Breakfast for Dinner: the perfect omelette

One of my favourite meals to make since I've been home on mat leave is an omelette. It's the perfect meal for any time of the day with just enough protein to fill my belly and sustain me for hours and hours without an energy slump.

My love of omelettes comes from my dad who used to whip up custom made omelettes for my sisters and I when we were young. Although now that I think of it, I seem to recall mostly having them for dinner. In fact, many of my favourite meals growing up were breakfast for dinner meals. This list included but was not limited to: waffles with bacon mixed into the batter with maple syrup (better then you think!), crepes, scrambled eggs, french toast, hash browns and sausages with warm buttered toast and of course omelettes. I never thought this was unusual but whenever I suggest we make pancakes for supper Kelly makes a face and then says "why don't we just have spaghetti for breakfast?" NOT THE SAME THING!

To me it makes perfect sense to have breakfast for dinner, most people don't have time in the morning to make a big hearty breakfast so why not make it in the evening when everyone can gather around a table and take the time to enjoy the hearty meal and each others company.

I never follow a recipe when I make an omelette but I usually use 2 eggs and a splash of milk but other than that I just throw in whatever I have in the fridge. You basically cannot go wrong with any combo of veggies, deli meat, fresh herbs and cheese.

Omelette Recipe 

(serves 1 very hungry person) *

2 eggs

splash of milk, probably about 1/4 cup (I use 2%)

handful of chopped mushrooms

handful of roasted squash (leftovers from the night before)

handful graded cheddar cheese (put half into eggy mixture, save other half for the broiler stage)

sprinkling of chopped parsley

handful chopped cherry tomatoes

one chopped green onion

small amount of finely chopped white onion

3 slices gypsy salami, chopped into cubes

ground pepper to taste

1. Turn your oven broiler on HIGH.

2. Crack the 2 eggs into a bowl and beat for a few seconds with a fork, add a splash of milk. Next add all your veggies, cheese, meat and herbs and mix through.

3. Heat a pan on the stove, I use a cast iron pan with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once heated well, pour the eggy mixture into the pan and cook until the bottom appears cooked, about 3 minutes. You can usually visually see this from the top.

4. Now sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and slide the pan into the oven on Broil HIGH for about 2 minutes until the top starts to bubble. This is the most tricky part since it is very easy to quickly burn the whole thing. Leave the oven light on and check your omelette every 30 seconds, it should be cooked after about 2-3 minutes at the most.

5. Once cooked, pull it out of the oven to cool off for a few minutes and then serve.

*This is a sample recipe of what I used for the above picture but please use any combo of veggies, deli meat, cheese and fresh herbs that you have in the fridge.