Ellie's Real Good Food

Real Good Food, I tackle the challenge we all face every morning with no brainer breakfasts like my make-ahead Mini Frittatas with Morning Glory Baked Oatmeal, and two quickie jump starter standwiches, Peanut Butter and Grapes Wrap, and Avocado Toast with Egg.

Let's get 'em goin' right now on Ellie's Real Good Food.

(lively guitar strumming) - [Voiceover] Funding for this series has been provided by.

- [Voiceover] Luvo, full servings of fruits and veggies, nutritious whole grains and lean proteins seasoned with bold herbs and spices.

Chef created meals ready-made for you in your grocer's freezer.

Luvo, the next generation of frozen food.

- [Voiceover] Hi you've reached Emma.

I'm out of the office right now but will get back to you just as soon as I possibly can.

- [Voiceover] For Discovery at Sea experiences, Princess Cruises, come back new.

(guitar strumming) - [Voiceover] Grapes from California.

Grown by families for families.

- [Voiceover] And by the Natural Gourmet Institute for health and culinary arts.

Additional funding provided by the generous support of our Kickstarter donors.

A complete list is available at ElliesRealGoodFood.com.

- Hi I'm Ellie Krieger and welcome to Ellie's Real Good Food.

It's a common complaint to have to race out the door in the morning.

But it's something Mary Zengo lives for.

An elite distance runner, Mary not only runs 10 miles a day, she also trains and conditions multiple athletic teams for the local high school.

- Now we'll do our drills, then our workout, we got it?

(students confirming) All right.

- Mary says it's slim pickin's in her house for breakfast.

Very often just a handful of nuts or a grilled cheese sandwich, for those who like it blackened.

And since that same old basket of oatmeal packets has apparently lost its luster, I stopped by Mary's to lend her a hand.

(light upbeat jazz) So Mary it is so great to be in your home.

Thanks for slowing down for a couple of minutes here to have me as a guest in your home.

- Oh you're welcome.

- And I'm super excited to share this recipe with you because this Morning Glory Baked Oatmeal I think will completely change your whole breakfast game.

You're going to be amazed at how good this is and how convenient it is, and Morning Glory basically comes from the kind of iconic Morning Glory Muffin that has apple and carrots and coconut and nuts, and so it just makes sense to put it in this oatmeal bake.

So I want to make the topping first.

The carrot, that's probably enough carrot at this point, so thank you.

I'm gonna make the topping for it.

- [Mary] All right.

- So and that's just a couple of tablespoons of shredded coconut unsweetened.

And a half a cup of pecans and you could use walnuts if you want.

What are some, you love nuts right?

- [Mary] I do.

- You're always munching on nuts?

- I do, and I like walnuts a lot.

- Oh yeah you could totally use walnuts in here too.

And then I'm gonna do a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and just about a tablespoon of sugar.

So there's not much sweetener in here.

So if you could just kind of tszuj that up.

- Okay sure.

- So here I have just regular rolled oats.

And I'm gonna put in some baking powder.

A little bit of salt, just quarter teaspoon there.

And three quarters of a teaspoon of cinnamon 'cause I love.

- [Mary] Cinnamon, and do we put cinnamon in here as well?

- Yes we did, so a little cinnamon in there already.

So what do you think are your biggest challenges in the morning really?

- I would never put this together in the morning.

I'd have to do it on a weekend, this is.

- Oh yeah, well this is meant to.

- This is definitely, yeah, that's what I like about it 'cause you could just heat it up again in the oven after.

- Exactly and actually you can take one portion, so even your kids can take a portion out and put it in the microwave for one minute.

- And that's perfect.

- So it's sort of instant oatmeal in a way.

- It is, I like that it's like that.

- So then just some milk.

We'll get the liquid ingredients here.

You want to pour in the maple syrup?

- Yeah and I think it would be nice, they could just take it down to the bus stop and put it on a paper napkin.

- Yeah well you do need a plate and fork to eat it.

You know what when it first comes out, it's almost like a bread pudding, so it's scoopable, you may be able to cut it as well, but it's something you'd want to sit down and just take five minutes to eat you know.

So just a little vanilla.

- [Mary] All right.

- One-and-a-half teaspoons.

And then some canola oil, just two tablespoons of oil.

- All right.

And could it be olive oil?

