Nugg' Life

If there’s one area for me in which execution falls far short of ambition it’s weekday breakfast.  Mornings often consist of a 1.5-2-hour bike excursion through some familiar LA streets.  Sometimes into the canyons of the Hollywood Hills but more often to the coast along San Vicente and back through the neighborhoods of Mar Vista and Mid-City, the rides leave me with just enough time for a shower and a washing of the previous night’s leftover dishes before I leave for work.

For some time I’ve been grabbing a pair of clementines, tangelos or some other citrus for the car ride in.  It helps to take the edge off a budding hunger and gives me enough sustenance to make it to the office where there’s often an array of cereals, muffins, cookies and other glycemic imbalancing treats to settle my stomach until lunch. The son of a Type 2 diabetic, I’m conscious of the implications on a daily basis.  I try to resist the temptation; the confectionary kryptonite that could prove my downfall.

Recently, my friend Aaron mentioned that he’d taken to “egg muffins”, simply baking eggs in a cupcake pan and refrigerating them for the week so that he’d have bite-sized breakfast at the ready.  Aaron doesn’t suffer from the need for sweets and seems to do a much better job of balancing his carbohydate to protein intake.  I envy his palette (and his hairline, but that’s a different story). 

The idea of the “Egg Nugg”, as they’ve come to be called in our home, got traction this weekend.  I scored some Chicken Apple Sausage from the Larchmont Farmers Market to add to the mix.  After removing one link from its casing and pan frying it on the stove top, I finely chopped it with a chef’s knife. 

sauté sausage

Dropping in about a teaspoon’s worth into each cup, I then added some minced arugula (because as we all know adding greens mitigates whatever harm you do eating sausage) and poured in some whisked egg to the brim.  5 eggs yielded 8 Nugs. 

pouring scrambled egg mixture into muffin pan

The best part about this was how effortless it was.  While a chicken was roasting in the oven, I was able to wash the dishes and prep a week’s full of breakfast.  And as we watched John Snow’s mangled body get brought in from the cold, my Egg Nuggs baked for 15 minutes.  Sure, they could use some cheese and a pinch of salt, but when they’re this easy I can easily give it another go next week.

-Andy