How to make a skillet breakfast/lunch
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I often have a plate of veggies + some kind of protein for breakfast or lunch.
(chased with dark chocolate, full disclosure)
I've found this to be a really great (and pretty quick!) way to get more veggies into my diet at either breakfast or lunch.
That's better for my body and it's also a really helpful way for me to avoid wasting vegetables.
Since I'm usually just making this for myself, I use my small cast iron skillet.
I got it for something like $5 twenty years ago, and it's still going strong.
I also sometimes use my slightly larger Lodge cast iron skillet (it comes with a red silicone handle cover, which is fabulous.)
(You can find both pans on my Amazon shopping page, which is an affiliate page.)
You can use whatever pan you want, but cast iron is very helpful for getting a nice sear on your veggies. Plus, it's cheap and nearly indestructible.
First, I add some fat to my cast iron skillet and set it to heat over medium heat. I use bacon grease if I have it around, but of course you can use whatever fat you want. I think some hot fat is pretty essential, though.
Second, I poke through my fridge to see what produce and protein I need to use up.
Then I cut up my produce, add it to the now-hot skillet, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
And depending on what protein I have, I either cook it with the veggies (sausage, for example) or cook it quickly after I take the veggies out (eggs!)
I don't cook my vegetables super long...just enough to get them crisp-tender.
To recap, the important stuff:
- hot cast iron pan
- hot grease
- salt and pepper
- random veggies
- some kind of protein
It really doesn't take that long, (especially if you have some prepped produce), and I think you'll find you eat more veggies and waste less produce if you add a skillet meal to your breakfast/lunch routine a few times a week.
Skillet combinations were pretty much all I ate, three times a day, when I was doing the elimination thing and eating nothing but meat and vegetables. I found that the only way I really can stomach re-heated meat is fried in a cast iron skillet in something like tallow or bacon grease. Or coconut oil, actually. If I had no vegetables already cooked to add to it, I would shred carrots and cabbage, because they cook fastest that way. Also, I found that just a little bit of vinegar added made almost everything taste better.
I often have similar lunches and dinners but will roast a huge pan of veggies for the week. Then I just have to reheat them in the skillet with my protein. With 4 little kids, this is the only way to insure I'll use up the veggies they don't love from our Hungry Harvest box (this week....eggplant and peppers!). Otherwise, I don't make the time to cook them just for me. Throw some feta or goat cheese in there at the last minute so it's every so slightly melty...yum!
Exactly! No one here wanted to eat parsnips, but I was happy to eat them in my skillet meals.
Gosh, how healthy! Thanks for the idea!
I've been doing a ton of veggie and protein breakfasts on my elimination diet, too. At first it felt weird, but now, I actually like it. I'm trying to re-introduce oatmeal this week, but I honestly don't think I'll go back to my old standard of an egg and a bowl of oatmeal every morning. I try to have veggies cooked ahead, then add either sausage or an egg cooked in the cast iron skillet to go with them. I also sometimes have a breakfast casserole made of just meat and veggies, maybe with some apple, that I can cook ahead.
Your breakfast photos look yummy. The dark chocolate sounds like a perfect dessert, too.
Thanks for this tip! I am usually good at using up perishables and not wasting food, but lately I've fallen off the wagon, like, a whole pound of broccoli gone bad and headed to the compost. So this is a good reminder, and a new way to use stuff up. Thanks!
Delicious as always! We have a skillet at home (I got it for free from a friend), but we have never used it. Your food looks so pretty and healthy!
I often do this too! A few months ago, my daughter made me a wonderful crocheted cover (similar to the silicone ones you can buy) for my cast iron skillet that works beautifully. Maybe someone in your house would make you one. 🙂
A crocheted cover?!! That's such a good idea! Plus it would probably look prettier than the silicone ones.
Does yours get really dirty? Does it wash well? Has it ever caught fire? (These are things I think of...)
I am so doing this for lunch today! As luck would have it, I picked up parsnips at Whole Foods last weekend. I LOVE parsnips but they're so hard to find at the normal grocery store. I think they'd be heavenly with salsa and a poached egg. 😉
So glad you did this today! I am struggling to use up the HH veggies. Still trying to get through last week's box, and now the new one, too. I can so do this for my lunches, and maybe pack a few for my hubbie's lunches. Thanks for the inspiration, Kristen.
Just wanted to jump in and say that HH just started delivering to my area (Michigan) and I signed up because of all your wonderful posts about it. This is a great post for me, since aside from roasting everything, I wasn't sure how I would use up all the veggies.
Oh wow, that's awesome! I didn't even hear that they'd expanded to Michigan already.
This is one of my standard meals! It's a great way to use up veggies that are sort of on the edge - either stuff that might go bad, or stuff that is difficult to use on its own. I often use the stems & leaves of cauliflower or broccoli, or the cores of lettuce or cabbage - just chop them up real small - and it's a great way to use up any greens that have gone limp and aren't nice enough for a salad. With eggs, I often just toss them in and scramble it all up together. And if anybody out there is on a diet (like I am at the moment) you can use non-stick canola spray instead of butter, lard, or oil. They claim it has zero calories - which honestly doesn't make any sense - I mean, it's still canola oil after all! But whatever, it certainly has fewer calories than something like butter or bacon grease, and as long as you're not using a veggie that really soaks up the oil like eggplant, mushrooms, squash or potatoes, it works just fine in a cast iron pan.
My word, mushrooms are the worst for soaking up grease! You can add a generous amount of fat and once you add the mushrooms, poof! All the grease is gone.
Thank you for inspiring my breakfast. I dug through my veggie bin, found some old veggies I probably would have tossed, cooked them with two eggs, and thoroughly enjoyed my meal.
Yay!! So glad you were able to put this post to use so quickly.
This essentially is what the British call “Bubble and Squeak” (and one of the great all-time food names). Here’s one example: https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-bubble-and-squeak-recipe-435202
Scott, what is swede? (From the recipe)
I'm not Scott, but swede is rutabaga
Thanks! I had never heard that!
YUM. I love a fried egg on most anything and at lunch it's even better. This reminds me of my mother's Friday soup - dibs and dabs of everything with homemade chicken or beef stock and some pasta at the end of a long week.
My favourite line from this post: "I think some hot fat is pretty essential, though."
People seriously need to start cooking with more fat. It's so delicious and good for us and, umm... delicious.
That is all.
a few months ago my husband's blood work at his annual physical showed his blood sugar and cholesterol were high and he was overweight. I make 90% of what he eats, so I had to change what I cook drastically (we live in the south, so just think Paula Deen food). I didn't know it was called "skillet dinner", but that's what I cook now for many of his supper meals.
Peppers/onions/ground turkey/taco seasoning/chipotle
spinach/okra/pre-cooked shredded smoked pork
chicken breast/asparagus/carrots.
Steak/broccoli/peppers/Asian sauce
I have found the best way to keep these alive is with LOTS of flavor (chipotle, smoked meats, Asian flavors, etc)
He's lost over 30 pounds (from 220lbs to 190lbs) and everything is well back within range on his blood results so it apparently works wonders! (he has a high fiber cereal in the mornings and a salad with a protein at lunch...yogurt and fruit for snacks).
Crazy thing is that I have had him on this plan now for months, but I'm still dragging my feet on giving up the junk for myself...ugh!
This is such an awesome idea, thank you, I am going to do this; maybe not for breakfast but for dinner or lunch; what a great way to use up random stuff without having to think!