Mini Frittata Brunch Bar

Source: http://www.tablespoon.com/ – by Bev Cooks

Get creative and have a whole slew of toppings for your next mini frittata party!

Prep Time 10 min

• Total Time 40 min
• Servings 12

I’ve been on quite the miniaturizing kick lately.

I’ve miniaturized calzones, chocolate cake, pecan pies and today I’m miniaturizing the frittata. Somehow miniaturizing my waistline didn’t make the list.

I have a major crush on frittatas. Or as I like to call them, “FREE-TA!-TAS!” So when I decided to divide them up over 12 itty bitty muffin tins and pretend that I was hosting a brunch party with all my best friends picking out their favorite fillings and creating their perfect mini frittatas, I: A) got sad that it wasn’t actually happening; and B) got really excited that I was going to have twelve mini frittatas to myself.

Guess what, you have the power in your own hands to make this mini frittata brunch party happen. You do! Just round up a delicious topping fest, have a t.o.n. of eggs in a bowl and let everyone do their thang!

Let me show you what I made for my imaginary party (sure, you can feel sorry for me if you want).

Handful of eggs, baby spinach, Mexican chorizo, leeks and shredded mozzarella and oregano.

Whisk up 10 eggs with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Choppity chop some baby spinach.

Get that gorgeous chorizo all soft and caramelized in a skillet.

Saute zee leeks.

Pour the eggs into the 12 muffin holes. Sprinkle in your leeks.

Add the chorizo. OMG.

Add the spinach and oregano.

Top with grated cheese! (Someone in my family is a sissy about cheese, hence the naked ones. Ahem.)

Bake her up. They’ll puff up like little soufflés, but will settle back down in a nanosecond.

Stack them on a platter for your guests or pop them into your mouth like popcorn!

Feel free to use a.n.y. topping you love: bacon, arugula, goat cheese, thyme, garlic, etc. Do it up!

Just make it happen. Then invite me. Kthanksbye.

For more of Bev’s musings, visit her at Bev Cooks and her Tablespoon profile.

Mini Frittata Brunch Bar

Ingredients

10 large eggs

1/2  cup cooked Mexican chorizo

1 cup spinach, finely chopped

1 leek, sliced lengthwise (green parts discarded) and thinly sliced into half moons

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1 pinch coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

Directions

• 1 In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
• 2 Heat a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil in a medium skillet and add the leeks. Season lightly with salt and pepper and saute until slightly browned, 3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
• 3 To the pan, add the chorizo and cook until until it’s softened, 5 minutes.
• 4 Pour the eggs into a non-stick muffin tin.
• 5 Sprinkle the leeks evenly into each eggy mixture.
• 6 Followed by a good dollop of the chorizo.
• 7 Go ahead and throw that spinach in there too.
• 8 It would be wise to sprinkle some cheese and oregano on top of each frittata.
• 9 Throw the whole thing into an oven, preheated to 375.
• 10 Bake for about 10 minutes, checking at the 8-minute mark. They should be puffed up and set in the middle. Let cool a few minutes and serve at your next brunch!

 

Southwest Baked Egg Cups & Streamlining Morning Routines

Source: http://tidymom.net – by TidyMom

To know me, is to know my love of mornings.  I’m very much a morning person.  I’m not worth much after 8pm, and  I actually go to bed, looking forward to getting up.  Weird, I know.

I recently have teamed up with the California Milk Advisory Board to help moms streamline the morning routine. As a mom myself, I know I don’t like to be rushed in the mornings, I’d much rather get up at 5 am to leave the house for a 8am meeting, than to be rushing around because I slept in later.  I’m a planner, so I plan for the unexpected, it’s just my nature.  But for some,  no matter how early they wake up, getting out the door on time can be a challenge in the morning.  Laundry, phone calls, scrambling to make breakfast  or lost objects are common time sucks.

I actually had this VERY conversation with our 16 year old just the other day.  She gets up each morning before school 25 minutes before she has to leave the house.  If ONE thing does not go as planned, then her morning turns in to total chaos.

How to streamline your morning routine

 

For many of us, morning routines include showering, getting dressed, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, drinking coffee/tea, and possibly helping a small human go through similar steps. Your routine might vary a little bit, but for the majority of days you do the same things over and over and over again.

• Lay everything out the night before. Collect and lay out all your clothes and any other items you’ll need the night before, so you don’t have to make those decisions in a sleepy state. If you have little ones, do this for them as well, and as they get older, they can learn to make this a habit as well.
• Gather what leaves with you.  Get in a nightly habit of gathering everything that needs to go out the door with you in the morning, and place it directly in front of the door where you will be leaving in the morning.   Homework, signed permission forms, backpacks, musical instruments, lunch boxes, bank deposit, keys, ipad/laptop etc.
• Make lunch the night before.  Put yogurt or cheese sticks in freezer the night before, so the stay cold and will be thawed in time for lunch.
• Plan make ahead breakfast ideas.  Make pancakes for dinner one night, and make extras to keep in the freezer for breakfast (just heat frozen pancakes in the microwave).  Over the weekend, make Southwest Baked Egg Cups with California cottage cheese, store them in the refrigerator, quickly heat in the microwave .

