Chef Lisa

As happens once in a while, I get the crazy urge to bake, just for the sake of baking. Today is one of those days. The idea of corndog muffins has been rattling around in my brain for quite a while, as well as stuffed corn muffins. I suppose what finally got me to make them was my needing to move the bag of self-rising cornmeal mix out of the way when I needed to get something else from the baking section of the pantry.

I followed the directions on the back of the cornmeal bag to make the muffin batter, and then added in the hot dogs and cheese for the corndog muffins, and some chicken, peas and carrots for the stuffed muffins. I baked the corndog muffins in a regular muffin tin (better portion control for the kids, as they’ll be the ones eating them for the most part), and I’ll make the stuffed corn muffins as jumbo muffins (as it’ll be Matt and me eating them for breakfasts).

Update: After making the corndog muffins, I decided not to use that cornbread recipe again. I didn’t really like the aftertaste. I still want to make chicken muffins, so I did some surfing and found the Best Ever Muffins recipe. It touts itself as a good basic muffin recipe that you can use as the foundation of different variations. I did it as is, adding in chicken, bacon and a handful of shredded sharp cheddar. It’s going to end up being rather sweet, but we’ll see how the combination tastes. If it’s generally good, I’ll modify the base recipe to suit our tastes. Once I do that, I’ll post the results here on Chef Lisa.

I found this recipe at Cooking During Stolen Moments. Kate and I are in similar positions. While she has two toddlers – and my monkeys are a bit older – we both struggle with putting tasty, nutritious meals on the table in a short period of time. Both of us also think that Rachel must cook in a different world where time passes different – rarely do we get her 30 minute meals done in 30 minutes.

Kate’s got several yummy looking recipes on her website, one of which are these banana muffins. I baked them Wednesday morning (I get up 45 minutes earlier than the kids do), and had them done by the time they were ready to eat breakfast. They both said I have to make them again, and add nuts or chocolate chips next time. I’ll gladly do that, but I also think I will reduce the sugar to 1/2 a cup, as I found the muffins very sweet. So sweet, in fact, that I was still tasting the sweetness in my mouth 20 minutes after I ate one.

Banana Muffins

http://stolenmomentscooking.blogspot.com/search/label/Banana%20Muffins

* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 1/2 t. baking powder
* 1/2 t. cinnamon
* 1/4 t. baking soda
* 1/4 t. salt
* 1 egg
* 1 t. vanilla
* 2 mashed bananas
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup applesauce
* 1/4 c. chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in egg, vanilla, mashed bananas, sugar, and applesauce until combined. If desired, fold in optional ingredients.

2. Pour into greased muffin tin and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.