5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes

Looking for a quick, healthy breakfast option from Simply Delicious? 5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes is from the 1980s, but actually holds up really well 30+ years later. Consider this the predecessor to avocado toast.

This version uses cottage cheese in the scrambled eggs (instead of milk, I assume). If you’re looking to cut calories (and fat) even further, skip the milk and butter altogether–according to the late Anthony Bourdain, you don’t need either for good scrambled eggs.


There’s not a lot of steps to this–make scrambled eggs, give the spinach and bread a quick toast, slice the tomatoes, and assemble. Oh, and then eat.


Ingredients. I went with sourdough instead of white bread (close enough), and chose to include the optional Tabasco sauce. I did not, however, include the optional olives, which is VERY unlike me.


Scrambled egg preparation.


Simply Delicious suggests serving this dish with breakfast meats for a more “substantial” meal. I went with some veggie patties from the freezer instead, but tried to at least give them some color and flavor on the stove first.


After heating up the veggie patties (background), I reused the pan (with retained color/flavor) for wilting the spinach.


While the spinach wilts in the patty pan, I worked on making the scrambled eggs. You can see the cottage cheese curds in the mixture. Simply Delicious advised letting it set as much as possible, so I have to resist stirring it up.


I distract myself by starting up the sourdough bread in the toaster oven. By the time it’s done, the other parts of the dish should be ready for final assembly as well.


I let it set for a while (note the brown parts), but I give it a few stirs just to keep it cooking somewhat consistently. Too much stirring breaks the eggs up too much, but a few gentle stirs are still necessary unless you’re going for an omelette instead.


That whole bag of spinach has wilted down to this. Note the color/flavor which has transferred (mostly) to the spinach.


Slicing tomatoes in half with my trusty paring knife. When I worked at the restaurant, I’d do entire containers worth of tomatoes like this as part of the prep work for various dishes.


After assembly, and with a sprinkle of (freeze-dried) chives on top. The veggie patty is buried somewhere under the eggs and spinach.


Final picture. Colorful, well-balanced, and quick–it’s a great breakfast or lunch dish.

Grade: A