Omelette

Having a brain injury changes how you go through your day, for me, how I process and organize my thoughts is different from before my TBI. It takes a lot more energy and effort to organize my thoughts, which is ok if I have time. I find I plan longer now, I stewed over how to present this recipe for several days. Cooking presents challenges for me after my accident, following recipes or staying organized can put my head in overload. I have had to learn to break down my cooking process into stages.

My recipes come from ingredients from my own refrigerator and cupboard.

Omelettes
Omelettes are one of my family’s favourite weekend morning breakfasts. I like omelettes because I can be creative with them, there are no rules. Well there are a few rules and they all have to do with who I’m serving. Our son is autistic so ingredients and seasoning become a factor. I will share a few tips as we go through the cooking process to explain how I work around these challenges so that we don’t have to open up a restaurant in our kitchen to satisfy everyone’s needs.

Ingredients:
Eggs 1-2 per person
Milk 2 tablespoons per egg
Cheese To taste 1-2 cups grated or thinly sliced
Mushrooms 12-15 sliced
Ham 2 slices cubed

My go to cooking appliance is our electric frying pan, I like the heat control and the ease of cleanup.

Step One
Crack eggs into a bowl. It helps to know who you are serving for portions. 1-2 eggs per person

I use mushrooms often, any number of ingredients could be substituted or added. Bell peppers, onions or tomatoes all go well. I give the mushrooms a quick rinse to remove any dirt and slice them up, if you like, canned mushrooms could be used. If it is easier, use sliced mushrooms, I buy the whole mushrooms, they are usually a little less expensive and it only takes a minute to slice them.

Tip this is for anyone with picky eaters. I cook down the mushrooms in a separate pot with a little Becel. I season with salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. When I add the mushrooms to the omelette I will leave one part without. This does create one extra pot to clean but now I am only making one meal.

The ham I use is usually a cooked ham. I stop at the deli a day or two before the weekend and picked up a couple of slices about 1/4 inch thick. I cut them into 1/4 inch cubes, bite size.

Step Two
Add the milk to the eggs. We use 2% milk, really this is a personal choice, no rules here, you could substitute soy milk or almond milk. I have never tried them but I cannot see why they would not work here. I don’t measure the amount of milk, I add this by feel, a good guide would be about 2 tablespoons per egg.

Step Three
Mix the eggs and milk. You want all the yolks broken and the milk blended into the eggs.

Reminder to clean any surface or utensils that the raw eggs touch.

Step Four
Pour the egg milk mix into a heated and greased pan. I set the temperature to 300F on my pan. I usually melt Becel in my pan, I have also used a cooking spray. Add in the ham cubes, spread out evenly. Cover the pan. Cook until the top of the egg mixture is dry. I speed up the cooking time a little by breaking any bubbles and allowing the liquid egg mixture fill the void.

Seasoning I sprinkle a quick pass over the Egg Mixture with Sea Salt and Ground Pepper. My family is not one that cares for a lot of spice in their food and for the health concerns of some I am careful with amount of Salt I use. Our son has never liked any kind of sauces on his food this includes condiments. Cooking for a family with this kind of dynamic has it’s challenges and rules. But Rules change health concerns and likes and dislikes change. There was a time our house saw a Hawaiian Pizza with no sauce, now it comes with sauce.

Step Five
Once the egg mixture is cooked through spread the cheese over the eggs. I use a shredded cheese mix of cheddar and mozzarella. The amount of cheese you use is to your taste. Cheese substitutes like TexMex for a little spice works, feta or Gouda could be a nice alternative.
Adding the mushrooms now, I avoid the section for our son, mushrooms are not his thing.
Cover the pan until the cheese is melted down.

Step Six
Time to serve.