Food & eating

[feuervogel]

I stopped eating the cereal I'd been having for several years because the quality control was really inconsistent AND I was tired of their OH NO GMO stuff on the packaging. I've been having baked oatmeal for a few weeks, and, while I enjoy it (pear & ginger is awesome), I'm always hungry. Even with the substitution of Greek yogurt for regular to get more protein. (I think it's the increase in carbs. Macronutrient balance is weird.)

So I'm poking around the internet for recipes for quick breakfast things that you can prepare in advance, put in the fridge, and reheat as needed, that revolve around eggs.


I found a recipe for mini frittatas that sounds nice and easy, but each one has 70 calories. SEVENTY. I want to get about 350 calories for breakfast. (The recipe notes that it's a "great grab-and-go breakfast!" I'm like "Yeah, I'll grab half of them and go.... Who the fuck can survive on 70 calories for breakfast?")

So anyway, if any of you can recommend easy egg-based *vegetarian* cook-ahead recipes, link me. (I mean, if the recipe uses sausage, I can substitute, so it's no big deal, but an egg baked in a cup made of a slice of deli ham isn't going to work.)

Comments

[snippy]

Here through network. We make egg pucks and freeze them; they microwave nicely. No recipe, or rather, an approximate instruction:

Finely chop some veg: we like onion and kale, or mushrooms, or zucchini and tomato, or whatever you like. Sautee until cooked in whatever fat you like to use. Grease a muffin tin and plop a spoonful of the cooked veg in each well. Beat as many eggs as you have muffin wells and pour about one egg's worth into each well. Bake at medium (350 degrees F) for 15 minutes or so. Season to taste of course, by stirring it into the egg mixture before portioning and cooking-I've used smoked paprika, salt-and-pepper, oregano (especially good if you're including chopped tomatoes), whatever you like. Two is a good serving, one is a snack or side dish.

If you want fancier, pour seasoned tomato sauce or vegetarian mushroom gravy over. But they're good just as is. Or for more calories, chop up some bread and make them into savory bread puddings.

[feuervogel]

Hi there!

That's the kind of thing I've been looking for, but they still seem a bit too light? The addition of bread may help, though, and cheese. (I love cheese. Cheese on all the things!)

I'm trying a crustless quiche this week, and if I cut it into quarters it should be about the right amount of food. But that's only 4 days' worth of food, so... I'd do huevos rancheros, but I don't want to have to cook an egg every morning to put on it. Actually, hey, do you think the egg pucks would work for that? Reheat, chop up, and toss on top a pile of black beans?

[snippy]

We always put cheese in, so sure-I just wasn't sure if you eat cheese. And I don't see why they wouldn't work on a pile of black beans.

[feuervogel]

I'm thinking of trying egg pucks on egg mcmuffin-style things: slice of cheese, egg puck, veggie sausage, English muffin. Do the pucks come out thick? I mean, I assume it varies based on how much you put in them, but on average, are they more like mcmuffin eggs, or muffins themselves?

sizing egg pucks

[snippy]

They come out firm like muffins, the size of a cupcake or muffin. For what you want, you might spread the veg out thinly in a rectangular pan, pour all the beaten eggs over, then after they're baked you could cut into squares (or whatever size fits your English muffin).

[bossymarmalade]

I found the same thing with oatmeal! When I had it for breakfast I'd be ravenous in no time. Now it's a late night snack.

I have no breakfast suggestions, alas. I normally end up soft-boiling a couple of eggs and taking them with wholegrain bread (to toast at work) and avocado or cheese.

[feuervogel]

I'm so glad it isn't just me! Like, I love the baked oatmeal thing. It tastes pretty good, and I can do it on Sunday afternoon and not worry about breakfast the whole week. But I'm so hungry all the time :/

The site where I got the oatmeal recipe also has egg-based breakfasts, so I'm trying a spinach-mushroom crustless quiche (baking it tomorrow afternoon). http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/11/spinach-mushroom-feta-crustless-quiche/

[ranyart]

I've had oatmeal for breakfast almost every morning for a few years, and that trick that's made it work for me is making savory oatmeal. I cook w/a little salt and then add some cheese (usually parm but if I have other cheese on hand that works), a drizzle of olive/walnut oil, black pepper, and some sort of proteiny item - either a cut up fake sausage, a poached/sunny side up egg, or a handful of toasted nuts.

I don't know if that's at all something you can do with a baked oatmeal template. I just take the time to cook steel-cut oats in the morning because I'm willing to, but I realize it can be annoying!

[feuervogel]

I've been basing the oatmeal on this recipe, and I've used Greek yogurt in place of regular. I am really lazy and don't want to spend time cooking in the morning (cereal + milk is my go-to for a reason), but I'm ok with making something in advance and heating it up. I did a gingerbread steel cut oats that had way too much molasses in it. (It's possible, apparently.) It reheated ok.

The quiche is turning out pretty well, though if I make it again I need to a) figure out how to get ALL the water out of frozen spinach and b) try cottage cheese instead of feta. (For some reason, the cheapest feta at WSM tastes weird lately. It's the brine they keep it in, because it always smells & tastes like that and the cheese staffer said it smelled fine to her. And I'm too cheap to pay for the goat or sheep stuff.)