Egg Meatball Breakfast Bake

Somehow I hit the jackpot this morning by successfully experimenting with eggs and meatballs in a muffin pan. They were David and Emmett approved, to the point that the latter cleaned the scraps off my plate by the eager fistful.


I’ve tried similar recipes from Pinterest before, like this partially successful bread loaf bake, and had mixed results. Today I did a quick search and didn’t find any examples of using meatballs or scaling it back to such a basic and speedy combination. 

With a roll of the dice, it was literally as simple as dropping one meatball and cracking one egg in each of the muffin cups, then baking at 400 degrees until the whites were solid. 


I sprinkled salt and pepper at the end, but ideally you’d do this before baking. (When you’re rushing to clean raw egg off your hands while your toddler is fussing from the other room, you choose your battles.)

The best part is that a full belly led to nap time so I could write this post!

Put an Egg On It: Quinoa & Avocado

Ever have one of those mornings where protein is the only thing that will satisfy your hunger? Here’s a healthy way to tame the beast:

Warm a thin layer of pre-cooked (cold leftovers works great) quinoa with a bit of melted butter in a skillet (cast iron will prevent burning). Crack eggs over the top, season with salt, cover and reduce heat to low.

Once they’re close to set, remove from heat to finish cooking through, and serve immediately with avocado.

Put an Egg on It: Beg, Borrow & Meal Breakfast

Leftover Mexican food provides a deceivingly complex base for sunny side up eggs!

Simply cook the leftovers (in this case, refried beans and half an enchilada) on low and then crack eggs over the top and cook covered until set. All the flavors of the original dish are enhanced by the runny eggs. Tastes fancy, but it’s fuss-free.

Put an Egg on It: Pulled Pork Hash

Inspired by Pinterest browsing and brunch menus, I decided to try making an egg, pulled pork and veggie hash for dinner. The result was a satisfying and protein-packed meal that would be suitable for any time of day.

First prepare a batch of pulled pork. If you want to keep it super simple, just simmer a pork tenderloin in broth or water for a couple of hours on low, until desired tenderness.

Then, sauté shredded pork with olive oil, garlic, frozen peas and spinach. Crack some eggs over the top; cover and cook on low until set.

For extra omegas, serve with fresh avocado.

Put an Egg on It: Barley Noticed

My obsession with sunny side up eggs on just about anything shows no sign of stopping. This time around, I conquered otherwise-tough barley and runny-just-right eggs. Redemption is sweet!

The trick is to cook the barley in advance, and keep the temperature very low as the eggs cook on top of the barley (covered) until desired doneness.

Spinach Breakfast Burrito

After indulging in some incredible NOLA cuisine, I needed a light Saturday breakfast that would bring me back to reality. Enter spinach. Specifically spinach that was set to expire that day. So I used it up in a healthy breakfast burrito…

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Just sautée a batch of fresh, washed spinach in olive oil or butter and season with salt. Crack two eggs and cook on low until set to your preferred doneness; sprinkle with salt. Pour the mixture onto a tortilla and wrap like a burrito. I had mine with goat milk yogurt for dipping.

And in case you were wondering about the aforementioned New Orleans food adventures, here’s a peek:

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Pin Real Life: Veggie Scramble

There’s Pinterest, and then there’s real life. There are farm fresh eggs and vegetable gardens, and then there are potatoes sprouting limbs and eggs about to expire. So today’s brunch creation was a marriage of fantasy and reality.

Inspired by this lovely pin, I was thrown a curve ball when I pulled some scary looking potatoes out of the cupboard. My plan B was to pull some frozen veggies out of the freezer, and go from there.

-Swirl some olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add one chopped clove of garlic
-Pour 3/4 quarters of a bag of frozen veggies, and a handful of frozen breakfast sausages into the pan and cover
-Note: Cut the sausages into slices either before they go in the pan, or after they’ve thawed a bit, like I did (PS – I really like Applegate)
-Once the veggies and sausages are cooked through, crack 4 eggs over the top, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low
-Once egg whites are opaque, remove lid, turn off heat; optionally, sprinkle with shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, or salt and pepper as desired

Part Pinterest, part real life, and totally easy!

Pin Real Life

This week I tried out a couple of new techniques inspired by discoveries on Pinterest. For better or worse, here’s what happened….

Breakfast Bread Bowl

Here’s the original recipe, but my attempt (cooked in a full baguette with almond milk in place of cream) took 45+ minutes to cook the eggs thoroughly, and I adjusted the heat from 350 to 400 degrees midway through.

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One Dish Potato & Sausage Bake

Inspired by pins that showed a casserole dish with a colorful collage of meat and veggies baked to glistening perfection in the oven, I decided to give it a whirl with potatoes, chicken apple sausage and green onions. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Delicious and easy for weeknights!

Eggs in Heaven

Inspiration from @epicurious iPad app + @farmfreshtoyou vegetables = heavenly potato, egg, veggie casserole. For tonight’s dinner, I had 8 eggs to use up and figured some sort of potato casserole would be a good route to explore. I came across “Eggs in Purgatory with Artichoke Hearts, Potatoes and Capers” through an Epicurious recipe search, but the tomato-artichoke sauce sounded a little like heartburn hell (plus I didn’t have all the ingredients). So instead, I improvised with fresh zucchini and carrots from Farm Fresh to You, and whipping cream for what I like to call, “Eggs in Heaven.”

The result was a deliciously creamy potato, egg, and vegetable casserole. Divine!

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