Just a reminder: This is the last week of sign-ups for the ecourse, A Peasant’s Feast!
Mushrooms, red onions and red bell pepper are gently sauteed into sweet softness and then scrambled with eggs. It’s a delicious way to start the day, or makes a great light lunch or dinner (that also happens to be very frugal). And it has a million variations too. You can easily use whatever vegetable combination you want…..though this one is particularly delicious. If I had a twenty week class instead of a thirteen week class for A Peasant’s Feast: Nourishing Food on a Budget, I would have included several other topics, including a week on eggs. They are so nutritious and frugal!
But, you may ask, what’s with the name, “chubby girl’s” ? Granted, I do feel a little “chubby” now that I am 21 weeks pregnant, but that’s not where this name came from. This recipe was inspired from a childhood favorite book series of mine…….Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. (It’s the first recipe in my new series, For the Love of Food and Books).
When I was just at the right age (eleven, I believe), I came across my very first Nancy Drew book. We were house sitting up in the mountains for a friend. They had a wonderful house with all sorts of nooks and crannies and a beautifully fun swing in the front yard. I would go out and swing almost everyday. But the weather was very drizzly, and it kept me inside. One day as I was looking through their shelf of children’s books, I found that first Nancy Drew book and started reading. I was hooked within minutes! Who was this bright, blonde, athletic young women who solved mysteries with abounding energy? I was too young to analyze writing style or notice that all of the stories carry similar plots and ideas. To me, they were magical. (By the way, I only read the original stories, not the new ones, which didn’t seem very good).
But even Nancy Drew had to eat, and it was in my second or third Nancy Drew book that I came across a scene that would forever change how I viewed my habit of eating two eggs in one sitting. Nancy, Bess, and George were in the middle of a mystery in Mexico, when they stopped at a little stand to eat. A native had set up little fires with pans hung over them. You paid for the use of ingredients and the fires and pans to make your own egg scrambles. Vegetables and eggs were cooked up into a satisfying feast for the girls. But I was a little horrified to read that Nancy and George, being the sensible, non-gluttons that they were, only consumed one egg each, while Bess, being the chubby one, had to eat two whole eggs (tisk-tisk). I had been eating two eggs when I scrambled eggs for myself since I was nine! I was eating the “chubby girl’s” portion! I was a little scared to keep eating my two eggs, but got over it eventually. Hence, the name, “chubby girl’s” egg scramble. I generously scrambled two whole eggs per person for us in this recipe. And while it wasn’t scrambled over the open fire like Nancy’s eggs were, they were still delicious.
Enjoy!
Chubby Girl’s Egg Scramble (Serves 3 “chubby girl” portions, 6 Nancy Drew portions).
- 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup of chopped red onion
half of a sweet red bell pepper, chopped
butter
Salt and Pepper
6 eggs
1)In a medium sized pan, heat two tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the vegetables when the butter is melted and sprinkle with a little salt. Sauté until the vegetables are soft and sweet (7-10 minutes) stirring to prevent burning or sticking. Add a little more butter, if needed.
2) Break all of the eggs into a small bowl and lightly beat. Add to the pan and use a fork to continue to “scramble” the eggs while they cook until just set. Serve at once with buttered toast.
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This post made me laugh! I also devoured Nancy Drew books as I was growing up, but when I recently re-read a few for nostalgia’s sake, my grown-up self was horrified at the things they said to Bess about her size and how much she ate! Maybe poor Bess had too much sugar later on in the day. I eat “chubby girl” portions of eggs too, and I’m not the least bit overweight. Fresh farm eggs taste just taste too good – I can’t eat just one!!!!!!!
My husband, our 6 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old and I can eat 18 eggs for a meal! That’s more than 3 eggs each 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, and I love the idea of the new series.
I loved (the original) Nancy Drew books too. I think Bess was usually referred to as “plump”, in a kind-hearted sort of way. Thanks for the recipe; I’m a 2 egg girl also!
BTW, did you ever read any of the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace? Sweet books-we read them to our daughters when they were young.
I did! I had one or two of them growing up and loved them (I later read the whole series while on bed rest). 🙂
I loved reading Nancy Drew books as a kid and read most of the original series (our library was missing a few). They are actually what got me hooked on reading. Thanks for the reminder and the recipe. We love doing fancy scrambled eggs and normally do 5 eggs for 2 people, really “chubby” portions. However, I have to agree that farm fresh grassfed eggs are so tasty they are hard to resist.
Mysteries are great for getting children reading, aren’t they?!
when I make scrambled eggs–for myself, a 4 year old and 2 year old-, I have to make at least five or I don’t get any! We are lucky to get eggs from our neighbor’s pampered chickens, super yummy and the yolks are so orange.
I bet that the eggs in Nancy’s time were pastured too!
I love to saute onions and peppers and scramble eggs in it.(i am sensitive to mushrooms so none for me, sometimes for the family I will do it separately) I usually do about 1 1/2 eggs per person, cause we usually have a nice piece of w/w toast with it.
I loved Nancy Drew (original books) and it didn’t bother me that they had similar plots…love reading!
I think I will be making my own egg scramble tomorrow for breakfast, it just looks too good!
Uh oh…. my 4 year old regularly eats 3 eggs for breakfast with grapefruit and soaked oatmeal. This past week she has been in a growth spurt and eating 4 overeasy eggs. The kid is a string-bean too. 🙂
Me thinks this is the beginning of a great cook book! 🙂
I never read Nancy Drew! Gasp! I was a Bobbsey Twins Girl. Twins just intrigue me. 🙂
I really enjoyed this post today. I am an avid Nancy Drew fan myself and saved my books from childhood. This recipe sounds delicious!
This series is going to be fun! 🙂
I love Nancy Drew, and I used to “steal” the Hardy Boys from a guy who rode my bus. 🙂
…Our little family (husband, me, 4 yr old, 2 yr old, 6 mo old) can put away 2 dozen eggs at a breakfast… It frightens me to think of the teenage years! 😉
I remember reading the Nancy Drew books. Well starting them anyway. You’re right about eleven being the right age. I started when I was fourteen at the advice of my twelve year old friend. I love the first few then got tired of similar story lines. Similar to the Boxcar Children. I always wished that they would have not gone back to a younger age when the original author died.=(
Thanks for the yummy recipe! We had this for dinner the other night and it was great – a fun ‘breakfast for dinner’ recipe 🙂
What a cute story! I read all of the Nancy Drew books(53 of them perhaps?) when I was that age, too. Actually, I believe the description of her appearance sometimes said “titian hair” So silly. 😉
If you switch the butter to olive oil these would be called “slender girl’s” egg scramble!! 🙂
this looks delicious…and i love the story of how they came to be called “chubby girl’s”. 🙂 too funny!
Gosh! My family must be ultra chubby! At LEAST 2 dozen eggs, and that’s with a stack of soaked pancakes, a few pounds of bacon, a load of hash browns, and biscuits.
(might be due to the three teenage boys)