Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups (Baked Bacon and Eggs)

My family loves breakfast. While we like cereals because of its convenience, we don't want to have it on a daily basis. It becomes boring that way. Also, we don't want to miss out on other breakfast goodies. So I cook breakfast as much as I can so we can try new dishes. 

Here's an easy but delicious breakfast that needs no big intro. If you love bacon and eggs, this is for you! It is also a Mexican-inspired dish - using Mexican cheese blend, a little cayenne pepper plus cilantro and tomatoes. Most of all, it's low carb and gluten-free!       I wish it's breakfast again!

I only made about 5 servings (5 pieces) for this recipe because I have a small family but you can easily double the recipe if you want to make more.

Have a lovely breakfast!

Ingredients

10 bacon strips 

5 eggs 

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican Taco Cheese Blend

A pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

A few tomatoes, chopped

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C.

In a large skillet or grill pan, cook bacon over medium heat for  3-4 minutes per side or until it begins to brown but is not yet crisp (still pliable).

While you are cooking the bacon, whisk the eggs until combined.

Stir in the shredded cheese. Season with a little salt and pepper and a pinch or two of cayenne pepper, if using.



Grease the muffin pan - I only used about 5 cups. For this I used the Demarle Flexipan so I did not need to grease the insides of the muffin pan but you may need to grease if you are using regular muffin tin.

Place and wrap two bacon strips around the side of each muffin cup.

Using a measuring cup, pour in the egg mixture in each prepared cup. Just divide it evenly among the cups.

 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until set.  Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. This is when the magic of a Flexipan comes through. See how easy it is for me to remove the baked egg cups. You can probably just push out the muffin too 'cause the muffin pan is so flexible. Here I used plastic utensils to help me scoop it out.

Transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with some chopped cilantro and have it with fresh chopped tomatoes. Low-carb, gluten-free and what a delicious breakfast!

If you wish to print the recipe, there's a print icon at the end of the post. Click on the "remove images box" for easy and convenient printing.

Adapted from Taste of Home's - Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups.

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Spinach Quiche Cups

Completely gluten-free and low-carb is this healthy and delicious SPINACH QUICHE CUPS that everyone will enjoy. You can tweak the recipe to add your favorite vegetables! 

A friend of mine is a distributor of Demarle products (Silpat, Flexipan and Silform non-stick bakeware made of fiberglass and food grade silicone from France). This week she kindly lent me some of her wares so I could try them at home and learn how to use them, or sort of put them to the test.

One of the products I borrowed was her flexi-muffin tray. Since it is supposed to be non-stick, I thought the perfect dish to try would be my crustless spinach quiche cups (inspired by South Beach Diet's Vegetable Quiche Cups), my favorite breakfast treat when I am in the mood for a low-carb and gluten-free diet. I love these mini-quiches but when I bake them without using liners, it can be painful to clean up the pan afterwards. That's despite the claim that they are non-stick and that I even used some oil spray on them. So, I am really looking for a product that I can use for this recipe - one that will truly work and would also provide hassle-free cleaning. 

Wow, I am amazed at the result! One look at the photo above and you can already see that it was an astounding success. Look at these beautiful quiches, how they stand up so well, perfectly shaped, didn't look like half of them were left in the muffin pan (that usually happens before I used this wonderful product). I also tried baking raspberry muffins in the flexi-tray and they came out beautiful as well.

And, because it's truly non-stick I did not use any muffin liners nor did I ever need to grease the pan. How's that for convenience? However, if you don't have this pan, don't fret, either just use muffin liners or grease your muffin pan.

Here's the recipe for the spinach quiche which is truly a healthy low-carb and gluten-free breakfast. Try it!

 

 Ingredients

A little olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach (I used the baby ones) --- about 284 grams
4 eggs (if the yolks are quite small I use 5 eggs)
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I use mozzarella or the Italian Blend)
1 (8 oz package) mini-bella mushrooms, chopped

1-2 Tbsp, heavy cream or half-and-half (optional)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

*Variation - If you don't fancy mushrooms, try asparagus or bell peppers with the spinach. Also, add some onions to the mix. I add some when I do not use mushrooms.

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 375F or 190C.

Heat a little oil in a large skillet. Saute the mushrooms until they are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Set Aside.

Place the spinach in a deep pan or in the skillet that you used for the mushrooms. Add a little water, 1/4 cup should do it. Using medium heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, about 3-4 mins. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach. Drain the excess water really well (especially if you decide to use frozen spinach instead).

 
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Add the cooked mushrooms, spinach, cheeses and cream (if using) to the eggs. Mix well. Season to taste. 

  

Divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups. The muffin tray was slightly bigger than usual so I only filled about 10 cups.

Bake for about 20-23 minutes, or until it's well set and a tester/toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.



Leave in the pan for a few minutes or just until it's cool enough to handle. It was so easy to remove them from the pan! They practically pop-out!

Sprinkle with a little more cheese on top, if desired. Mark enjoys them with rice on the side!

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Chicken, Cashew and Tarragon Stir-fry (with Bacon)

  

When we visit my in-laws in England, my husband never fails to request his mom to cook this dish. He said that this is one of his favorite food. Having tasted it a few times, I do agree it's a wonderful dish - simple to prepare yet fabulously delicious. I particularly love the crunch that the cashews bring and the flavor that the tarragon imparts to the chicken.

I would have tried to cook this a long time ago if I had the recipe. I don't know why I haven't asked for it. Unfortunately, when my husband was craving this dish for dinner it was  a little too late to call England so I had to make this based on how my hubby remembers it was done.

When we were eating the dish, he suddenly remembered that he forgot to tell me an important ingredient of the dish ---- bacon! How can anyone forget bacon? It's a good thing that when  he mentioned that the chicken was stir-fried --- butter and garlic came to mind. So, it still came out good. The next time I made it for sure bacon was added. If you don't fancy bacon you can just leave it out. 

Ingredients

A little olive oil (1 tsp or if using a non-stick pan, a little spray on the pan will do)
3 tbsp butter or 3-4 bacon strips, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb chicken breasts (2 large ones), chopped in bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper
4-6 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped (we love tarragon so we  use a lot of it but it has a strong aniseed-like flavor so adjust to taste!)
1/2 cup roasted cashew nuts (whole or in pieces)

Procedure

Melt the butter in a little oil in a large skillet or frying pan. If you prefer, use bacon instead. Cook the bacon until it turns brown and renders its fat. Sauté the garlic and let it sizzle for a few seconds (not more than a minute to prevent browning). Once the garlic has flavored the butter/bacon fat and oil, you may opt to remove it from the pan but if you love garlic, let it stay!

Raise the heat to medium high and then add the chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper.  

Stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes or until the chicken has changed its color and is starting to brown a little on its sides.

Stir in the cashew nuts and the tarragon leaves. Cook for another minute or just until chicken is tender.                                                                                       

Garnish with a little more tarragon on top. Serve immediately.

Have it with green veggies on the side. Broccoli perfectly pairs with it.