Healthy Low-Cal Egg Bites Recipe

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This is one of those recipes that anyone can make ... even non-cooks. It's also very versatile in that the person preparing the meal can substitute quite a few of the ingredients to personalize the flavours for themselves, or their families. Not only that, this recipe lends itself to use when feeding a "crowd" of people. Double or triple the ingredients and you've got a breakfast suitable for 9 to 12 people. What you change in this recipe will change the calorie counts, so if you're watching calories or looking specifically for lower calories foods, you'll need to recalculate the ones I've included in the recipe.

If you don't really care about the calories then "have-at-it" as they say and plug in whatever it is you think will make this a great addition to breakfast, but ... these aren't just a good breakfast bite, they can be served as a side-dish with dinner as well. Instead of potato or rice, mix up a batch and serve one (or maybe two for hearty eaters) with a steak, or with sausage ... or meat loaf.

Ready to go in the Oven

For me, these are light and tasty, and 2 is enough to make a meal. That means I can have protein and veggies in one healthy low-cal serving (about 125 calories). Add a bowl of low-fat/low-cal soup (usually these run between 60 and 100 calories), and you still have a meal that's under 250 calories. Make dessert a fat-free Jello pudding (50 calories) or sugar-free Jello (5 calories) and you're still at 300 calories or less if you have all this for lunch. Substitute the soup for salad if you prefer that (be sure to watch the calories if you're trying to keep to a calorie reduced food regimen), or if you aren't so worried about how many calories you're eating, serve it with a grilled cheese sandwich (pickles on the side of course!)

I mixed up a batch last night (hahaha, mostly so I could take the photos) and had 2 for dinner (minus the tomato since it's not my favourite when served raw) with a slice of toast & sugar free jam (about 90 calories). While that meal by itself satisfied me just fine (I usually eat fairly small meals), it probably wouldn't have suited the hubby without something else. I can guess at what his choice would have been though - soup would have been something he'd want with this (tomato soup probably), but he does surprise me sometimes. While I know his tastes very well (and so I should after 41 years of cooking his meals) every now and then he wants something he hasn't eaten much in the past (like crumpets ... in our entire marriage he wouldn't eat crumpets, up until a few months ago. Go figure).

The recipe is simple, the prep time is pretty quick, and the baking time is about 20 minutes.

The prep time is quick for me because I keep all of the veggies used in the recipe chopped and frozen and ready for use in a multitude of different recipes. It's easy to grab them from the freezer and dish out a quarter cup of each. If you start from scratch with fresh veggies, it will take a bit longer. A lot of vegetables can be frozen fresh, or blanched for a minute or two, so if you use them a lot in your dishes, it's a good idea to buy them fresh (or grow your own) and keep them on hand for quick use.

What's in the recipe is essentially eggs and egg whites, skim milk, bacon (or other meat), spinach, cauliflower, onion, and cheese (see the detailed recipe above). You can substitute just about anything in it (except the eggs and milk since that's the base ingredients), you can use all whole eggs instead of just egg whites if you really want, but I suspect it would make it a little heavier (and add a lot of calories) and increase the baking time; or, you can substitute both the egg whites and the whole eggs for a liquid egg substitute if you prefer. I haven't tried that yet, though I've used egg substitutes for other recipes. I'll probably try it out myself since I like to watch the calories I eat.

These can also be stored in the fridge for a few days, and reheated gently in the microwave.

Update:

This afternoon I heated up 2 of these in the microwave for the man' snack ... the verdict? "They were gooood!"