Not Your Momma's Muffins

Good evening everyone!  As many followers know, we have many themes we rotate through here on the blog.  With the general "healthy" and "good-for-you" overall theme, I often tend to shift between two different themes:  Mexican and breakfast.  As long as there are new recipes to try, I don't think I can ever exhaust recipes from these themes.  Tonight, I present a new breakfast for dinner recipe, that is something completely new, and also completely delicious.

The Recipe:  Savory Egg Muffins
Original Recipe Found From:  www.cookinglight.com

What You'll Need:
1 1/2 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons unsalted Butter
1 (6-Ounce) package Stuffing mix for chicken (such as Stove-Top)
3 Ounces ground Pork Sausage
6 large Eggs, beaten
1/3 Cup Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 Cup finely chopped Red Bell Pepper
1/4 Cup sliced Green Onions

To start, combine the water and butter in a medium saucepan.  Bring the combination to a boil over medium-high heat and stir in stuffing mix.  Cover with a lid and take the pan off the heat.  Let the pan stand for five minutes, then fluff with a fork.  Uncover the pan and let stand for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.  This might require fluffing additional times while uncovered, because the heat will retain its temperature in the pan!

Next, while the stuffing cools, cook the sausage in a small, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook for five to eight minutes, or until the sausage has browned lightly.  Depending how fatty the sausage is, you might need to drain the excess fat.

At this point, you can preheat an oven to 400 degrees and prepare a muffin tin, by heavily coating the bottom and sides with cooking spray.  Give a quick spritz to your fingertips and press 1/4 cup of the stuffing into the bottom of each muffin cup.

Next, pour the egg mixture evenly into the stuffing cups.

Layer with cheese, sausage, bell pepper, and green onion evenly over the egg.

Once all the muffin cups have been filled, place the muffin tin in the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the centers of the muffins have been set.  Bring out of the oven and let stand for five minutes before serving.  Lightly run a small knife around the edges of the muffin cups to loosen.  Serve and enjoy!

The End Result:

These are definitely one-of-kind muffins!  If you are expecting any sort of sweetness, you will not get it from these muffins.  The stuffing gives a base to the muffins, without expanding them at all.  The eggs are just fluffy enough, without too much weight.  Also, the cheese, sausage, and veggies add their own pops of flavor to really harmonize the entire muffin.  If you were to serve this as part of a breakfast meal, I would recommend adding something a bit sweet, to balance out the flavors, maybe a french toast?  But these little morsels can definitely add to your next breakfast (or breakfast for dinner) meal!

That's all we have for you this week, but before we go, I wanted to take the time to wish my blog partner, my husband, Tyler, a happy 4th anniversary today.  We started this blog several months before our wedding and continued through a wedding and moving into a house.  There's been plenty of adventures (besides cooking) to had and there'll be much more to come.  Tyler:  I've been blessed to have you by my side through it all and through the many years ahead.  You complete me and I'm "lucky in love with my best friend".  Thank you for sharing your journey with me - I love you!

Join us next week as we continue our culinary adventures with brand new recipes and product reviews.  Until then,

~Cheers!