Egg Muffins

Hubby and I have been talking about getting back into the habit of working out. For him, it makes sense to do it in the mornings at the little gym in his building at work. This got us to talking about streamlining his morning routine and ways we could make it quicker and easier.

Then I remembered this Pinterest find, egg muffins. From what I could tell on the site, they would make for a quick, easy, hot breakfast that could be kept in the fridge and heated up last minute.

So I made them!

I started off with some breakfast sausage. Don’t worry, I didn’t use all of this!

I squeezed three links out of their casings and into a hot skillet.

I used my meat-breaker-upper to crumble the sausage as it cooked.

While it was cooking, I made the educated decision to incorporate some leftover roasted baby red potatoes from earlier in the week.

As the sausage sautéed, I used a paring knife to quickly cut up the potatoes into much smaller chunks. Since they were cooked but cold, this was super easy.

Then I prepared my muffin cups. The original blogger prefers silicone cups, but I didn’t have those. Her second best was paper liners, but I didn’t see the point of that with egg muffins. So I just used cooking spray to heavily grease a nonstick muffin tin.

And brushed it around just to make doubly sure that it was evenly coated.

That probably wasn’t necessary since I was using pork sausage, but oh well. I went ahead and put some sausage into each of the 12 muffin cups.

Topped by some of the chopped potato.

Then I got out some grated cheese and put that in.

This last step attracted a silent but intense observer. He loves cheese and is always hopeful that I will indulge him, though he knows better than to beg.

Anyway…

Next, I chopped up some green onions.

And put those on top of the cheese.

Next, I cracked a dozen eggs into a big bowl.

After whisking, I added some salt.

And some dried parsley. I would, have preferred some chives, but Wegman’s was out.

After mixing all that up, I poured the egg mixture carefully into each of the muffin cups, topping everything that was already in there.

Then I put it into the oven, which I had preheated to 375 degrees.

My buddy practiced his wistful face while we waited for them to cook.

25 minutes later, they were looking beautiful!

I believe my exact words, as I pulled them out of the oven, were, “Holy awesome!”

They had definitely done some rising in the oven.

They came out of the muffin tin super easily, luckily.

Oh my.

Light and airy, since they were baked.

Pretty good. Not knock-your-socks-off good, but certainly better than simple fried eggs or something light that. Could have used more salt, but other than that, a pretty good breakfast for the next few days!

They’re quite versatile. I could have added all kinds of veggies or meats or whatever I wanted, and so I probably will next time. It’ll keep us from getting bored, I think.

 

EDIT: I made these again a week or two later. I made some changes. (1) Instead of breakfast sausage, I used chopped ham. (2) Instead of potatoes, I used chopped and sauteed peppers (red and green). (3) Instead of salting the entire egg mixture, I salted each muffin once the egg was poured. (4) I added chives, since Wegman’s had them this time.

They were better this second time! They were more flavorful all around – better seasoned and more flavors than before. I recommend these changes!

Canine Feedback: Northwestern Salmon Chowder

I was sitting in my dining room, working on a scrapbook that I’m making as a Christmas gift, when I decided that I wanted to heat up some of my own soup that was stored in the freezer. Choices: northwestern salmon chowder, chicken noodle, or sausage minestrone. It had been a long time since I had the chowder and I honestly couldn’t remember how good (or not) it was, so I went for it.

I blogged about it back in February. In that blog post, I made a comment about the allure that the salmon had for my huskies. I included a picture as evidence.

Well, as I sat here eating my reheated salmon chowder, my big guy was careful not to beg, though drool fell from his lips as he watched me eat. He’d ignored me all morning, but NOW I was interesting. Well, honestly, I wasn’t too into the soup, so with a little bit left, I put the bowl on the floor.

One thing to keep in mind: this dog ignores raw chicken, spits out venison treats, and often chooses not to eat a meal of kibble.

Devoured. I guess I should be feeding him northwestern salmon chowder.

Dog Treats

It’s common knowledge that I have two dogs that I love and dote on. Here they are, gnawing on bones under the coffee table.

They’re my babies, but with all the time I spend in the kitchen, I’ve never made them anything more special than a hardboiled egg. I have had a recipe for dog treats for a while but decided to finally give it a try. I could tell from the directions that it would be as time consuming as making sugar cut-out cookies at Christmastime, but I bought smaller cookie cutters and figured it would make a lot of treats, so I was willing to give it a shot.

First, start off with some oats.

Add some butter and boiling water, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

\

Meanwhile, prepare the following: shredded cheddar cheese…

A beaten egg…

And milk (I poured it in with the egg)…

The recipe says to include cornmeal, but some reviewers opted for wheat germ instead, since cornmeal isn’t the best thing to be giving dogs. I wasn’t sure how that would change the consistency, so I went with a mixture of both cornmeal and wheat germ, in addition to a touch of sugar and some beef bouillon granules. I figured that I wouldn’t be feeding these treats in large quantities, so a little bit of cornmeal wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Mix all of that (the cheese, egg, milk, and dry ingredients) in with the oatmeal mixture.

Next, start beating in whole wheat flour.

As it gets stickier and more stiff, curse yourself for doing it by hand instead of in your Kitchenaid mixer like a normal person would have done.

Finally, it should be a big, smooth lump.

Roll it out on the counter with a rolling pin and start cutting. The recipe said to leave it a 1/2 inch thick. That seemed pretty thick and I tried to go with it, though my second batch was thinner.

They baked for a lot longer than sugar cookies, about 40 minutes. I did two trays worth, both as packed as the one shown here.

Luckily they didn’t expand. I didn’t think they would, since they didn’t have much butter or oil or anything that would help them spread out, but I was glad nonetheless.

These treats won’t last nearly as long as regular milkbones that you’d buy, since they’re not full of preservatives, so I have mine in a big zip lock bag in the fridge. I suppose I should move some to the freezer.

More importantly, the verdict?

The dogs LOVE them. I do break them into much smaller pieces, but the dogs do really like them. This is significant, as they’re picky. Max has been known to reject most of the treats that the people at the store thought he might like, actually spitting out pieces of beef and venison and looking at the staff like, “Why would you give me that? It tastes like crap!” But he and his little sister, Kaya, both really like these. In fact, when I bring them on walks, both dogs are absolute angels. Wonderful!

P.S. Yes, I tasted them. Not bad. But not good either