Graded Paper Sunday Breakfast

On weekends, Stephen likes to sleep in a bit, usually emerging from the bedroom around 8:30 or 9:00. Lawson is the second to appear, coming downstairs around mid-morning. Davis complains every time we wake him up at the crack of noon. So usually I'm the first one up in the morning.

Usually I check my e-mail and catch up on the morning news, enjoying the quiet of the house. Days like today find me at the computer grading freshman comp essays. After an hour or so, Stephen is usually up, and I need a break from slogging through firm grasps of the obvious, like "Things will happen in today's society" or "The future looks mighty auspicious."

So I make delicious breakfast.

Usually, my breakfast is a bowl of Fiber One and a banana--and not the flaky, nutty Fiber One, either. I eat the little sticks. So on paper grading Sundays, I need a more enticing breakfast, but one just as healthy as well. My vegetable omelet meets both criteria.

Ingredients:
2 eggs or 2 ounces of Egg Beaters (or another egg substitute)
any vegetables in the refrigerator, cut into small, small pieces
cheese (if you want it)
1 tbsp olive oil
cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Today I used eggs for Stephen's omelet and Egg Beaters for my omelet. In my fridge, I had squash, zucchini, onion, red pepper, broccoli, spinach, black olives and feta cheese. When I cut my vegetables, I make sure the broccoli is cut especially small because it's so dense and I want it to cook all the way through. After cutting up the veggies, I put the olive oil in a small nonstick skillet and saute them on medium heat until they're soft. When I do that, I put the spinach in last because it doesn't take long to cook at all. When the veggies are done, I remove them from the pan, and if necessary, I spray the skillet with cooking spray. Then I add the eggs (This is Stephen's omelet) and salt and pepper. I cook the eggs until they start to look firm around the edges. Then I add half of the vegetables, picking out the red peppers because Stephen doesn't like them. I put the vegetables on one half of the eggs; then I sprinkle the feta cheese on top. Gently, I lift the vegetable-less half of the eggs with a spatula and fold it over the vegetables. I let the omelet sit for a minute or so to firm up a little more; then I gently turn it over to let the other side firm up. I serve Stephen's omelet and then go through the same process for my omelet with the Egg Beaters.

The Egg Beaters version of the omelet is a fabulous Weight Watchers breakfast. Without the cheese, the omelet is only three points. Adding cheese, of course, adds points, but the number of points depends on how much cheese you use and what kind. Real eggs, of course, add points too.

Depending on the quality of the essays I've been reading, I'm sometimes also compelled to make berries and yogurt to eat with the omelet. Today was one of those days. I'm sure if my students had been in the room, they would have said, "In today's society, breakfast is a major part of our lives." Anyway, I served today's omelet with cut up fresh strawberries and banana, topped with a big dollop of fat-free vanilla yogurt.

Then I sat down with my husband and enjoyed my meal and beamed as he said, "Gee, Nance, you're swell."