All In One Breakfast - Egg Muffin with Sweet Potato Hash Browns

"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.

For My Valentine - Peanut Butter Cheesecake Parfait

As we laid in bed one Saturday morning talking, I asked my husband what kind of dessert he wanted for Valentine's Day. He instantly said pudding. I turned my head and looked at him with an odd look.

 

"You always complain about how I bake for everyone else but you and now that I ask you, you say pudding?"

 

"Anything with peanut butter and chocolate?" he offered.

 

"Argh!"

 

My husband likes simple desserts. If it were up to him, everything I bake would be peanut butter and chocolate flavored or a cheesecake. The blogger in me wants to resist the simple and sometimes wants to over complicate things. For a week, I wracked my brain for something creative to write about for Valentine's Day but then I had to stop and think....KISS! (keep it simple stupid). Why was I making a Valentine's Day treat for my blog when I should be making a treat for my Valentine? Yup, I was going to make what my husband asked for from the very beginning.

 

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Parfait

 

1-1oz box of sugar free cheesecake flavored pudding

2 cups of cold milk

1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Approximately 10 chocolate creme cookies, crushed

Lite whipped topping

Chocolate jimmie sprinkles for garnish

 

Whisk the pudding mix and milk in a cold metal bowl until mix is dissolved. Whisk in the peanut butter and until smooth. Allow to set in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

In a clear container (such a mini trifle dish), layer ingredients starting with the crushed cookies, pudding, cookies, and whipped topping. Garnish with sprinkles or mini chocolate chips.

 

Sueshine Note: I couldn't find any chocolate graham crackers so I stood in the cookie aisle for quite some time trying to figure out what to use as a "crust." The store I was at didn't care any of my usual sugar free cookies so I ended up using something I had discovered awhile ago. European biscuits tend not to be so sweet and have a great crispy texture. Luckily, the store did carry Hit chocolate cream cookies. These cookies have a very light chocolate flavor (compared to an Oreo) but they complimented the peanut butter pudding. If your local store does not carry these, another alternative I found were chocolate BeVita. I haven't tried those yet but I'll definitely have to look into that soon.

 

 

I handed my husband his parfait and he asked me what it was. He drove right in and between spoonfuls, I asked him what he thought.

 

"I think this might be my favorite thing you have ever made."

The parfait was so easy to make, involved no baking at all, and had a limited sugar content. Although small, it would easily satisfy you and your sweetie's sweet tooth after a nice homemade Valentine's dinner (which I will be doing on actual Valentine's Day due to my husband's other comment on that Saturday morning: "Why don't you have a steak  blog?")

 

I hope all of you have a lovely Valentine's Day with your special someone and don't forget it's all about showing the one you love you care and that it doesn't have to be all fancy or expensive. It's about what they desire....even if it's just pudding :)

 

Super Bowl PigSkins - Mexican Style Baked Potato Skins

I went back and forth trying to decide what I wanted to share on the blog for the upcoming Super Bowl and before I knew it, it was already Saturday. Oops! So if you are just like me and slacked a little in prepping for the big game, I decided to change it up and go with a fast and easy savory appetizer that will please your Super Bowl guest of 2 (like me and my husband) or the whole neighborhood.

Let's be honest, Super Bowl Sunday is kind of a day to indulge in not the most healthiest of foods so of course I was inspired by one of my guilty pleasures. Something you can find in almost every taco shop in San Diego is carne asada fries. For around $6-$7, you can get a huge styrofoam platter of french fries covered in guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese, beans, and carne asada which could easily feed 2 people, making you instantly guilty but in the back of your mind, it was so worth every bite. In honor of the Super Bowl, I decided to tweak this favorite and subbed potato skins for fries and carnitas (shredded pork) for the carne asada for what I dubbed: "Pig Skins!"

Mexican-style Potato Skins aka Pig Skins

6 large Russet baking potatoes

16 oz (1lb) of pre-cooked pork carnitas

1/2 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

1/2 cup guacamole

1/2 cup fresh salsa

olive oil
salt & black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425*F.

Wash potatoes thoroughly and pat dry. Rub olive oil on the outside of the potatoes and place on a baking sheet or sheet of foil. Baking in oven for approximately 45 minutes or until soft.

Remove potatoes from the oven and allow to cool before handling. Once cooled, cut the potatoes in half length wise. Carefully hollow out the potatoes with a spoon, leaving a thin layer inside. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on the inside and outside of the potatoes then sprinkle with salt and black pepper, also on both sides. Add a pinch of shredded cheese inside the potato. Place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the skins are slightly crispy.

Remove from oven. Add the carnitas inside of the potato skin then add more cheese. Place in the oven until the cheese melts. Serve with your favorite toppings such as guacamole, fresh salsa, sour cream, or onion and cilantro.

Carnitas from Fresh and Easy

Sueshine Note: If you do not have access to carnitas, most stores have a precooked BBQ pulled pork package available. Change it up and add the BBQ pulled pork instead and top it with some cole slaw! Yum....yes please! Or of course, you make your own BBQ or carnitas.

So if you are in a rush to come up with an appetizer for the game tomorrow, please don't wander into your freezer aisle and grab those lame frozen potato skins. Make my super easy recipe and I'm sure everyone will coming back for more.