Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Potato Tomato Omelet: Fast, Delicious Dinner for One

I have this horrible hatred of cooking dinner for myself, so many nights, I end up with toast and Nutella. While this is a tasty snack, I don't believe to could be considered dinner or filling...

Last night, like many other nights, I found myself beginning to think about dinner a little too close to the time I was supposed to be somewhere else. Say what you will about my time management skills, but if I'm not hungry, I forget to plan ahead...

So I had about 30 minutes to cook a tasty and filling dinner, scarf it down, and walk out the door to be at my Knitting Club meeting on time.

Enter the delicious omelet. The key here is to prepare this dish in the most efficient way possible. I have some terrific hints for that.

Potato Tomato Omelet (One Person, One Pan Meal)
  •  Cooking oil of some type
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 small Red Potato, or half of a large one.
  • Diced Tomato (I used half of a Roma, but whatever you have on hand veggie wise works nicely)
  • Cheese of some sort (I actually had shredded on hand, but there is no shame in using sliced, it gets the job done)
  • Seasoning. (I used salt, pepper, Emril's Essence, and chili powder)
Start by adding enough oil to the smallest pan you have to cover the bottom, and place on to medium heat. I used my fantastic 6-inch cast iron. :)

Then, peel your potato.


This is the very pivotal part of this recipe. Using the potato peeler, slice the potato into thin, chip-like slices. This will allow the potatoes to cook quickly and evenly.

Place your thin potatoes in your now hot pan, and toss with the seasonings.


Make sure you are liberal with your seasonings, because they will be flavoring your eggs as well.


While your potatoes are cooking up, dice the tomato or prepare your other veggies. (Cooked bacon or another meat you have around is also a very tasty addition.)

Beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl.

When your potato layer is soft and thoroughly cooked, drop your temperature to medium-low, and pour your eggs on top and then sprinkle the top with your tomatoes and cheese. (Sorry about the blur, I really was late...)

Once the bottom of the omelet has begun to solidify, place under your broiler at 500 degrees.

Watch carefully, these eggs will go from undercooked to overcooked very quickly.


But you do have a few minutes, so clean up your kitchen! Trust me, your roommates won't be very happy to come home to this...
....no matter how in a rush you are.

One your eggs become solid and puff up a tad, it's time to de-pan.


Try not to take it too personally if it doesn't slide out like it does on tv. Egg yolk is protein and protein is sticky!

Now enjoy a tasty, quick, one person dinner while the pan soaks. :)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Roommate's Birthday Cake

Here's a little tip for any college student learning how to live with someone, whether you know them or not.

Always do something special for their birthday. It will smooth other some of your not so pleasant moment.

Since my roommate's birthday was this week, I did a vanilla cake for her. If you like sugar cookies, this is the cake for you. It takes exactly like a sugar cookie, plus it's nice and moist. Very tasty.

Sugar Cookie Vanilla Cake
  • 1 1/2 cups Flour
  • 2 tablespoons Corn Starch
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
  • 1/2 cup Oil
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup Buttermilk
Heat oven to 375 degrees.


Beat butter, oil, and sugar until creamy.


Beat in eggs, then vanilla.

Add all dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk.

Place in 2-8 inch round cake pans lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool, then turn out and frost with your favorite frosting.


I recommend a chocolate frosting with this cake, it was a little dull with vanilla frosting. That didn't stop us from devouring it.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Plane Ride Knitting Projects

As you may remember, I took a much needed vacation from my summer break.

Plane rides take a special kind of knitting project. It can't be too large, need large metal needles, or may different types of yarn.

For my plane ride to San Diego, I wanted to work on lace headbands for 2 of my cousins. I wanted cute patterns so my cousins (ages 9 and 12) would like them.

Headbands don't use a lot of yarn, so I used some leftover purple bamboo yarn, and a fingerling green acrylic yarn. These yarns both have enough stretch to work well for these lace headbands.

Gimbiya's headband
 Cast on 3 stitches.

Knit an I-cord for 8 inches.

Increase Pattern:
Row 1: K1, M1, K1
All Even Rows: K2, P all middle stitches, K2
Row 3: K1, M1, M1, K1
Row 5: K2, M1, M1, K2
Continue this increase pattern until 13 stitches.

Lace Pattern:
Row 1 (RS): k1, p2, ssk, (yo, k1) 3 times, yo, k2 tog, p1,k1,p1
Row 2: k1,purl until two stitches before the end, k1, p1 last two stitches
Row 3: k1, p2, ssk, k5, k2 tog, p1, k1, p1
Row 4: k1, p1, k1, p7, k2, p1

Repeat the lace pattern until the piece measures 12 inches.
Decrease evenly until 3 stitches.

Knit 8 inches of I-cord.


Sew in ends, and enjoy :) 

I'll post pictures when I can!!!