Now that December is in full swing, I’m sure a lot of you are finding the days getting more and more busy, which means being more rushed in the morning, and even having to grab a pre-manufactured take away breakfast from a drive through — what a nightmare! Today I’m sharing a recipe that you can whip up under an hour that is high protein, lower in fat and actually made by you and not a robot. This recipe is totally adaptable to whatever your favourite omelette add-ins normally are, so once you get the base down, you can add whatever you want. For my recipe, I’ve used regular white flour, but I believe that corn flour, whole wheat flour or any of the processed gluten-free flours available now would also work really well due to how moist these are.
Ingredients:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup 1-2% cottage cheese
1 cup flour
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese, separated into ½ cup and ¼ cup portions
75-100 grams deli ham, cut up into little pieces
¼ cup each small diced red and green bell pepper
Salt & pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 400F and spray a muffin tin with your favourite non-stick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add the cottage cheese, flour, ham, red peppers, ½ cup of the grated cheese, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Divide the batter equally between the 12 muffin cups and top with the remaining quarter cup of cheese. You can take some liberties here… I don’t think anyone will complain about extra cheese. Now bake for 25-30 minutes and let cool slightly before serving — they will be more moist than a normal sugar-based muffin and that is normal. I like to eat them warm with butter, but am told they are better with a healthy portion of ketchup?
The base of the recipe is basically the eggs, the cottage cheese and the flour; the fun part is experimenting with the combos.
I also did made a batch of these with about a cup of fresh chopped spinach, diced grape tomatoes and a little log of pepper goat cheese; the addition of the goat cheese can be applied similarly as with the cheddar — use about ½ cup in the batter and then top the muffins with some additional goat cheese.
Other add-ins which would kill it: corn kernels, sautéed mushrooms, ground sausage (pre-cooked), bacon, green onions, sautéed kale … don’t even get me started on all your cheese options, but I think you get the picture.
Now for the best part — after cooking, let the muffins cool completely and wrap individually with plastic wrap and store in a large plastic storage bag in the freezer.
They will be good in the freezer for a couple of weeks, but they won’t last that long! On your way to work, grab a couple out of the freezer. After removing the plastic wrap, microwave for about 45-60 seconds depending on the microwave. Each muffin is under 100 calories depending on how crazy you go with the cheese!
Shannon Yacyshyn’s Kitchen Confessions column runs every second Thursday in the Red Deer Advocate.