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MBC Team Winter 2023 16:9

Syd and Becky's Nutritious Dishes and Healthy Switches: Breakfast

Sydney Zehnder | July 13, 2018

I don’t know about you – but I need a protein-packed breakfast to avoid the dreaded mid-morning “hanger.”

As many families can relate, we’re a busy crew. Under our roof are a 9 year old, 20 year old, 2 parents, and a herd of cattle just outside. Though we try to have at least one big breakfast on the weekends, weekday mornings are a mad rush. Luckily, I found this Southwest Beef and Egg Muffins recipe that is easy to make the night before or on the weekend.

One of the reasons I was drawn to this recipe is the simplicity and on-hand ingredients, after all I am cooking in a college apartment kitchen, with a bare fridge to match, 9 months out of the year. The bulk of the recipe is ground beef, egg whites, and veggies, making this easy to whip up.

I started with browning the lean ground beef and adding the suggested spices. This recipe is also great for re-purposing left over ground beef. After the beef was cooked, I mixed together the eggs and remaining spices. The recipe suggests adding peppers and tomatoes to your muffins, though our garden didn’t have any tomatoes quite yet, so we just stuck to peppers. After all of your ingredients are prepared, spread beef evenly on the bottom of the muffin tin and add your vegetables, cheese, and egg mixture on top. I will admit, my muffin tin looked crazy messy before putting them in the oven and I was a little concerned on how these would turn out. But 30 minutes later I had 12 (almost) perfectly formed muffins.

We’re having some family friends over this weekend, so I figured it would be a great time to try this recipe out. I’m so happy I did, all of the girls loved them, and the muffins even earned seconds-worthy status. Paired with fruit and my morning cup of coffee, it was a great start to my day!

Beef. It's What's for Breakfast. And Lunch. And Dinner.

Ingredients:

1 lb 96% lean ground beef

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

4 whole eggs

1 1/2 cups liquid egg whites

3/4 cup chopped green pepper

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

4 oz sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded from block

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

dash cayenne pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a nonstick skillet, brown ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink.
  3. Stir in ½ tsp salt, onion powder, garlic powder and chili powder.
  4. Remove from heat and set aside.
  5. Whisk together whole eggs, egg whites, remaining salt, paprika, pepper and cayenne pepper.
  6. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.
  7. Divide cooked beef, evenly, among the cups.
  8. Then top with peppers, cheese and tomatoes.
  9. Pour egg mixture, evenly, over top.
  10. Bake for 30 minutes.
  11. Store leftover egg cups in the refrigerator in an airtight container.