The Breakfast Club Part II

The other breakfast club post described a lot of the sweet things my kids and I made in class. I ended up making more savory dishes as the semester progressed, because I thought it would be fun to introduce the kids to different veggies' tastes and flavors.

My two favorite classes were when we made mini-frittatas and breakfast quesadillas. For both recipes, I bought lots of different veggies, including green, red, orange and yellow bell peppers; and red and yellow onions. I always think it's really interesting that kids have certain ideas about foods that are really inflexible, but they actually like the tastes of those same foods once they try it. For example, one of my girls said she hated onions, and she refused to try them. I convinced her to put some onions in some of her frittatas, and she ended up loving them after they were cooked, because they were sweet and delicious after being cooked! Of course, three classes later, she refused to admit she likes onions, but hey, baby steps!

Here are the recipes:

Mini Frittatas (40 mini frittatas)

8 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped white onion

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix eggs, milk, pepper, salt with a metal whisk or a fork. Add the parmesan cheese to the mixture. Spray mini-muffin tins with non-stick oil spray, or use oil if you prefer. Fill each tin with the egg mixture until they are 1/2 full. Fill the remaining space with veggies. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the eggs puff up and turn slightly brown.

Note: The best thing about this recipe is that the kids can customize every frittata! They can have themes, or color code, or do whatever their little hearts desire!

Breakfast Quesadillas

So, these are the easiest things to make, EVER! Basically, it's the same recipe as above, except without eggs, and with flour tortilla shells! So, here's what we did: I cut 8 inch flour tortilla shells into half, which made it easier to deal with after filling them. On one half, we layered the veggies (bell peppers, onions, grated zucchini), Monterey Jack cheese, a pinch of salt and pepper, and fresh lime juice. The fresh lime is the secret ingredient that really makes the quesadilla taste special, so don't skip it! If adults are eating these, add jalapeno peppers or banana peppers! Then, cover with the other half of the tortilla shell, and bake at 375F for 5 minutes, until the top is brown and the insides have melted/cooked.

We also made sweet breakfast quesadillas, which I thought were really cool! We layered one half of the tortilla shell with a few tablespoons of chunky applesauce, 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese. Cover with the other half of the tortilla shell and bake at 375F for 5 minutes. So tasty! It's kind of like a really easy apple pie!