♣ Hearty Breakfast "Egg-Muffins"

About six months ago I joined a start-up company, and while the work is engaging, the hours are long and sometimes I feel like it there is never enough time. So many things to do but never enough time and then there are so may video games to play BLAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHH

I very rarely eat out, so that means I cook a lot at home. With my new job though, I find it difficult to cook every night, so lately I've had to find ways to cook at home more efficiently and feed myself properly and wholesomely throughout the week. 

I'm not a toast-and-coffee kinda gal - I need to have some serious protein in the morning or else I have trouble curbing my appetite for the rest of the day. So I thought, what can I make a large quantity of that will keep in the fridge, is quick to pack in the morning before work, will reheat relatively well, and will taste good? I then though about one of my favorite breakfasts: egg and veggie scramble with some kind of meat. And then I thought about a way to make it more portable. I eyed my muffin pan and remembered seeing some paleo recipes where people would take a bunch of stuff like eggs, bacon, etc. and bake little "egg muffins" in their muffin pans. Not a bad idea! 

First, I sauteed a bunch of my favorite vegetables with a little bit of olive oil: red onions, red/yellow/orange bell peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini, with a dash of salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper for some kick. Whenever I can, I try to make at least 50% of the meals I eat consist of vegetables. If you like, you can actually skip this step and just put your fresh veggies directly into the eggs and bake them. I wanted to soften my vegetables a little bit, so I decided to sautee for about 1-2 minutes. 

Next, I sprayed my muffin pan with some cooking spray, and rolled a piece of turkey bacon into rings and placed them into the pan. I imagine you can use regular bacon here if you like!

Next, I take 2 eggs and 1 generous cup of Eggbeaters and whisk them together in a bowl. After whipping up the eggs, I toss in my sauteed vegetables.

Using a small ladle, I carefully scoop the egg and vegetable mixture into the muffin pan. Keep an eye on the egg vs. veggie ratio for each cup - chances are the vegetables have sunk to the bottom of your bowl, so unless you mix before every scoop, you may end up with some egg-muffins that are mostly egg and others that are mostly vegetables. Remember also that eggs will inflate during cooking and then deflate, so you don't want to fill the pan all the way to the top (though the bacon rings do give you some additional leeway!)

And of course, top off with a little bit of reduced-fat cheese - I think the one I used here was the Kraft "Mexican" blend or some-such.

Since I'm not following a recipe, I had to guess as to how long and at what temperature to bake my egg-muffins. I decided to go for 350 degrees for about 10 minutes to start, and kept an eye on the muffins every 2 minutes to make sure they didn't get too crispy. I also wanted the cheese on the top to crust over a little bit.

Conclusion: DEEEEEELICIOUS. What's great about these is that they are nice little portions, and you can eat them with your hands if you wanted (not that I did, but you know, just sayin'.)

For your versions, you can modify any of the ingredients. Maybe some fancy egg-muffins with olives, spinach, and feta cheese. Or meatier egg-muffins, which bacon, chorizo, and sausage (though I would recommend that you cook any raw meat in a skillet for a little bit prior to baking, to make sure that it is cooked fully through.)

12 of these egg-muffins provided a solid breakfast for me for 5 days, paired with some fruit or a green smoothie! A great time-saver in the mornings, when I literally had to roll out of bed and head to work while stopping by the fridge for a second to pack 2 of these in some tupperware. In fact, I think I will make another batch tomorrow, with different ingredients.

Have a great weekend, everyone!