5:2 Diet & Weight Watchers Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch: Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins Recipe
5:2 Diet & Weight Watchers Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch:
Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins Recipe
Fresh Free-Range Eggs
With dozens and dozens of fresh Free-Range eggs at my disposal, and I am not exaggerating, I was rather pleased to find this recipe for Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins in one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks. I was also pleased to see that it came in at only 220 calories a serving too, which makes it extremely suitable for my two fast days a week on the 5:2 diet. I did lighten it up even more by using toasted crumpets in place of muffins, which I didn’t have at the time. I am always on the look out for tasty breakfast, brunch or light luncheon recipes to enjoy on my low-calorie fast days, and this certainly fitted the bill on so many counts, and if only to use some of my eggs too.
The Hens: Betty, Peggy and Mavis
The hens, Mavis, Betty and Peggy have all been very busy lately and I each trip to the hen-house sees me coming back with three eggs a day lately – in all different sizes and colours. Mavis is the oldie in the group, she is two years old now and is a Black Rock hen with a lovely sweet nature – she lays beautiful large eggs that are pale brown. Peggy is my friendly and laid back Sussex Light, and she is just five or six months old, so her eggs are still quite small but a lovely pale cream colour. Betty is a really beautiful French breed called a Bluebell; she is also about five or six months old and lays pale brown eggs that are often speckled. I love my hens and they have the freedom to roam at the bottom of the garden amongst wild flowers, with a cherry and fig tree to shelter under.
Hollyhocks grow amongst the other wild meadow flowers in the chicken run
So, not only was I pleased when I discovered this recipe, but I was also very grateful that my randomly selected recipe didn’t throw up something that was not suitable for us to eat! As you may have gathered by now, this recipe for Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins was my Random Recipe for Dom’s (Belleau Kitchen) monthly challenge. This month marks Dom’s 30th month of this most interesting and exciting of challenges, and we were asked to pick our 30th book, and if possible to use the recipe on page 30 of that book – I did BOTH and when presented with TWO recipes on page 30, I opted for the one that used eggs, of course! My book came from the bookcase in the kitchen, as I have bookcases scattered all over, as well as some old wine boxes full of books too, and was Pure Points 2002 Cookbook, which is published by Weight Watchers. My choice of recipes on page 30 was a Turkey Frittata and the recipe I chose to make, Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins.
5:2 Diet & Weight Watchers Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch: Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins Recipe
The dish was wonderfully comforting and as well as being low in calories, it felt healthy too – must be all that spinach along with the golden yolks of my hen’s eggs! I have shared the recipe below, with notes how to reduce the calories even more, and as I had a selection of different size eggs, I chose to use the small eggs, which will also have reduced the calorie count per serving too. This recipe is what my mum would call Eggs Florentine, and I remember her serving is something similar when I was little, for a weekend brunch but with grated cheese on top of the eggs. Whatever the name, it was delicious when served for a light lunch last week. I am sure you can sit the spinach and eggs on top of any “bread vehicle” and the crumpets certainly worked very well> That’s it for today, I hope you have a wonderful week ahead, I’ll be back soon with more recipes, reviews and some tea time treats as well as herbal pleasures, see you soon, Karen
5:2 Diet & Weight Watchers Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch: Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins Recipe
Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins (Low-Calorie)
Print recipe
| Serves | 2 |
| Prep time | 5 minutes |
| Cook time | 10 minutes |
| Total time | 15 minutes |
| Allergy | Egg, Wheat |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Breakfast, Lunch, Main Dish, Snack |
| Misc | Serve Hot |
| Occasion | Casual Party, Christmas, Easter |
| Region | British |
| From book | Pure Points 2002 Cookbook |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 medium muffin, halved (or 2 crumpets)
- 200g frozen spinach (or 400g fresh spinach leaves, stems removed)
- freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons low-fat creme fraiche
- 2 medium eggs
