"What do usually eat in the morning?" asks my doctor whenever I see her.
"Oatmeal. English muffin with a little butter. Occasionally a bagel (even though it's bad for me). The rare occasion, some cereal," I rattle off. "Whatever I can eat at my desk at work."
"You need to start adding some protein to your breakfast."
Okay I'll be honest. I rather get my extra 10 minutes of sleep in the morning rather than get up and cook some eggs or turkey sausage/bacon. Plus, that's not exactly portable as I'm running out the door or something I can keep in my desk drawer at work. For awhile, I tried eating those frozen breakfast sandwiches but I just couldn't do it. I admit, I have my moments of being a breakfast snob.
I love breakfast and breakfast foods. Sweet or savory...I don't have a preference...it just depends on my mood that day. I can eat it in the morning, midday, and in the evening. It's by far my favorite meal of the day. So when I was visiting in Nashville last November, my aunt whipped up a super easy egg muffin recipe from her friend Beth who writes Eat.Drink.Smile. There are so many possibilities you can whip up with this recipe and you can take it with you easily. I wanted to make my own variation of egg muffins but combine all the things I love about breakfast. I also wanted to make something that would carry over to "breakfast for dinner" so this is what I came up with.
All-In-One Breakfast Muffins
7 eggs
2 large sweet potatoes or "yams", shredded (squeeze out any extra moisture)
1 andouille sausage link, cut into cubes
1 cup of red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375*F. Grease a large muffin tin with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
In a bowl, mix the sweet potatoes, butter, 1 egg, salt and pepper until combined. Press the mixture on the bottom and sides of the muffin tin (forming a "nest"). Place in the oven for 20 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining eggs and add the sausage and bell pepper. Spoon the egg mixture into the hash brown "nests" until almost full. Add the green onions on top. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and store in an air tight container until ready to eat.
Sueshine Notes
I recommend using a six slot, large muffin tin when making this recipe so you can have a satisfying portion of egg muffin within your hash brown nest. I'm sure you can make these in a regular muffin tin but space will definitely be limited.
I tried this recipe with both white sweet potatoes and yams. Did you know what they sell at most grocery stores aren't really yams, but just another variety of sweet potato? Both varieties worked well for this recipe but the orange sweet potatoes have more fiber, antioxidants, and vitamins. I love hash browns but I have to limit the amount I eat because of the carbs. I chose a sweet potato hash brown because it's said to be a friendlier starch for diabetics because they have a lower glycemic index than regular potato.
A Denver omelet is a classic breakfast staple and this was my play on that minus the cheese. I wasn't sure if the cheese would go well with the sweet potato but if you want to add cheese, go nuts!
The all-in-one breakfast muffin was my answer to adding some protein to my diet and the sweet potato fulfilled my cravings for a starch. The sweet of the hash browns paired really well with the andouille sausage, which was also a nice substitute to your usual breakfast meats. They can be easily wrapped up in plastic then reheated in the toaster oven at work to bring back some of the crunch of the hash. I can't wait to bring them to work this week and add a little variety to my usual boring work breakfast. I might even make a few co-workers jealous.
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