next, either put your chicken in a crock pot (my preferred method as the broth seems much richer since it can sit longer) or in a large soup pot.

Next, add your veggies and the other ingredients (see suggestions below) and just enough water to cover the chicken (roughly 4-6 cups).

Turn your crock pot on (high or low, doesn't really matter) and let it run through a cycle.  If you are using a the stove-top method, bring your pot to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 4-6 hours.

Once your broth smells amazing or you don't have time to wait any longer, strain out all of the chicken and ingredients.  Let the broth cool in the fridge for a couple of hours until a film builds on the top.  Skim off the film and voila! your broth is ready!

Pour your broth in freezer containers in whatever increments works best for you cook.  I will usually take a batch and freeze it all together for when I need multiple cups to make soups and then use the next batch I make to freeze in 1 cup servings for use in recipes.

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken (most meat and skin gone)
1 bag of frozen stock veggies (see basics page)
      OR 2-3 carrots, 2-3 celery stalks, 1 onion, or whatever random veggies you have in fridge to use up
2 cloves garlic (or chopped garlic or garlic powder is fine)
1 TBS peppercorns
1 TBS lemon juice or vinegar (to draw out flavor from bones)
1 TSP thyme (or if you have fresh sprigs of thyme or parsley use that instead)
salt and pepper

my inspiration

I wanted to write a blog about cooking healthy for less.  Yes, I know there is already a million blogs and websites out there about cooking and probably a few thousand about cooking healthy and another couple of thousand about budget cooking (I know because I love a couple).  However, I have not had much luck on finding one about BOTH healthy cooking and budget cooking.  The problem with a lot of the healthy eating websites out there call for unusual or expensive ingredients.  Sorry, but as much as I love Whole Foods and wish I could do all my shopping there, my pocketbook will not allow it.  Conversely, many of the budget cooking websites rely on pasta and other white, processed foods.

I am hoping to bring you some recipes that are healthy and, for the most part, inexpensive.  Although I might sneak a couple in that lean a little more in either direction, depending on sales or other life events.  My plan is to post what each recipe would cost and some basic nutrition info (the stuff you see on the back of the box, plus any extra stuff I know about it).  Costs will vary based on where you shop and where you live.

Additionally, I am hoping to cut a lot of meat and dairy out of my recipes (when I am cooking for myself at least, my boyfriend is still stuck with the Midwest mentality that you need meat with meals).  For being only 30 years old and pretty active, I have a lot of health problems.  The more I research, it has become obvious that many of these (not all of course, some things just happen) are a result of the over-processed or high animal product diets many of us live in today's society.  Tons of articles that I have read, in addition to the movie Forks Over Knives, have made me wish I could eat a whole foods, plant based diet.  Alas, I have not made that jump yet.  Baby steps, right??

Last but not least, please don't expect my recipes to be exact.  I have never followed a recipe exactly in my life as I like to adjust levels and ingredients to my tastes.  I also wing it a lot of time with whatever I have on hand.  So measurements are not perfect, just pretty close.  A lot of times I will use you could use this or use that or use more or don't when I am writing the instructions.  I challenge you to make the recipes your own and get creative as well!