Dishing It Up!

by Victoria Mattson

Victoria Mattson is a local cook, confectionaire and writer. She offers healthy and nutritious recipes and food tips in each issue of North County Outlook. Phone (360) 658-9903 or e-mail victoria@northcountyoutlook.com.

This Mother's Day, surprise the Mom in your life by making breakfast for her! Make it scrumptious for her and easy on yourself by cooking up a Breakfast Skillet. Made with eggs, fresh vegetables and breakfast meats, this dish can be personalized to include her favorite ingredients.

Breakfast Skillets are popular at many breakfast eateries. Frequently, however, they are quite an indulgence, containing high amounts of saturated fat and calories. In this recipe makeover, the calories and fat are at friendly levels.

Start the skillet sizzling with a choice of bacon, sausage or ham. Small portions of these meats are all that's needed to impart great flavor and keep the calorie counts low. A medium slice of bacon, 1/2 ounce sausage, an ounce of ham or Canadian bacon each has approximately 50 calories.

Plan to add 1 to 11/2 cups of fresh vegetables per serving to the skillet. While red peppers, sweet onions and potatoes are typical additions, other favorites can be substituted or added. Spinach, broccoli, and green peppers or chilies would be great in this dish.



Breakfast Skillet



4 medium sliced strips of bacon

1 cup cubed potatoes

1 red bell pepper

1 small sweet onion, such as Walla Walla

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup cherry or roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

6 large eggs, beaten



1. Place potatoes in a microwave bowl. Add 1 tablespoon water, cover and microwave potatoes on high for 2-3 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Set aside.



2. Spray a 10-inch skillet with cooking spray. Cook bacon (or 2 ounces sausage) over medium heat until thoroughly cooked and browned. Remove meat from skillet and when cool, crumble into pieces and set aside. Pour off excess grease from the pan. VARIATION: For ham or Canadian bacon cubes, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the skillet and lightly brown the cubes over medium heat. Remove from heat when browned and set aside.



3. Add red pepper and onion to the skillet and sauté over medium heat for about one minute. Add the mushrooms and cook two minutes more. Finally, add in the potatoes. Sauté until the veggies are soft and the potatoes have slightly browned. VARIATION: If using spinach, add it during the last minute of cooking.



4. Return the bacon (or other meat) to the skillet and mix with the vegetables. Pour the beaten eggs over the top, cover and cook on medium-low heat about 8 minutes until almost firm.



5. Uncover and top the eggs with tomato and shredded cheese. Continue to cook, uncovered, until the cheese is melted.



Contact Victoria at Victoria@northcountyoutlook.com or by phone 360-658-9903.