B is for Bacon & Egg Cups

I'm a big fan of breakfast food, and I love coming across a new way to enjoy the staples of a good Saturday morning breakfast.  By this, I mean bacon, eggs, and toast.  Naturally.  Throw a little cheese in there and I'd be perfectly fine with that.  In fact, I prefer my scrambled eggs with pepper jack cheese--just the way my man makes them.  Delicious!  

I stumbled across an adorable blog called The Noshery & I love her take on bacon and eggs.  She put the combo in muffin cups!

Bacon & Egg Toast Cups

6 pieces of bread
6 slices of bacon
6 eggs
1/2 c. shredded cheese (I used x-sharp white cheddar)
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 and spray your muffin pan with Pam.  Use a drinking glass or round cookie cutter to make 3" circles with the bread.  Drop the toast discs into the muffin pan.  Cook your bacon in the skillet or in the microwave about 1/2 way, so that it is still pliable and not yet crisp.  Shape the bacon around the edges of the toast cups and then drop a spoonful of shredded cheese in each.  Place the pan in the oven for about 5 minutes.  While this is toasting in the oven, crack your eggs to separate the whites and yolks.  Take the toast cups out of the oven and top each with 1 egg yolk.  Bake again for 8-10 minutes.  The yolk should be hard on the outside to the touch, but creamy inside when you bite into it.

You and your family or your breakfast guests are sure to enjoy these!

B is for Baked Oatmeal Cups

I am a big fan of oatmeal and love to have it in the mornings before work, but I am not a big fan of the wait time involved if I cook it on the stove.  I don't like overnight oatmeal because it just seems so soggy and cold.  I DO like baked oatmeal because it's got a firmer, more cake-like consistency and it reheats nicely when I'm in a hurry.  I decided to do a little experiment with baked oatmeal in silicone muffin cups tonight with the intention of heating up a cup or two each day this week before jumping in the car on my way to school.

Baked Oatmeal

3 cups oats
2 cups skim milk
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients together and spoon into muffin cups until 3/4 full.  Bake at 375º for about 25 minutes.  The oatmeal will not be firm or completely dry;  it has a moist consistency but can hold its shape when you pop it out of the silicone muffin cup.  

I topped the unbaked cups with all sorts of goodies- pecans, blueberries, frozen peach slices and blackberries, flax seed, raisins, butterscotch chips, and dried papaya.  I would say that a few of these toppings should just be added AFTER cooking because they lose their good looks in the oven.  If I made these again, I'd skip on the blackberries and blueberries because they bleed into the oatmeal mixture and look unappetizing even if they taste fine.  

Just out of the oven, these oatmeal cups were very tasty!  I hope they'll be just as delicious when I'm reheating them this week for breakfast.