Veggie Egg Muffins

I threw away my muffin/cupcake tin the other day. This is the third time I've made these and also the third time it's all but ruined the metal pan. I have to think it's the pan because there's no one else who has seemed to have the same issue. (Kay posted a similar recipe awhile back and that prompted me to try it in the first place.)

Also, I've tried it in three different ovens: One gas, one electric, one convection. And at three different altitudes: Colorado, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania.

It has to be the pan.

I have plans to buy some silicone pans, or at least one anyway. Have you had luck with one of those?

Or, actually...I think I will bake this in a glass pan next time and just cut it into squares.

This is the perfect weekday breakfast if you like eggs but don't have time to make them each day. And, honestly, cooking at 5:30am was never my activity of choice. I always left the house by 7:00am when I was teaching, so I would really have to be up and around to get breakfast made. This is why I usually just drank a smoothie on my way to work. Eggs are better for weekends, in my opinion.

But Scott will eat a few of these each day for breakfast. There's no way I'm getting up to make him breakfast right now. I used to in Wyoming, when he didn't have to be in class until 10am, but now he leaves by 7am and that's not quite ideal when I've been up at least once the previous night with a baby.

So I'll make these on the weekend, put 3 or 4 in a Ziploc bag and he doesn't need to get up earlier to make breakfast. It's a win-win.

These would also be perfect (i.e. fancy) for brunch or breakfast if you have company.

Veggie Egg Muffins
makes about 18 muffins or one 9x13 pan, cut into squares

10-12 eggs (I used 10 because I had 10 left in one carton, but obviously 12 would work.)
1/2 cup milk
1 green pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup loosely packed baby spinach
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
1 t. sea salt
1 t. freshly ground pepper

If you wanted to, you could add cooked bacon or sausage, finely chopped, and make these non-veggie. I just didn't have any on hand.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray the pan liberally with olive oil spray/canola oil spray or brush with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.
Stir in the chopped pepper, onion, and mushrooms.
Chop the baby spinach into smaller pieces and stir in.
Add the cheddar and make sure everything is incorporated.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to spoon the mixture into muffin tin cups OR pour into your 9x13 pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes (muffins) or 25-30 minutes (larger pan). Check the middle to see if it springs back when touched.

Sausage Breakfast Bake

Recipe challenge, week nineteen.

Let me tell you: Mondays come around awfully quickly when you solemnly swear and promise to post a new recipe each Monday.  I do believe that I may start re-doing and highlighting my tried and true recipes at some point.  Because, honestly, we don't need 258 recipes in our repertoire.  We need just a few good recipes that we can make again and again and they never disappoint.

So, we'll see.

I have, as of right now, three recipes to make just so I can take pictures of them, but I don't feel like cooking big meals for myself.  My dinner rotation usually goes: sweet potatoes/black beans, pizza, Annie's Mac and Cheese, cereal, repeat.  Usually preceded by a spinach smoothie and some tortilla chips as an after-school snack. Leftovers are lunch the next day.  Breakfast is usually fancy, expensive peanut butter that I can't buy when Scott's around (because he'll eat it all) and toast (on fancy, expensive bread).  I usually have oatmeal or fruit at school for snacks.  Pre-popped popcorn also my number guilty pleasure.  I go through a bag a week.

Now that you know all of that unnecessary information, you can see that my current arrangement isn't conducive to cooking.

However...

This is a the perfect, easy brunch or lazy-day breakfast casserole.  We had it a few months ago, and I would make this for overnight guests or for a holiday breakfast.  I used chicken jalapeno sausage from TJ's and it was delicious.  Feel free to add bacon too (I've been watching Parks and Rec and bacon just seems like it would go with everything now).

You could alway split it up into muffin cups too and portion it out for a week of breakfasts.

Egg and Sausage Breakfast Bake

Makes a 9 inch pie plate (double for a 9x13 pan)

5 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4 sausage links, diced (for a 9x13 pan, used a whole package…I used Trader Joe’s Chicken Jalapeno)

2 cups shredded hashbrowns (I used frozen ones, but you could go with fresh potatoes or sweet potatoes)

½ cup diced green or red pepper (I didn’t have these on hand, but would use them in the future.)

½ cup diced onion

½ t. pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the frozen hashbrowns in the bottom of your pie plate.  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, shredded cheese, and pepper. 

In a frying pan, lightly brown the onion, pepper, and sausage in a bit of olive oil.  You can skip this step if the sausage is precooked, but I like the crispy flavor.

Spread onto the top of the hashbrowns.  Pour the egg mixture over the top.

Bake for 40 minutes, but start checking it at 30 minutes (just in case) to see if the center is set.  Mine took about 45 minutes, but I’m never sure how much elevation is playing into things here and I also used convection.