- You can totally use olive oil.

I kind of like the canola here because it's very neutral in flavor.

Olive oil will give it a more fruity olive oil flavor.

So if you use olive oil for this, just make sure it's not like a really peppery one.

Make sure it's a more mild olive oil.

- All right.

- And then an egg.

And so you're getting this protein.

You know milk has a lot of protein in it, most people don't realize that, - [Mary] Yeah.

- a cup of milk has the same protein as an egg.

So you're getting protein from, maybe you want to give that a whisk.

- Sure yeah.

- You're getting protein from the milk.

You're getting protein from the egg.

- [Mary] Right.

- You're getting protein from the nuts, so you're getting a lot of protein in here.

Obviously whole grains.

- Yeah.

- So it's all the stuff you need to fuel yourself.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So okay, so then this liquid goes in here.

You want to give that a, pour that in.

- Okay.

- So you can see this is super easy.

- [Mary] It really is.

- [Ellie] So it really doesn't take much effort at all.

- You could make it at night and bake it in the morning.

- Totally.

- Especially in the winter when it's cold.

- And I think you know your kids are old enough.

They can make this too and they can help you at least.

- Yeah, totally.

- It's something you can do together.

And then all of these great ingredients go right in here, so we can just.

- Oh nice.

- So there goes the apple.

- [Mary] And the carrots.

- You could put the carrot in, great here I'll take this.

- All right.

No I love it, you know what, I think I'd make it myself 'cause I don't want them to know all the carrots.

- Yeah well the thing is when it all comes together, it really is so beautiful that you realize you want the carrot in there and the texture is so great.

- And these apples as well?

- Those apples and then two more scoops of the coconut and a half a cup of raisins.

So again all of this you can mix up the fruit.

Maybe you want berries in there, you can mix up the dried fruit.

- Yeah.

- You know you can do figs if you want.

And that half cup of pecans goes in there to.

- All right.

- So it's kind of fun to make it together.

- It is and does the egg hold it together?

- [Ellie] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- So the egg almost makes it, that's what gives it that kind of.

- [Mary] Firmness - Yeah the firmness and that texture of like I said like a bread pudding, so then just pour it right in.

- All right.

- There we go.

Yeah it's easy.

- [Mary] It really is easy.

- And wait 'till you smell.

- Oh that looks good.

- The aroma that comes out of your kitchen.

Oh but we have to, we can't forget the topping.

The crunchy topping.

- [Mary] Oh nice.

- 'Cause this is gonna toast beautifully, so let's, here maybe you can help me just sprinkle that around.

- [Mary] Yeah, oh I like the topping.

It has brown sugar, so it'll brown.

- It'll all toast like the coconut and the nuts will get toasty and the brown sugar will just give it that beautiful sweetness that you want.

- [Mary] Oh.

- Okay, great, good.

So in the oven, 375 for about 40 minutes.

(light guitar strumming) - [Mary] Wow.

- Does it smell so good?

- It does smell good and it looks beautiful.

- Mm.

- [Mary] Really does.

- So this is totally something your kids would eat, right?

- Yes, absolutely.

- I think we should eat some.

Maybe we'll save a little for them.

- Not much.

- [Ellie] So at first when it first comes out you can just like kind of scoop it like this.

- [Mary] Mm-hmm.

- And then after you have it in the fridge for a while you can actually slice it.

- Oh that's be nice.

- So it totally, oh wow, see how it's like a bread pudding?

- [Mary] Yeah, I love that.

- In that way?

So here, if you want, I like to garnish this with.

- Oh yeah.

- You can put some yogurt on it, put some raisins, cinnamon.

- [Mary] I think I'm gonna try everything.

- A little of everything, that's good, I love it.

- Everything looks really good, it does.

- I'll have a little yogurt on there too.

I like the contrast of the warm and the cold.

- Yeah.

- From the yogurt.

- [Mary] It is beautiful.

- [Ellie] Okay so here's my big important piece of advice for you.

- Okay.

- Sit down and eat.

- Oh you're right, I know I should.

- Right, every once in a while you should eat to nourish yourself.

- Yeah.

- And part of that is really just taking 10 minutes to sit, so I'm gonna join you.

- All right, and this looks, oh yum.

- And we'll dig in and enjoy.

- Ellie thank you so much for coming today.

