Thursday, September 26, 2013

Breakfast Egg Cups for the freezer

Want a quick (and I mean quick) way to get some nourishing breakfasts into the freezer?  And frugally "gather up the fragments" at the same time?  Actually, these little individual quiche are not just for breakfast, but could go in the lunchbox too...or could be a snack, or even dinner in a pinch.  Last but not least of all their virtues...they are absolutely adorable.
Hi, you cute little things!
 
I've seen recipes for these all over the place, but it's pretty much a non-recipe...you just use whatever bits of veggies, meat, and cheese you have leftover, put them in muffin cups, add beaten egg, and bake.
 
This batch of a dozen egg-cups (as I call them...some people call them crustless mini quiche) was made with:
 
  • 1/2 of a shredded zucchini (use whatever veggies you have, the more the  better, fill the cup)
  • about 1/2 lb cooked ground beef (but I would reduce to 1/4 lb next time for a dozen cups)
  • a sprinkle of cheddar cheese
  • and 10 eggs, beaten with salt and pepper, or whatever seasoning you like.  (For this batch I used about 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.)
 
 
No need to grease the pans if you have a non-stick pan...

 
Just layer in your veggies, then your meat...
 
And top it with shredded cheese of your choice.
 
These come out of the pan beautifully.
 
 
 
That's pretty much it.  There are some very important tricks to this though.  It took me a lot of experimenting to discover how to best make these things!  And I will be happy to share that hard-won knowledge with you, to save you the time, expense and frustration of having to make the same mistakes I've made.
 
1.  These need to bake at a relatively low temp.  I set my oven to 300 degrees.  Most recipes say 350.  But if you do that they will poof up, and then promptly FALL when you take them out...so unattractive.
 
2.  You need to pretty much fill up the muffin cups with the veggies, meat and cheese, and then you just sort of "fill in the airspace" with the beaten egg.
 
3. It doesn't take much, only about 3 T. of beaten egg per cup.
 
4.  Leave about 1/4" headspace at the top of the muffin cups, or they will overflow.
 
5.  Bake just until eggs are set, NOT browned.  I bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, then turn the oven off...and let them stay in the oven another 5 minutes, for a total of 25 minutes.  Then take them out, and allow them to cool somewhat before removing cups from the pan. 
 
Refrigerate your egg cups, and then enjoy the extra time to sip some coffee in the morning!  You get a yummy protein-packed breakfast, with no dishes, and no work in the wee hours, hallelujah!  Nothing better than that in my book.

If you want to eat the egg cups the next morning, just wrap them in a paper towel and microwave to re-heat, about 20 seconds or so.

I freezer tested these last night, and did a side-by-side comparison this morning:  The plate on the left is the frozen one, reheated in the microwave for 1 minute, wrapped in a paper towel.  The plate on the right is one that was not frozen, just refrigerated, and then re-heated 20 seconds.  No discernable visual difference.

Then the cut in half view, and the taste test...frozen on the left, fresh on the right.

They tasted pretty much the same, so WINNER!  These freeze just fine.  However be sure not to over heat them in the microwave, or they will get dry and shriveled.  Experiment to see exactly how long you need to do them in your microwave to heat through--could start lower than 1 minute and see how it goes.  Just make sure to let them cool after removing from the microwave...especially the frozen ones heated for one full minute.  It will be SUPER hot, and release a lot of moisture.  No burnt fingers and tongues on my watch, ok?

Next time, I will use more veggies, and less meat. This batch was really too meaty in my opinion, and kinda "heavy".  I ate both the test cups this morning and now I'm overly full.  Next time, I will eat just one, and it will be plenty!  My hubby, and anyone who is very hungry, could probably put away two of them, or maybe more, in the case of teenage boys!  But my hubby is bigger and stronger than me, and he needs the protein to fuel weight lifting (his idea of a good time...?!), but as for me, the most weight I ever lift is my 6 qt. slow cooker full of food, and the occasional 45 lb Australian Shepherd for a quick snuggle.

So what are some other possible combinations?  Ham, Swiss and peppers or pineapple?  Sausage and red peppers with cheddar?  Beef and broccoli and carrots with pepper jack cheese?  You are limited only by your imagination, and what you have in the fridge that needs to get used up.  Egg-cup on, my friends.
 

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