5 Minute Breakfast Muffin CheatSheet

I consider muffins to be a backup breakfast for the girls in my house - in other words, when the task list is longer than the hours in the day or they're hungry-grumpy; I whip up my special 5-minute breakfast muffins and voila!

Disclaimer: This "recipe" is not going to win you Pinterest accolades. It's more of a get-food-and-calories-into-dem-bellies thing.

Items Required
1.  Mini cupcake maker (I got mine with credit card rewards a few years back and I've seen them on sale in Target for $10-15 around mothers' day)
2.  Quaker Low Fat Muffin mix (It's important to get the low fat version which only needs water to be added)
3.  Water

Mixing (1 minute)
First time around, make the muffins as per instructions on the packaging. I needed to do this because I had no idea what the texture of a muffin mix looks like. Once I got the texture and volume figured out, it was time to throw in some fixins to increase the calories and nutrients per muffins. A few tricks I've tried include

1. Replace water with whole milk, yogurt, applesauce or mashed banana
2. Add frozen blueberries - the mix has to be extra thick when using frozen fruit
3. Add marshmallows - totally over-rated experience plus it made cleanup harder
4. Add raisins - a winner
5. Add Bob's 7 grain mix for fibre - needs some soaking before baking so the cupcake is not too gritty
6. Add flaxseed for fibre, protein and calcium
7. Add spinach - you know the old sneaking veggies into food trick? Didn't work. I think I may have been too heavy handed with the spinach because the girls will not touch the spinach-infused muffins
8. Add cocoa powder or ovaltine

Baking (10-15 minutes but you don't have to be there)

Spoon and bake in the cupcake maker. One thing about this is it doesn't brown the top of the muffin and that takes some getting used to

Verdict

When I get it right, the girls can down 4 muffins each with a lot of glee. When I get it wrong, they won't take more than a bite 

Bonus

I usually make a few batches and store some in the freezer for other mornings. Defrosting is a cinch.

Double Bonus

The girls call the muffins "cupcakes". I look forward to them growing up and telling thier friends that I'm so cool I let them have cupcakes for breakfast. WIN!

Why do I call these 5-minute muffins? Because they usually require less than 5 minutes of my attention - the time it takes to mix, spoon in and take out.

There you have it. One of my few and favorite meal planning tricks. Sharing with Kristen of We are that family.