Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups are equally convenient if you’re cooking for one or feeding a family of five.

I suck at breakfast! There is no denying it anymore. My fiancé is always getting on my case about not eating breakfast and he’s starting to sound like a broken record (it’s been almost 3 years). I know it’s super important but it’s always been difficult for me to eat in the morning. For years my daily breakfast of champions consisted of a large coffee with cinnamon and maybe a banana when I’m flying. Don’t judge! I’m challenging myself to break this habit so be prepared to see more breakfast posts from me.

I like to serve this with a simple cucumber and avocado salad with sriracha greek yogurt dressing.

Let me just say I love a recipe that gives you a ton of freedom to modify ingredients depending on what you have available. Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups is absolutely one of those recipes. You can use a variety of ingredients: mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes, spinach and cheese to name a few. This weekend I used my leftover Sautéed Shishito Peppers and they were stellar diced up and added to this recipe.

Local & Organic Pasture Raised Eggs from Lonely Mountain Farms CA

Another thing I love about this recipe is how easily you can cater to individual preferences. Maybe someone dislikes mushrooms or wants to include every vegetable known to mankind. You can put whatever you want in each muffin cup and everyone will be happy at breakfast. This recipe is equally convenient if your cooking for one or feeding a family of five. This recipe is simple enough that you can easily adjust the ingredients depending on the number of mouths you need to feed.

These Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups are making breakfast easier than ever! It’s a great way to use leftover veggies or whatever you have at home! So many options!

I’ve experimented with this recipe quite a bit because the first time I made it, the yolks were too hard and the bacon was undercooked. Well that’s just not going to fly. Challenge accepted!

After I line around the muffin tin with a slice of bacon, I bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes to jump-start the cooking process. The bacon takes longer to cook than the eggs so I precook the bacon to end up with a crispy outer shell. I also prefer to scramble each egg individually in a small bowl and add 2 tbsp of whatever ingredient before adding to the muffin tin. I prefer the texture and find everything cooks more evenly if it’s mixed together. This is totally personally preference.

Enjoy! xx

Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Enjoy Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups this weekend for brunch and then take them to go for breakfast during the week. It's the meal that keeps on giving! Set yourself up for success and don't skip breakfast!

Author: Peony

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 12 slices of bacon (I use applewood smoked)
• 1.5 cups total or 2 tbsp per muffin tin of your desired ingredient(s)
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Line each muffin cup with a piece of bacon
3. Put bacon lined muffin tin in the oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes. You want the bacon to look half cooked before adding the eggs.
4. While bacon is in the oven prepare your desired add in ingredient(s) like peppers, mushrooms etc. You should allocate for 1.5 cups total or 2 tbsp per muffin cup.
5. In a small bowl lightly beat 1 egg and add 2 tbsp of desired ingredient(s). Pour egg mixture into bacon lined muffin cup and repeat the process for each egg.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Everyone likes their eggs cooked differently so take a peak at about the 15 minute mark. They might be done to your liking!

Notes

I served this with a simple cucumber & avocado salad with a Sriracha greek yogurt dressing.

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The post Bacon & Egg Baked Breakfast Cups appeared first on The Peony Life.

This Blueberry Lemon Loaf is a slice of summer

This blueberry lemon loaf is a slice of summer! This was the first time my fiancé and I have ever argued over the last piece of anything! For real. This super light and moist loaf raised the bar for my newbie baking skills. The sweet and tangy combination is addicting and I would serve this recipe at a summer brunch or as a dessert.

MANGANESE, FOUND IN BLUEBERRIES HELP TURN CARBS, FATS AND PROTEINS INTO ENERGY.

I found some super sweet blueberries at the farmers market and bought a ridiculous amount. You would swear I was buying for a family of ten. Where to go from here? Sure, I can freeze them for smoothies later in the year but that doesn’t help me much right now, does it? Who else is all about the instant gratification?

Full disclosure: I’m pretty boring when it comes to enjoying blueberries. I normally just grab a handful in passing or sprinkle them overtop greek yogurt for breakie. What a bore right? I don’t really cook with blueberries and I can’t help but wonder if I suffer from post traumatic stress as a result of my childhood.

We spent a lot of time at our cottage in the summertime and my mom would make my brother and I go deep into the woods to pick blueberries. I hated doing this! We had to cover every inch of our bodies to avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitos and horseflies. For two kids, it felt like we were going to battle. I remember my brother tripping into poison ivy on one occasion and us running straight to our dad, conning him into taking us for ice cream. My mom called picking blueberries ‘fun’ and we called it ‘child labour’. You can be the judge.

A HANDFUL OF BLUEBERRIES WILL HELP WITH YOUR DAILY FIBER INTAKE.

Blueberries are one of the few fruits native to North America. They have the highest antioxidant capacity amongst all fruits and vegetables and freeze incredibly well. Why are antioxidants good for us? They go to battle with the free radicals in our body that damage our DNA and the structure of our cells. Unlike other foods, freezing your blueberries won’t do damage to the antioxidant nutrients. This is great news for those who freeze heaps of blueberries in peak season to use during the winter.

THE GREEK YOGURT IN THIS RECIPE ADDS THE PERFECT TOUCH OF CREAMINESS

The first time I made this Blueberry Lemon Loaf I went a little overboard with the blueberries. I added 2 heaping cups thinking ‘the more the merrier’ but it ended up being too moist and difficult to keep together. I can now attest that more isn’t always merrier, so keep your blueberries to 1 cup.

