Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunday Surprise: Egg Muffin Pinstrosity

Hello there pinny-peeps!

Last weekend, I finally got around to making the Egg Muffins that I have been thinking about for months. Since I like the idea of kick starting my day with protein (and, c'mon, who doesn't love eggs in the morning?), these were a natural project for me to take on.

I have to leave for work at 6:30 every morning, and as someone who likes happens to wake up at 6:00, that doesn't leave much time for making or eating of breakfast while I'm still at home. I've been taking greek yogurt and a piece of fruit for breakfast, and I have no complaints about that. Yum yum. However, I tend to get tired of food quickly, so before I end up hating off my current breakfast routine forever, I decided to take a test ride out of the following:

The Original Pin

http://didsomeonesaychocolate.com/2013/10/08/perfect-paleo-egg-muffins/

The Pinstrosity


Simple, simple error (and fix) on this one, folks: I used paper liners! Must have been baking on auto-pilot, because NOT using them didn't cross my mind at all (even though she doesn't use them in the original recipe. Whoops). Though, I would like to point out that I'm not completely crazy. The Busy Bee used paper cups and her muffins turned out beautifully: 

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/48/f3/9a/48f39a7848c9c15ae2ff65a3e560cbbf.jpg
Anyway, the muffins turned out all right; they were tasty, but about a third of the egg-in was taken off with the liner. But, at the end of the day, both the boyfriend and I liked them. I'm absolutely going to give these another try.

I used jack cheese, ground turkey, green onion, and Egg Beaters. I poured them into paper liners (don't do this!) and then let the bake until I was "pretty sure" they were done (they were).

Here's what they looked like before I baked them:

See the loner in the back? That one turned out the best, since there was no liner!
Here's what I got after I baked them:

The muffin tin o'pinstrosity 
See? The liner baked right in! Peeling it off was impossible.
Liner removal attempt.
The happy little loner! Robert (the boyfriend) scarfed it down before I could get to it. He said it was delish.
Well, the good news is that the eggins only ranked a level #2 on the GCT scale. After eating them, I did feel that they could use a bit more seasoning and some sharper cheese, but I will definitely make them again.

And! What did we learn today? Forego the liners to prevent these from being a Pinstrosity.

Stay egg-sellent!
Rachel

PS: Were you wondering if I'd killed my onions yet (and if you're not sure what I'm referring to, click here)?  You won't believe this, but no! Said onions are alive and thriving! And, thanks to all of your comments (seriously, so many good pointers, thanks to you all!), I have been diligent about keeping the water clean to prevent the slime/stink.

You all were absolutely right, I should have removed all of the green on the onion, but I was worried that the whole bushel was going to go bad. So, I plopped the bulbs in water before it could. Next time, I'll be sure to hack the stalks down. But, without further adieu...

What ho'? A chum for my green onions?
 Look at them! They're ginormous! Good thing I am planning to make more egg muffins, the green onion was super tasty in them. What do you like to eat green onion on? I need suggestions, because clearly, I've gotta figure out how to use these guys up quicker!

Now, did you find yourself saying to yourself: "Rachel, what's the tiny, green fellow growing next to the onions?" If you did, let me tell you! It's romaine lettuce! And, that growth is after only two days! I'm fascinated!

Too cute, right?
I think it's fair to say, at this point, that we can downgrade my black thumb to a...hmm. What would a downgrade be, like a chocolate-y brown? I don't know, anyway, whatever color is one step closer to a green thumb from the thumb of death, that's where I'm at.

Muah!


22 comments:

  1. I ruined my muffin pan making these without liners. After repeated attempts at scrubbing it clean, I finally just threw it away. Egg REALLY sticks! Anyway, if you are wanting to make these semi-frequently, consider buying some silicone liners. I use them for my egg muffins now and they work beautifully and can be reused.

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    1. Hey Katie-- you ruined your muffin pan?! Oh no! I have a couple of pans from the dollar store that are in average shape, perhaps I'll use those the next time I make these.
      Oooh! I've been wanting to get silicone cups for awhile now. Now I have an excuse...cough cough, I mean reason.

      Thanks for your input! :)

      Delete
  2. LOL! Sorry about your muffin cups! I recently tried making a very similar recipe and just gave the muffin tin a swipe of butter instead of using liners. Hubby loves these things and will take them to work. I like them chopped up a bit and tossed on a salad for lunch. Recently I bought some silicone muffin liners, but I haven't tried them yet.

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    1. Hey Staci,

      I'm glad to see that you saw the humor in these too. My boyfriend had plenty a chuckle when he realized what I'd done. I hadn't thought about using them as a topping! I think you're onto something. As for the silicone muffin liners, if we take Katie's (the commenter above), we should be really happy with the results. If you try them, let me know what you think!

      Thanks for your comment!

      Delete
  3. I haven't tried the eggins yet, but to use up green onion I love this recipe (found on Pinterest of course.) http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2008/06/crispy-chicken-wraps.html You can also chop up the green onion and freeze it. Make sure it is dry when storing or it will get yucky.

