Budget Meals: Frittata

One great way to save money is to go meatless.  Beans and eggs usually cost less than meat and are high in protein.  Eggs are often considered a breakfast dish, but they work great for dinner as well!  This frittata is inexpensive and delicious and makes a wonderful dinner.  Including vegetables makes it seem even more like a dinner dish.  I served this with bread and salad, and it was a wonderful meal!

To make frittatas even more frugal, buy vegetables that are on sale or use leftovers from the week.  There is certainly no reason to use the vegetables I used here.  I simply bought what was on sale this week at my local grocery store.  Leftover meats, pastas, etc. would make great additions too!  Delallo has this great article about frittatas and their origin.  In it, they talk about Italians saving a little of their meal (before serving) to use in the next day’s frittata.  I think it would be great to save a little of your meals Monday through Thursday for a frittata on Friday night.  It would make a great Friday night meal because it is so quick and easy.  If you already had chopped vegetables (and meats, pasta, etc.) from the week to go into it, you could put this together and have it cooked and on the table in fifteen or twenty minutes, which is less time than it would take you to pick up take out, and would be much less expensive and healthier.

Frittata

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Ingredients

• 1 6 oz. bag baby spinach
• 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced (I used white button mushrooms because they were on sale.)
• 2 Tbsps. butter
• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In an oven proof non-stick skillet, melt butter.
2. Add mushrooms and spinach and saute over medium high heat until vegetables are tender and the liquid from the mushrooms has cooked off.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Beat eggs and stir in Parmesan.
5. Pour over the vegetables.
6. Cook until the bottom of the frittata is set and there starts to be a few spots set on top (about 5 minutes).
7. Put pan in the oven on broil and cook until set (about 3 minutes). When it is done, it will be slightly brown and puffed a little.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.