Omelettes, the easy way

I don't claim to be a chef by any stretch of the word, so when I figure out something that I find helpful, I want to share it with other struggling mamas.   During certain times of my diet, I will eat something called a Big Ass Breakfast.  Yeah, you read that right.  No, it doesn't mean this breakfast will give you a big ass, in case you're wondering, lol. It does, however, ensure that you will not be hungry the whole day, which is sometimes nice when you've got a busy day planned.  Since I make all of our meals at home, it's a nice option when I have to be away for all or part of the day.  This post isn't really about my diet so much as it is about how to make an easy omelette, but I figured someone might comment on the sheer size of the finished product.  Really...it's huge! There's a method to my madness, honestly. So let's get busy, shall we?

First of all, it helps to have an omelette pan.  I do not own one, so we'll just use our every day run-of-the-mill pan, mmm'kay?  I always start by browning some onions and bell peppers in some bacon fat, butter or coconut oil.

Turn your burner all the way to the lowest setting.  Sometimes I even take the pan off the burner for a couple of minutes if it's too hot from cooking the onions/peppers.  Combine your eggs and a dash of cream, some salt and pepper and whisk together.  Pour on top of your mixed veggies/fat in your pan.  Your burner will stay on low the whole time.

Shred some cheese on top.  Yup, I do it now, even though the eggs are not set.  Don't worry your pretty little head.  Everything will be just fine.  Deep breaths.

Here's the part where I do something a little unconventional.  I take a clean dish towel and gently lay it on top of the pan.  PLEASE be sure your pan is the right size for your burner.  In other words, don't use a small pan on a huge burner.  I can get away with draping the towel over the whole pan because I have a glass top range.  If you are using a regular electric burner, you can fold the corners of the towel in like shown.  If you are using a gas range, this may not be a good idea altogether.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

So anyway, I just leave the towel on top and check it periodically to see if the eggs are almost set.  You can tell this by shaking the pan back and forth gently.  If it's jiggly, it's not done.  If it's not jiggly, you're good to go. When your omelette is ready, slide a thin spatula around the edges to loosen it.

Then flip a third of it over to the center.  Looking good so far.

Here's where I always screw up.  Lift the other third of the omelette toward the center, breaking it in half, sending molten cheese spewing into the center of the pan!  I'm covering that up with a strategically placed spatula!  ;)

And here's the even funnier part.  If I had an omelette pan, that baby would slide right out, looking like perfection on a plate.  Instead, I have to heave the hot mess out onto a plate, usually ending up with it broken in half.  Looks gawd-awful!

But it tastes like heaven on a plate!  No burned, browned, over-cooked bottom.  Just eggy, cheesy goodness.

So, why is this towel thing any better than using a lid?  Wellllll, from what I can tell, this allows some of the moisture to escape, yet keeps the environment just moist enough to not dry out the eggs.   Any time I have used a lid, I end up with a watery mess.  If I don't use a lid, I end up with a runny mess. Now, I know with a 'real' omelette, you're supposed to tip the pan this way and that, allowing the uncooked egg to slip underneath, blah blah blah. (Or am I thinking of a crepe? LOL!)  Ehhh, who cares.  I don't have the time or the equipment for that business.  I'm going for EASY here, people.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Was it any easier than your prior attempts?  It was for me!

Easy, healthy homemade ice cream

When attempting to eliminate refined sugars from your diet, it can be somewhat limiting when you want something sweet, especially if what you want is ice cream!!!  I'm sure I didn't invent this, but when I have a hankering for ice cream, I make the following:

What you'll need per serving:
1C Frozen Raspberries or Strawberries (NO SUGAR added)
1/3-1/2C Heavy Whipping Cream
Stevia or Raw Honey
REAL Sea Salt

Start by adding your frozen berries to a bowl with sprinkle with salt.

Add either a teaspoon of raw honey up to 12 drops of liquid Stevia.  Different brands may take more or less.  Remember, when adding Stevia, start small and work your way up.  Things can go from pleasantly sweet to acky and bitter in a flash.

