Cottage Cheese and Egg Breakfast Muffins

These little beauties have been my staple breakfast recently. I discovered them while reading Kalyn's wonderful blog, Kalyn's Kitchen. I have to eat breakfast in the morning otherwise I end up shaky and with headaches. I've been pretty good lately with my breakfasts and I've been trying to focus on low GI foods to keep me going for longer.

For the past few weeks my typical breakfast has been a toasted slice of rye bread or other multigrain bread spread with some avocado, salt and pepper and topped with some sliced chicken breast (sometimes smoked chicken) and a slice of low-fat Jarlsberg cheese. I have issues with most breakfast foods, so when I'm onto a breakfast I like I tend to stick with it. Well, that was until I made these muffins.

Kalyn has some fantastic recipes that are perfect for anyone following the South Beach Diet. I'm not, but I do like the idea of having a diet that utilises low GI foods and good fats. Plus the muffins are perfect if you are in a hurry and need to grab something to eat on the way out.

The recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen is lovely and simple but I couldn't resist the urge to embellish it. The original recipe is flavoured simply with bacon and spring onion. The first time I made it I added homemade oven-dried tomatoes, a little bit of leftover sausage and some sunflower and chia seeds and I used some smoked cheddar cheese with the parmesan. I also substituted rye flour for the whole wheat flour as that was all I had.

They were fantastic. I made them slightly smaller than suggested as I got 14 muffins out of the recipe. I wrapped them up in packs of two and put them in the freezer. When I needed breakfast I microwaved them for 45 seconds, turning the muffins over halfway. Simple and delicious.

Once I finished the first batch I couldn't wait to make another, but this time I got a little experimental. I made the base recipe pretty much as directed, again substituting rye flour for whole wheat and the combination of smoked cheddar and parmesan for the straight parmesan. I also added some ground flaxseed and chia seeds. I added some oven dried tomatoes and spring onions and then measured out 6 muffins for D and then I went to town.

Into the mix went: some cooked and drained bacon and sausage, some white corn and carrots (both orange and purple) cooked until slightly soft in some sesame oil, sunflower seeds, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds and some chopped coriander. I think that was it. Oh, and some chives. In fact, the mix-ins were so substantial I had to add another two eggs. I'm sure there were some more vegetables in there but I can't remember what else there was... Oh! Capsicum.

The recipe was none the worse for wear with my many additions. I cooked them for an extra ten minutes as they were quite dense but they turned out really well. I love the flexibility and ease of this recipe. You can make all sorts of variations using this recipe as a base and your breakfasts will be anything but boring.

One small note though, Kalyn does say in her post that she doesn't think paper muffin cases would work. The second batch was much larger than the first and I had to use a second muffin tray. The first time I used metal cases and had no issues at all. The second time I had acquired a silicon tray but the second tray gave me some issues, as I had run out of metal cases. I used paper cases but I made sure that I sprayed them really well. It didn't make a difference, the paper cases stick. I have found that they are easier to remove after the muffins have been heated, but it is a hassle.

I can't recommend these muffins enough. They are now a regular in my cooking/baking rotation. Go to Kalyn's Kitchen now and make the recipe yourself!