Monday, October 6, 2014

An old favorite

I love spinach. Raw, creamed, or something in between, it's one of my favorite vegetables. I also love mushrooms, bacon and cheese. So it is natural that I would love the combination of these in my egg bake.

I'm still working on the slab of bacon I bought a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty salty so I don't think it's going to spoil.
Of the items in this photo, the only thing I used up was the 18 eggs and the entire package of cheese. It's actually too much cheese. Maybe because it is a Colby Jack blend. If it was cheddar I would probably have liked it more. The spinach, bacon, and mushrooms were all large containers so I just used part of each container.
I like to cut the mushrooms in half and then slice them some more. Really big chunks of mushroom can actually make it hard to eat when baked into the eggs.
I added these to my sliced up bacon and sauteed them together. I also added some crushed garlic from a jar and dehydrated onions.
I normally like to spray some coconut oil in my pan before I add anything else. Trader Joe's sell a can fairly cheap.
This week I added the spinach first. I packed it down a bit but kept the level about even with the top of the pan.
My bacon and mushroom mix was added next. I put the spinach in before this layer so the weight would compress the spinach a little bit.
Here the egg mixture has been added, but it sunk into the spinach so it's not visible. This batch may have had room for a full two dozen eggs, but I was too tired to go back and add more.
I used the usual mix of eggs, heavy cream, cayenne and black pepper, but I skipped the salt because this bacon is extremely salty.
The full two cups of cheese was actually a bit
too much. The bacon and cheese together can get pretty greasy. Fat adds flavor and it helps me stay full, but too much of a good thing can be a bit overwhelming at times.
All that cheese sure does look nice! I baked this at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or so. Sometimes I like to put the eight portions into individual containers for the microwave, but this week I was tired so I just put some plastic wrap over it and stuck it in the fridge once it had cooled. Maybe after a couple of days I will separate the portions into smaller packagers.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Piece of cake

I really love using the muffin tins because the individual portions are a nice size and they are very portable, but this week I felt like mixing things up anyway. So I am back with my over-sized cake pan. Also filling muffin tins can be a little bit tedious. It's quicker to just pour everything in one place.

This week I bought four or five pounds of bacon, Obviously I didn't use it all today. Only about half a pound. I also used 18 eggs, a package of frozen broccoli, one package of cheddar cheese, a big splash of heavy cream, and my usual seasonings. Not picture, I added a tomato I found later, some crushed garlic, and some dehydrated onions.

Slicing up bacon. Having a sharp knife is important here. Otherwise you end up sawing the bacon and it could increase your chances of cutting yourself.

Cooking down the bacon and broccoli with a little bit of garlic (from a jar). I actually ripped apart some of the larger pieces of broccoli while I added them to the pan.
And then I found a tomato in the fridge and diced that up too.
Dehydrated onions add a nice flavor to most egg dishes.

I coated my pan with coconut oil and added the mixture from the frying pan.

The egg mixture this week did not include any garlic powder because I used crushed garlic already. It was just the 18 eggs whisked with some heavy cream, cayenne, salt, and black pepper. I also had a little bit of liquid in the frying pan that I whisked in to the eggs.

Just a little cheese. I was going to use more but since I'm trying to lose weight I decided to go light on the cheese. It should be just enough for some flavor.
Beautiful! This one cooked at 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes.


I wanted to get eight of the same containers, but as the song says, "You can't always get what you want." But I can pop one of these in the microwave and have a hot breakfast each day.
One of these things is not like the others...

Monday, September 22, 2014

Keeping things simple

I have a busy week, but I need my breakfast. So in the spirit of keeping things simple, I used 2/3 of a package of bacon that I had in the fridge and a bag of frozen vegetables that I already had. I did buy some mushrooms and cheese when I stopped to buy eggs.

The bacon and mushrooms are already sliced up and being sauteed. This week I used bacon, a package of mushrooms, mixed veggies, and cheddar. I only used a dozen eggs this time, plus the usual cream, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper. But not too much salt because I'm using bacon. I actually used more black pepper than usual, because I like a lot of pepper with my bacon!

Look at the steam coming off of that bacon!

Perfect for cooking some veggies. I turned off the stove and put a lid on these while I sat down to eat my dinner. I can only multitask on a very limited basis, when I must.

After it was all mixed up, I put a little scoop in each cup. I had also sprayed these muffin tins with coconut oil before I started.

There was some liquid left in the skillet, so I poured it into my egg mixing bowl. I hate wasting flavor.