This is wonderful to have you.

- Thank you for having me.

It's really been wonderful, and I really hope that you do just take a little time out to nourish yourself.

- I will, I will, I will.

- [Ellie] Mm.

- Thanks - [Ellie] Mm.

- Mm.

So good.

- Mm, so this is a perfect option for make-ahead, and I have two great recipes to show you that you can totally make in minutes, and eat as you dash out the door if you need to.

- All right, great, but can we first finish eating this?

- Of course!

- Thank you.

(upbeat jazz music) - Okay so you were telling me you love avocados right?

- I do, they're one of my.

- Who doesn't 'cause they're amazing.

But have you made Avocado Toast?

- No, so I want to see how you do this.

- Yes and it's an incredible easy fast breakfast.

So of course you need an avocado.

And just make sure it's ripe, you know, you just kind of press it with your thumb to make sure it's ripe.

- Right.

- And if it's not, you can put it into a paper bag for a couple days at room temperature.

- [Mary] Oh I like that.

- That's how you get the pit out.

- Nice.

- And then if you want to scoop that into the bowl.

- Sure.

- So what you could do is you could just put it on toast with a knife like this, but I like to put a little lime on it.

- Uh-huh.

- So then it stays nice and bright.

If you want the most juice out of your lime, microwave it for like 30 seconds.

And it's amazing you get like twice as much juice out of your lime.

- [Mary] All right just inside that.

- [Ellie] I'm just gonna squeeze a little on there.

If you want to use a fork that's probably easier.

- [Mary] Okay yeah I think so.

- Little lime juice, little salt.

- [Mary] Nice does it matter what kind of salt?

- You know you can use whatever salt you want really.

Nice to use a course salt for this actually 'cause you get that nice texture.

So literally all you need is toast and avocado to just have a simple Avocado Toast, but I like to add something crunchy.

- [Mary] All right.

- So radishes are a great one.

I like to put color as much as possible into my breakfast, my lunch, and my dinner, so I'm always thinking how can I get color into it, how do I get more produce.

And a little more crunch.

So if you want for other crunch you can use seeds for example.

- [Mary] Pumpkin or?

- You could do pumpkin seeds, you can do chia seeds would be nice on there.

We got some cucumber on deck, so I'll just get all our ingredients prepped here.

And then, protein, so when you're having your breakfast, your Avocado Toast breakfast, you want to make sure you get some protein in there.

Egg is perfect and you can just totally slice it and it would be delicious on there, but it's really beautiful to grate the egg and put it on top.

- Oh nice.

- You'll see, so I'm just gonna get that going.

Just a little right there.

- Does it matter what side you use?

- [Ellie] I mean I use the kind of medium one.

- [Mary] All right.

- But each one will give you a different texture, but you'll see how pretty it is.

- [Mary] It looks nice.

- [Ellie] Yeah it's a really nice.

- Oh it almost looks like cheese.

- Yes and you could use cheese on there too for that matter.

- Oh okay.

- So here, you can just take some avocado and spread it on there.

- All right.

- I'll get it, I'll get ya.

- All right.

- Okay, so again, you could put some, another thing I like to do is put hummus on top for protein, you can do beans on top, you can do like a black bean kind of themed one.

Here you can help yourself, do what you like.

I'm gonna go like that.

- [Mary] Oh that's nice.

- Some of these.

And if you like a little kick of heat, you can put a little Sriracha or other hot sauce on there.

- MM, my kids would love that.

- [Ellie] Mm, my husband too, and there we go.

- [Mary] Wow this is pretty.

- Is this a great breakfast or what, let's eat.

- Yeah.

- Okay I'll take a plate, (laughs) look at that.

- All right, thank you that's beautiful.

- [Ellie] Mm.

- Mm.

- Mm-mm.

- Mm, it's delicious.

- I love this, I could eat this like almost every day of my life.

Okay before we run, I got one more quick one to show you.

- [Mary] All right great, thank you.

- [Ellie] Mm-hmm.

(upbeat music) Okay, ready to hit refresh on your regular old peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

- I am.

- I got something amazing for you.

It's a peanut butter and grape wrap.

- Oh sounds good.

- Okay and literally it is really in two seconds, okay.

So basically, peanut butter.

- All right.

- A nice wrap bread, whole grain wrap bread, right.

