I recently began work as a personal chef, and I am loving it! My client has a pretty strict food schedule with specific amounts of protein, veggies, and carbs he’s allotted for each meal, but I’m allowed full creative freedom. It’s like using the same pieces of a puzzle to make different creations, and it has been so much fun for me.
Here’s an example. Breakfast includes 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup spinach, 1/2 cup GF oats, and 1/4 avocado. That’s my template, but I can add other veggies or play with it to keep it interesting with him (I’m not about to serve him scrambled egg whites with sautéed spinach on a daily basis–I wouldn’t even be able to stomach that on the daily).
This is one of the meals I came up with to use these ingredients! They’re wonderful, easy, come together in a flash, are supremely poppable for easy breakfasts, and have enough flavor to make you actually look forward to breakfast. Even better because they will keep you full!
I hope you enjoy these as much as I have enjoyed making them (and my client has enjoyed eating them).
Other fun recipes I’ve come up with involving this template have included a sweet version of these (coming soon), a stuffed omelet, and green pancakes (which I will make again and measure the ingredients so I can share it here too).
Savory Egg White Oat Bake
Ingredients:
-15 egg whites (or 7-8 whole eggs)
-1 1/2 cups GF old fashioned oats
-3/4 bell pepper (any variety)
-1 poblano pepper
-1 jalapeño pepper
-1 1/2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 cup basil, chopped
-1 tsp salt (+ more to taste)
-dash hot sauce of choice
-avocado oil
Directions:
- Add oats and egg whites to a bowl, and stir to combine. Allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients because the mixture will thicken slightly.
- Rub the bell pepper, poblano, and jalapeño in a small amount of oil, then lay on a sheet tray and place into the oven. Broil until browned (approximately 7 minutes, flipping halfway through–keep an eye on it so they don’t burn).
- Sauté spinach and garlic until slightly wilted. Allow to cool completely (feel free to place it in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes to speed up the process).
- When you remove the peppers from the oven, leave the door open to cool the oven down some, then preheat oven to 375°F.
- Once peppers are cool enough to handle, dice them.
- I left the seeds in the poblano and jalapeño pepper to make it spicy, but if you don’t like a lot of heat then be sure to remove the seeds during this step.
- Add spinach/garlic mixture and peppers to the bowl with egg whites and oats, then add the rest of the ingredients (hot sauce, basil, and salt). Mix well to combine.
- Spray a muffin pan with avocado oil spray (or spray of your choice). Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffin tins (approximately 1/3 cup mixture per muffin).
- Place into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they have raised and the tops are starting to brown while the sides pull away from the pan.
- 20 minutes was perfect for me, so I would err on the side of 20 minutes so they don’t dry up.
- When cool enough to handle, the muffins should pop right out of the pan! You may need to run a butter knife around the sides, but otherwise they will come out very easily.
- Enjoy with avocado, another dash of hot sauce, or with whatever sides tickle your fancy!
Notes:
-Don’t have a muffin pan? No problem! Pour the mixture into a greased/sprayed 9×13 pan and bake for 5-10 minutes longer (25-30 minutes), or until the center doesn’t jiggle (technical term).
-These will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.
-Reheat by microwaving for 2 minutes or until warmed through.
-Replace peppers with ~3/4 cup other veggies to mix it up! Mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, asparagus…so many great options. Be sure to roast them before to add flavor 🙂
I made a smaller version of the recipe and baked it into a dish, and it worked well too!
AIPooja: Seeking Wellness through Disease 