Cheddar Corn Muffins

Yesterday morning I had a desperate craving for a McDonald’s sausage biscuit.  I kept telling myself “it’s only $1, you can swing by the drive thru on the way to work.”  I was putting my stuff together for my Souper Friday lunch at work (for any new readers I bring soup on Friday’s for the office), got dressed and ready to go. 

And then I saw my smoothie blender on the counter, and realized I could make a smoothie in a matter of a minute.  No coffee in this one, I had another travel mug for my coffee.

My lower back has been aggravating me lately.  My run felt fine on Thursday, but yesterday I decided to ride the bike to alleviate some of the stress on my back. 

Since I am going to be spending the day with my family, I’ve decided today is going to be my rest day and see how my back feels tomorrow.

One of the partners at the firm I work at LOVES my buffalo chicken chili.  I always tell her first when I decide to make it and bring it in.

I had this in the crock pot and by 11:30 it was heated through so I sent an email that “soups on” and then went to the gym.  When I got back, I almost thought there wasn’t going to be enough for my lunch!  I had this bowl, and there was about 1.5 cups left out of the whole batch – winning!

I decided to make cheddar corn muffins on the side.  This is a full metal jacket corn muffin, and while delicious, I am going to play around with lowering the amount of butter to make it lighter.  I didn’t figure out the calories until this morning, and my boss said she ate three!

Cheddar Corn Muffins

• makes 12 – each one: 213 calories, 12 fat, 20 carbs, 1 fiber and 5 protein

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray your muffin tin.  Mix dry ingredients together, then add 1/2 of the cheese and mix well.

In another bowl, mix the butter, milk and egg.  Combine wet into dry, mixing only enough to incorporate the ingredients.  Do not overmix.

Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full.  Divide the remainder of the cheese over the tops of the muffins, press the cheese down just a bit, and bake for 20 minutes.

These were delicious!  The outside texture had a bit of crunch to it, but the inside was light, tender and fluffy.

And guess what last night was?? Party Pizza Friday!  While it’s been a while since I’ve made my own pizza, Tony picked up a 10 inch $5 dollar pizza when he was out running errands.  We added some cooked bacon, a bit more cheese and I had goat cheese added to my side.  I had three delicious slices.

Speaking of goat cheese, I scored and got a 16 ounce log for only $5 on the discount rack.  Do you have any recipes using goat cheese?  I think its my favorite cheese.  Check out this recipe I found – serves 1!  I could make a meal out of this baked goat cheese in an ancho chile sauce:

I am off to make some artisan bread to take to my Mom’s house, I think I’ll make the rosemary salt and one with cheddar cheese:

Hope you have a great weekend!  I will try to enjoy our 40 degree weather before a cold snap comes through – starting tomorrow and a few days after that, we’ll be lucky to make it to 10 degrees!  I’ll still take cold over snow any day though.

See you Monday!