And just put some peanut butter on there, can I.

- All right, sure.

- May I?

- [Mary] Yes thank you.

- [Ellie] And then you can spread it around with a knife.

- [Mary] It's the original peanut butter and jelly.

- Mm smells so good.

Except instead of what maybe you'd use typical grape jelly, right.

- [Mary] Right.

- Which is very sweet and mostly sugar essentially.

But instead, we're gonna use, oh that's perfect.

We're gonna use grapes, actual grapes.

Amazing whole fruit, so it's always really best to use a whole fruit whenever you can.

And so I'm just gonna, I'm gonna have some of these beautiful sweet mm.

- They are beautiful, mm.

- Juicy.

- Very good.

- So they have so much sweetness already on their own.

So what I like to do with this is just kind of put them on the wrap and kind of stick the grapes on and press them down a little bit.

- [Mary] Okay, maybe even face down.

- [Ellie] So they don't roll down, yeah that's great.

- [Mary] I like that.

- It's not fussy at all.

So when you use a whole fruit, you get the fiber, you get that big juicy kind of burst of sweetness that's all natural sweetness.

And you also get lots of polyphenols, antioxidants, all that great stuff.

- Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

- That keeps your body healthy, so you can wrap it up just like this, it'd be delicious, but I like to add a little drizzle of honey.

- [Mary] Okay.

- And a sprinkle of cinnamon.

- Ooh I love cinnamon.

- So it doesn't matter what order, so we can switch.

- [Mary] All right.

- Just a little honey, and it's optional but I think it just adds that little special touch and makes all the difference.

I love the cinnamon on here.

I think it just brings out the beautiful warm flavor of the grapes too.

- Can make it as sweet as you want.

- And you were saying you love to have grapes around.

- [Mary] I do as decoration I think they're beautiful.

- [Ellie] Oh yeah.

- I just put 'em in a big bowl on the table, so when the kids walk by, or even in the fridge so they're nice and cold.

- So I like to call these Grapes of Wrap.

- Oh cute.

- (joke rimshot) Right.

- And you bring it down to the bus stop for the little guys.

- Yeah absolutely you can wrap it in foil, you can eat it on the spot.

It's one of those things you can eat on the go that it's neat and delicious and let's try it.

- Yum, mm.

- Mm, the juiciness makes all the difference.

So thank you Mary for having me here.

I hope I inspired you for breakfast to fuel your busy life.

- Definitely, great ideas with everything I already have in the house so it was wonderful to have you, thank you.

- I'm so glad.

- [Both] Cheers.

(upbeat jazz music) Another great no brainer breakfast are my Mini Frittatas with Leeks and Asparagus, and it's a great way to get an egg breakfast that gets you ahead of the game.

And I'm gonna start off by washing the leeks, I think, a lot of people have fear of leeks.

So I want to show you basically I just slice them in half, and then in half again, so they're in quarters, but only up to the dark green part, so it still stays together.

Make sure any kind of sand is out of there.

And it's pretty much as easy ask that.

Leeks have just a really special flavor.

In the onion family, I think they're one of the most sort of complex tasting and have just a mild loveliness to them that is very unique.

And you want basically about two cups of sliced leeks, which is a nice big one, so I think just this one.

You just use the white and light green part, okay, so I'll set that aside, and also, so it's a leek and asparagus frittata, so those are my leeks, and here is the asparagus.

I just love asparagus.

You want to get the woody part off.

Just find where it breaks naturally.

And instead of doing each and every one like that, which you know, it's not a big deal, but it can take a little time.

Kind of do this cheat and then line then up and slice them all at that point.

Just makes it all faster.

Okay, for these I like to cut 'em on the bias.

It's these little touches sometimes that can make a huge difference in terms of the appeal of a recipe.

So literally just slicing them, about half in slices on the bias really makes for a lovely texture.

Doesn't take any extra effort.

The great thing about frittatas too is they're perfect for just about any kind of leftovers, so if you don't want to use asparagus or you happen to have some steamed broccoli you could use that, sun-dried tomatoes would be nice in this, so it's fun, you can really get creative with whatever vegetables you want to use or have on hand.

Eggs in general are a great way to get more vegetables into your life.

You can pretty much toss any vegetables in and herbs and so on, okay.

