This Old Dog Learned A New Trick!

I make breakfast for dinner one night each week.

I've written about it here.

After re-commiting myself (again) to the 17 Day Diet, I found that I was not going to be able to have my usual turkey bacon with my eggs at dinner on Cycle 1.

I knew that there was a recipe on some of the blogs for do-it-yourself Turkey Sausage but for some reason I had avoided it for the past year. Not sure why. I think I thought that it was going to be disgusting.

Well, tonight was the night that I went for it. Mostly out of desperation. I needed some sort of meat!

Surprise, surprise! It was actually pretty darn good! So good in fact that my picky son who loves his bacon, ham, and sausage of all kinds ate TWO of the patties that I made!

I adapted the recipe from here, one of the original 17 Day Diet recipe blogs.

I really just adapted it to suit one package of turkey breast since the original recipe calls for two pounds and all I had was the 20 ounce package that I had picked up at Target earlier in the day.

Turkey Sausage

1 20 ounce package of ground turkey (or chicken) breast
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until blended.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, coat with olive oil or PAM

Form the turkey sausage into patties and cook until browned on both sides, and no longer pink in the middle

OR

Cook as crumbles to mix into recipes!



I ended up starting the patties in the pan

 And then ended up finishing them off in the oven

I served them with Artichoke Parmesan Frittata and roasted carrots. 

It just goes to show you that you can teach an old dog new tricks! I turned up my nose at this one and it ended up being super quick and tasty...and much healthier than anything I could buy in the store!

Breakfast. It's What's For Dinner.

Once a week in my house we have breakfast for dinner.

I'm not sure when the tradition started, but its a favorite of everyone's.

The three of us all have different diets. Mine is for weight loss. The husband is a Vegetarian. The kid is a picky pain in the ass.

Breakfast covers all of the bases for us.

There are ALWAYS at least three components. Eggs, breakfast meat, and some sort of breakfast bread.

The meat is typically bacon, either turkey bacon or the new Applegate Farms Good Morning Bacon that has 60% less fat than regular bacon.

Once in a blue moon I'll bust out a ham steak. Trader Joe's used to have a really good one from Niman Ranch.

The meat is eaten by me (the dieter) and the PITA (pain in the you know what).

Then comes the breakfast bread.

As much as I love to cook with whole ingredients, I find that not only is it easier to use a mix for pancake, it tastes better too. I usually go with Krusteaz brand. Sometimes Trader Joe's.

If it's a Sunday and they really want it, we bust out the waffle maker. This only happens a few times a year.

If my mother-in-law has visited and has brought her umpteenth loaf of Red, White and Blue Bread from Wegman's I will turn that sucker into french toast.

It has blueberries and cranberries and is covered with sugar on the outside. It's good. Trust me.

All of those delicious sounding bread items? Waffles, pancakes, french toast? I don't eat them. Those are for the Vegetarian and the PITA.

Now we get to the eggs.

If I am totally short on time they get scrambled or over hard. If I am trying to comfort my husband they get made into Toad in the Hole.

Most of the time I make a frittata, or egg pie. I eat this one, and so does the Vegetarian. The PITA hates eggs, so this one is out for him.

Egg pie involves taking whatever vegetables I have laying around, sautéing them, and then mixing with egg and low-fat cheese and baking it in the oven.

When I was younger I insisted on using my frittata pan and cooking it first on top of the stove and then into the oven.

Now that I am older and wiser and shorter on time, I just mix everything and throw it into a Pyrex baking dish.

Here's a basic recipe…and amounts are not exact. It's a true mish-mash type of thing.

Sautee vegetables in some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (Mushrooms, onion, spinach, artichoke hearts, broccoli, asparagus, peppers, etc)

Scramble 8 eggs, and add the vegetables.

Pour in a splash of milk or water. Add some low-fat cheese. I love to use the low-fat feta from Trader Joe's, but you can do any kind of shredded or crumbled cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 in a 8 inch square or round dish for about 30 minutes.

That's it. Easy, right?

This is the one I made tonight:

Mine had mushrooms, fresh spinach and feta.

You really can't go wrong with this one, and its delish hot or cold.

Sometimes there are hash browns for the Veg and the PITA, and fresh fruit. For some reason tonight the PITA wanted cucumber salad with his, and who am I to argue with a healthy choice like that?

Try breakfast for dinner for a change…it will fit the bill for everyone in your home!