Vegetarian Stuffin’ Muffins, 2 points+

Hi everyone!  How have you all been?  I miss you all, for real.  But, I have to say life is good and these Homemade Stuffin’ Muffins may have just made my life just that much better!  What is there not to love about individual servings of toasted, crunchy stuffing made with freshly baked sourdough bread, crisp veggies and savory fresh herbs that are every bit doughy and delicious? I promise that it super easy to make stuffing muffins.

Stuffing is honestly one of my must have Thanksgiving sides every year, but, for some reason, nobody in this household (I won’t mention names – The Husband!) will not touch it.  He is weird and won’t eat the cranberry or sweet potatoes either.  As much as I’d love to say Yay! more for me and pretend I am making it for “other people”, I decided to be more rationale this year and created “Stuffin’ Muffins”.  Little individual bites that you can enjoy with your Thanksgiving dinner, then, wrap up, freeze and savor a little bit of doughy, bready, herby goodness all year long.  They freeze and reheat just as delicious as the day they are made…yep, I tested this too!

This recipe is seriously life changing….as in, I am not sure I can ever be convinced to have traditional stuffing or even stuffing made using packaged bread croutons again.  The sourdough bread is what will keep you coming back for this stuffing every year.

VEGETARIAN STUFFING MUFFINS, 2 POINTS+ (Print It!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz sourdough bread, 1 loaf
• 1 cup onion, diced (about 1 medium onion)
• 2 carrots, diced finely
• 3-4 celery stalks, (to equal the amount of carrot), diced finely
• 1/2 cup apple, diced finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 tbsp fresh sage, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, diced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Slice and dice bread so it forms small cubes and spread on a cookie sheet. Toast the bread in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring once half way through.  Bread will be toasted but still soft (not crouton like).  Remove bread from the oven and set aside.  Turn oven up to 350 degrees.
2. While the bread cooks, prepare all the remaining ingredients by dicing the vegetables, chopping the herbs and whisking the eggs in the vegetable broth.
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and melt butter.  Add the onion, carrots, celery and apple cooking until softened, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in poultry seasoning and herbs.
4. In a large bowl, add the toasted bread, vegetable mixture, broth mix plus salt and pepper.  Toss until combined.
5. Spray two nonstick muffin pans with nonstick spray.  Press about a 1/2 cup of stuffing mix into each cup pretty firmly so it will stay together topping each with just a few extra bread cubes so they look nice on top.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and toasted on top.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes then carefully use a spoon to loosen and remove each stuffin’ muffin.

Makes 24 muffins or one 9×13 dish, cut into 24 pieces, 1 muffin = 2 points+

Nutritional information per 1 stuffin’ muffin:

STEP – BY – STEP:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Slice, dice and cube your delicious bread trying really hard not to eat any of the pieces that are not totally square.

Pour bread cubes on a cookie sheet and “toast” in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, stirring half way through.  Remove from oven and set aside when slightly toasted ,but, still soft.

Turn oven heat up to 350 degrees.

While your bread is toasting, take advantage of your time by dicing the veggies.

Heat 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  It seems like a lot but trust me, spread over 24 muffins, it’s not 😉

Add the veggies and cook until softened, about 8-10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in seasonings plus fresh herbs (that you chopped while the vegetables cooked – time management!)

Pour vegetable mixture over toasted bread.  Then, whisk eggs into broth and pour over the vegetable stuffing mixture.

Prepare two muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.  Then, lightly press about 1/2 cup of the stuffing mix into each, lightening up as you get to the top so you can see cubes on the top.

Bake for 30 minutes until the tops are all golden and crunchy.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes then carefully use a spoon to loosen and remove each stuffin’ muffin.

Sprinkle with parsley if desired prior to serving.

It’s totally OK to test out 1 before serving, you know, to ensure your guests will love them as much as you do.  After all at just 2 points+ each, you can afford to have more than 1!

I will catch up with you in my next go round with my recipe for Homemade Turkey Apple Sausage Stuffin’ Muffins which I have to say I may love even more than these.

Have a great week all!