So these are done.

One more vegetable in here, some mushrooms.

Just regular white button mushrooms.

I'm just gonna slice them.

The thing about mushrooms is that they're not rich in vitamins A and C, which we normally think of when we think of fruits and vegetables, but they are loaded with B vitamins, which I think is a real surprise to many people.

And they also have a lot of potassium in them, okay, so all those vegetables are chopped.

Now I'm just gonna give them a quick saute, so they are softened.

And then allow them to cool before I stir them in with the eggs.

So just one tablespoon of olive oil.

Heat that up.

Okay, I'm just gonna get these veggies right in the pan.

All at once in fine.

While those are cooking, I'll get the eggs ready.

Seven eggs already cracked in there.

I need a quarter cup of milk.

Low fat milk for this I like to use.

And some fresh Parmesan cheese.

Parmesan always freshly grated.

Just need about a quarter cup and that's the thing about Parmesan, it gives you so much flavor, you don't need a lot.

Especially when you freshly grate it.

If you buy the shaky stuff, you have to use a lot more to get the same amount of flavor.

Plus you get to snack on little pieces that come off the grater.

Yummy.

Okay.

This is getting there.

Cheese goes in.

Just whisk that up.

And add a little bit of salt and pepper.

And this will be ready, but first the vegetables have to cool before I put 'em in the egg mixture.

So when those are done, add them to the eggs.

Okay.

What I love about this recipe, pretty much any frittata recipe, is that they're delicious both room temperature or heated and you can make them ahead, stick 'em in the fridge, and they'll last there for at least three days.

So they're really wonderful to have on hand, and eggs can be so satisfying.

In the morning or even as an afternoon snack, okay these are looking beautiful.

I'll just shut the heat off and let them cool.

And clean up, and then we'll pull it all together.

Okay, all cool and ready to go, ready to to into the egg mixture.

Look at all those gorgeous vegetables.

Cannot go wrong.

And the thing that makes them mini is that they go into this muffin tin to be cooked.

This way you get individual portions of lovely frittata.

They're so easy to grab and go.

I think Mary is gonna love them.

She can make a batch or two.

And have 'em in the fridge and it's just great fuel.

Tasty fuel.

So before I put the egg in here, I just sprayed this with a little bit of oil spray to prevent any sticking.

I love to serve this for Mother's Day brunch actually.

I'm always in charge of Mother's Day brunch, which I don't mind at all.

And these are perfect to make ahead, and they present so beautifully.

Perfect, now they just go in the oven 375 for about 18, 20 minutes.

Wait 'till you see how they turn out.

Oh my, these are just amazing.

And I'll just let them out here, oh gosh, I just love these.

They're easy to make, they're stunningly beautiful.

They're totally delicious and completely convenient.

So it is a win-win-win-win-win.

Don't you just want one right now?

I know I do.

(light jazz music) Mm, mm you can see how beautiful they are.

They're great for a party, but they're also really practical for every day.

You cannot go wrong with this recipe.

Now this is a sweet spot where delicious and healthy meet.

I'm just gonna open this avocado up, this beautiful ripe avocado.

- [Voiceover] Start again.

- Uh this gorgeous.

- [Voiceover] Get another one.

- Gorgeously rotten avocado.

So good.

Mm!

(laughter) I can't talk.

(laughs) I hope I helped you find ways to hit the sweet spot where delicious and healthy meet.

- [Voiceover] Eat it Mary.

(laughter) (light jazz) - [Voiceover] Hi you've reached Emma.

I'm out of the office right now but will get back to you just as soon as I possibly can.

- [Voiceover] For Discover at Sea experiences Princess Cruises, come back new.

- [Voiceover] Luvo, full services of fruits and veggies, nutritious whole grains and lean proteins seasoned with bold herbs and spices.

Chef created meals ready-made for you in your grocer's freezer.

Luvo, the next generation of frozen food.

(light guitar strumming) - [Voiceover] Grapes from California.

Grown by families for families.

- [Voiceover] And by the Natural Gourmet Institute for health and culinary arts.

Additional funding provided by the generous support of our Kickstarter donors.

A complete list is available at ElliesRealGoodFood.com.

Ellie's kitchen is provided by Clarke, New England's Sub-Zero and Wolf Showroom and Test Kitchen.

(flute flutter)