Meal prep. It’s your friend and will help you keep on track. I struggle with breakfast. Cereal is quick, easy, and NOT allowed during this challenge. It’s not really that great anyway, it’s just convenient. I honestly don’t think I’ve eaten cereal since I craved O’s when I was pregnant last year. Pregnancy cravings are a whole different topic which we’ll save for another day…
Thinking about breakfast, I’ve got a great waffle recipe. Omelets are delicious. Bacon and eggs, sweet potato hash, the list goes on. The only problem is, a lot of these things more time to make than I can afford in the mornings. So, I created my own version of egg muffins or cupcakes and made a delicious, ready to eat breakfast, that tastes great hot or cold!
Think about foods that you like and what you want in a scramble or just what you want in general. I tend to lack enough veggies, so I decided to make these egg muffins heavy on the veggie side. I also don’t like mine very “eggy.” The texture of the egg when there are large portions that are just egg bothers me and I don’t like it cold. So, I use the egg as a binder and that’s about it.
I chose red peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, kale/swiss chard greens, and bacon. For the broccoli and greens, I buy frozen and let them thaw before using. I find it cooks better.
Before you begin: Preheat the oven to 375.
Step 1: Thaw out any frozen items and drain off excess water. For the green I literally cut the corner of the bag off and squeeze it until all the liquid drains out. If you throw them in the mix with all the water your muffins won’t hold up well. The broccoli doesn’t need to be squeezed like the greens do.
Step 2: Whatever veggies need chopping – chop up smallish and sauté. I used avocado oil. Olive oil is not that great for cooking because it changes with heat and loses some of it’s good qualities. Avocado and coconut oil are able to withstand much higher heat and a better option for cooking.
Step 3: Cut up the bacon in small pieces and cook it! You could do this as step 2 and use the bacon grease to cook the veggies. Or you could use a different type of meat (bison, ground beef, turkey, shredded or ground chicken…).
Step 4: Combine all of the veggies/meat/muffin stuff, except the eggs!
Step 5: Crack all the eggs in a separate bowl and whisk them up (like you’re going to scramble them).
Step 6: Add the egg to the veggies/meat mix. Here is where you get to decided how “eggy” you want these. If you’re like me and just want them as a binder, then only add enough egg to coat the veggie/meat mix. If you want more egg, then add enough egg that the veggies/meat are submerged and/or suspended in the egg mixture. This step (and the number of eggs you use) is totally up to you!
Step 7: Line your muffin pan with silicone liners or grease with coconut or avocado oil. I do not like paper liners because I feel like the never peel off well on my egg muffins and I end up eating paper or losing a decent chunk of my muffin.
Step 8: Bake them until they are cooked through. This will depend on on how dense they are if you do regular or jumbo size. For regular muffin size tins, it took about 25 minutes for mine to be done.
Step 9: Remove them from the pans/liners, let cool, and enjoy!
