Tag: easy dinner

Life is stressful right now. There’s a lot going on in the world. And there’s a lot going on in my house. Things are chaotic.

Under normal circumstances, I cook or prepare 2-3 meals a day, 6-7 days a week. I try to avoid processed convenience foods. It’s a privilege of being underemployed and single that I have the opportunity to eat as healthy and clean as I want without a lot of time constraints. But when life is stressful and there are lots of other things to think about and do, it’s just not realistic to spend hours in the kitchen everyday. (I know for many people this is always the case.)

I try to maintain a diet that is low carb, high fat, with a good amount of lean protein. A lot of times that means chicken or fish with a big salad or cooked vegetables or both. Those things aren’t particularly hard but they can be tedious and take a deceptive amount of time. All the chopping and the different utensils and dishes to wash after can be annoying when you’re stressed and tired and really don’t want to bother.

So lately I’ve been working on easier, faster recipes. The alternative is takeout everyday, which is tempting but not a good solution if I want to stay on track with my nutrition goals. Instead I’ve been focused on making nutrient dense foods that don’t require prep or skill. This omelette taco is perfect because it ticks all my boxes, healthy, low carb, easy to make, easy to clean. Perfect.

the incredible egg

The omelette taco has become one of my favorites. It’s actually like half quesadilla, half taco but I couldn’t think of a good word for that. It’s not like a panini, it’s definitely not a pita, so Omelette Taco it is.

The Omelette Taco is 2 eggs cooked in a skillet then glued to a low carb wrap with cheese. You can add ingredients like onions, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, or spinach to the skillet to for the omelette, and you can fill your taco with other toppings like avocado, salsa, sour cream, meat, or greens. Most kinds of cheese you buy pre-shredded will work: cheddar, mozzarella, Mexican blend, etc. I have torn up little pieces of American and that worked fine too. You can season the eggs while you’re cooking, or season the taco after, or you can skip the seasoning. Use paprika, cumin, curry powder, chili powder, Italian herbs, garlic salt, whatever you fancy. Because of the flexible nature of both the omelette and and the taco, the flavor possibilities for these little ditties are pretty much endless.

I eat these at all hours of the day, mostly because of how easy they are. They are great because from prep to plate they take 10 minutes, clean up is easy, and even though they’re simple they aren’t boring.

When I say easy, I’m not kidding. I sometimes like just plain ones, which are (obviously) the simplest. Here’s what you do: make a scrambled egg patty in a medium frying pan. To do that just pour 2 whisked eggs into a pan with hot melted butter. (Yes, I use butter. No I don’t feel guilty.) Let the eggs run so it fills the area of the pan. Cook on medium until the eggs are hardening. Add salt & pepper. Sprinkle a healthy amount of shredded cheese (cheddar is my go-to) over the egg patty, then cover the surface with your tortilla wrap. Flip the whole thing over and heat on high. Pat the egg (facing up) with your spatula. When it feels flat against the tortilla, it’s finished. Put it on a plate, add some avocado slices, then fold it up and eat it like a taco.

The Spinach & Onion Omelette Taco

Making eggs with vegetables in them is slightly trickier but still easier and faster than your average dinner. Like I said above you can use any ingredients, just make sure they are chopped finely.

I make the spinach and onion omelette taco quite often because it adds a helping of greens and I usually have a box of spinach and a baggie diced onion sitting in my fridge. Plus it’s tasty. I often make this with white Mexican cheese blend (Oaxaca, queso quesadilla, & asadero), but I also like it with yellow cheddar. The instructions are exactly the same either way.

First get everything prepped. Cook your turkey bacon in the microwave per package instructions. In a bowl, whisk 2 eggs until yolks and whites are blended. Measure out your spinach and pull off the stems. I like to press the spinach in a paper towel to dry it a little bit. Dice your onions if necessary. Measure out 1.5 ounces of cheese (a heaping ⅓ cup).

Pull out salt, black pepper (grinder if possible), garlic powder and paprika. I use my fingers to add the seasoning but if you want to use a measuring spoon use the smallest one you have, because you only need a dash of each.

Also make sure to have your tortilla ready because the cooking process goes fast. My favorite tortilla wraps are these La Banderita Carb Counter tortillas. They come in both wheat and white and both are delicious, high in fiber and low in net carbs. (Unfortunately no one is paying me to plug these I just really, really love them.) If net carbs are not a priority or you can’t find these, you want to use “Soft Taco” size wraps, 8-8.5 inches.

It’s also important to use a skillet that matches the size of your tortilla. You definitely don’t want to use a skillet smaller than the tortilla. A few centimeters is fine, but the whole thing works because the size of the egg matches the size of the wrap, and the egg size is based on the area of the pan.

The actual cook time for this recipe goes very quickly, so it’s critical to set up all of your ingredients next to your stove. I personally hate overcooked eggs, so I need to be able to grab everything the second I need it to make sure I don’t waste seconds on the stove.

Start by melting a teaspoon (5-6 grams) butter in your medium-sized skillet, on medium heat. Add onions, cooking for about 90 seconds until they are translucent. (If you want them more caramelized, cook an extra minute with a couple of extra grams of butter.) As soon as onions are ready, poor your whisked eggs into the pan. I always take a second to scrape the sides of the egg bowl to get as much into the pan as possible. The eggs will start cooking immediately. Twist the pan around so that the eggs reach all edges of the skillet. If you see egg liquid pooling too much in one spot, tilt it to help distribute it evenly. Also, use your scraper to play with the edges so that they don’t stick to the sides of the skillet.

Let the eggs cook for just 60 seconds. Then add the seasonings: a dash each of paprika and garlic powder, a healthy sprinkle of salt, and 4-5 twists of the pepper grinder. At this point, the egg should be about 70% cooked. Don’t worry about the egg that’s still liquid, it will finish cooking after it’s flipped.

So after about a minute of cooking, when a majority of the egg is cooked and you’ve added your spices, add the spinach, then the cheese. Make sure the cheese covers as much surface area as possible. It will act as the adhesive to connect the wrap with the omelette. Now add the tortilla/wrap.

Once the spinach, cheese, and tortilla are on top of the egg, use the rubber spatula to press the tortilla into the pan, to help the cheese glue the two sides together. This only takes a few seconds, then use the spatula to flip the egg over, so that the tortilla is on the bottom. (You may need to pick at the edges a little bit with your spatula but it should flip easily.)

Once flipped, turn the burner to high and let the whole thing cook another minute or two. Use the spatula to press down on the egg. You will be able to feel (and maybe see) the rest of the liquid egg harden as it finishes cooking. When it no longer feels squishy, it’s finished. If you want to, you can let this side cook longer as there’s enough barrier between the heat and the egg that it shouldn’t burn, but I wouldn’t let it go more than 2 ½ minutes, especially on the high heat.

When the egg feels firm, move it from the heat to a plate. Add two slices of turkey bacon and several slices of avocado to one half of the taco disc and then fold in half, forming a taco shape. And that’s it! Ready to eat. If I want a big lunch or dinner I’ll add a side of salad, berries or nuts, but in the morning or if I’m not too hungry it’s plenty by itself. 10 minutes and you have a whole delicious meal shaped like a single large taco.

Told you it was easy.