Easy Breakfast Frittata

I can’t believe I have been gatekeeping this simple and delicious recipe for a protein rich Breakfast Frittata, because it is how I choose to start my day most mornings!

I am all about cooking once and having food prepared for the week; you can see this in my Daily Green Smoothie and Chocolate Morning Drink recipes.

We are all busy, and getting out of the door in the morning most often does not allow for elaborate food prep on waking! I like to have all of my ‘ducks in a row’ when it comes to my breakfast, so I am guaranteed to start my day right, just by pulling prepared dishes out of my refrigerator.

This recipe fulfills the midlife requirement for you to increase the protein and fibre you are eating daily so you can…

1. Balance your blood sugar in the morning to avoid the energy crashes in the day which cause mood swings and increase your number and severity of hot flashes.

2. Eat enough protein daily to protect your muscle and bone health as you move through perimenopause and into the next chapter.

3. Leverage fibre to help you reduce and eliminate your uncomfortable symptoms of menopause. Fibre drags the excess hormone out of the body when estrogen spikes in perimenopause.

4. Adds the fibre to your day that builds a diverse and healthy microbiome. A healthy microbiome is an indicator of longevity and will manage your uncomfortable symptoms for you by packaging up excess estrogen ready to be removed from the body. There is strong research between a vibrant microbiome and a reduced risk of breast cancer because of the support your internal garden offers you in managing estrogen in your body!

This recipe also includes a cruciferous vegetable in the form of sprouted broccolini. It is in season just now, tastes incredibly sweet and feeds your body the compound indole-3-carbinol, which supports your liver in breaking down excess estrogen in the body to reduce symptoms and protect you against the risk of breast cancer.

This is a dish you can make with any ingredients you enjoy…a very loose recipe and designed for you to get playful in the kitchen!

I have included black beans for additional fibre, for their longevity promoting polyphenols and because I love the energy I get from the slow burning carbs found in black beans in the morning!

I added red pepper because I recently bought a 4lb bag of peppers for $4 CAD so they are in every dish I am eating just now! But they are also a fantastic source of vitamin C and fibre.

I make this frittata weekly using 10-12 eggs and eat it throughout the week.

I have made it with added Greek Yoghurt and cottage cheese, to add more protein and baked it with cheese on the top in the Winter, when I needed a bit more of that ‘comfort food’ feeling on a cold morning.

I have added mushrooms, leeks, sweet potato, onion, chickpeas, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, grated carrot, zucchini, chopped herbs and leftover cooked sausage and chicken.

I want you to lay claim to this recipe, to use the ingredients you most want to eat in the morning and to make it your own!

🤫Did I say it also makes a fantastic and easy lunch with a side salad!

I invariably serve this Easy Breakfast Frittata warmed up, with 1/2 avocado, if I have one on hand, for additional fibre and healthy fat. In my opinion, the Fritatta always tastes better with the addition of hot sauce or a side of fermented kimchi and makes an easy and delicious, prepare-ahead start to the day.

It is possible to take the grind out of your morning AND feed yourself delicious and nutritious food!

Ingredients

1 tsp butter or olive oil
12 fresh eggs
salt and pepper to season the eggs
1/2 can black beans or chickpeas drained and rinsed
1/2 bunch broccolini, collard greens, kale or 1 medium head of broccoli
1 sweet red pepper
Handful of Cherry tomatoes halved
Optional:
1 cup cottage cheese or Greek Yoghurt
Cheese for the top
Leftover cooked sausage, chicken or steak
Any vegetable that is in season or you love and enjoy!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300F

2. Grease a 9x6 glass dish or tin with the butter or olive oil

3. Layer in the beans, vegetables and meats if you are using…there is no need to cook the vegetables ahead, just slice thinly or dice small, which makes the Frittata easier to slice and eat.

