I used to be a more frequent customer of one of that popular coffee shop. There was a favorite drink, a frequent customer point count that went towards a “free drink” and the small menu had some good quick bites from spinach feta sandwiches to tasty quick breads…And then, I had a bad spinach feta sandwiches-like really bad when we were on vacation in California and it soured me. Not as in “I didn’t want to ever go back,“ occasionally I still do, (not for the food) but what it did do what cause me to think to myself, “do I really need to spend $5 plus on a coffee when I have a nice coffee maker at home? And those sandwiches, I can make those and the “mini egg bites”, I can make that and so I did and tried a few recipes and tinkered with a few different ingredients and herbs and VOILA’, Here’s what I came up. These have additional protein with the cottage cheese-I am not sure if the coffee shops version includes cottage cheese. I like the addition of the kale over the spinach and mushrooms add a nice taste. I frequently have fresh rosemary on hand, either from the patio garden or I pick it up in the winter months at the grocery store. My plan for later in the week is to make a quiche (Party Quiche from my book) and I’ll be using the extra kale, rosemary, eggs and mushrooms for that. Oh and the coffee, I make a really great iced coffee sweetened with Agave AND it’s much less expensive than the fancy coffee shops version. Lastly, I am saving so much money, I know the kitchen is clean, know that the ingredients are fresh, so, it wasn’t all bad that I had the poor experience with the coffee shop‘s version …
Tips on kale; I like to omit the stalks, I like to rinse well in a colander and then spin in a salad spinner.
Marvelous Mushroom & Kale Power Egg Muffins
Ingredients
-2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
-1 cup finely chopped mushrooms (I used organic baby Bella)
-2 cups finely chopped kale (remove ribs)
-1 teaspoon fresh garlic
-8 large eggs
-2/3 cup cottage cheese (do not use fat free)
-1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
-1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
-Not a rosemary fan, substitute 1/4 tsp. Paprika
-1/2 cup Swiss cheese (you can substitute your favorite cheese (Monterey Jack). Reserve about 2 Tablespoons shredded cheese to sprinkle atop muffin tins.
-butter or olive oil to coat muffin tins
The cheese combo I used-what I had on hand-was shredded Swiss and shredded Parmesan-mostly Swiss. You seen the blending process.
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and coat 12 muffin tins with either olive oil or butter so as not to stick.
2. Heat a saute’ pan, add olive oil. When hot add the mushroom. Let cook for about three minutes, then add the kale, stir and saute’. Next add half of the salt (1/4 teaspoon) and cook until the kale is wilted about another 2 minutes or so. then add the garlic and cook an additional minute. Turn off and let cool.
3. Now make the egg mixture. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cottage cheese, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper & rosemary (or paprika). If you have an immersion blender or hand mixer, blend for about 15 seconds. (If you have neither, pour mixture into a regular blender.). After blending, fold in mushroom/kale cooked mixture and shredded cheese with either a whisk or spatula.
4. Now scoop into buttered or oiled muffin tins. If you prefer, use a pinch of cheese to top each muffin tins or not.
5. Bake in the 350 degree preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Check/watch for the last 5 minutes or so of baking. Egg Bites are done with mixture is set and no longer jiggles. You want tops to be slightly golden. To brown tops, turn your oven to broil mode and broil for just a minute-two minutes max. When cooking/broiling is complete, let them sit for 10 minutes before eating.
I like to add the chopped rosemary-or your favorite herb-at the end of the blending process. Sprinkle with just a little cheese before baking.
Additional Notes:
-I used a salad spinner to get additional water out of the kale after washing in a colander and chopping.
-Use this recipe as an outline and swap out cheeses. The combination I used for this recipe ended up being mostly shredded Swiss. After I shredded the 1/2 cup, I shredded a little extra Parmesan, tossed together, kept back about 2 Tablespoons of the cheese combo to sprinkle atop. Other cheeses could be feta or cheddar.
-Swap out different vegetables but do cook/saute’ them as well. Cooking the vegetables releases the flavor.
-You could also add in ham or bacon.
-These could be made in advance and stored in the fridge if being served in a day or two or place in freezer, defrosted in the fridge when needed and heated in a toaster oven. Of course, you could heat in a microwave, I find that sometimes eggs reheated in the microwave can end up tasting tough or rubbery, so watch how long you set microwave for. I prefer an oven or toaster oven for reheating.
