Pizza Muffin Bites

Tonight was a scramble for dinner.  I didn't have a plan - not that I normally plan out all my meals, but I do normally at least have the start of an idea throughout the day.  Today I had NOTHING.  Brian is not normally a help in this area, his standard response is "it doesn't matter".  So while thinking about dinner during a lull this afternoon I volleyed out the thought of pizza to Brian.  It was returned positively and I was set - I would make a Top This! when I got home and we would have a wonderfully yummy pizza for dinner.  Fast forward to me arriving home and going to prep the Top This! - AHHH there is no pizza crust!

The scramble ensues.  I was thinking I could make a pizza casserole - we had that a couple weeks ago and I wasn't in the mood for a casserole.  I could try that "greek yogurt and self rising flour" crust - would that even work if the only greek yogurt I have is vanilla flavored?  I could scrape the pizza idea all together and start in a new direction - but now I really had my heart set on a pizza-like dinner!!  Time to search my "to do" recipe pile for something pizza-like.  Enter the pizza muffin bites.  Originally I passed these by thinking they were going to be very high calorie for a few little muffin bites.  Yet after contemplating crescent roll pepperoni wraps and pushing dinner way back to allow for dough rising, I decided to revisit the muffin bites in the hopes of having dinner ready in the 30 minutes I had before Brian got home.  

They did not disappoint!  Not only does the the recipe come together quickly and easily, but they are fairly low calorie for what they are.  They are also quite yummy and versatile!

Pizza Muffin Bites

• 3/4 c Flour
• 3/4 t Baking Powder
• 1 T Italian Seasoning
• 3/4 c Milk (I used whole - thought I don't see why it wouldn't work with low fat)
• 1 Egg
• 1 c Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• 1/2 c Parmesan Cheese, shredded (If you use the canned grated I would cut back to 1/4 c)
• 1 c Pepperoni, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Prepare mini-muffin tins by spraying with non-stick spray, set aside.
3. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  
4. Set the bowl aside and let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Stir the batter and spoon into mini-muffin tins.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes (I baked for about 25 minutes and they were still soft in the middle, I prefer crunchier so I will probably cook them longer in the future.)
7. ENJOY!!

See?  Super easy and very yummy!  Start to finish they took about 40 minutes and satisfied my pizza craving.  Now the fun part - they are 37 calories a piece!  I originally divided the recipe in two, giving each person a serving size of 12 mini muffins.  That turned out being too much, in my opinion, and too little in Brian's.  I ended up eating about 9 of them and feeling very full - I probably should have stopped at 7.  

Another great thing about this recipe is that you can mix it up.  Want to make it vegetarian - remove the pepperoni and add some veggies (not so sure if you can/would want to take the cheese out).  Not feeling pepperoni - add some real bacon bits instead.  Mix up the cheeses.  Make TACO muffin bites.  Oh the possibilities!!  Not only does it have a multitude of possibilities, but they bake up so quickly and are so easily transportable that I am envisioning a new party food!

Anyone have any other ideas? 

Adapted from Rachael Ray - Pizza Puffs