1m2aSandbox

We’re talking about how to get a hot, filling breakfast on the table in fifteen minutes or less. Today’s the first installment, and while it’s not under fifteen minutes prep time, it’s waay less than that in the morning, so here goes.

I’m a big believer in cooking ahead – I try to double a recipe and freeze half, or spend one morning every couple of weeks preparing a few big meals. I also like to cook ahead – do some prep work – on the weekend to get ready for the coming week: I love serving good meals, but hate pulling them together in the evening.

Same goes for mornings.

First, the eggs. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease WELL a muffin tin – preferably a jumbo muffin tin if you’ve got it. Personally, I have silicone jumbo muffin cups and I love them for this. Just the right size, and easy to remove. Scramble a dozen eggs (or six, or however many muffin cups you have) in a big bowl and season with a little salt and pepper.

Fill each cup – so if you scramble six eggs, use six cups, 12 eggs, 12 cups, etc. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes; you need to make sure the center is cooked all the way through. Then let them cool, and place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Freeze, and then pop them all into a freezer Ziploc for whenever you want to use them.

Now make sure you’ve got meat – breakfast ham, or pre-cooked sausage patties, whatever. We eat farm-fresh bacon and it’s a bit more labor intensive to cook, so I cook up a whole mess at once, drain and freeze and store to use one lovely piece at a time.

So you’ve got frozen breakfast meat, frozen egg, and hopefully some sliced cheese. Make sure you’ve got a bread for it – we prefer English muffins, but you can use a bagel or cinnamon bread or whatever – and you’re ready to put your sandwich together!

Defrost your egg patty, and meat if need be, toast your bread, and put your cheese on when you want it to melt just a bit. This all takes five minutes, tops, in the morning, and gives you a delicious hot breakfast in no time at all.

Enjoy!