4. Break 10-12 eggs in a large mixing bowl

5. Add in the Greek Yoghurt or cottage cheese if using and season with salt and pepper.

6. Whisk the eggs until frothy and light and pour gently over the vegetables into the container.

7. Top with cheese if desired

8. Bake low and slow at 300F for 40 minutes or until the center of the Frittata springs back when lightly pressed. You do not want any runny egg!

9. Allow the Frittata to cool for a while and slice while still warm into 6 or 8 slices, depending on your appetite.

10. Cover and keep refrigerated, taking one slice each day from the dish for breakfast or lunch.

Bone Broth and Lemon Tea

In the Fall when the nights start drawing in, it is common to feel your energy flagging and to slip more easily into overwhelm and exhaustion, as our modern busy schedules do not slow down to accommodate the change in daylight hours and our circadian rhythm becomes confused.

It is your thyroid and adrenal glands that bear the brunt of the stress resulting from e waking up in the dark each morning and going hard and fast in the day when are bodies are naturally wanting to slow down.

Chinese medicine identifies Fall as the season of Metal and of Letting Go, just like the leaves from the trees. Western medicine, does not entertain any attunement of our health to the world around us.

At this time of year foods that deeply nourish our adrenal and thyroid health are supportive to the body, so we can maintain our energy and our immunity stays strong into the Winter months. This means eating salty foods rich in minerals and boosting our vitamin C.

Bone broth is the quintessential mineral dense food and you can make your own using this recipe HERE or it can be bought in a pouch or as a powder.

This is a super simple recipe for a Bone Broth tea that can be drunk at all times of the day but is especially healing for your digestive health in the morning when you break your night time fast. If you have gas and bloat in perimenopause, drink in the A.M.

Savory and lemony, this tea is delicious and deeply supportive of your gut, skin, bone and joint health as it provides the nutrition your adrenal and thyroid glands crave and keeps you feeling energized daily and out of exhaustion and overwhelm as the dark nights creep in.

Ingredients

1. 1 mug of warmed bone broth, homemade, from a pouch or as a powder. (Organika have a great range of powdered bone broth)

2. Big pinch of mineral rich sea salt such as Maldon

3. Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

1. Warm enough bone broth to fill your desired mug.

2. Add a big pinch of sea salt

3. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine

4. Sip each morning to support your thyroid and adrenal health as the nights draw in and especially your body feels the struggle as the hour changes

Homemade Chai Spice

Every year I feel traumatized by the number of women conditioned to feel excited about enjoying the 35g of sugar that comes in a Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte in the form of a favoured high fructose corn syrup. Pumpkin Spiced is not a season…It’s more like a pumpkin spice cult!

If there is one sure fire way to tear down your health for the day, it is by kicking yourself into fight or flight using caffeine and doubling down on that assault to your body by severely spiking your blood sugar levels.

Whenever you increase the stress on your body you spike the level of cortisol, our stress hormone, in your body because stress causes your adrenal glands to default to building cortisol in preference to building the drip feed of estrogen and progesterone your body needs as a buffer in peri-menopause and to feel like your old self again in full menopause.

Stress turns off your natural hormonal supply and leaves you with weight gain around the middle and anxiety, low libido and a dry vagina. I said what I said!

But, even I get that the cozy spice vibes are delicious, so every year I lean into the flavour to create recipes that will support your midlife hormonal health and you can feel calm, confident and menopausal symptom free.

In fact warming spices are anti-inflammatory for our bodies helping to reduce your symptoms of menopause and support our thyroid health as they take the stress off this important gland to fire up our metabolism and warm us up from the inside out.

Here is my recipe for a Chai Spice that you can add to my recipe for a health promoting Pumpkin Spiced Latte and my Pumpkin Chai Overnight Oats. It also makes a great Chai tea.

Ingredients

2 tsp ground Cardamon
2 tsp ground Allspice
2 tsp ground Nutmeg
2 tsp ground Cloves
6 tsp ground Ginger
4 tsp ground Cinnamon
freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Instructions

Mix all of the spices together in a jam jar and use liberally in tea and baking.