About the Book:
About the Author:
The scoop on Matt Kadey
Where does he live?
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
How does he pay the bills?
Nutrition writing
Recipe development
Travel writing
Food and travel photography
What publications can you find his work in?
Among the many magazines that Matt’s articles and photography have appeared in: Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Vegetarian Times, Bicycling, Men’s Journal, Shape, Prevention, Living Without, Natural Health, Alive, Fit Pregnancy, Health and Muscle and Fitness.
What far-flung locations has Matt been to?
Ethiopia, Syria, Jordan, Ireland, New Zealand, Belize, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua
Many of these trips have taken place by bicycle. Sure points A and B are interesting, but it is what’s between them that is really exciting.
Any other websites?
Yep, over at www.muffintinmania.com Matt proves that great things come in small packages. In the spring of 2012 Matt’s first cookbook The Muffin Tin Chef was published and is based in his popular blog.
My Opinion:
One word, three times: FUN, FUN, FUN! I am, truth be told, a kid at heart and the idea of cute little meals like this just thrilled my soul. While some are ideal for kids, these are not just to get fussy little ones to eat their dinner. These recipes are full on adult dinners, breakfasts and fantastic appetizers. My brain has been spinning since I received the cookbook and once presented with the idea I have come up with so many recipes I want to adapt to the muffin tin theme.
The recipes are well written and easy to adapt if you don’t have the exact ingredients on hand as you will see in my demonstration below. Once you learn the basics you can just go wild. In fact next week I will show you what I did with some leftover chicken and some tortillas but for today I give you Egg and Sausage Polenta Cups except I made a couple of substitutions. I’ll show them in red.
You will need:
3/4 cup low fat milk
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup corn grits (polenta)
2/3 cup shredded Asiago, Swiss or fontina cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella)
2 TBS finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp grapeseed or canola oil
3 oz uncooked turkey sausage, casing removed, and chopped (I used bacon)
6 small eggs
watercress or arugula for garnish (I did not have any so I did not garnish)
Bring the milk and water to a slight simmer in a medium pot over medium heat.
Slowly whisk in the corn grits and continue whisking until it begins to thicken and resemble creamy oatmeal, 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese, rosemary and salt. Let cool.
Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook the sausage until lightly browned and no longer pink, about 3 minutes. (I cooked three pieces of bacon until crisp and cut them into small pieces.)
Preheat the oven to 400°
Line 6 medium muffin cups with paper liners.
Divide the polenta among the prepared muffin cups. Using your fingers (I used a spoon and it worked really well) form a deep well in each one by pushing the plenta up the sides of the muffin cups.
Crack an egg into each polenta cup and scatter the sausage on top.
Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet to catch any egg overflow. Bake until the egg whites are firm but the yolks are still slightly runny, about 20 minutes. (In my oven 20 minutes was too long and my yolks were too cooked. The next time I make this and I will be making this again I will go with 12 – 15 minutes.)
I roasted some broccoli at the same time the egg cups were baking. Just the vegetable some olive oil and salt and pepper. I was serving these for dinner and I thought the broccoli would make a good side dish. It did!
The egg cups were delicious in spite of a slightly overcooked egg. The flavor of the polenta was to.die.for! I would use the recipe to serve the polenta as a side dish on its own it was that good. I cannot wait to try some of the other recipes in the book.
Such fun to come, such fun!
You can purchase Muffin Tin Chef on Amazon.com
You can visit Muffin Tin Mania
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Disclosure: I received a copy of Muffin Tin Chef gratis from Ulysses Press. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
