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Veggin’ out

Breakfast egg cups

It’s been a little while since I’ve focused a column on breakfast, and I love breakfast foods, so let’s talk about the morning meal for this month’s column.

Breakfast isn’t the easiest for the vegan, since it mainly is for egg and meat lovers, but there are lots of options for vegetarian and vegans as well. There are a lot of vegetarian meat options — many different varieties and brands of “fake” bacon and sausages. My favorite fake bacon is Morningstar Farms brand. But it is not vegan friendly because they use eggs to make it.

There also are many recipes out there for vegan pancakes, waffles, French toast, etc. You even can buy pre-packaged items of this sort in many grocery stores. Check out the freezer section in the organic or natural food sections at Wegmans and Giant and you’re sure to find something you like.

The recipe I’m going to share today is not vegan friendly because they are made with eggs. I call them egg “cups” or muffins because they are made in either a muffin or cupcake pan. I don’t have a muffin pan, so I make them in my cupcake pan and just eat two at a time. I make these a lot because they take very little time to make — and with a 6-month-old baby at home, that’s super important when I still want to cook, but don’t have the time.

These egg cups are perfect for a quick meal at work. I just make a dozen at the beginning of the week, freeze them and take two along to work with me every day and heat them up in the microwave there. You also can add in any ingredients to them that you like. I typically use cheese, veggies and-or fake bacon pieces — and of course spices!

Breakfast egg cups

1 dozen eggs

Cheese of your choice, or non-dairy cheese, shredded

Veggies of your choice, diced into small pieces (optional)

Bacon or other meatless breakfast meat of your choice, cut into small pieces

Spices of your choice, I use salt, pepper, parsley and cayenne

pepper

Preheat oven for 350 degrees.

Crack all 12 eggs into a large bowl. Add spices and mix together. You also can add milk or non-dairy milk to make the mixture a little more fluffy.

Spray cupcake pan with cooking spray or drop a tiny bit of olive oil into each cup and brush to coat. I used jalapeno infused olive oil to give a little extra flavor and kick. I love spicy food!

Dump an even amount of the egg and spice mixture into each cup of the cupcake pan. (If you’re using a muffin pan, you might want to double your recipe.) You can use a measuring cup — maybe 1/4 cup at a time if you like — but it can be hard to scoop the mixture out because of the texture of the eggs. I usually just dump or scrape some of the mixture into each cup and add a little here and there to make them all look even. Fill the cups about 3/4 of the way. Don’t overfill because the eggs will rise up out of the cups as they cook.

Sprinkle desired amount of cheese, veggies and-or meatless breakfast meat into each cup. You can keep them plain, too, if you like.

Put in oven for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center cup.

Let cool and place any egg cups you aren’t eating right away into a freezer bag or container and into the freezer for future use. You can take the frozen cups out and let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight or just put them in the microwave frozen. Microwave times will vary, so I would suggest heating them for 30 seconds at a time until you reach your desired temperature.

Stellfox is the Lifestyle editor at the Sun-Gazette. Her award-winning column is published on the second Wednesday of each month in the Food section. She can be reached at jstellfox@sungazette.com.

Stellfox is the Lifestyle editor at the Sun-Gazette.

Her award-winning column is published on the fourth Sunday of each month in the Lifestyle section.

She can be reached at jstellfox@sun­gazette.com.

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