Afternoon y’all!
I’m not entirely sure when I started saying ‘y’all’ but my American friend says it a lot and it’s really catching! Anyways – hello! It’s a lovely Saturday afternoon down here in Kent and I have started my diet today (standard knee-jerk reaction any girl gets the instant they get engaged) so I’m back to cooking my favourite healthy things and creating a small catastrophe in the kitchen whilst doing so, but cooking is a form of art, and if you’re neat and tidy – then in my opinion you’re not being creative enough!
Today my mum and I made some really tasty muffins for lunch, and I have to say they are absolutely delicious and low in fat too so it’s a win-win all round.
Essentially, all you need are eggs and some veg. My specific recipe about 9 muffins and you will need:
- 5 eggs
- Half a large tomato, finely chopped
- Half a large mushroom, finely chopped
- Half an onion, finely chopped
- Half a pepper (we used a yellow pepper as we didn’t have a red but any colour works), again finely chopped
- 1tsp tomato puree
- Garlic granules (or finely chop a garlic clove)
- Salt, pepper and mixed herbs
- Reduced fat cheese
- Garlic fry-light and olive oil fry-light
- Ham
Firstly, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, then whisk the five eggs into a bowl and add the tomato and mushrooms with some salt, pepper and garlic granules. Then in a frying pan, spritz a few squirts of the garlic fry-light oil and cook the onion and the peppers with a good sprinkling of mixed herbs. If you are using a garlic clove instead of garlic granules, then fry the garlic at this stage too. You could add the mushrooms and tomatoes well if you wish, but I find these cook well enough in the oven when the muffins are being baked. Once the onions and peppers are soft, add them to the egg mixture and give it a stir.
In terms of the cheese, with the diet that I follow, I allow myself 40g of reduced cheddar, but because we were splitting the muffins between three of us I added 120g to the egg mixture. I find when you cook in bulk then you get away with adding more ingredients for a more intense flavour but then once you split the food the naughty-ness go back down so it’s always worth cooking in bulk. (Although don’t quote me on this; I’m not a nutritionist but it this works for me personally).
So essentially, I’m saying add however much cheese you want to add, but buying the reduced fat is a good option for keeping things healthier.
The best way I find to even out the portion sizes is to use a Yorkshire pudding tray! A nice metal tray with even little holes in it. Line each hole with the ham so it covers the base and goes up the sides a little, but not over the edges. Then spoon the egg mixture into each hole; you don’t it to the rim so it’s on the verge of overflowing but do enough that the hole is full and you can’t see the ham.
Pop these in the oven for ten minutes then check them. If they are still a bit squidgy then pop them into for around another 5 mins and just keep an eye on them. The muffins should rise a little out of their metal casings and hold their shape nicely.
When they’re done serve immediately or leave them to cool and pop them in a fridge for later. I call them muffins because of their shape but they are essentially mini quiches too. These would be great as a breakfast muffin – or as a healthy snack, or even for lunch. I had three….actually…no – I had two as I got full up. But I had TWO with a side salad for lunch and it was bloomin’ lovely. Obviously you can be experimental with this and mix up the veg you use. You know, be totally out there and and some chopped chives, or use spring onion or red onion rather than white onion. Oh my goodness, the possibilities. :O
As I said, super easy and fast and they are so yummy. I think my mum tried them with bacon instead of ham on the bottom but that meant more cooking and as I’m lazy, ham is faster and more convenient!
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed eating them, and I would love to know if anyone has given these a go or has any other ways to jazz them up!
Kate X
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