I’m a breakfast girl to the tee. Before I go to bed I daydream about what I’m going to eat the next morning and am immeasurably excited for daylight to break.
Immediately upon waking up, my stomach is grumbling and I’m narrowing the inventory of my fridge down to a few options – I only make the final decision after loitering in front of the fridge and pantry for no less than ten minutes.
If I don’t get something in my stomach within a half an hour of waking up, you can be sure I won’t be the most pleasant person to talk to – my husband can attest to this…
Of course I go all out for breakfast on the weekends – pancakes, French toast, quiche, eggs benedict – but when it comes to the week days I just don’t have the time to whip up some of the meals that are more weekend appropriate.
Most days, breakfast during the week just consists of a simple slice of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter, a bowl of Greek yogurt with berries or a quick batch of instant oats with bananas and honey – quick, easy and healthy.
While those three options almost always satisfy my breakfast demands, and are ridiculously quick to throw together when I’m trying to scurry out of the door, sometimes I crave something a little more hearty and “fancy” – if you will.
Enter: Mini frittatas.
I think people often associate frittatas as a breakfast food that’s rather difficult to execute, but I find that with a little bit of prep, frittatas are something that can be devoured on a week day just as easily as on a leisurely weekend.
When I’m tired of boring toast, yogurt and oatmeal, I get out of my rut by prepping frittatas at the beginning of the week.
Although instead of baking up an entire frittata fit for a crowd, I portion off the mixture into muffin tins, bake them off, let them cook and then store them in the fridge so I can pull them out as I need them.
Typically I’ll just use whatever is left in the fridge, but for this batch, I cashed in on some of the veggies that were on sale at the market last week.
Fiber-packed broccoli, hearty mushrooms, onions and spinach are first sautéed in just a touch of olive oil until the broccoli is slightly softened, but still toothsome, the spinach is wilted, the onions are soft and the mushrooms have released their moisture.
The mixture is then cooled and tossed with a scant portion of reduced-fat cheddar cheese and then divided up between twelve muffin tins.
The egg base is lightened-up by using half whole eggs and half egg whites, a good portion of Greek yogurt and just a touch of milk. It’s whisked together until every ingredient is incorporated and the eggs are aerated; I then use a ladle to spoon the egg batter into each muffin tin.
The whole pan is popped into the oven and baked until each mini frittata is puffed, golden brown and cooked through. Once they cool completely, I put them into a airtight container and pop them into the fridge.
While I use these to nosh on throughout the week, they’d also be perfect for a group brunch, bridal shower or baby shower. No one can resist these cheesy, healthy bites of egg heaven!
What I love most about these, is that they taste indulgent, look like they took a good amount of time and effort to put together, but secretly they’re packed pull of protein, low in fat and only took minutes to prep.
That’s MY kind of breakfast!
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped broccoli
- ½ small onion
- 1 ¼ cups roughly chopped mushroom
- 2 cups loosely packed baby spinach
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg whites
- ½ cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cheddar cheese
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
- Heat a medium non-stick skillet to a medium heat. Add oil. Add broccoli and onions. Cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add mushrooms, cook 1-2 minutes until softened.
- Add spinach, toss until wilted. Season everything with slat and pepper. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and egg whites together until thoroughly combined. Whisk in yogurt, milk and salt until combined.
- Once veggies have cooled, toss with cheddar cheese.
- Fill each muffin tin with veggies. Ladle egg mixture in.
- Bake until golden and puffed, about 15-20 minutes.