After the egg mixture was prepared, a ladle helped me fill the cups neatly. I only used 12 eggs this week because they made a mess last week.

Eggs always go better with cheddar.

After about half an hour at 350, they look amazing! Can't wait to have one (or two) for breakfast tomorrow!

If you've been checking out this blog and haven't tried to make one of these yourself, what are you waiting for?!? Have you noticed I never measure anything? It's the easiest thing in the world to make. It's delicious and nutritious. And egg bake is a great way to start your days with some brain-feeding protein!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Egg Bacon egg bake muffins

I made these beauties last weekend, and they were delicious!

I probably could have used about half as much bacon, but they were still really good. Just a little bit fatty.

I didn't use all of this bacon. And in fact, as I mentioned above, I probably could have used even less. I used one entire package of bacon, a package of sliced mushrooms, about 18 eggs, maybe half the bag of spinach, dehydrated onions, and some cheese left over from last week. Plus my usual spices and heavy cream added to the eggs.

I cut each of the mushroom slices in half again, and sauteed them with the bacon.


I just grabbed a wad of spinach to stuff into each cup and then sprinkled some dehydrated onions onto each wad. I had an onion in the fridge but I was concerned about overfilling these again.
A little scoop of bacon and mushrooms on top of the spinach.

Finally I added the egg mixture and then sprinkled some cheese on top of each cup. I was a little bit concerned that they might be too full though.
Yep, too full!
I baked these at 350 for about half an hour.
I think I spilled a little egg twice, and then they ran over onto the bottom of the oven. The good news was it lifted right off of the aluminum foil on the bottom of my oven after they cooled.


The other good news is that they really were delicious. This combination of spinach, mushrooms, and bacon is pretty much my favorite thing for egg bake.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

More muffin bakes

Well after a fun filled weekend, Monday was a day of homework, laundry, and cooking. I visited my parents on Sunday and learned that my mom has been reading my blog. What a nice mommy! She's so nice she even gave me some more muffin pans, so this week I went all the way and made a dozen eggs into a dozen egg bake muffins!

This week I started with some sweet potatoes. I baked these at 400 for half an hour.

But first I added a little butter to each cup.

This is a whole baggie of broccoli that I put in the microwave for three minutes to soften them up a bit.

While I was home, my mother also gave me some goodies from the garden, including these green onions.

Chopped onions.
After removing the sweet potatoes from the oven, I divided the onions into the cups.

And then I crammed in too much broccoli.

And way too much shredded cheese.
I only used a dozen eggs because there was not much room left for them. I mixed them with my usual favorites.

After about half an hour at 350, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had not made a huge mess of my oven after all.


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Chicken Chilaquiles Egg Bake

Hey Readers! I'm happy to be contributing to Jack's Egg Bake Blog! I love making egg bakes and it's fun to share recipes and new ideas with all of you!  I wanted to make Chilaquiles, but in a more breakfast friendly way, so I decided to modify some recipes I found online.  

2 shredded chicken breasts
8oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6oz cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk 
5tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
16-ounces of green tomatillo salsa
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped Jalapenos, drained
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Crushed corn chips
(Inspired by this recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/chicken-chilaquiles-10000001634740/)


1. Boil Chicken Breasts and shred with a fork.  Combine chicken, 8oz cup Monterey Jack cheese, Parmesan, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. 





















2. Place milk, cilantro, 15 oz green tomatillo salsa and green chilis in a food processor, blend until smooth.



3. Heat tortillas according to package directions. (I just put them in the microwave for 45 seconds).
4. Grease 13x9 pan with butter and olive oil spray.

5. Pour Tomatillo mixture into bottom of baking dish. Arrange 6 corn tortillas in dish, and top with chicken mixture. 

​6. Top with remaining Tomatillo Mixture.​
​​

7. Crush Corn chips and add a layer on top.


8. Take 6oz of shredded cheddar and add on top of the chips. (this was what I had at the time, if you make this, try Monterrey instead. )

9. Take can of jalapenos, and remaining 1oz of salsa and put into the food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Crack 16 eggs in a bowl and whisk together.  After whisked, mix in jalapeno mix. Pour Eggs on top of mixture.

​​10. Bake for 45 minutes at 350.  Always check the eggs with a knife or fork to make sure. Enjoy!
I really enjoyed the taste of this.  Top it with Pico or Guac.  In the future I would have done less chips and more sauce as it got a little dry near the end.