Eat Your Heart Out: Cilantro chicken and jalapeño omelets

So we all have one, one spice or herb that we love above all the rest. Mine is cilantro. It is likely that if you follow this blog regularly you will see it pop up in a lot of unexpected places. That is mostly because I try to keep it in the house and also because I like to see what it works best with. Thus far I enjoy it the most paired with pineapple. But that is not this post that post is to come. It is one of my most enjoyed dishes who's inspiration came from a yankee candle. Who woulda thought?!?

Anywho after my roommate and her boyfriend came home with California Tortilla yesterday ( one of my favorite fast food Mexican places that you should definitely check out if you have one near you.) I was in the mood for mexican. But having just come back from a particularly long gym sesh I wasn't too keen on obliterating all of that hard work so I needed to figure out how I could satisfy that craving in a slightly healthier way. Easiest way I know of is to skip the tortillas and cheese. Blasphemy I know! But dinner still turned out pretty awesome. Again though not this post.

This post is the morning aftermath. Leftovers! I had marinated two chicken breasts yesterday in a zesty lime seasoning (well because it seemed just silly to only do one and I knew it could throw the extra one in something the next day) perfect to put in an omelet I have been craving. Of course I had just bought some fresh cilantro so that was there. I had a bit of poblano salsa I've been needing to use up along with some jalapeños. Voila let the omelet fun begin! Now even though I was able to muster some self control last night an omelet is simply not an omelet to me without some cheese so to combine the mixture I used a little bit of reduced fat cream cheese. MMMM.

Cilantro chicken and jalapeño omelets

Serves: 2
Cook time: 10-15 minutes

1 chicken breast (5-6 oz) (I had mine marinated but simply grilled or cooked and chopped will be fine!)
4 eggs (2 per omelet)
-If you want to make this a little healthier and only use egg whites then use 3-4 egg whites per omelet
milk for egg mixture. About 3 T. per omelet
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
1/4. cup cilantro, chopped
2 T. reduced fat cream cheese
2 T. salsa, any kind will work, pick your favorite
1/4 cup rice (optional)
- I also had some leftover mexican chicken flavored rice that I added in to make this even heartier. This is totally optional but recommended because it was also totally delicious. But hey I get not wanting to cook a batch of rice for a simple morning omelet.
butter or something to grease your pan

Okay so omelets are really not that hard but they can be intimidating. My tips are to prep all of your filling before you even touch your eggs. Have everything chopped and portioned out so it is ready to go. Another big tip is to make sure you are working with a very hot pan and it is well greased. You want the eggs to cook fast and you want to be able to use a spatula to push the sides towards the center so that the uncooked egg on top can move to the open space and cook easily. This is a very fast process.

But if this is intimidating or you don't want to deal with the pressure of breaking the omelet and its presentation to be ruined. Have no fear that is exactly the point of frittata! You can simply mix in your fillers with your whipped eggs and either bake in the oven until the eggs are done or stovetop covered on a low heat. Then cut and serve it like a pie.

So either way you want to start off with cutting up your chicken, jalapeño and cilantro. When you have it all diced up mix the cilantro, jalapeño, cream cheese, rice and salsa together. (You can also mix in the chicken but since mine was marinated I wanted to leave that flavor separate.)

Set all of that aside. Heat up your pan. Meanwhile whip together your eggs and milk. I use a fork to do this and add in some pepper while I am at it.

Once your eggs are whipped grease your pan with butter or you can even use a spray like pam for a lighter alternative.

Just make sure that it is well coated. Add in your egg mixture and cook as instructed before. Don't cook too long because you will burn your eggs. It is a good sign when your eggs bubble up like this. it means they are close to done.