Recipe: Italian Vegetable Egg Custard

Are you looking for a new weekend breakfast recipe? This is one of my favorites, particularly in the spring and summer months. It does take some preparation, but it is most certainly worth the effort! It is early for summer squash in most gardening zones, but you can find a nice selection of fresh squash at the Farmer's markets and some supermarkets.

Featured recipe from Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test, page 144.
Shared with permission, LivingAfterWLS, LLC (C) 2012.

Summer Squash

Custard doesn't have to be sweet to be delicious. This savory brunch custard makes gr  eat use of fresh summer vegetables. After you have tried it with squash and tomatoes, experiment with other fresh vegetables like peppers, mushrooms, and even diced or shredded winter squash. Explore your creative Receptiveness! See page 74 of Day 6: Beyond the 5DPT.

Italian Vegetable Egg Custard

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
4 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups summer squash, shredded
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup black olives, sliced, divided
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 bunch green onions, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450°F and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs and flour until smooth. Stir in summer squash, zucchini and 1/4 cup olives; mix well. Spread in prepared baking pan. Place in center of oven and bake until custard is set, about 10 minutes. (see note). Remove to a warm trivet.

Mix the Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning blend and garlic salt together and sprinkle evenly over the baked custard. Top evenly with tomato slices, remaining olives, sliced green onion and mozzarella cheese. Divide into four equal portions and serve warm.

Learn More: Health Benefits of Eggs

Note: To determine that the custard is done insert a wooden skewer or toothpick into the center about two-thirds down. If it comes out clean the custard is done. If the custard is almost done turn the oven off and leave the oven door slightly ajar so the custard will finish cooking

Serves 4. Per serving: 232 Calories; 12g Fat; 13g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber.

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 Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test

Sale $19.95

Thousands of people around the world use Kaye Bailey’s 5 Day Pouch Test to stop weight gain after weight loss surgery and return to the basics prescribed by their bariatric center.  But what happens on Day 6? Kaye Bailey answers that question sharing her generous spirit of compassion and belief in others as she shares her secrets for working with the surgical weight management tool for lifetime weight maintenance. Readers quickly learn that working with the tool, not against it, brings optimum success and healthy long-term weight management. No gimmicks. No quick fixes. Just profound sensibility delivered in the powerful “you can do this” style we have come to expect from Ms. Bailey. The 66 recipes will put delicious guilt-free food on your table as you nurture your best life and health with weight loss surgery. Kaye’s Day 6 lifestyle is suitable for all bariatric procedures including gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding, gastric sleeve and others.

Learn More: Day 6

Caution: Don't Overreact to the Scale

Learn clever ways to measure food intake:
The 5 Day Pouch Test: Express Study Guide

"Measuring food portions is as important in our weight management as measuring body weight. They are intrinsically related."
Kaye Bailey

How many times do you invest your emotions for the day in one data point - the number on the bathroom scale?  I know it is very easy for me to be disappointed and self critical when the bathroom scale reports a bad number and equally happy when it tells me I've been "good." A rational mind knows better than to surrender emotions to the scale.  But when you have battled obesity your entire life emotions are intrinsically interwoven with every measure of our body size including weight, BMI, and dress size. It seems few of us ever escape the emotional attachment, no matter how much we understand it doesn't make sense.

But Mayo Clinic health and wellness specialist Paula Ricke says, "Weighting yourself regularly can help in weight loss, but don't let daily variations in your weight upset you. They may be just fluid changes. You have better control over what you eat and what you do than over numbers on the scale, so make it your goal to concentrate on those activities."

One area where I can improve is measuring food portions and taking better control over what I eat. In talking with others I know that many of us find measuring portions, and keeping a food journal, is a low priority. But how can we expect different results on the bathroom scale if we cannot be bothered to monitor and make changes in other measurable areas that impact our weight and health management? I address this very topic in my forthcoming book, Cooking with Kaye, and present an excerpt here:

"Small Measured Quantities:  This is key. I know it is annoying to measure portions. It is for me and I've heard from enough people in our WLS Neighborhood to know we all find it a hassle. The best way I can state this is that  if we cannot be bothered to measure our food serving tonight, then tomorrow morning when we step on the bathroom scale we should not be bothered when the results are not what we hoped for.  Measuring food portions is as important in our weight management as measuring body weight. They are intrinsically related.

