Skip breakfast? Not with this on-the-go meal idea

I worry about one of my sons who tends to skip breakfast.

He came home a little past 6:00 one day (after being gone since 6:30 a.m.) and told me he was tired and had a headache and didn't want to go to basketball practice.

"What does it mean when you have a headache right here?" he asked pinching the top of his nose between his eyebrows.

"Have you been wearing your glasses?"

"Eh. It hurts right here, too," he said, pressing against his temples with both hands.

"You didn't eat anything today, did you?" I asked him, though I knew the answer.

"I had a bar..."

"Hon! That has like 200 calories. Someone your size who goes to weight training after school probably needs at least 10 times that, maybe more,* before dinner time! You really can't skip breakfast! Are you ready for a meatball sub?"

Every Wednesday used to be Pasta Night. Now it's meatball sub night, his favorite.

"Eh..."

I wound up making him an omelet and he had meatballs on the side, in a dish.

The rest of this exchange is a story for another day. In my mind, it's "Cooking for my family: the struggle is real."

For now I want to share an "Omelet muffin" recipe I cooked up using a dozen eggs that will remove anyone's excuse to skip breakfast.

What you need

• Muffin tin


• Cooking spray or paper liners


• Dozen eggs


• Ham, cheese, sausage, bacon, peppers, onion or anything you typically like in an omelet. Any meat should be pre-cooked.


• Milk or water


• Seasonings of your choice

Method


This is so simple. Crack all the eggs into a bowl. Add your filler ingredients (I used ham and cheese). Add a little milk or water, maybe 2 tbsp. Portion into your prepared muffin tin. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean).

Store the muffins in your refrigerator or freezer between layers of waxed paper. Heat them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds (for two) when you want to serve them. (I actually wouldn't mind eating them cold -- it would be like crustless quiche.)

Now no one has an excuse to skip breakfast!

What I'll do differently next time

• Use paper liners. I had a hard time getting the muffins out. Maybe I did not use enough cooking spray, but the overnight soaking and still needing to scrub the pan is undesirable


• Use a little liquid in the egg mixture. (Maybe this is why the muffins were so sticky.)

[caption id="attachment_2054" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Omelet muffins ready to go in the freezer[/caption]

*I looked it up later on eatright.org and I was right: "Teenage boys need 2,200 to 3,200 calories a day if they're 14 to 18 years of age."

Let me know if you try this or have tried a similar recipe! I'm definitely interested in new ideas for feeding my kids. (And they're not into smoothies like me!)