Black Bean Open Faced Omelet

In a couple of weeks I’m attending The Big Summer Potluck at the home of Pam Anderson. It will be a day full of good food, fun, foodie friends, and hopefully some learnin’ too. Last week finally allowed for some time to sit down and check out one of Pam’s cookbooks I recently picked up, The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great.

By the way, Pam has a new book, Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers that will be available late September this year. Sounds like the perfect cookbook to have on hand for the holidays. Back to The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great...

As someone who’s had more than just a couple of pounds to lose at any given time, I thought I would find another cookbook touting some kind of absurd food combining, or phases to work through, along with a list of “yes” foods, and “no” foods. But I was happily surprised. As I read, I began to realize that Pam was not only telling her story about struggling with a healthy weight, but she was speaking to me, directly to me. She may as well have been sitting across the table from me, over a cup of coffee saying, “Okay Amy, this is what I know, and this is what I did.”

It was the spark of encouragement that I needed to hear. Real common sense advice, and no crazy foods or unrealistic exercise regimen. You’ll have to get the book to read it all for yourself. It’s full of tasty recipes that are simple, and, most importantly, tested and perfected by Pam. And when it comes to testing and perfecting recipes, Pam’s the bomb.

What I like about Pam’s recipes is how she gives you the recipe base and technique to use, along with a list of suggested ingredient options and combinations. Of course Pam encourages you to get creative and come up with your own combos, and that’s just what I did with the first recipe I tried fromThe Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, the Open Faced Omelet.

I’m terrible about eating a regular breakfast, so that’s where I wanted to start. The Open Faced Omelet sounded too easy and tasty not to try. And it seriously takes only 10-15 minutes to prepare and cook. I decided on a black bean, with a low fat Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses, with fresh cilantro combo. It was tasty and perfect not only for breakfast, but lunch or supper too.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started: an egg, egg whites, chili powder, salt, pepper, olive oil, black beans, cheese, and fresh cilantro.

Begin by heating oil in an 8-9″ skillet over low heat. (Pam’s recipe calls for a nonstick pan, but I used an iron skillet). While the pan is heating, beat the egg, egg whites, chili powder, salt and pepper together.

Warm up the beans in a microwave safe dish for 30-45 seconds. When ready to cook, increase temperature for skillet to medium–high. As soon as the pan is ready (Pam says you will see “wisps of smoke”), make sure the bottom of pan is completely coated with the oil.

Next, pour in the beaten egg mixture to evenly coat the pan. Gently pull the edge of the eggs that have set away from the side of the pan with a plastic spatula, and tilt the pan allowing the uncooked egg to flood the bottom of the pan.

Continue the tilt and flood process until top of omelet is wet, but not runny.

Top the omelet with the warmed black beans, cheese and cilantro, turn heat to low, then cover and cook for about two minutes or until cheese melts.

When done, with a spatula delicately loosen omelet around edges and plate “open faced.” My omelet extraction leaves a little to be desired, but regardless of how it looks, it tastes mighty fine.

Enjoy!

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Black Bean Open Faced Omelet

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Adapted from Pam Anderson’s The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great.

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1 egg
• 1/8 teaspoon ancho chili powder (or favorite chili powder)
• 1/8 salt
• 1/8 pepper
• 1 teaspoon oil (I used olive oil)
• 1/4 black beans, drained
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (I used a low fat Colby/Monterey Jack combo)
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, rough chopped

Instructions

1. Begin by heating oil in an 8-9 inch skillet over low heat. (Pam’s recipe calls for a nonstick pan, but I used an iron skillet).
2. While the pan is heating, beat the egg, egg whites, chili powder, salt and pepper together.
3. Warm up the beans in a microwave safe dish for 30-45 seconds.
4. When ready to cook, increase temperature for skillet to medium–high. When pan is ready (Pam says you will see “wisps of smoke”), make sure the bottom of pan is completely coated with the oil. Next, pour in the beaten egg mixture to evenly coat the pan. Gently pull the edge of the eggs that have set away from the side of the pan with a plastic spatula, and tilt the pan allowing the uncooked egg to flood the bottom of the pan. Continue the tilt and flood process until top of omelet is wet, but not runny.
5. Top the omelet with the warmed black beans, cheese and cilantro, turn heat to low, then cover and cook for about two minutes or until cheese melts.

Did you make this recipe?

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