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    1. Ohh! Butterfly Princess! Now your'e talking. I love recipes AND chicken wraps. This is right up my alley. Thank you! And really, you can freeze them?! I had no idea.

      Thanks for the tips. I'll have to check those out!

      Delete
  4. The eggs WILL stick if you don't use a liner or silicone pan. I actually spray the regular liners for certain things. This would be one of them. I haven't had good luck with the silicone. No matter how I wash them they always feel sticky greasy to me!

    I see a big difference between yours and BusyBee's muffins and why hers in the muffin cups didn't stick. Hers are only about 1/2 full or less while yours are almost to the top. Her baked ones are about the same size as your unbaked eggs. With the egg almost to the top when it bakes and the eggs puff they have nowhere to go but run over the top of the cup and bake the liner into the egg.

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    1. I hadn't considered spraying the liners. Do you find that it leaves them greasy at all? Or, do they absorb the spray?

      I am notorious for over-filling whatever pan/tin/casserole dish when I bake it. Perhaps I'll spread the eggin goodness around next time. Thanks for the comment!

      Delete
  5. I tried making those without a liner and sprayed my pan instead. They stuck horribly. I'd rather just make a bunch of French toast and freeze it.
    For green onions, if you can't use it up fast enough, you can always freeze them too. I just clip them into the pieces I'd use and put them in a baggie. I like them in fried rice especially.

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    1. NaDell-- I can tell we're on the same brain wave if we're talkin' about french toast. I LOVE french toast. Daresay, I've never met a french toast I didn't like. Do you have any fabulous french toast secrets we should know about?

      Thanks for the tip about freezing the green onion. I'm going to have to, I think, because my onions are still growing up a storm. Oooh, fried rice. Yummy!

      Thanks for the tasty ideas! :)

      Delete
  6. Since you like variety, use up some leftovers in them. They don't all need to be the sane. Taco meat in a couple Italian sausage in some, ham in another and chicken in others. Mix and match. Broccoli other veggies too. Heck you could have 12 different eggies. LOL

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    1. Moonflwr912-- I could NOT agree with you more. I've been lazy about making these since my last post, but there are some leftovers in my fridge right now that could use some love. Yummy!

      Thanks for your comment.

      Delete
  7. As a general "thing", paper liners don't work well with recipes that aren't very oily. Cupcakes are oily/buttery, so they usually work well. I've got a whole-wheat breakfast muffin recipe, though, that uses very little fat and the liners stick like nobody's business.

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    1. Would you forego the liners altogether or would you try out silicone liners? Thanks for the tip!

      Delete
  8. One thing I noticed, your paper liners are filled way, way too much. You'll notice in the big linear picture from the busy bee that the cups are only filled up maybe 1/3 of the way. Eggs expand a LOT in the oven, so you need quite a bit of head-room. What happened here was that as the eggs expanded in your nearly overflowing cups, it spilled over into the pan and surrounded the paper.

    If you try them again, go with about 1/3 the amount of filling you used here and it'll turn out much better.

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    1. I think your'e spot on-- I'll definitely keep this in mind next time. Thanks for chiming in, Gregory! :)

      Delete
  9. I tired a similar recipe. We liked them fresh but didn't care for them once they were frozen. They are too wet when reheated...

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    1. Oh boy! I didn't get to freeze any this time, but I had considered it for the future. Did you find that it was worth it to make more frequent smaller batches than one huge batch to freeze it?

      Thanks for the tip! :)

      Delete
  10. I got excited about the romaine, ran out and bought some, chopped the end off and stuck it in water on the windowsill. No green leaves and it looks like it is just drying up. Tried celery too. Aww...my own little pinstrosities. :) I must have a brown thumb.

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    1. Daizy, girl, I feel you completely. I tried the romaine once before and didn't have any success. The one that I'm growing now is still going, but there are black marks on the leaves, I wonder if lack of nutrients? I think I'm going to switch it to soil soon, so hopefully, they'll go away.

      I haven't braved celery, but I was thinking about doing it next! I'll be sure to let you know what I find out. I'm surprised at how mine are growing, since they're in the kitchen near NO windows. Any chance they're getting too much light?

      Hang in there-- if I can do it, I bet you can too. Thanks for empathizing with me!

      Delete
    2. I just took a picture of them. I'll post them on your facebook page. At least they grew a little bit.

      Delete
  11. Lily! You are too nice! Thanks for the positive comment. I totally read it aloud to the boyfriend and was like "Warm fuzzies, listen to what this nice comment said!" so thank you, thank you. Positivity is always appreciated.

    And, HELLO! Eggs/sweet potato/feta sounds INCREDIBLE! You're welcome to come cook that at my house any time. Haha, just kidding (or am I?). I don't think I've ever had leeks. Is this something I could sub for spinach? (Dumb question alert, I know)

    Thanks again for telling me about your fe-lee-tato eggins. I am going to have to run out and get some more ingredients! How long to you cook your potato for before you toss it in the eggin batter?

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