Egg Mug Lorraine

Egg Mug Lorraine - (Hungry Girl 1-2-3, Pg. 75, 128 calories) This is a very easy breakfast to make and it is pretty tasty too.  I discovered that at the grocery store (Ralphs, to be precise), you can buy egg beaters in a half cup serving so you can save yourself a few seconds of time by not having to measure out the liquid-egg substitute.  And if you are anything like me, you like to have something different for breakfast so sometimes you don't use up all of the egg beaters in the 7 days so the individual servings are also a money saver that stops you from wasting food.

If you are short on time in the morning and you are looking for eggs with a subtle flavor, this is the recipe for you.  Also, some claim that eggs are the best protein to eat in the morning.  They will make you feel full longer and some claim that you are more likely to lose weight if you eat eggs for breakfast.

Cheesed-Up Pepperoni Pizza Scramble

Cheesed-Up Pepperoni Pizza Scramble (HG 200, pg.46)

Dishes Used- 3
Fire Alarms- 0
First Aid Incidents- 1
Matthew Annoyance Level- 0

I really like this one and have made it many times.  However, be careful when you are cutting the pepperoni.  It is easy and most of the ingredients I usually keep on hand.  It's more interesting than just making scrambled eggs.  Make sure not to add too much cheese, it gets too salty and then just tasted like cheese.

Attack of the HG Breakfast

Spinach, Tomato, Feta 'n Egg Wrap Attack (Hungry Girl 200 under 200 book, page 12, 168 calories)

Dishes Used: 3
Fire Hazards: 0
Injury Count: +/- 1
Matthew Annoyance Level: 2

This is delicious and I actually ended up making this several times.  It's pretty easy.  I actually used my little single serving egg pan to make the egg patty at the same time I was chopping and cooking the rest.  Big tip that took Kelly and I time to learn is to read ALL the directions.  Now, even though I think I do that I obviously don't.  It is really important to prepare everything before you begin heating the spinach because it only takes a minute or so for the spinach to start wilting.  I gave it the +/- 1 injury report because chopping the spinach is pretty tricky and I came close to cutting a finger.  But hey, if you do no one will notice because the blood will blend in with the fire-roasted diced tomatoes.  I had to ask Matthew to open the sun-dried tomato jar and in our tiny kitchen I was blocking the dishes while he was trying to make breakfast, but otherwise he was undisturbed.  This is a great breakfast OR lunch option.

Cinnamon-Vanilla French Toast Nuggets (200 under 200 book, page 21, 151 calories)

Dishes Used: 2
Fire Hazards: 0
Injury Count: 0
Matthew Annoyance Level: 1

If you are dying for french toast, this recipe will do. I'm still wondering why the hot dog buns, but I did it that way and it tasted fine.  Not enough to feel totally fulfilling with one serving.  I couldn't find the coffee-mate brand creamer but I found a Ralphs' brand creamer that was the same.  I did find the nugget shape and size fun to eat and this would make a great kids recipe (ie. Joey).  I do recommend making more of the egg/creamer/cinnamon mixture than needed.  You never want to run out of egg mixture before bread.  Matthew gets annoyed by hot dog packages that have more dogs than you can buy buns for, so doing this recipe messes up that dog-to-bun ratio, so I bought my own buns and put the rest in the freezer.

-Diana

First aid, Fire Alarms and Chaos Galore!!!

Dishes used: 21
Fire Alarms: 1
Fingers burnt: 1 thumb
Igniting Stovetop Flames: 1
Matt's Annoyance Level: 4

Well, let's just say it was an interesting Hungry Girl Evening.  Once again, we set off the smoke alarm.  (Last time we did it while making the Fries).  I burned my thumb when attempting to flip hash browns in a skillet.  Hash browns don't flip.  Diana almost set me on fire when she discovered the flammable properties of cooking spray.  And Matthew looked at us in annoyance when he had to once again clear the smoke from the apartment.

Now I am sure you are wondering what recipes could possibly lead to such an eventful evening.  We'll tell you: Snazzy Spanish Omelette, Butternut Hash Browns, and Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins.

Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 278, 127 calories per serving)  This was the only recipe that didn't give us any trouble.  Everything worked out according to the directions except we did have enough to make 6 muffins instead of 4.  Perhaps if you dice the apples instead of cutting them into cubes like we did, it will make the 4 serving recipe.  They were good, nonetheless.  We would recommend using foil muffin cups instead of paper cups.

Snazzy Spanish Omelette: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 60, 191 calories per serving) The sauce is simple to make but we felt we didn't need such a large portion.  We would recommend adding some of the veggies to the omelette mixture instead of the sauce.  Diana says she wouldn't even bother with the sauce.  She would put all of the veggies in the omelette and just put the two tablespoons of salsa on top.   So this was a fairly simple recipe.  Of course we had an omelette pan that Diana's mother left behind on accident.  It might be more difficult if you don't have an omelette pan.

Diana's advice: If you have a gas stove, don't spray the aerosol cooking spray near the open flame.  You just might set your best friend on fire or at the very least scare the crap out of her.

We would also like to point out that one serving could actually feed two.  This makes for one large omelette.

Butternut Hash Browns: (Hungry Girl 200 under 200, Pg. 92, 104 calories per serving)  This was the most eventful and challenging recipe of the evening.  Perhaps, in hindsight, we should have throughly read the recipe before we began.  We missed the "tip" on shredding the butternut squash with a cheese grater.  We used a vegetable peeler.  It didn't affect the taste but it probably would have assisted with the ease in other parts of the recipe.  We also discovered that you should attempt to make 3 recipes at a time or 3 servings at a time.  You really need to do one serving at a time if you want to the recipe following the directions written in the book.  After setting off the smoke alarm and burning my thumb while attempting to flip 3 servings of hash browns in a skillet, we decided to put it all into a pyrex dish and bake it in the oven.  Diana set the oven at 350 degrees while I tended to my now blistering thumb.  We baked it around 7 minutes--after we had already cooked a portion of it on the stove.  So maybe bake it for 5 minutes, flip it, and bake for another 5 minutes.

Even though the recipe made for an interesting evening, it did taste like real hash browns.  This is something I personally might try to do again to see if I can perfect it.