Playing in the Kitchen: Savory Muffins for New Mamas and Papas

A little while back a couple from our prenatal class welcomed their second child.  I wanted to stop by their house with some food on my last trip to the city.   For new parents,  I was looking for a recipe that could be ready to eat, with one hand, right now, and would hit the spot too.  And then I found this recipe for Savory Breakfast Muffins.  I love a good sweet muffin, but these seemed like a great option for a quick breakfast or lunch, plus they relatively healthy and are supposed to freeze well. So Boodge, Peanut and I went shopping and Boodge and I whipped up a batch a few weeks ago.

It just so happened Sean walked into the kitchen as they were coming out of the oven.  "Those aren't ham and cheese, are they?" he said.
 "Yes, they are. But they're for J and G.  Sorry.  OK, you can have one." 
"'Cause I haven't had a chance to eat lunch." he was practically drooling.
"Ok, you can have two."

It's been a long time since I've heard Sean be so effusive in his praise of a food.  And I liked them too.  Boodge, well, he tried it. But he did love cooking them, because after he'd helped me put in the dry ingredients, he got to take some time making a "hole" in the middle of the flour.  Then, I let him help me pour in the wet ingredients to make a "lake" in the bowl.  We made these a second time a couple of weeks later and he remembered the lake, was so excited about making it that when I turned around for a second he had dumped all the wet ingredients in prematurely. He just couldn't wait.

But the recipe still worked out. Sean now has a Pavlovian salivation response whenever I take out the muffin pan.  And I'm thinking the possibilities are wide open for savory muffins. With the dry ingredients plus eggs, buttermilk (we used regular milk with some lemon juice that sat for a minute or so as a substitute), oil and butter you could add any combination of savory ingredients that sounds good to you. Here are some ideas I've thought of.

The Greek: 
1/2 cup onions
3/4 cup cooked, drained and chopped spinach
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup red or yellow pepper

The Goat:
1 cup scallions
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
3/4 cup cooked, drained and chopped spinach
1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

The Mexican
1/2 cup leftover taco seasoned meat
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped onions
1/3 cup chopped olives
diced jalepeno, to taste

Now, here's my disclaimer--I have not tried any of those ideas, just the original recipe. But I'm excited about experimenting with these muffins.  You can make a batch on Monday and have handy to go snacks or quick meals all week long.  Try them out, I don't think you'll be disappointed.  And let me know if you come up with any winning combinations.