Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Breakfast: Quick and Easy with Egg Whites!

I think by now most people know you NEED to eat breakfast if you want to lose weight, be healthy, balance your blood sugar, ETC.  It's Key.  Don't believe me? Google it and thousands of official people/studies will confirm my point. With that as a premise- I felt the need to talk about my favorite breakfast food today following a happy hour discussion last night. A girlfriend mentioned how hard it was on her current diet to find breakfast foods. I brought up egg whites and she was pretty hesitant (meaning she called them totally gross :)) but I seriously think they are one of the most diet friendly foods around.  Not only are they low calorie, you can honestly put nearly ANYTHING in them for a warm and nutritious meal. The key is figuring out what to add, which takes a little experimenting.
What seems to challenge even more people than finding what to eat in the morning is finding the time to prepare and eat breakfast.  After making a delicious Basil & Swiss egg white omelet on English muffin in LESS THAN 6 MINUTES this morning, I know it can be done. 
Here are my tips (and recipe) that will speed things up in the a.m. 
Step 1: Pop English muffin in toaster.  Turn heat on pan and spray it with PAM.  Time saving tip- use the right size skillet.  If you are making a one person omelet, this should be a small preferably stainless steel pan. 
Step 2: Get egg whites out of fridge, cheese, and any other ingredients you want to add. Time saving tips- use egg whites that are in a carton, already separated from the yolks and cheese that is pre-shredded or pre-sliced.
Step 3: Pour 1/3 cup egg whites (about the amount of two eggs) into pan.  Grind pepper or other spices onto egg mixture in pan.  Time saving tip- make sure the pan is already heated to speed up cook time.
Step 4: As the egg starts to firm up, add in additional ingredients.  This morning I used fresh basil, simply tore up a few leaves and put them in.  Then add cheese and let it melt. Once the cheese has started melting (cook time about 3.5 min), fold the egg mixture in half and it magically becomes an omelet!
Step 5: Get English muffin out of toaster, place on plate.  Remove omelet from pan and cut in half.  Put one half on each English muffin and you have a delicious, balanced, nutritious breakfast in UNDER 6 min. 
Calories:
1/3 cup egg whites: 50
Slice light cheese (today I used Swiss): 50
Thomas Brand Whole wheat light English muffin: 100
Basil: I'll give it 5- it was just a few leaves for flavor. 
Basil & Swiss Egg White Omelet. Total calories: 205Total Time: 6 min. Enjoyment level: So good! Eggs stick with you and don't leave you starving (and prone to sweets/carb cravings) at 10a.m.
Other quick and easy omelet additions that you might already have in your fridge:
Cilantro & salsa, chives, lunch meat turkey, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, bell peppers & onions, Morningstar Farms brand products (the fake sausage patty is my favorite)- really anything goes!
Don't love English muffins? Substitute for a piece of ezekial bread toast (80 cal) or make an egg burrito by making the omelet a scramble and putting it in a low carb tortilla (120 cal).

Here's my challenge- try an egg white omelet this week. I PROMISE you won't regret it and you may just find a new breakfast staple.
XO
Chel
PS.  The people who make Laughing Cow Light Cheeses have heard and answered my prayers! They created a spreadable light BLUE CHEESE version that is SO good and still only 35 calories a wedge! It might actually be a worthy substitute for my cheese cravings...

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