Berry Good Lunch/Breakfast Muffins

"Lunch Muffins" are still something that we love at our house, although I have not posted any new ones in a long time. If you are interested in my original Lunch Muffin post you can read it here or simply click Lunch Muffins on the right hand side of my posts.

I came across a simple breakfast/lunch/snack muffin idea that I decided to try today:

Here is what you need:

can of biscuits (I used Grands)
3/4 cup raspberry or strawberry preserves, jam or spread
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Since I used the Grands which are much larger biscuits then the ones in the 12 ounce can, I broke each one in half.

Preheat oven to 350.

Press the biscuits into each hole of your muffin tin that has been sprayed with Pam or equivalent.



Mix the preserves and spices together an put about 1 teaspoon of the filling in each cup.

I used a big heaping teaspoon in each which resulted in a nice mess and bubble over.

Bake approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool in pan as the preserves turn to liquid when it is hot and will just pour out when you try to take them out.

Verdict: Just enough spice and the kids loved them, which is my whole idea.

I think the next time I make them I will add a little softened cream cheese in the mix to make them like little danishes. Sounds good to me.

Mini Shepherd's Pie Lunch Muffins

Here is my version of a recipe that I had recently found:

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tspn. garlic powder

1/3 cup chili sauce plus a squirt of ketchup

1 Tblspn. cider vinegar

1/2 tspn. salt

1 cup frozen mixed veggies

1 1/4 cups water

3 Tblspns. butter

1 1/4 cup mashed potato flakes

1- 3 oz. pkge of cream cheese, cubed

1 tube buttermilk biscuits

1/2 cup crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large skillet, brown the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Drain the excess fat. Stir in the chili sauce, ketchup, vinegar, salt and frozen mixed vegetables. Heat until veggies are heated through.

In a small saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Pour into a small mixing bowl. Whisk in potato flakes until blended. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.

Spray muffin tin with Pam and press biscuits onto the bottom and a little up the sides. Fill with beef mixture (I used my little cookie scoop). Spread potato mixture over beef. Sprinkle crushed potato chips on each and pat down a little.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately or let cool completely then freeze.

I know that the picture does not look so great but that is entirely because of my flash on my camera. Both kids loved them and my almost 4 year old almost finished off three of them for dinner.

Sausage - Pepperoni Pizza Lunch Muffins

Ingredients:

1 lb. bulk sweet Italian Sausage

20-30 pre-sliced pieces of pepperoni (I used Hormel)

14 ounces tomato sauce

2 teaspoons ketchup

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 cans refrigerated biscuits (the original recipe I had mentioned the small 10 count can, not the Grands

Preheat oven to 350. Cook sausage over medium heat. In the mean time, cut the pepperoni into tiny pieces. A few minutes before the sausage is done, put the pepperoni in. Once the sausage is nice in browned drain excess grease and stir in sauce, ketchup and garlic. Set aside.

Press a biscuit into each muffin tin hole (making sure they are well greased first) and top each with a tablespoon or so of the sausage mixture. Top each with the cheese. Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes of until golden brown.

Tips/Variations: If you have pepperoni lovers like I do, you can also top each with a whole pepperoni slice before or after adding the cheese. Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese. Use a cookie scoop to make filling the muffin cups easier.

Everyone here loves them including my husband who grabbed a few cold on his way out the door for breakfast.

Lunch Muffins-Ideas Wanted

Anyone who knows me knows that I stay up late searching online for fun and creative ideas/things to share with my children. They will also know that once I get an idea in my head I become obsessed.

It all began one evening when everyone was sleeping I started searching preschool lunches. After an hour searching americanized bento lunches (and starting to feel like a lesser parent than some of these mothers, seriously check them out) I stumbled on the blog, Sycamore Stirrings, and found what she declared "Muffin Tin Mondays". What a great concept - large variety in small quantities, filling each of the 12 muffin cups with a different item. Although I thought this was a great idea it posed a great problem for me, for one, my tins look like I may have excavated them up from a dig and two,I am not sure if I have 12 items in my pantry available at anytime for lunch. But needless to say, it got me thinking.

I already serve lunch in cafeteria style divided plates since it does help me serve 5 different items (hopefully touching on some of the food groups besides graham crackers). Wouldn't it be great to make actual lunch muffins that would fit perfectly on my plate in perfect portions!!!! and if I ever venture to the store to purchase new muffin pans I would be able to simply reheat, pop them in a hole and serve.

Now for the obsession - finding recipes. After hours of "research" and some personal thoughts I have only come up with the following:
Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Muffins
Corn Dog Muffins (the pics I found online did not look so good but I am not under the age of 4)
Mini Meatloaf
Mini Shepherd's Pie
Barbeque Beef Cups

We have tried the Sausage Pepperoni Pizza's and the kids loved them. They were perfect. Made a bunch and froze them in individual freezer bags and just popped them in the oven for 15 minutes to reheat. Economical, quick, healthyish lunch!!!!

But since my search is not going so well I am extending my plea to any bloggers that stumble upon my little part of the universe...does anyone have any recipes they would like to share or any ideas? In the mean time, I am going to start making the ones I have and share my reviews with you.

I think it could be a great way to use up leftovers, take advantage of sales and use up all those biscuit coupons.