"We tend to be polarized by one measurement (body weight) and ambivalent to the other measurement (food portions) when in fact one directly affects the other. Weight loss surgery patients are pro-active people by nature. We took pro-active measures to alter the course of our illness, morbid obesity, by having gastric surgery. We can achieve the best results - the results that motivated us to pursue a surgical option - when we routinely measure and monitor our food intake. A hyper-awareness of what and how much we eat will certainly give us the results we desire on that other revered symbol of measurement: the bathroom scale," Kaye Bailey.

Real Men Eat Breakfast: Especially with WLS

 From Cooking with Kaye November 6, 2011

Hearty Breakfast:

Yogurt & Granola are for Sissy's

Men who report following a diet for weight loss say a hearty breakfast is key for staying on track all day. And by hearty I mean eggs, bacon or sausage, whole grain and some vegetable or fruit complex carbohydrates. Women, on the other hand, tend to eat "proper" diet food for breakfast such as yogurt or granola, a meal replacement shake, fresh fruit or simply plain black coffee or tea. You already know who feels hungry by 10 a.m.

Joel, a weight loss surgery patient from Indiana down 120+ pounds told me, "I need to have breakfast, to put my food on a plate and eat it with a fork and knife. It has to look like a meal. I tried going with shakes for breakfast but it just didn't do it for me. I'm born and bred a farm boy and we eat breakfast early, every day. But now, instead of 12 slices of bacon and 4 pieces of toast I have 2 slices of bacon, scrambled eggs and a few bites of toast." Joel added that he pays attention to his pouch and stops eating at the first sign of fullness. And he saves that strong cup of cowboy coffee for a little bit later in the day giving his food time to digest.

Most of us cite lack of time as the major barrier in preparing a healthy cooked breakfast. Dedicating some time once a week to ingredient preparation can make tossing together a one-pan breakfast a snap. Consider cooking a package of bacon or lean sausage all at once and store in the refrigerator until time to make breakfast. Clean, chop, and store veggies (in the recipe below we use sliced mushrooms) so they are ready to toss in the one-pan breakfast as you need them. Use non-stick pans and cooking spray to make clean-up a snap. Save leftovers and gently reheat for a warm breakfast the next day.  And set the clock 15 minutes earlier if needed: you deserve to start the day with a healthy hearty meal.

The One-Pan Breakfast

Here is a blueprint for a manly one-pan breakfast. Use it as your guideline for tossing together great food in snap to start the day off right.

Ingredients:
6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup mushroom slices
1 cup grape tomatoes, washed, halved
Salt and Pepper to taste
Canola or Olive Oil
8 large eggs

Directions:

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with the canola or olive oil, about 1 teaspoon. Heat over medium high and add the mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook and stir until vegetables are tender and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer mixture to a plate and keep warm. Add crumbled bacon to skillet and toss and stir until just reheated. Add warm crumbled bacon to mushroom and tomatoes. Add 2 teaspoons canola or olive oil to the pan and then carefully crack in the eggs. Cook them sunny-side up, or until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

As the eggs continue to cook distribute the bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes back to the pan arranging around the eggs. Cook eggs to your preferred doneness and serve warm, 2 eggs per serving, with a generous serving of the vegetables and bacon.

Change-ups:

Scramble the eggs if you prefer. When almost done top with bacon and veggies. Add a sprinkle of shredded cheese and melt under broiler. Consider using cooked flaked halibut or salmon in place of the bacon. Peeled, ready-to-eat shrimp is another good lean protein that works well in this dish. No time for veggies? Use good quality salsa in place of the vegetables.

 

View Cooking with Kaye in our archive: CWK November 6, 2011