Whole30 Mini Quiche

Breakfast is normally the hardest meal to adapt to when you start a Whole30. Most of us are used to a quick meal on the go, and don’t have time to cook. This is probably why bagels and muffins are so popular in the mornings – they are easy. When I have done a Whole30 in the past, I would typically just bring my leftovers from dinner the night before (I don’t need breakfast to consist of “breakfast foods”). However, I knew that most people would be turned off by this idea. To make this Whole30 work, I had to come up with an easy breakfast option that FELT (and tasted) like breakfast. Most of all, it had to be easy (i.e. involve no more prep than a quick minute in a microwave). I’d seen some Paleo egg muffins floating around the internet and on Pinterest, and wanted to see if I could make them work. My main concern about trying this, was that I wanted them to re-heat well. I was worried if they were just egg, they would get dried out and rubbery. Ideally, I wanted to replicate the texture of a quiche – but without the dairy. Quiche is one of my favorite breakfast treats. I love to throw in as many veggies as possible, load it up with bacon or ham and then douse it with cheese. There really is nothing better. However, to make this Paleo friendly, I knew I would need to get creative. To replace the heavy cream used in a traditional quiche, I was going to use Tigernut milk. The Tigernut milk I make at home is normally the consistency of skim milk – not as thick as I wanted for the quiche. Luckily, Organic Gemini makes a fantastic unsweetened Tigernut Milk that has a bit thicker consistency, and was exactly what I was looking for. To replace the cheese in the quiche, I added in nutritional yeast. While it won’t give the texture the cheese does, the flavor is perfect. Once I had figured out the dairy replacements, the rest of the ingredients did not need to be altered. All that was left was to choose my veggies and meat options, and see how they turned out. The egg muffins that inspired me on Pinterest used prosciutto as a “cup” for the egg mixture. Since I was going to be packing these in my purse to go to the office in the morning, I also used a muffin liner. One thing I learned was that the eggs get very soggy in the oven when cooking. I made the mistake of cooking these in silicon muffin pans, and the paper liner fell apart on a few of the muffins. Next time I will see if a metal pan will reduce the moisture, or if I need to switch to the silicon reusable muffin liners. I haven’t tried freezing these yet, but they are delicious cold or reheated in the microwave. Give them a try and see what you think!