Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Omelet Muffins

by Leslie Budewitz

Our Sunday mornings are lovely, if somewhat predictable. I slide out of bed, careful not to disturb the cat, and sneak down to the living room, where I pour orange juice into a Fostoria Americana goblet (from one of those collection I didn’t think I had), and put on coffee. If it’s over 60 degrees, our back deck will be bathed in sunlight, so I’ll head out there with my journal, thinking about the week past and the week to come. At some point, Mr. Right comes down the stairs, and one of us heads out for the Sunday paper. (It’s supposed to be delivered by 8 a.m., but over the summer, a bout of Carrier Madness erupted, happily seeming to settle down the last few weeks.) If we’re inside, we listen to Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR; if we’re outside, we listen to the birds and squirrels. (One summer morning, a young black bear stumbled by, as shocked to see us as we were to see him! He threw up his paws and dashed off into the woods.)

For years, we made omelets, and ate them with homemade muffins or scones or toasted English muffins. Then the omelet morphed into scrambled eggs. Then we discovered baking bacon, instead of frying it, and bacon became the new norm. Tasty, and predictable. Comforting, which is part of what Sunday morning ought to be.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband was reading Facebook posts on Sunday morning. He stood abruptly and said “We’re making a new breakfast.” A friend had shared a post from Tip Hero that caught his eye, for Omelet Muffins. It could easily be called Crustless Quiche Muffins. Tip Hero doesn't give much instruction---some recipes don't even include amounts---and we always change recipes, anyway. This one is simple and simply delicious.

Plan on two muffins—one egg—per person. On our first go-round we used 3 eggs because that’s what we had and what we used for the traditional Sunday morning omelet. There were no leftovers.

We used veggies and cheese we had on hand, plus bacon. Because, well, bacon. You can vary this recipe easily, and expand it easily. The muffins will keep for a day or two and reheat nicely. (We had to make the recipe a second time to test that theory.) And it passed the Guest Test---so well that we may serve them for our annual holiday brunch.

Whatever you call it, call it yummy. I guarantee, it will be on our menu for years to come.

Omelet Muffins

3 or 4 strips of bacon, cooked, patted dry, and broken or snipped into bite-sized pieces
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
½ teaspoon vegetable oil (we used canola)
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 green onions
1/4 to ½ bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley or other herbs, chopped
1/4 to ½ cup cheddar or other firm cheese, shredded
salt and pepper
cooking spray
salsa or sriracha (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out the bacon. Bake for 20 minutes; flip the strips and bake another 5-10 minutes. Remove from tray onto paper towels and let cool until you can break or snip into bite-sized pieces.


Chop the vegetables and shred the cheese.



Crack eggs into a small bowl; add the oil and baking powder and stir with a fork or small whisk until fully mixed. Season with salt and pepper.


Spray muffin tins lightly with cooking spray (or wipe with oil or butter, if you prefer). Divide bacon and vegetables into the cups; add the cheese. Pour in the egg batter. Don’t fill to the top; they will puff up beautifully, and may spill over if over-full.




Bake 20-25 minutes. Insert a knife or a tester stick to check for doneness; it should come out clean. Muffins will pop out neatly.



Serve with salsa or sriracha, if you'd like.




This recipe serves 2-3, but is easily doubled. Bon appetit!

From the cover of GUILTY AS CINNAMON, out December 1 and available for pre-order now: 

Murder heats up Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the next Spice Shop mystery from the national bestselling author of ASSAULT AND PEPPER. 

Pepper Reece knows that fiery flavors are the spice of life. But when a customer dies of a chili overdose, she finds herself in hot pursuit of a murderer…



Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. She lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat Ruff, a cover model and avid bird-watcher.

Connect with her on her website or on Facebook.

16 comments:

  1. Omelet Muffins look so cute! Thank you for the recipe.

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  2. Replies
    1. Yes! A frittatta has been our holiday brunch staple for years, and we do love them, but time for a little change. (But don't worry, the caramel pecan rolls are staying!)

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  3. Pat (patdupuy@yahoo.com)October 20, 2015 at 10:17 AM

    This looks really good. I will have to give it a try. And baking the bacon!

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  4. They look delicious and like something everyone would like, as you could customize!!

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    Replies
    1. Yes -- you can use almost any vegetables you have on hand. And, bacon.

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  5. That would be something for our Saturday mornings, Sundays get a bit hectic, getting to church on time.

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    Replies
    1. Good idea. They reheat nicely, so you could keep a few for Sunday, when you don't want to be cooking.

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  6. Whoops! Ingredients list shows " baking POWDER ", but step-by-step instructions are showing "baking SODA", is "powder" the one?
    They look great - and by baking, it frees you up to get the rest of your table ready.
    Can't wait to try them.
    Thanks for your great books & yummy recipes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's baking powder; text corrected now. Baking soda would produce a similar result, though!

      Delete
  7. Looks great. May just have to try this one!!

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  8. This one looks and sounds delicious, plus easy to make. I like easy, that works for me! Can'take wait to try this recipe.

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  9. This one looks and sounds delicious, plus easy to make. I like easy, that works for me! Can'take wait to try this recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This one looks and sounds delicious, plus easy to make. I like easy, that works for me! Can'take wait to try this recipe.

    ReplyDelete