Family Fun, Health, Here's What's Cooking, Meatless

On Egg Whites & Avocados & Breakfasts that Taste Like Dessert

While in Kansas City with my siblings a couple weeks back, it came to my attention that I am now The Least Healthy Sister. As my sisters gabbled in the kitchen about levels of protein found in their favorite energy bars and talked about the virtue of eating every two or three hours and did burpees down in the den, I’d slide in quips like, “Man, just watching you guys pump those out makes me want to eat like five and a half cookies Right. Now,” and, “Eating six times a day? Sounds like a good idea to me!”

And it’s not even that I’m really even far out into The Unhealthy Galaxy–in fact, I’d say I haven’t even hit its stratosphere–I just happen to be a member of a family where all the other sisters are really, really fit. (Think home CrossFit gym, body building competitions, gluten-free only…)

The good thing about being around all that (instead of just around Matt and Raven, who are all too happy (or speechless) about my habit of baking cookies weekly) is that it got me thinking—

“Hey, I’ve got the same genes they do. What’s stopping ME from owning more workout gear than real clothes and being able to actually do a legit chin-up?”

So I came home from the trip, determined to become the sister who is Not So Obviously the Most Unhealthy. You know? The one who runs half-marathons every year or two for kicks and giggles but still believes in putting the full fat in the muffin recipe?

(It also goes without saying that the longer I go into this postpartum weight loss thing, the more I actually have to try to get the weight off. I am finally—at almost 29 years old—coming to grips with the fact that I no longer have the metabolism of a 17-year-old.)

So–I started by buying a carton of liquid egg whites.

I’ll have you know this accomplishment ranks right up there with the time I actually bought tofu (TOFU!) a couple years back when I half-heartedly tried a “detox” of sorts (which was really nothing more than an attempt to eat more vegetarian for about two weeks). It was like for $1.99, I was able to purchase proof that I was, indeed, Starting to Belong with the Healthy Sisters.

Of course, when I actually poured out the egg whites into my skillet and saw how, well, WHITE, they looked, I took to adding in a “real” egg just so my eyes wouldn’t wig out too much at the sight of the slightly soggy, cream-colored mass congealing on the stove.

And it wasn’t half-bad, really.

I even bought a second carton at the store last week, proof positive that I did, in fact, manage to put away the entirety of the first carton.

And as I’ve attempted to continue on the Sister Health Train, I’ve been eating a lot more grapes and a lot less cereal. I’ve been making a lot more of what I dub “Simple Meals,” which hardly should even merit the pictures I took of them–a fresh vegetable or two, fruit on the side, some kind of protein.

But!

They do taste like summer, they don’t require the use of the hot oven, and they almost all seem to involve avocados, which I may or may not be slightly obsessed with. (I have long since realized that many a trip to the grocery can be put off if I have avocados and tortillas in the house.)

To bring this all to some semblance of a point, I have two–nay, THREE–suggestions for ridiculously quick and easy meals that will help you to board the Healthy Sister Train (well, at least let you grab onto the siderails and peer in the boxcar windows).

 (this picture totally does not match the first recipe, but let’s pretend it does)

1. Cheese & Avocado Tortillas

Take a few mini white corn tortillas, melt some cheddar cheese onto them, slice up some avocado onto the melted cheese, and squeeze some drops of hot sauce on the top. They are seriously easy, seriously delicious, and we are seriously guilty of eating them about 2-3 times a week in the summer.

2. Oatmeal That Might As Well Be Peach Cobbler

Because Matt is super finicky about how ripe his peaches and nectarines can be, it often falls to me to eat an inordinate amount of them in a short amount of time before they go bad. So, when you have a peach or a nectarine that’s just on the verge of being *too* ripe, slice it up into some oatmeal and add a dash of vanilla extract, cinnamon, allspice, and a teaspoon or two of brown sugar.

Seriously, it’s a sinfully delicious breakfast (or dinner) that makes you feel like you’re cheating on every kind of diet known to man.

3. Upgraded Cheese & Avocado Tortillas

Feeling like I needed to get on the protein wagon my sisters have been riding, I decided my staple cheese & avocado tortillas could probably use an update. Enter these upgraded tostadas, which I found the recipe for here. Now that I’ve added the egg, I’m not sure I’ll often be going back.

Oh, and a big shout-out to my sistahs for being awesome and healthy and inspiring and all the good stuff in life. They’re basically the coolest.

(I’ll even give you a picture of them, with two brothers thrown into the mix as a bonus.)

Oh, and if you have any other healthy-ish, non-oven-using, fast recipes, send ’em my way!

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