Balcony Herb Garden

My newest adventure, or my "babies" as James has taken to calling them are my herb plants on the balcony. I find myself wanting fresh basil ALL the time, especially as we get into summer, and I got two full plants for the same price as a small semi-fresh package from the grocery store!

The lady at the nursery where I got the seedlings had only one piece of advice "FULL sun, all the time!" So I installed this window box (from walmart) over the side of the balcony. It's really my first experience growing anything, so we'll see how long I can keep them alive! I'm watering every day. I read that you can skip a day with basil, but they instantly got wilty and sad the day I tried skipping.

So far I've got basil:

Rosemary:

Cilantro:

and some thyme that I didn't a great picture of.

Pancetta Frittata

I tested the following recipe out last night because I want to make it for easter brunch. James's comment "That's one of the best flavored things you've made in a long time!" Sorry, pictures to come after I make it for Easter!

Pancetta Frittata
by me! :)

1 1/2 cups of egg beaters (or 6 eggs lightly beaten)
2 oz of deli counter pancetta, sliced thick, diced fairly small
2 oz of crumbled feta cheese
2 oz shredded cheddar cheese (I used the 2% milk sharp cheddar)
1-2 Tbs chopped fresh basil
Black pepper
8 inch oven/broiler safe skillet

In a dry 8 inch skillet, crisp up the pancetta over medium heat. It has plenty of its own fat so I didn't add any oil. The pancetta from the deli is really already cooked, so you're just browning it up and drawing out some of that salty ham goodness. This would be a good time to add some onion too, but then James wouldn't have eaten it.

Turn heat to medium low and pour all of the eggs over the pancetta. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and black pepper to taste. (I didn't need salt because the feta is so salty).

Turn on your broiler.

Let it cook on the stove for a minute or two, and when the bottom is starting to set, lift all the edges with a spatula so the uncooked egg floods underneath. Do that a couple of times until the egg is mostly set, but still fairly wet.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese and basil on top, move to oven 5 or 6 inches from the broil. Broil for 3 or 4 minutes until cheese starts to brown and everything sets.

The frittata should slide out easily onto a cutting board so you can cut it with a pizza cutter. For easter, I plan to do 12 eggs with a large shallow saute pan.

Nutrition facts for 1/4 of the frittata (not a huge serving, but we ate it with veggies, etc)

Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 193.1
Total Fat 12.1 g
Saturated Fat 5.7 g
Cholesterol 27.2 mg
Sodium 595.8 mg
Potassium 321.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.9 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Sugars 0.6 g
Protein 17.8 g

Confession & new recipe

My name is Carla and I have a problem. I start things and then quit them. Unfinished scrapbooks, frames without pictures, halfway reorganized closets, this is my life. But I've missed food blogging so I'm posting again, although I'm fairly sure no one except me and my husband (who I force) are reading it. Guess I need to do more advertising :)

Since I've been gone I've had lots of ups and downs cooking. I made my first prime rib, my first passable bechamel sauce, and had a whole Christmas season of cookies and baked goodies. Since mid-January I've been calorie counting like a madwoman. I have a daily allowance, and that's all I get. Because of that, I'm discovering lots of healthy new recipes, and lots of great substitutions. Mostly I'm learning about portion control. Everything's bigger in Texas--including our chicken fried steaks and, therefore, our thighs.

So for now, just one new recipe. This pumpkin bread was dense, but still very soft and sweet. Perfect for a quick breakfast! And 200 calories a slice means I'm allowed to eat one.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from CookingLight.com

Ingredients
1 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large egg whites
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
1 pinch kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray


Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips. It helps to dust the chocolate chips in flour so they won't sink to the bottom. (I obviously didn't!)

Spoon batter into 1 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pan coated with cooking spray. (I used 9x5 loaf pans and my slices came out pretty short and fat, almost the shape of a biscotti cookie). Bake at 350° for 40-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yields 1 loaf, which I cut into 10 servings. The suggested 16 from Cooking Light would have been really small.

With my changes, SparkRecipes calculated the following nutrition facts:

Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 2,040.6
Total Fat: 27.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 2,464.4 mg
Total Carbs: 433.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 21.1 g
Protein: 34.0 g