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Note
A delicious and satisfying recipe that is healthy and tasty; the calorie count per serving is 220 calories, but if using a crumpet in place of a muffin half, then reduce the calories by 20 to 200 calories per portion. (Based on a crumpet of 77 calories per unit) Suitable for the 5:2 diet and has 3 points per serving for anyone following the Weight Watchers diet. (pre pro-points)
Directions
| Step 1 | Out a pan of water on to boil and add the vinegar. |
| Step 2 | Toast the muffin halves or the crumpets until lightly browned. Meanwhile, heat the spinach through on a saucepan, season to taste and add some freshly ground nutmeg with the crème fraîche. |
| Step 3 | When the water is at a boil, break the eggs into a small cup and then carefully slide them into the water. Turn the heat down and simmer for 3 minutes until the white has set and it firm, but the yolks are still soft and runny. |
| Step 4 | Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon. Spoon the warm, cooked spinach on top of the muffin halves or crumpets and then put the eggs on top of the spinach. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve straight away. |
| Step 5 | 220 calories with the muffin and 200 calories with the crumpets. |
Free Range Eggs
5:2 Diet & Weight Watchers Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch: Spinach and Poached Egg Muffins Recipe
More EGG recipes:
Lavender and Lovage Egg Recipes
Dominic says
beautiful and so fresh and lovely… the shot of the broken egg is so tempting… such a simple luxury lunch… you WILL pop over and prepare it for me tomorrow, do you understand? Thanks so much for entering this month, I know it was a little tough! xx
Karen says
Thanks Dom! I am expecting you and have laid a place at the table…….okay? Karen 🙂
Ash- foodfashionparty says
How comforting at 220 calories. Looks delicious and your hens look cute. It must be such a good feeling to get your own eggs.
Karen says
Thanks so much Ash! I DO love my hens and always feel very privileged when I collect their eggs! Karen
Miss Messy says
Wow these look fabulous.. my idea of a good breakfast!
Karen says
Thanks so much! Makes a great brunch or lunch dish too!
Ada says
This dish looks beautiful! It’s amazing how something that delicious could be reduced to around 200 calories. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Karen says
Thanks Ada, it is also very filling too and makes you feel as if you have not eaten diet food! Karen
Bread & Companatico says
another beautiful and tasty recipe which fits perfectly my current eating choices. so nice you can have your own hens! that is a dream I hope I will fulfill one day.
Karen says
They are VERY easy to keep Barbara, so maybe one day soon you will be able to keep them? Thanks so much for stopping by too……Karen 🙂
Denise says
How lucky are you to have three lovely girls who give you beautiful eggs. Poached eggs have to be my very favourite and sitting on top of spinach just makes them special.
Karen says
Thanks Denise! I love a freshly poached egg too, and as you say, they are great with spinach!
Bintu @ Recipes From A Pantry says
I love love love the name of your hens. Seriously. My next brunch party might just feature this.
Karen says
Thanks so much Bintu! Would be fab for a brunch party with Buck’s Fizz!
Tracy Nixon says
Thank you – more great ideas! Shared via G+
Katie says
This dish looks lovely. Sorry to ask but is the calorie count for 1 egg on a half muffin/crumpet, or two eggs on 2 halves as in the photo?
Karen says
Thanks Katie, it is per serving, so the recipe serves two, but that photo showed my husband’s serving and not mine! It is for ONE egg and ONE half of muffin!
Tracy Nixon says
Tweeted! I loved the spinach and poached eggs together and they really filled me up until almost tea time!
Claire Hall says
Hi Karen
I always refer to your website for ideas to cook on my fast days.
However I am slightly confused about the calorie total for this recipe… When I entered the indivual items in MyFitnessPal the total came to 359 calories???
Karen says
I am not sure that can be correct, as this is published recipe from a Weight Watchers cookbook and I am sure they would not have made such a big mistake! The recipe is for TWO people, so the complete recipe is 440 cals divided by two, did you do that? I cannot see that this recipe could be 2 x 359 calories, which would be 718 calories! It’s HALF a muffin each, and 1 egg each too……so maybe you thought the whole recipe was just for 1 person? Karen 🙂
Karen says
Let me know if you read my reply, thanks Claire! Karen
Yash New Zealand says
Nice article! Cute hens – glad to see they have a caring owner! I love poached eggs! 😀
Winnie says
This looks delicious. Looks like a good brunch recipe but I think I could eat it for lunch or dinner too! Can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing.