*This is a sponsored post written on behalf of Riceland Foods. All opinions are 100% my own.*
Happy Holidays everyone! I am so excited to go home and spend time with my family. When my parents were in town recently, they were asking me about ideas for breakfast on Christmas morning. In my family, we keep it simple on Christmas morning with cinnamon rolls and mimosas. The cinnamon rolls only keep us full for so long, so we need something hearty in order to keep pounding the mimosas while opening presents. My make-ahead breakfast bites featuring Riceland Foods medium-grain brown rice are the perfect solution for this holiday hunger dilemma. Keep reading to find out more about this easy, make-ahead recipe!
About Riceland Foods
The team over at Riceland Foods was nice enough to send me their holiday gift box, which included a pouch of brown rice and a branded apron, spoon, and pot holder. It had everything I needed to whip up this make-ahead meal for Christmas morning! In addition to helping me cook for my fam, the Riceland Foods holiday gift box helps others by donating $5 from each box to Feeding America®, which helps provide at least 50 meals to those in need. The brown rice ensured that my make-ahead breakfast bites wouldn’t dry out, and I had plenty left over to make other side dishes for the holidays!
What you need:
Makes 20 breakfast cups
Cook time: 30 mins
Prep time: 30 mins
My recipe is a slight variation on the one I found on the Riceland Foods website and here’s what you need to make it:
- Muffin tin
- Cooking spray
- 1 lb. ground sausage
- 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 small red or orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- 2 cups cooked Riceland Medium Grain Brown Rice (about 1 cup uncooked)
- 6 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
Get Cookin’
Start by preheating the oven to 350о F and spraying the muffin tin with cooking spray. Next, cook the rice according to package instructions. It takes about 35 minutes to cook, which allows you to prep the other ingredients while it’s cooking.
Next, chop up the bell pepper, onion, and spinach. Try to make them all the same size dice so that they cook evenly.
Once the veggies are chopped, you can brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Break up the sausage as it cooks so you don’t have any large chunks in your breakfast cups. My grandma would always give me grief for chunky sausage, so I learned from the best!
Once the sausage is brown and crispy, remove it from the pan and place it on paper towels. Next, wipe out the excess fat from the skillet. Melt the butter in the skillet and then add in the onion and bell pepper. Cook the onion and bell pepper until the onions are translucent (about 5 mins). Once that happens, add in the spinach, stir it around for about 30 seconds, and then cut the heat. If you cook the spinach too long, it will get too wilted.
Wait a few minutes for the rice and veggies to cool down, then we can mix it all together. In a bowl, combine rice, eggs, milk, cheese, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Next, add the sausage and vegetable mixture to bowl. Stir everything together until the ingredients are evenly dispersed.
Next, use a ¼ cup measure to transfer the egg mixture into the prepared muffin tins. Using the ¼ cup measure will make sure you have an even amount in each compartment. Next, put your little egg bites in the oven and they will be done after 20-25 minutes. You will know they are done when the top edges start to get crispy.
When the breakfast bites are finished, you can make a tower of them for people to devour. Serve them alongside a festive holiday mimosa. I prefer an apple cider mimosa myself (just apple cider and champagne).
These bites are the perfect make-ahead dish, because you can bake them the night before and heat them up the next morning! They are easy to walk around with and you don’t have to have a formal sit-down breakfast while unwrapping presents.
This holiday season, don’t sleep on rice as a quick and easy addition to your holiday meals. For my recipe, the Riceland Foods brown rice added nutrition and prevented the bites from drying out. Hope you give this recipe a try and cheers to the holiday season!
