Apr 3

Apr 3 For when you are sick of cereal

My husband and I grew up on cereal and we still just go to cereal in the morning. For some reason, our kids are not falling for it. Part of that is because we lived in Uganda where Special K with strawberries was $17 a box. Let me tell you, by year 3 of living in rural Uganda serving the poor and even though we were on support, I was buying it. Awful and sad, but true. I also had a lot of time because there are no pesky diversions or good roads in Uganda. You just talk to people and cook things. So, I made a lot of things from scratch. Convenience is NOT a world wide value, for which I am grateful. Now. Not at the time… think Thanksgiving meal effort and repeat daily. That was living in rural Uganda.

So, because we all need to make more homemade food (don’t get me started about why efficiency and convenience will drag you to the Underworld) from a health and ecological standpoint, here is a new category called Bonafide Breakfast. This means here is a recipe that is bro’ friendly, works for people who work, students and mostly works for people who live cross culturally. You know you have to be flexible where resources including electricity for freezing options are a challenge! Because I am American, I do love (hate) convenience. These recipes also should reflect flexibility and substitutions whether you live in remote areas or are a vegetarian/gluten free person. My go to ladies are the Pioneer Woman and Barefoot Contessa. They understand flavor and they have so many recipes that can be made ahead and that is the secret of working and busy life homemade cooking.

I made this ahead and we used it all week. I won’t lie—the clean up was hideous, I need to figure that one out. Baked eggs would not come off a non-stick Pam sprayed muffin tin??? What I love is I put one a whole wheat tortilla and made a breakfast taco. Then I thought, man you could throw it in a biscuit or on toast, too! I kept thinking also, this is like an omelette in a muffin tin—you could make a lot of different batches. It is a total grab and go option with endless combination possibilities. Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Individual Sausage Casseroles

Prep: 15 Minutes Level: Easy Cook: 22 Minutes Serves: 18

Description

I love making these for the Drummond kids. And myself! They’re delicious freshly baked, of course, but they’re a good thing to keep in the freezer, too!

Ingredients

1 pound Breakfast Sausage, Such As Jimmy Dean Or J.C. Potter
1 whole Medium Onion, Diced Small
15 whole Large Eggs
Dash Of Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 whole Medium Green Bell Pepper, Diced Small
1 cup Freshly Grated Cheddar Cheese

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray 18 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, crumble and cook the sausage until it’s about ¾ brown. Add the onion and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir and continue cooking the sausage, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked and the onion is soft. Remove this from the heat and set it aside to cool.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and chili powder. Whisk it until it’s combined. Add the cheddar and bell pepper and stir them in. When the sausage has cooled slightly, Add it by the spoonful and stir it until it’s all mixed together.

Use a measuring cup to scoop the mixture into the muffin cups and bake them for 20-22 minutes, until they’re puffy and just barely set. Within a minute or two, the casseroles will start to flatten just a little bit. This is normal! Run a knife along the edges of each muffin cup and lift them out of the pan. Serve them warm with a little fruit.

Helpful tip: The casseroles freeze beautifully! Just seal them tightly in plastic zipper bags. Thaw and reheat in the microwave when you’re ready to serve them.

Change it up!

• Substitute half the diced bell pepper with finely chopped mushrooms.
• Add several dashes of hot sauce to the egg mixture for a little more spice.
• Substitute pepper jack cheese for the cheddar.