Egg 'McMuffin'

I call these Egg 'McMuffins', but they're really more like omelette muffins, or a crustless quiche, or maybe even more like mini frittatas. 


I made these one morning for Pete and a few of his buddies a while ago when they came down for a Saturday morning in Laguna. That morning, Pete and I took an early Saturday morning stroll and walked down to the market to get some groceries for breakfast. Peter got a call on his cell phone and the next thing I heard, he was saying, "Sure, Meg's about to make breakfast- come on down!" Suddenly, my menu changed and I had to get back and throw a feast together fast! I had never made these before, but it was the easiest way to throw together a bunch of breakfasts for a bunch of boys with about NO times notice. They were such a hit that I have loved making them ever since then. This week, these little egg muffins made their debut as our St Patricks Day pots of gold :) 


Besides the fact that they are fun and fast for breakfast, they are also great because you can use ANY ingredients that you would normally like in an omelette or quiche. PLUS, they are awesome to keep in the fridge and reheat for an instant breakfast on a work morning. That's what we have been doing all week; Pete has just been loving these quick healthy little 'omelettes'. 


Recipe (for a large (6 muffin) sized muffin pan): 

• 10 Eggs
• 1 cup Skim Milk, or fat free Half & Half
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheese (I use low moisture part skim Mozzarella, but Cheddar, Gruyere, or Swish would be good too)
• Toppings (I use 2 Bell Peppers- 1 red & 1 green, 1 diced Yellow Onion, for the boys I added 8 oz. lean Sausage, I just used the veggies for Peter and I and it was great too!)
• *Optional 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions: 

1. (*If using sausage or bacon, cook that in your pan first.)
2. Heat some Canola oil in a sautee pan and cook your diced onion and bell peppers for a few minutes. 
3. Whisk your eggs and milk together (you can add a little salt here too. If you are using a breakfast meat though, those are usually pretty salty already; also cheese adds a little salt to it as well)
4. Spray your muffin tins with nonstick spray.
5. Divide your sauteed veggies and/or meat evenly between the muffin tins. 
6. Ladle the eggs into each muffin tin over the fillings
7. Sprinkle a little cheese on top of the egg
8. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes. 

Bake until they puff and golden on top:

Look at how beautiful and golden they get!

However, they do deflate within minutes of pulling them out of the oven. I've tried using a little baking powder whisked into the egg mixture to make them stay puffed... but that just leaves a funny taste to them. 

Nevertheless, these deflated little omelette muffins are still SO SO yummy and convenient just the way they are. 

I let these cool, then store them in the fridge in a giant ziplock bag. I've been SUPER busy with work and have had a lot of early mornings, so these are great for Pete. He just pulls one out heats it in the microwave and dabs a little tapatio on it. Instant homemade breakfast to go!

Other Ideas: 

• If you have guests staying the night, you can make these ahead of time and cover them in the fridge until the morning when you can bake them off fresh.
• You can toast a whole grain English Muffin and put one of these little egg muffins between it to make a breakfast sandwich.

Cranberry-White Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are such pretty cookies. The burgundy and the white just make them so fancy looking. Definitely a good change from the casual classic Chocolate chip cookie. They are great for special occassions in the office, Valentines day, and they are also great for the Holidays- baked goods and cranberries just scream 'Christmas time'! In fact, these are the cookies that Santa requested for Christmas eve at our house this year. Peter Santa LOVES these! 

Ingredient List:

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 cup dried Cranberries

1 cup White Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars:

Then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Lastly, add the flour and baking soda and mix until just barely combined. (do not over mix here because you have to stir again when you add the chips and berries, and overmixing the flour will yield tough little cookies):

Fold in the dried cranberries and white choc chips:

Spoon dough balls onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart:

Bake at 375°F for 8 - 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly goldened.

This sounds silly, but whack the entire cookie sheet onto your countertop to release air from your cookies before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool. This will help to start the flattening process if you don't like fluffy, cakey cookies (like me). I love chewy cookies-Mmmmm..  No cakey cookies here! :)

Lime-Cilantro Chicken Tacos

I absolutely LOVE the crock pot. It is a working woman's best friend (besides her loving husband of course :). But this dish is unlike any other crock pot meal; if you just ate these tacos, you would never believe me that it was done in a crock pot! Usually the crock pot yields a yummy warming stew or a moist roast, but these taste just like Mexican street tacos. Who'd of thunk it!

We love getting tacos in Mexico from the sketchy little carts on the side of the road. Just make sure you choose the ones that have the most people hovering around 'em. Lots of people means GOOD FOOD... and it also means that if it's everyone else's favorite, they haven't gotten sick there so you probably won't either :) But still- take a peek and make sure their food looks safe, their cart looks (at least somewhat) clean, and that no one is sticking fingers in the toppings or double dipping into salsa or anything. 

ANYWAY, these crock pot 'street tacos' taste JUST like the ones we get in Mexico or from our hole in the wall Taco Tuesday joints around here.  'Street taco' refers to the way your taco is dressed up- which typically means your meat is stuffed into a warmed corn tortilla with ONLY Cilantro y Cebolla ("Cilantro and Onions"). I added a few extra topping options to our taco night, but you can pick and choose what you like to personalize your own 'Taco Tuesday' party :)

Ingredients (makes about 18 little corn tacos):

• 4 Chicken Breasts (about 2 lbs)
• 1 generous cup of Salsa
• 1 cup roughly chopped Cilantro
• 1 minced Jalapeno
• 2 Limes (or more if you like)
• 1 Tablespoon minced Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Mexican Seasoning Blend or Taco Seasoning or your own mix of Chili Powder, Paprika, Cumin, etc.
• plus extra Chili Powder for seasoning the chicken breast
• about 18 little taco-sized Corn Tortillas
• Toppings!

In a bowl, mix together the salsa, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, mexican seasoning blend, and the juice of ONE lime:

Spray your crock pot with a nonstick spray and place your chicken inside. Sprinkle chicken with chili powder, flip and cover other side as well:

Top chicken breasts with your cilantro/lime/salsa mixture:

Cook on low for 6 hours (if it goes much longer you might need to add a little more liquid later- either a little bit of chicken broth, or a little extra salsa, or even just a little plain water)

After it has slow cooked all day, it will just FALL APART at the touch of your utensil:

Break up your all your chicken and mix together with all the sauce & flavors in the pot until your left with a big pot of beautiful and tasty pulled chicken. Now squeeze the juice of the second lime into your chicken and stir in until all the chicken is well coated.

Prepare your taco toppings. I have chopped cilantro, diced white onion, lime wedges, diced avocado, shredded cheese, and a smorgasborg of salsas and hot sauces:

Warm your corn tortillas, about 6 at a time, by wrapping them in a damp paper towel and warming in the microwave for about 30 seconds:

True street taco style is simply with 'cilantro y cebolla' (cilantro and onion):

I started with a street taco base, and added hot sauce and avocado to mine: 

Here, Peter is reminding you to not forget to squeeze some fresh lime juice into each taco... to die for! 

 ...aaaaand, Pete added some hot sauce and avocado to his too :)