HEALTHY EGG AND VEGGIE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

•  1 cup cottage cheese
•  8 large eggs
•  1/4 teaspoon salt (I use coarse, kosher salt)
•  Pinch of black pepper (I use coarsely ground black pepper)
•  1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (see note)
•  1/2 cup chopped spinach, more or less
•  1/2 cup chopped bell pepper, more or less
•  1/2 cup chopped ham or other cooked meat of choice, more or less (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a nonstick muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a blender, combine the cottage cheese, eggs, salt and pepper. Process until well combined and fairly smooth. Add the feta cheese and pulse a few times until the cheese is in small pieces (I like the feta cheese pretty finely chopped, but it's really a matter of personal preference).
3. Sprinkle the chopped veggies and meat, if using, in the bottom of each muffin cup. I just eyeball it, but I use about 2-3 tablespoons of veggies and meat total per muffin cup.
4. Pour in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup egg mixture on top of the veggies and meat. Add less at first to make sure each muffin cup gets some and then evenly distribute any remaining egg batter. The muffin cups should be anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until no longer jiggly in the center. The egg muffins may puff quite a bit while baking; that's normal. They'll settle as they cool. After removing the pan from the oven, let the muffins cool for a few minutes before taking them out of the pan. Serve warm, room temperature or chilled. These egg muffins freeze great to thaw or reheat as needed.

NOTES

Easily Customizable: the vegetables, meat, and cheese in this recipe are SUPER customizable. Add or take away to your heart's content. I eyeball the add-ins (vegetables and/or meat) when sprinkling it in the bottom of each muffin cup, but it's probably right around 2 tablespoons or so (veggies and meat total). Feta is a fairly salty cheese, so I only add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the egg mixture, but if using a different kind of cheese (again, this recipe is super customizable) that has less salty punch, you might want to increase the salt a bit. You can also sprinkle the cheese in the bottom of the muffin cup rather than mixing it in with the egg batter - works fine either way.

Muffin Tin: I definitely recommend a nonstick muffin tin...and don't skimp on the cooking spray! I have the USA brand of muffins tins and these egg muffins pop right out without sticking.