Recipe: Healthy Frittata With No Recipe At All

A perfect, (recipe-less) healthy frittata recipe — and cooking as therapy

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Ah, the beloved recipe… Countless books, television shows, blogs (including mine), magazine articles and apps either sell, promote or share them for others to create and enjoy food. Many believe that without a recipe, you can’t make great food.

But I (humbly) disagree.

To prove this point, I am sharing a recipe-less healthy frittata video where I show you how to bring together a basic frittata using whatever you have left over in your fridge, along with some fresh bits and pieces you can purchase at your local market. I created this video because I want you to have fun with your food without all the usual recipe rules — choose your favorite natural vegetables and get cooking!

It’s easy to get caught up in behavior patterns that are influenced by others with whom we work, live, or love. Yet, it is crucial to your soul to retain your sense of self.

I read many articles suggesting therapy, meditation and other modalities to those who need to re-connect with themselves, and I’d like to add one more: cooking.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or first-time novice, I believe you can reclaim control and reconnect with yourself in your kitchen.

This may sound a bit odd, but hear me out… Recipes are like a great boss, friend or lover – they provide all the ingredients needed, along with instructions about how to use the ingredients to reach a particular delicious, positive outcome. But what happens when you get used to following recipe after recipe with no deviation or exploration? I believe you lose something very special and unique to you: connection with your own creativity.

I realize it may seem weird I’m suggesting that my recipe-less frittata video could help you regain and reclaim a part of yourself that may be missing, but remember sometimes in life, it’s the little things that count. Like baking a cake. Let me explain: Years ago, pre-chef days, when I was struggling with a difficult person in my old media job, it took me months to realize I held the power to change my situation. This light bulb moment didn’t take place at work; it took place in my kitchen after making two attempts to create a particular type of cake for my father’s birthday. Both times I followed the recipe with military precision, only to have it fail miserably.

I felt utterly defeated. I cried. Over crappy cake. And then I became angry, because I realized it wasn’t what I did that made the cake crappy…it was what I was instructed to do via the recipe! During my third attempt, I deviated from the recipe. I made changes and added ingredients I love to use, which resulted in “…one of the best cakes I’ve ever tasted” — my dad’s words, not mine.

 That experience taught me to believe in myself more, to use my own brain and creativity to reach a positive outcome rather than rely solely on someone else’s rules and instructions. Of course, during my culinary studies, I had to follow instructions to pass exams and learn how to create a variety of foods I’d never cooked with before, but throughout that process I found ways to inject my creativity and flair — I always felt in control of the outcome.

In cooking and in life I always leave room for some deviation, because that’s where the magic happens. I invite you to use my simple, tasty frittata guidelines to create nourishing food you love. Let this food fuel your empowerment in the kitchen and all other areas of your life in the pursuit of creating your best self.

>Learn more about the author at danielleshine.com.