Yo! I’m not really a recipe kind of person because I tend to just wing it and make the same things all the time. But once and a while, I make something that actually turns out, and people want to know how I did it. Well here I am with a recipe for easy toddler muffins with meat, cheese, and veggies!
I copied and pasted (part of) a recipe for toddler muffins and then didn’t remember where I got the info, and also didn’t paste the actual ingredients. Which means I just kind of made it up and changed stuff anyway. This is how I roll. Also, this is why I suck at baking. Winging it with chicken and dough and veggies is not as catastrophic as winging it with rising agents and flour and moist things.
Anyway, here’s my recipe!
Easy Toddler Muffins with Veggies
You will need:
- Pancake batter
- Frozen veggies
- Shredded or crumbled cheese
- Protein, like chicken, turkey, white beans, or tofu
I didn’t know quantities of anything, so I would say that one cup dry pancake mix made into batter, a cup of veggies, cup of protein, and however much cheese should make you 12-ish regular sized muffins.
I just sprayed the muffin tin with oil cooking spray, put in shredded chicken, a little shredded cheese, and thawed frozen mixed veggies. The veggie mix was organic carrots, corn, and green beans, and I added some lima beans because we had them handy. I ran them under cool water to thaw them, then left them in a colander with paper towel for a while to make sure they were dry.
Did you know that if you are lazy and get the shaker style pancake mix that you shake in the little bottle, and then you make it and let it sit for a few minutes, it will expand and majorly overflow? Yeah. Science. But I had some extra pancake mix on hand to fill up my cups the rest of the way, so we were all good.
Then I baked them at 375°F for 25 minutes and they came out great!
My second batch of muffin-esque toddler food that I made today was based on a recipe to use won ton wrappers in a muffin pan with pizza ingredients to make little layered, light pizzas. I thought that was a great idea, BUT then I found these majorly cheap pie crusts on sale. I figured that’s almost the same, but then pizza toppings didn’t sound that great. So instead, I used pre-made pie crusts, cooked chicken (diced), frozen broccoli (thawed and dried, then diced), and a little shredded colby cheese to make these savory pastries! I just followed the directions for the pie crusts and those turned out good, too. I didn’t want the chicken to dry out, so I put a tiny dollop of sweet potato baby food inside. If I’d had something more broccoli-ish, or even a creamy chicken puree, that probably would have worked better, but it still tastes fine in these.
Also, if I do these again, I’ll make the tops a little more even with the crust. I had to let them cook a little longer to make sure the crust on top cooked all the way through, and they would have been done a little sooner had I crimped the edges instead of just smushing them. Still good though!