Now that my kids are back to school, I’m doing more meal planning. I want to give my kids the best start each day with a healthy breakfast that will keep them full until lunch as well as bright for learning.
Did you know that kids who eat a nutrient dense breakfast like my egg cups have higher test scores, improved attendance, and better class participation? My Summer Vegetable Egg Cups are packed with vitamins and protein, made with delicious summer fresh vegetables and eggs.
This is a sponsored post for Ohio Eggs.
Summer Vegetable Egg Cups Recipe for Quick Back-to-School Breakfasts
My Summer Vegetable Egg Cups recipe can be prepared ahead of time for a quick and healthy breakfast, low carb lunch or healthy snack. Serve warm by microwaving for 30 seconds or enjoy cold.Traditionally, egg cups are prepared with a few vegetables and a breakfast meat like this Egg Muffin recipe. Feel free to add a breakfast meat or change up the vegetables in this recipe, however the focus of this recipe is Ohio summer garden vegetables.
My vegetable and herb garden is full of ripe tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and basil. I’m always looking for new ways to serve these delicious vegetables. My egg cup recipe is a great way to start the day with a healthy serving of vegetables and use up the abundance of vegetables from my garden!
If you don’t have a vegetable garden, stop by a local farmers market for garden fresh vegetables. I enjoy shopping at Szalay’s Sweet Corn Farm & Market in Peninsula, Ohio for a large variety of farm fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruits grown locally.
You can’t beat Szalay’s sweet corn! I add a couple ears of corn to this egg cup recipe for added sweetness and crunch.
| Servings |
- 10 eggs lightly beaten
- 4 cups zucchini sliced very thinly (about 2 large or 3 medium)
- 2 TBSP butter
- 1 large onion finely chopped (red, yellow or white)
- 1/2 cup bell pepper chopped (red or green)
- 2 ears of sweet corn
- 1/3 cup packed fresh basil chopped
- 2 large tomatoes sliced thin
- cloves Twogarlic minced
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper optional
- 1/2 cup Milk whisked, any kind or half & half
- 1 cup cheese (your choice: Feta Mozzarella, Swiss, Cheddar)
Ingredients
| |
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray muffin pan or use muffin liners.
- Slice zucchini into very thin slices. Place zucchini slices on clean kitchen towel and squeeze excess moisture out.
- Heat butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, zucchini, garlic, and bell pepper. Brown until golden, about 5 minutes. Cut corn kernels off the cob. Add to the veggie mixture and cook until veggies are soft, about 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat to slightly cool.
- Combine basil, salt, pepper, flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper (optional), cheese, and milk (already whisked). Add in lightly beaten eggs and mix well.
- Pour into prepared muffin pan, about 1/4 cup each.
- Arrange tomatoes slices on top. Season with a little salt and pepper if desired.
- Bake at 350° for 20-22 minutes, until just set.
- Cook on wire rack for 5 minutes.
- Remove from muffin pan and serve warm or cool.
This recipe is easy to prepare and makes 21 muffin size cups. You can keep the egg cups in a sealed container for a week or freeze for up to 3 months. There is quite a bit of shopping involved but this can be quickly accomplished with a food processor. I normally dice all of the vegetables except for the zucchini which I slice thin. If you have picky eaters at home and want to ‘hide’ the vegetables, I suggest dicing the zucchini as well.
Start by sauteing the onions, zucchini, garlic, and bell pepper in a butter for about 5 minutes.
Cut corn kernels off the cob and add to the mixture and cook for another 5 minutes.
Next, add the combined basil, salt, pepper, flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper (if desired), cheese, and milk. There are two easy tricks to this recipe for fluffy, not wet egg cups. First, be sure to whisk the milk well before combining. Second, only lightly whisk the eggs. Third, be sure to add the flour and baking powder, although it is a small amount, it really helps fluffs up the recipe. If you want to make this a gluten-free recipe, omit the flour and baking powder or use a gluten-free version.
Pour the eggs into the vegetable mix last and stir to combine. I love that this recipe includes 10 eggs because it really packs in protein (6 grams per egg) as well as 13 essential nutrients into this recipe. The eggs in this recipe is what is going to keep our kids full for hours at school so they can focus on learning instead of a grumbling tummy. My kids eat breakfast at 6am and don’t eat until 12:30, so they need a hearty breakfast to power them through the morning.
Once everything is combined, place the egg and vegetable mixture into a greased cupcake pan, leaving about 1/4″ from top of pan.
Next, place a thinly sliced garden fresh tomato on top. This is probably my favorite part of this recipe because I love garden fresh tomatoes!
Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes or until the eggs are set.
The result is lovely, delicious Summer Vegetable Egg Cups that can be enjoyed straight out of the oven warm or cooled for later. We normally eat 2 for breakfast with a piece of fruit. I also pack them in my kids’ lunch boxes for a low carb protein. They are just as good served cold as served warm.
You can also top with a little extra cheese. Mornings are rushed on school days but my Summer Vegetable Egg Cups recipe is perfect for even the busiest of mornings! Microwave for 30 seconds for a hot breakfast that will keep you and your kids fueled all morning long. Or pack in a lunch box for a protein, nutrient-dense lunch. You can even slice horizontally and place between two slices of toast for an egg sandwich.
We count carbohydrates in everything we eat because my kids are Type 1 Diabetic (auto immune disease that has no cure). I rely on recipes like this Summer Vegetable Egg Cup for times when their blood sugar is running high. At only 5 carbs per egg cup, they can enjoy one at any time. If we took out the corn on the cob, it would only be 2 carbs per serving.
If you have a family or friend with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes, please share this recipe. It can be very difficult to find zero or low carb foods for those difficult days when blood sugar levels are too high to consume carbs. Blood sugar can rise from many things including illness, growth, stress, exercise, stress, and more. Believe me, we rely on eggs a lot in my home. My go-to website for delicious recipes for breakfast, snacks, and dinner is OhioEggs.com.
Chances are very good that your eggs come from an Ohio farm, even if you don’t live in Ohio. Ohio is one of the top producers of eggs in the USA, with over 9 billion eggs each year. I was able to meet several Ohio egg farmers earlier this summer and learned so much about egg farming. I’ll be sharing in a post soon. Not sure what an egg farm looks like? Check out this quick video of the Lochtefeld Family’s egg farm in Mercer Country, Ohio.
Eggs are an affordable, convenient and easy option to serve kids this back-to-school time. A healthy breakfast fuels the brain, so give your kids a good start this school year with my Summer Vegetable Egg Cups or other egg breakfast recipe.
Learn more about Ohio eggs on OhioEggs.com. Get social with Ohio Poultry Association on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.