Remember to let the loaf cool for a good 20 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan. If you’re not in a rush I would suggest letting it cool for even longer. Because it is such a moist and light loaf, it can fall apart if it’s still warm.

I hope you like this Blueberry Lemon Loaf as much as I do!

Enjoy! xx

BLUEBERRIES ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF MANGANESE, WHICH IS IMPORTANT FOR BONE DEVELOPMENT

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Author: livewellbakeoften.com

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tablespoon, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup. oil (coconut, vegetable, or canola)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• Zest & juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup blueberries
• Lemon Glaze
• ¾ cup confectioners sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the flour and set aside (this helps to prevent the blueberries from sinking).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, vanilla, eggs, sugar, greek yogurt, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, just until smooth. Do not over mix or your bread will come out tough.
6. Lightly fold the blueberries into the batter.
7. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. The bread will be finished when a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Once bread is finished, remove from oven and allow to cool for about 20 minutes in the loaf pan. Remove from loaf pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Once bread has cooled, whisk together the confectioners sugar and lemon juice. Start with one tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk well. If your mixture is too thick, slowly add up to one more tablespoon of lemon juice. You want the glaze to be thin enough to drizzle, but thick enough to set up on the bread.
10. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze on top of the bread. The glaze should harden up a little more after about 15-20 minutes.

Notes

If bread begins to brown too much on the top, tent with aluminum foil. I used some foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.

This is a super moist loaf so let it cool for longer than you usually would another loaf. I made the mistake of attempting to remove it from the pan too early and the cake partially fell apart.

Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to five days. Bread will freeze well for up to two months.

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The post Blueberry Lemon Loaf with Lemon Glaze appeared first on The Peony Life.

This Smoked Salmon Benedict with Avocado is gluten-free for my celiac friends!

One thing I absolutely LOVE about living in San Francisco, is how seriously people take brunch! San Franciscans have definitely gotten brunch & day drinking down to a science. Some popular restaurants are only open for brunch, 9am-3pm. It’s so popular they are able to shut their doors in the afternoon and probably laugh amongst themselves at all of the patrons nursing their hangovers with bottomless mimosa’s.

The people watching in these line ups are pretty amusing to say the least! If you were to ask some of these people to wait 3 minutes for an uber, 10 minutes for a drip coffee or behind 3 people at Trader Joe’s; forget it! However,  if you ask them to wait in line for over an hour at their favorite local brunch spot, they will do it with pleasure! I’m touched by the commitment and my fiancé & I partake in brunch shenganigans once a week. On the other day, we enjoy a leisurely brunch at home.

AN INDULGENT BRUNCH YOU DON’T HAVE TO FEEL SUPER GUILTY ABOUT!

Today I was super excited to try a new brunch recipe for the blog! Eggs Benedict is without a doubt my favorite brunch item but it’s pretty unhealthy! I wanted to create a lighter recipe that would still satisfy my craving for this high fat dish. I also opted to make a gluten free benny for my celiac friends out there. Whaaat whaaat!

Smoked Salmon is a great source of healthy oils and fats, dietary protein and iron but like everything else, moderation is key. Even though there are many wonderful benefits of eating smoked salmon, it is rather high in sodium, so don’t eat it all day, everyday. Alright?

Removing the english muffin and swapping it with avocado is such an easy way to get rid of unhealthy carbs. I’m trying to eat less bread these days and the struggle is definitely real, but with this dish I didn’t miss it! This Smoked Salmon Benedict with Avocado was all I dreamed of and more. My fiancé is already asking me to make it again next weekend.

WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T ENJOY RESTAURANT QUALITY FOOD AT HOME?

Please note that this recipe only serves 2 people so keep that in mind when buying your ingredients.

Drizzle my Herbed Crème Fraïche Dressing over top of the benny and enjoy!!

Smoked Salmon Benny with Avocado

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

This is a great low carb & gluten free alternative to Eggs Benedict! Try this recipe at home this weekend!

Author: Peony

Recipe type: Brunch

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 5 ounce piece of smoked salmon, divided in two pieces
• half an avocado, sliced lengthwise
• 2 eggs, poached
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp minced chives to garnish

Instructions

1. Add enough water to come 1 inch up the side of a narrow, deep 2-quart saucier.
2. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 2 teaspoons white vinegar and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile, crack 1 cold large egg into a small dish or bowl.
4. Use the handle of a whisk or spoon to quickly stir the water in one direction until it's all smoothly spinning around.
5. Carefully drop the egg into the center of the whirlpool. The swirling water will help prevent the white from "feathering," or spreading out in the pan. This 'whirlpool method' only works for 1 or 2 eggs. If you're making a larger batch, do not stir each time you add a new egg.
6. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave for 5 minutes. REALLY leave it for 5 minutes. As in don't lift the cover and peak! This will ruin your poached eggs!
7. While eggs are poaching, slice avocado and place 3 flat piece of avocado on a plate.
8. Place a piece of salmon on the avocado.
9. Using a slotted spoon, remove the poached egg from the sauce pan and place on top of the salmon.
10. Top with Herbed Crème Fraïche Dressing and minced chives!
11. Enjoy!
12. Lift it out: Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and serve immediately. Alter
13. Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/perfect-poached-eggs-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Notes

Please use my Herbed Crème Fraïche Dressing to drizzle over the Smoked Salmon Benny. It will not be close to the same without the sauce!

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The post Smoked Salmon Benedict with Avocado appeared first on The Peony Life.