Pour over your cream.  Start with about 1/3 cup.  You can always add more later if it's not enough for your liking.  I like a lot, so I probably added a good 1/2 cup.

Give it all a good stir with your fork, then smash the berries as you go.  This will take just a minute or so.  That's it!  You're done in less time than it would take to scoop out a serving of the store-bought stuff!

I took a little longer than expected with my picture-taking and transferring to a fancy glass, so mine looks a little runny.  But when you're done, it's actually quite reminiscent of the REAL stuff if you ignore the seeds.  I actually like that because it reminds me that I'm eating something real and healthy.

I LOVE this stuff.  I could eat it every night.  The heavy cream gives it such a luscious and almost buttery mouth feel that is to die for!  Just as a test, I tried a teeny tiny bite of the commercial stuff the other day.  Because I haven't really had anything with chemicals in it for so long, I wasn't surprised to find that it tasted HORRIBLE to me. All I could taste was chemicals. Until you eat real food for a while, your tongue can't seem to differentiate between real food and chemicals.  Once you've been 're-sensitized' again, it's kinda shocking how strange things taste.  I hope you'll give this a try sometime and let me know what you think.  It's a "real' treat!

Natural Sinus Relief

Last weekend, some friends, the hub and I took the kids to Mahoney State Park.  They have this really cool water park with slides, a wave pool, tons of things to climb/slide around on for the kids.  Yes, my friend and I wore our bathing suits.  Yes, we looked like beached whales, but that's beside the point, LOL!   Never let it be said that I let my own vanity stand in the way of my kid having a blast!  We didn't get any pix because we didn't want to get our phones wet.  Trust me, you probably wouldn't want to see those anyway, lol.

We had a great time, but a few days later, I could feel the affects of all the skanky pee-riddled/germ-infested pool water in my sinuses.  WHY I didn't use my sinus rinse the second I arrived home is beyond me!  Anyway, fast forward a few days and I have a sore throat and aching sinuses.  My ears are even starting to itch a bit.

It could just be allergies, but I like to blame the pool water instead.  What I didn't want to happen was to have this flare-up turn into a full-blown sinus infection, then into the dreaded bronchitis that seems to plague me ever since I had a really bad case of it 4 1/2 years ago!  It's been a year and a half since my last one (knock on wood), so I'm hoping my healthy diet will help stave it off.  But just in case, I decided to do something I saw online at the Healthy Home Economist's web site.  On an ironic note, I just told my friend Mary I haven't had any trouble in ages.  (So I'm not gonna put raw onion around the house like she saw online, ha ha ha.)  Go figure.

You will need the following:
A sinus rinse kit, such as Neil Med
Distilled Water
Neil Med Sinus Rinse packets (or a combo of baking soda and sea salt)
One Probiotic Capsule

Start by filling the bottles with distilled water and microwaving for 50 seconds.  Your microwave WILL VARY, so use caution.  I usually do it for one full minute, but figured I'd better err on the side of caution so I don't kill the probiotics in the capsule. Dump in a packet of the sinus rinse into each bottle.  Trust me, you do NOT want to do this without it.  Your sinuses will BURN like they're on fire.

Open a probiotic capsule and add half of it to each bottle.  If you only have one bottle, just add all of the capsule contents into it.

Put the lids on, place your finger over the holes, and shake WELL.  I shook mine for a good minute because I found that the probiotic powder wanted to float on the top.

Use sinus rinse as directed.  Couldn't take pix of that.  You wouldn't want to see that anyway.
Gently blow your nose. You don't want to send that water back into your eustachian tubes.  The idea here is that the good bacteria in the probiotics will kill off the bad bacteria brewing in your sinuses.  I've even heard some people say they open a capsule and sprinkle it on the back of their tongue.
That's it!  Interestingly, my sore throat went away IMMEDIATELY.  I was really surprised to find that.  I'll let you know in a few days if this little trick really works!  Stay tuned!