 

I love eggs baked in muffin pans! With an uber-busy life right now I’m always looking for ways to maximize my family’s breakfast schedule while keeping it nutritious and delicious but fast and portable.

Kids that eat a nutritious breakfast do better in school.  They wont get hungry before lunch, and the protein dairy provides, will keep them from getting sleepy, cranky or even headaches.

The best part about baked egg cups?….. you can customize them with whatever ingredients you have on hand.  My family is a big fan of Southwest eggs.  I started with refrigerated hash browns, then threw in some black beans, California cheeses, mixed some eggs with California cottage cheese and a few spices and topped with a little more cheese. (full recipe below)

To ease the morning scramble, make these the night before or over the weekend, wrap in a paper towel and store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.  In the morning just grab and reheat for a minute in the microwave for a fast delicious protein packed hot breakfast at home or on the go.

The more streamlined your morning routine, the more likely you are to have a smooth, stress-free morning.

Print

Southwest Baked Egg Breakfast Cups

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1 egg cup

Ingredients

• 2 cups refrigerated hash browns, uncooked
• 8 whole eggs, large
• 1/2 cup California cottage cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup diced bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons salsa, chunky
• 2 ounces green chiles, diced
• salt and pepper to season
• 1/2 cup black beans
• 1/2 cup California Mexican cheese blend
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• 2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup California Queso Blanco cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray
2. Fill each muffin tin with approximately 1/8 cup of potatoes, season with salt and pepper.
3. Bake 15-20 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown on top.
4. While potatoes are baking, whisk eggs in a medium bowl and combine with cottage cheese, baking powder, bell peppers, salsa, green chiles and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Remove potatoes from oven, fill each cup with about 1 tablespoon of black beans and California Mexican cheese blend, then evenly divide egg mixture into each cup.
6. Top each egg cup with a sprinkle of cilantro and paprika and a pinch of shredded white queso blanco cheese.
7. Return to the oven and bake an additional 25 minutes or until they puff up nicely and are just barely set on top (do not over cook or they will be spongy)
8. Enjoy warm, or let cups cool completely to room temperature and store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. To reheat, wrap the egg cup in a paper towel and reheat in microwave for about 30-45 seconds. Be careful not to microwave too long or they will get tough.

© TidyMom. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.

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How about you?  Are you a morning person?  Do you have a favorite tip for streamlining your morning routine?

 

Disclaimer:  I’m excited to have a working partnership with the California Milk Advisory Board to talk about the importance of  eating a nutritious breakfast complete with dairy and how to ease morning routines for moms.  All opinions and views are all my own.

10 Ways to Cook the Perfect Egg: No matter how you like your eggs, we’ll show you how to make them perfectly

Source: www.thedailymeal.com – By Anne Dolce, Editor

Many mornings are met with an egg; sometimes afternoons and evenings are, too. An egg is a “power-packed capsule of great nutrition,” says Jim Chakeres, vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association, and just one egg gives you a large dose of all of the protein, vitamins, and minerals that you need on a daily basis. An egg outranks other forms of protein in nutrition by a landslide, and not only is it a superior form of protein, but it just so happens to be one of the cheapest. If that’s not enough reason for you to work one into your daily diet, then maybe hearing that an egg can help you with weight loss, because starting your morning with an egg will cause you to eat fewer calories throughout the day, will.

An egg’s nutritional qualities are not new news, but what is really important to the Cook editors when it comes to an egg is that it’s cooked right. Egg-eating veterans know, and if you’re new to eating eggs then you’ll soon learn, that there are ways you like an egg, and there are ways you don’t. Another great things about eggs are that they can be cooked in a number of different ways so that they differ in taste, texture, and variety, and while versatility is another positive item on our list, it can often lead to a lot of confusion and disappointment when it comes to eating an egg.

Slideshow: 10 Ways to Cook a Perfect Egg Slideshow

How many times have you ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese and were dissatisfied to find that the egg was dry and the yolk not runny, or vice versa? To eat an egg is to know an egg, in its many different forms, and to make sure you’re enjoying your egg every time, we asked food expert Scott Crawford, foods coordinator of Whole Foods Market, to define each preparation of an egg and explain how to cook it.

With our help, you’re not only going to be cooking and eating more eggs, but you’re going to be doing it perfectly. If you’re a sucker for yolks, you’ll learn that you like your eggs sunny-side up; and if you can’t figure out why some scrambled eggs taste better than others, you’ll be pleased to find out that the answer is simple: air. Fried, scrambled, or baked, we cover all of the bases of an egg — so no matter how you like it, we’ll tell you how to make the perfectly incredible and edible egg.

Don’t be afraid of breakfast any more…