By Ellen Cawood

Kitchen Corner

It’s back to school time again for all the kids and teachers out there. It was always one of my favorite times of year as a kid. I loved going back to school shopping with my Mom and Meme, and then picking out my favorite outfit for the first day.

As exciting as it is for kids to go back and see all their friends, it can be hectic for parents to get them cleaned up, dressed and out the door on time with a good meal in their belly. So this week, I thought I would share an easy recipe to prep for back to school breakfast. Now, I’m going to share the adult version of this with all the fixins’, but feel free to remove whatever your kids don’t like to make it kid friendly. Also, this is a great diet hack for anyone who is gluten free out there.

Bacon Egg Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients: 20 oz bag of shredded hash browns, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, 2 cups fiesta blend cheese, 1 pack of bacon cooked and crumbled, 12 large eggs, 1 red bell pepper, 1 orange bell pepper, parsley, ½ cup milk.

Instructions: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spray a 24 count muffin tin with cooking spray. Cook bacon until crispy in a skillet and set aside. If using frozen hash browns, pour them out on paper towels and dab dry to reduce the moisture in the muffins.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine two eggs with hash browns, olive oil, one cup of cheese and half each the salt and pepper. Divide mixture evenly between the 24 muffin tins and press down. Sprinkle each with parsley, and bake for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are crispy. While the potato mixture bakes, whisk the remaining eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining cheese, salt, pepper cooked bacon, and chopped bell peppers to the eggs, and stir to combine. Pour egg, bacon mixture over each potato muffin crust. Sprinkle with additional salt pepper and parsley if desired. Bake muffins for 10-15 more minutes until additional eggs are cooked through.

Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes before removing from tin. Keep refrigerated and simply pop in the microwave when you need one!