Egg Bake

Time and time again Tom pushes all of us to eat a real breakfast, usually eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage. I promised we would talk about preparing meals in advance instead of cooking three plus meals every single day. So this recipe is for an egg bake that you can reheat every morning for breakfast or really anytime for a snack. You can make this recipe on Sunday and it should last you for breakfast for the whole week. (unless you live with someone like Tom, then there is no such thing as advanced meals or leftovers...everything is eaten on the spot)


Egg Bake

First crack some eggs into a bowl. For this recipe I usually do 3 eggs x the number of days. So if I was preparing breakfasts for the week, I would use 15 eggs. Just crack the eggs then whisk them together. I also like to add a few spices. Feel free to use whichever ones you like. I used some salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Basil, parsley, and thyme (all fresh or dried) also work well.

Shop-Rite has a carton of 2.5 dozen eggs that often goes on sale for $3.49 (I'm going to use the fact that I'm in culinary school not that I'm a nerd be the excuse that I know the exact sale price) When these go on sale, we usually buy a couple cartons and keep them in the garage refrigerator.

Start off with about 5 sausages (i usually do about 1 sausage per serving, so 5 days= 5 sausages). This is the same kind of sausage I used for the stuffed peppers. Remember you want a sausage that is just pork, water, and spices in the ingredients. (no corn syrup ,sugar, or maltosucropoopocrap) Again this recipe is interchangeable so use whatever meat you have on hand. (leftover turkey, chicken, sausage, ham, bacon, ground beef) Brown the meat in a saute man on the stove top until it is just about cooked throughout. (some pink is okay) Take the sausage out and put it into the egg mixture, leaving the juice and oil in the pan.

Next, pick out some vegetables. The choices are pretty much endless. Here I have some kale, jalapeno pepper, red and green bell peppers, garlic, and red and yellow onions. Baked sweet potatoes also taste really good in here, too. You can use, squash, zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, or anything else you come across. Again, the idea is to not let your meals get redundant and boring. Just by swapping the meat or vegetables in a dish, can create a whole new meal.

Chop up your vegetables into bite size pieces. (these are a little on the larger side) Cook the vegetables in the sausage grease in the same saute pan that you browned the sausage. (I know some of you may be cringing at this, but we all need to clear our minds of the brain-wash that fat makes us fat. Go on use that bacon grease, don't let it sit in a coffee mug to harden) If you are doing a vegetarian version of this egg bake, then you can use some olive oil to saute the vegetables.

You want to cook the vegetables just until they begin to get soft, but so that they are still tender. When the vegetables are done pour them into the bowl with the eggs and sausage.

For the 15 eggs, I use a pan that's about 11"x8", which seems to work. Brush a thin coat of olive oil, just so that it is easier to get the eggs out of the pan after they are cooked. I made this recipe in a pan, but you can also make them in muffin tins for individual servings.

Pour the whole mixture into the prepared pan and bake it for about 25 minutes. The top should be a little brown and it should no longer jiggle in the pan. (it should be fairly stable) Refrigerate it and you can cut a square each morning for breakfast and heat it in the microwave.

Here's a good article by Robb Wolf about pre-planning meals
http://robbwolf.com/2011/01/16/pre-cooking-paleo-diet-food/