Lets face it, I am ALWAYS rushing around in the mornings...and I run my daycare from home! I can't imagine trying to get out of the house on time every morning, just the thought makes my heart race. I dare you to find me someone who isn't running around like crazy in the mornings, especially if that someone has kids. Most mornings I feed 2 or more additional kids and my own, so I like to have breakfast options ready to go. All of my kids (my 3 and all of my daycare kids) love eggs but I never seem to have enough time to stand at the stove and scramble them. That was when Pinterest came to my rescue yet again! The recipe I found on Pinterest for egg muffins was for a low carb (think South Beach or Atkins diet) version, but kids need a well balanced diet, so I created my own version of the recipe. My husband and I like these, as do all of the kids, so it's a double win breakfast. I add berries (or any other fruit) and whole wheat toast on the side for a complete breakfast.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 count muffin tin with cooking spray. In a bowl, mix 12 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk (this is the part of the recipe I changed from the original recipe I found on Pinterest. Any way to get calcium into those growing bodies is always a plus. Feel free to add more or less milk, it will not effect the cooking of the eggs), salt and pepper (I don't measure this, just do as much as you'd like. I actually don't add any salt to these but put quite a bit of pepper in because we all like pepper). At the bottom of each muffin cup, place whatever filling you would like in your eggs. I usually do only cheese (I always use cheddar) but I've tried cheese and sausage or a cheese and turkey bacon. You can also add spinach, peppers, onions, or anything else you'd like. My kids don't like veggies added to their eggs so I only do a protein packed egg muffin with veggies/fruit on the side.
Be sure not to fill the muffin cup too much with these "fillings" as you still have to put the egg mixture in. Yes, I have overfilled the muffin cups and that was not fun to fix or clean up!
After you have your filling in the muffin cups, add the egg mixture on top. Cook for around 20 minutes. For some reason, cook time has varied every single time I've made these, but never less than 17 minutes and no more than 21 minutes in my experience. Let the eggs cool completely before taking out of the muffin tin.
I like to cook these at the beginning of the week, so I can have them on hand throughout the week. They can be kept in zip lock baggies in the refrigerator for up to a week. Egg muffins also freeze wonderfully-they still taste great warmed up in the microwave after being in the freezer. If you are going to freeze them, I recommend freezing them right away after cooking and cooling. I decided to freeze a batch I had in the refrigerator for 3 days and for some reason, these didn't taste quite right after being re-warmed.
I hope this recipe provides some help to those hectic mornings and you enjoy these as much as our family!