Breakfast or Something

 I've been losing weight.  Not as much as I'd like, but some.  Part of my impromptu weight loss program involved skipping breakfast and having a very light lunch - which helps.  In theory these two non-meals are supposed to be followed by a sensible dinner, but sensible dinners are hard to come by.  So maybe two out of three are sensible by my definition, and probably one out of twenty-five if defined by a dietitian or nutritionist who is willing to look the other way when it comes to dry martinis.

This morning I was hungry, and so decided on an omelet.  Very good!

Step seventeen is to sauté finely chopped onion, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper.  I use a non-stick pack and a little olive oil over low heat.  Too much heat and the onions turn black.

Sauté the Vegetables

Low Heat!

Failure is not a bad thing.  Remember what you learned in first grade, in elementary school.  Failure is bad!  Not when it comes to something like burning your vegetables - but our teachers never got into that sort of discussion.

Simultaneously, I sautéed some portobello mushrooms that were marinated in Garlic Expressions overnight.  Since you can't really overcook mushrooms, I set these up at medium heat in a stainless steel fry pan with a cover to prevent spattering oil all over the place.

Mushrooms

If you keep the heat on the mushrooms higher than the heat on the vegetables, you'll be on safe ground when it comes to assembling your masterpiece three egg omelet.  Otherwise the vegetables will finish early, and you'll be waiting for the mushrooms to finish, and they won't, and the whole thing becomes ridiculous.

So - mushrooms.

Mushrooms

While the ingredients are cooking, I have time to get the rest of the breakfast ready.  Eggs, cheese, toast in the toaster... 

Set-Ups Are Ready!

I transferred the mushrooms to the vegetable pan, then added a little vegetable oil to the mushroom pan.  I thought there would be enough oil in the pan already from the mushrooms, but adding a little more couldn't hurt.

Some years back I attended a cooking seminar on omelets.  The chef was an excellent instructor, and I learned something.  If your omelet fails your expectations of light, fluffy, delicious omelet, you've very likely done something wrong.  The most common mistakes by far are not using enough oil (women have a thing about oil - and I don't know why) and not having your oil hot enough.  Use plenty of oil, and heat it until it's starting to approach the flash point.  You'll get a perfect omelet every time.  I followed his instructions and he's right.

However...

I was a bit brain dead this morning.  I didn't use enough oil, and the oil wasn't hot enough.  So, instead of an omelet, I got scrambled eggs topped with stuff.  It tasted okay, but it looked like a culinary error of the first magnitude, and the kitchen looks like a crime scene.

So now I'm going to clean the kitchen, then clean a few guns and put them away in the gun safe, then back up my desktop, then see about getting a new battery for my notebook.

And that's my productive day.