Cereal has too long worn the crown as the breakfast of champions. It's time for a new ruler in the land, and I've got just the ticket. Do I have the breakfast recipe for you! Individual sized Potato Frittata Muffins! I’m so thrilled about this one, and get bonus points because it’s gluten free, too! Um, do you ever have to give yourself bonus points? Yeah, I feel your pain.Well, this recipe is pain free, tastes so good, and is way easier to make than traditional frittatas. Now, I love traditional frittatas of all kinds. They are glorious! Sometimes, though, it’s nice to cook once and eat for a couple of days.
I made up this recipe after watching a late-night infomercial. Every now and then I get bouts of insomnia. Despite my state of exhaustion, I was up late again a couple nights ago. Usually sitting down zonks me out, so I thought I’d turn on the tube and wait for my vegetative state to commence. Boy, there are zippo late night TV viewing choices available. I could have watched Barney (although I have no idea why a little kids show is on in the wee hours of the morning), my next option included a million ways to buy and resell homes (yeah, right), switching channels only brought me to all sorts of shows on how to cleanse my system (hold me back, people), and then there was this infomercial on cooking. Guess what I picked. The cooking lady was talking at warp speed and moving from machine to machine informing her overly-enthusiastic co-host on all the different meals that could be prepared in one of her handy dandy cooking apparatuses. It bakes, it broils, it steams, it cooks, well, by gosh, it all but wakes you up and drives you to church on Sunday. (Imagine my utterly comatose expression.) Anyway, one of the things she did was pour egg into the wells of this gadget and popped a tatertot in with them, then closed the lid and “baked” them. I thought, "Ugh, who wants to bite into a wad of potato like that. Wouldn't it be better to have layers of potato then egg like a frittata?" *DING* The proverbial bell went off in my sleep deprived brain causing the recipe making portion of said sleepy brain to kick in gear.
I just so happened to have a bag of tatertots in my freezer. It’s another story on how I came to have a bag of tots. I prefer to make my own potatoes, but the bottom line is I have a bag of them taking up space in the freezer. It was time for them to go! I thought to myself, “Self, why not thaw out said tots and use them as a base crust for a baked breakfast.” Here’s what I came up with. They are so good, and I love having individual portions that can be heated and eated (I know eated isn’t a word, but it rhymes here) in no time flat. Plus, my oldest gal, who is a picky eater extraordinaire, ate one and declared it good.
For future muffins, I will use my own leftover potatoes. In the meantime, these worked wonderfully. Join me now as I make the easiest baked frittata muffins ever!
Ingredients:
2 tatertots, thawed, for each muffin tin, or use left over COOKED potatoes, about 1 heaping tablespoon per tin. (NOTE TO GLUTEN FREE EATERS: If using tatertots, make sure the ones you’ve chosen don’t contain wheat ingredients. Many frozen potato products are coated in wheat.)
8 -10 eggs (for 12 muffin tins) Note: I use extra large eggs, use more eggs if yours are smaller.
2 tablespoons cream (makes the baked eggs fluffier)
Seasoned salt or salt and pepper
1 generous cup shredded cheese (shred it yourself folks, it tastes and melts so much better)
6 slices bacon, crumbled (you can use whatever you’ve got ... sausage, ham, pepperoni, whatever)
OPTIONAL: Some form of onion ... dried, chives, green, etc. I prefer this, but only put it in a few ‘cuz the kidlin’s don’t like “stuff” in their food. Foolish children!
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease your muffin tin including the top of the pan.
Side Note: I date everything, every container that is, that I open. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc., all get dated. That way I can tell at a glance if a product is getting near being past its prime.
In a large measuring cup or a bowl, whip your eggs until uniformly colored. Add the cream and seasoned salt. Beat again until incorporated.
Place two tots into each muffin tin, and “smoosh” them down to make a sort of crust all along the bottom and part way up the sides.
Sprinkle with seasoned salt, and onions if using. That’s season salt you see on the tins, not rusty specks. Place the meat of your choice on top of the tots,
and cover the meat with a spoonful of cheese.
Now carefully pour your egg mixture on top of this, filling each cup about 2/3rds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely golden on top.
I placed my tins on top of a foil lined tray for ease in getting in and out of the oven.
The muffins will puff up beautifully in the oven, and then will immediately shrink down. Remove the muffins immediately from the pan. Serve. Make yummy noises.
You’ll note that I didn’t add any veggies to these. Of course you can! My goal was to recreate a potato frittata, but I’m certain any combo of fillings would work here. I loved these. They are great as is, or with some salsa spooned on top. YUM!What combo of ingredients do you think you’d enjoy?
