Bisquick Muffins
So many parenting experts talk about the importance of families eating meals together and both Doug and I remember family meals as children. When the kids were little we tried to eat together as often as possible, but our evenings were so busy that it was often impossible to eat supper as a family. What we decided to do was to make breakfast our family meal time. Our commitment to this meal got the whole family up at 6:00 AM. I made breakfast, and everyone else got ready for the day. At 6:30 we’d all sit down at the breakfast table. Doug would read to us for about ten minutes while we ate then he would eat.
Because of this tradition I have developed several breakfast recipes that I can make from start to finish in 30 minutes (6:00 - 6:30 AM without coffee). This is a basic muffin batter that is very simple to make (an essential at that hour) and follows the 30 minute guideline. I have included several variations, but you can use your imaginations about what to put in them.
We had muffins every Monday. I served them with cottage cheese on the side.
Yield: 12 muffins
Time: 30 minutes
400 degrees
muffin tins sprayed well with non-stick spray
Basic muffin ingredients:
3 cup bisquick mix
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
Instructions:
Place ingredients into a bowl and mix until just smooth. Fill muffin tins with batter. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
Variations:
Apple muffins -
Slice and core 2 apples. Chop fine or process in a food processor. Add apples and 1 tsp cinnamon to batter and proceed as above.
Cheese muffins -
Add 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese and 1 tsp dill weed to the batter and proceed as above.
Oatmeal Raisin muffins -
Substitute 2 cups oatmeal for 1 cup bisquick. Add 1 cup raisins to batter and proceed as above.
Banana Nut Muffins -
Mash two bananas with the back of a fork. (the more black spots on the outside of the banana, the better) Add banana, 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, and 1 tsp nutmeg to batter and proceed as above.
Pumpkin Muffins -
Add 1 cup of pumpkin and 1 tsp Allspice to batter and proceed as above. (The problem with this one is that it leaves you with a half can of pumpkin in the refrigerator. In my refrigerator it will sit there until it grows mold. My solution to this is to double the recipe and use all the pumpkin. You can either refrigerate half the batter to use later, or bake all the muffins and freeze the second dozen to use later.)