Fantastic Omelet

It's early September, and here around Portland, with the way this season has gone, that means tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, green beans, and a host of other veggies are hitting their peak. Or at least they are in my parents' backyard, which has become my charge while they are out of town. (This also means I have a car through next week, yay far-away errands!) Given this, last night I came home with a metric buttload of vegetables. Pretty much every meal I've made in the past couple of weeks has already included tomatoes, cukes, zukes, and/or corn thanks to them. I'm heading towards capacity, but I need to raise my threshold because honey, ain't no one else here who's gonna eat these things like me.

Today was my sleep-in day. I have some eggs I've been ignoring for a while. I have veggies. I have various spreads and sauces leftover from trips to TJ or cooking adventures. This added up to omelet for brunch. And it was FANTASTIC. I ate it before I could snag a pic or even before my toast could finish toasting, but here's a general recipe:

Fantastic Omelet
serves 1

2 eggs
splash of soy milk or whatever milk
margarine or butter or oil or whatever
handful mixed cherry tomatoes, quartered
3/4 handful slivers of onion (I used a Hermiston Sweet)
Trader Joe's roasted red pepper spread with eggplant & garlic
cilantro pesto (recipe follows)
about 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used leftover four cheese mix)
salt
pepper
Italian spice grinder spice mix thing (contains rosemary, garlic, sundried tomatoes, sea salt, basil, other stuff)
toast spread with margarine (or butter, if you're into that sort of thing)

Beat eggs with milk and salt, pepper, and random spices to taste until eggs yolks and whites are nicely mixed. Set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt a little margarine and sauté onions until wilted, just a few minutes. Add tomatoes and stir to heat them thoroughly. Add a thwack (approximately one knife-scoop) each of cilantro pesto and roasted red pepper spread. Stir to mix and warm, then turn off heat. In a larger saucepan over medium heat, melt some margarine and turn pan to cat bottom and sides evenly. Pour in egg mixture and allow to cook through, until the surface of the egg pancake is no longer soupy but before the pan-side browns too much (use a spatula to lift up an edge to peek). Carefully pour the tomato/onion mixture onto one half of the omelet. Sprinkle the cheese on the other half and continue to heat for about a minute or until most of the cheese is melted. If it's not all melted yet, don't worry, it will. Carefully use a wide spatula to life up the cheesy half and flip it over onto the tomato half, then slide the omelet onto a plate. Eat. Mmm. Don't forget your toast, too, because you need some fiber in this meal.


Cilantro Pesto
I once had pizza with a cilantro pesto base from HotLips and decided that I could make the same pizza but for way cheaper than $5 per slice. Here's what I ended up with. It's great as a pizza sauce, pasta sauce, on sandwiches or wraps, or whatever. I should mention now that I am very pro-garlic. I also haven't been doing a lot of kissing. Coincidence? I think not.

one bunch cilantro, rinsed and the really stemmy parts removed
handful pinenuts or other nut
handful feta or some other cheese
six cloves garlic, or whatever approximates your taste for it
olive oil
sometimes I add a handful of firm tofu, too, which thins out the flavor, makes a smooth sauce, and adds secret protein

In a food processor (or whatever you use for mashing things together), toss in the garlic, a splash of olive oil, the nuts, cheese, and half the cilantro. Chop chop chop mix blend until smooth. Add the rest of the cilantro and repeat. If choppy or not smooth, add a little more olive oil.