Cheesy Vegeful Muffins

These muffins are a great, tasty way of boosting your children's vegie intake!

Master W isn't a big fan of eating dinner, so I try to get as many nutrients into him as possible during the day. As he's a lover of all things cake-related, my muffins go down a treat!  Plus they're packed with vegies, dairy and a bit of protein too.

I have been asked for this recipe several times, so I thought I'd share it on the blog in case anyone else is interested.

Cheesy Vegeful Muffins (makes 12)


"This is how you grate"

"Can I help?"

2 cups self-raising flour (you can use wholemeal if you're feeling particularly virtuous!)
1 cup grated cheese
2 slices shortcut bacon, finely diced (equates to about half a cup)
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 small zucchini, grated
1 carrot, finely grated
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1/4 capsicum (red or green), finely chopped
1 cup milk
1 egg
25ml extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 190°C and grease a muffin tray.

2. Fry the bacon in a non-stick pan until browned and crispy. If the corn kernels are frozen, put them in the frying pan to defrost briefly before turning off the heat. Allow to cool.

3. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the cheese, bacon and corn.
4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, oil, carrot, zucchini, capsicum and onion, until well combined.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. If you mix too much at this stage, the muffins will not be as fluffy and moist.
6. Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin holes and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from tray and cooling on a rack.

To get the muffins out of the tray more easily, loosen the sides with a knife, then gently twist the muffin - it should just slide out then.

These are especially nice straight from the oven with a little bit of butter. They can also be kept for 2-3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

Another little budget and time-friendly tip: I like to buy shortcut bacon, because it has much less fat on it.  I buy a kilo of it when it's on special and freeze it so there's always some there if I need it.  I'll lay half of it flat in a single layer in a large snaplock bag, and dice the other half finely and put it in containers.  That way, it's easy to get to and ready to use for a last-minute meal! (You can cook it straight from frozen.)