Hey everyone! So, it appears I took an unintentional two week break from blogging. Oops. Lol. Well, I'm back, and I have a few things to share this week. I know I had this big goal for myself for working a few new recipes into our meals each week this year. And I was blogging about those new recipes every Monday. Sadly, I've only tried one new recipe in the last two weeks. It's been a mixture of Joe deep in umpiring high school baseball (which interrupts regular dinner planning), Sarah coming and going (and I never know if she'll be here for dinner), and I've just had a crazy few weeks with the daycare kiddos.
What I thought I would do today is share a bit about some of the breakfast food prep that I do, to make our mornings a little easier. Sarah is up and out the door early for college classes, and doesn't really eat breakfast – but likes to take a little something with her to eat on breaks. Joe works nights, but still likes to have a typical breakfast when he gets homes (and before he goes to bed). And I am up super early as well, and don't have much time to mess around before the daycare kids start coming. So having quick things ready to go has worked well for us. There's usually several options to choose from, in addition to regular things, and we'll often just add some toast or a bagel, and a banana to make a healthy breakfast.
Quick note: I don't take awesome food photos. These are just quick photos that I had taken with my phone and shared on my Instagram. Also, I'm not a great recipe writer, and I rarely measure anything, unless I'm baking – I always measure when I bake. But I think it all makes sense 😉
First up, chocolate chip muffins. Years ago, when the girls were much younger, I used to make two batches of muffins every Sunday – chocolate chip and either blueberry or a cinnamon streusel. The girls could have them for a quick breakfast or they'd take them to school for a snack. At one point last year, Sarah wanted me to buy those small packs of mini muffins. I told her that I could make a ton more muffins for the same price, or even less, by making them myself. I bought a mini muffin pan to do just that.
Making the mini muffins takes a few extra minutes, because you're filling a lot of tiny muffin cups. And the clean up for that pan takes longer, since in a regular muffin tin, I use paper muffin cups, which makes clean up super simple. But I've found that if I make the muffins in the regular size, Sarah won't touch them. I of course will eat all of them in on time at all. Lol. So I will often make a few regular sized muffins for myself, and then a bunch of mini muffins for Sarah. I use the Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Muffin mix, and we love it.
Next up, we have egg muffins. I make these two different ways – one for Joe and one for myself. For Joe's egg muffins, I base them off THIS recipe. First step is to spray the muffin tin with a cooking spray that has flour in it. This makes clean up a ton easier. I start by placing three defrosted tator tots in each muffin cup (I just stick them in the microwave for a few minutes), smashing them down with the bottom of a cup, and baking them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I cook up 1/2 lb of Italian sausage on the stove top. And whisk together 10 eggs, 1/4 cup of milk, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt. Once the tator tots are done, I knock the heat back to 350. I add some crumbled sausage into each muffin cup, and then pour my egg mixture into each cup until it's almost full. I add some grated sharp cheddar cheese to the top of each cup, and then bake them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Once they're done, I let them cool and then store them in sandwich bags, 2 egg muffins in each bag. I store a few in the fridge and stick a few in the freezer. To heat them up, you just pop them in the microwave for about a minute or so.
When I make these for myself, I skip the tator tots. I cook up 1/2 lb of Italian sausage on the stove top. And whisk together 12 eggs, 1/4 cup of milk, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt. I chop up some baby spinach as well. After spraying my muffin tin with a cooking spray that has flour in it, I start by adding some crumbled sausage and chopped spinach into each cup. I then fill each cup with the egg mixture until it's almost full. I add some grated mozzarella cheese to the top of each cup, and bake them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Once they're done, I let them cool and then store them in sandwich bags, 2 egg muffins in each bag. I store a few in the fridge and stick a few in the freezer. To heat them up, you just pop them in the microwave for about a minute or so.
[Photo credit: 100 Directions blog]
Then we have breakfast burritos. It seems that I've never taken a photo while making these, which is odd, since I make them a lot. While these are pretty self explanatory, I know that I got started on these after reading THIS recipe. The first time I made these, I cooked up a bag of hash browns for the potatoes. I simplified the process the next few times I've made them, and just cooked up some tator tots in the oven, and then roughly chopped them up after they were done cooking. I cook up an entire pound of Italian sausage, crumbling it up while cooking. Then I cook up some scrambled eggs – I think I do about a dozen eggs. At that point, I then add the sausage and tator tots in with the eggs and mix it all together.
Once everything cools, we start the assembly process. Joe will heat up the tortillas first. We don't eat these fresh, so we don't need them heated, but we do like the char on them and he seems to think they just taste better than if we skipped this step. We get the HUGE tortillas, and he heats them right on the stove top, on the grates themselves. Then I take over. I do about 3-4 at a time, laying the tortillas on the counter. I add a scoop or two of the egg/sausage/potato mixture, and then adding some grated sharp cheddar cheese to the top. I roll them up and wrap them in Saran Wrap really tight. I store them in freezer bags in the freezer, so they're ready to grab in the mornings. To heat them up, they only take a minute or two in the microwave, and they're good to go.
And lastly, we have the breakfast bowls. This is really just another take on the ingredients that are in the egg muffins and the burritos. I cut up some red potatoes, drizzled EVOO over them and seasoned them, and then roasted them in the oven for a half hour or so. I picked up some sausage links (I don't remember what kind at the moment) and had Joe grill them on the BBQ. And then I made some scrambled eggs. I divided everything up into some containers, and then sprinkled some sharp cheddar cheese over the eggs. I just kept these in the fridge, although I'm assuming you could also freeze them (don't quote me on that) if they weren't going to be eaten within a few days.
Laura Vegas 