Stuffins!

At some point, along some time between now and a year ago, I somehow accidentally got signed up for a Disney Family magazine. 

At my work address.

So once a month, a copy of this very family-friendly magazine  full of kid-friendly games & crafts & vacation ideas shows up in the mail room in my inbox, and inevitably, a coworker will see it & say, “Oooohhh, is there something you’re not telling us???  Hrrmmmm???”

Yup.  …I am secretly harboring a fugitive Guatemalan family inside my filing cabinet. 

And they all REALLY love cupcakes with Oreo mouse ears.

Originally, I just threw these away in our recycling bin, since as a non-mom & have very little need for popsicle stick craft project ideas or notes on how to make a sunflower using bendy straws… but one day I actually started flipping through them, and discovered RECIPES.  Quick, fun recipes designed for letting kids help you cook….i.e. EASY stuff.  Which is ideal because, I know this may come as a shock to you, but I do NOT cook 5-star meals each night.  Sometimes, I actually CRAVE Hamburger Helper.  Or a grilled cheese with deli turkey & sliced tomato.  I also occasionally eat Ramen at my desk while daydreaming about take out sushi.

A while back, I saw in one of these magazines the idea for “stuffins” – stuffing prepared in a muffin pan & baked.  I love stuffing, and I love muffins… so I ripped that page out of the magazine & then quickly shoved the rest of the booklet into the filing cabinet for the Guatemalans—dog-earring that cute “cherry pie cupcake” tutorial for them while I was at it. (Don’t look at me like that—they have a flashlight.)

The stuffin is the ideal side dish—but I wanted to make it more of a bite-size meal option.  So we’ve added meat & extra veggies!

Ingredients:

1 lb spicy smoked turkey sausage, diced

1 box Stove Top (+ boiling water as noted on the box)

1 egg

1 tbsp dried chives or chopped green onions

1 cup canned corn

 

Directions:

Heat your oven to 375.

Cook your sausage in a large skillet until browned. Drain.

Prepare boiling hot water in accordance with the box of Stove Top.

In a large bowl, combine the dry Stove Top Mix, corn, onion, and boiling water.  Mix well & let stand for a bit (5 minutes), then fluff with a fork & add the turkey sausage & the egg.  Mix well.  (The egg is important—I made my first batch without it & they wouldn’t hold together).

Scoop into your muffin tray—you should have enough to make about 12, so divide evenly.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until nice & brown.  Serve while warm.  This  pairs well with a salad, a warm bowl of chicken soup, or other finger foods, like the bacon-wrapped peppadews from last week.  They also make a pretty snazzy quick savory breakfast when you reheat the leftovers.

NutriFacts (1 serving = 3 stuffins)

Calories 425.9 (142 per stuffin, if you’re not eating 3 of them)

  Total Fat 10.8 g

  Saturated Fat 3.7 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.4 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.6 g

  Cholesterol 100.4 mg

  Sodium 1,558.8 mg

  Potassium 211.9 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 41.4 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.9 g

  Sugars 7.2 g

  Protein 19.9 g