Here's to not smoking up the kitchen! Broccoli Bites

I hope you guys had an awesome weekend! We sure did. Our weekend included all kinds of work, random errands, dinner at our favorite Italian place (a treat meal that ended with two awesome donuts) church, more food and of course, some football. It went by too fast, as usual. I wanted to let you know about a new recipe I tried over the weekend that I think you'll love. In fact, this would have been good, clean Super Bowl food if I had been thinking. But, when am I ever thinking?

Let me rewind a couple weeks and give you a little back story. My gluten-free, new-to-clean-eating friend Jenny berated me suggested that I make these veggie pancakes she found on Pinterest. As soon as I had the Ninja pitcher clean for half a second, I though - what the heck - let's dirty it up. So, I made the pancakes.

They were really delicious. However, I suck at at browning pretty much anything in oil without filling the house with smoke. So, while the pancakes were good, my kids were a little troubled by the limited visibility they had in our family room while I was cooking and for an hour after. I did really enjoy the veggie cakes though, so I tried to think of some alternatives that would be just as good (and clean) with less hassle. After throwing another few hours of my life away researching a little more on Pinterest, I found broccoli bites!

Of course, none of the recipes were shaking out exactly how I wanted (I basically needed them to conform to the ingredients I had on-hand), so I did a little experiement. Here's how it went:

• Broccoli florets, steamed (I used like two smaller bunches - I have no idea what that equates to...use your eyeballs on this one).
• 3 eggs
• A bunch of cheese - maybe a cup or something (here's where I went wrong. I grated some Irish Cheddar I had on hand. I think some regular cheddar or colby would have been better here - these needed a little more flavor Irish Cheddar is more sharp than flavorful).
• Seasonings - you pick! I did garlic powder, salt, basil, and that's it. They needed a little more. Next time I will add in a modest dash of cayenne pepper and a bit more salt.

Here's the hard part (insert sarcasm):

• Put your broccoli in the food processor and blast it into a million bajillion pieces (or chop it up super fine if you don't have a food processor). Transfer broccoli to a mixing bowl.
• Add eggs, cheese, seasonings. Stir until thoroughly incorporated.
• Drop, by spoonfuls, into a greased mini-muffin tin. I filled exactly 24 mini muffin cups with this recipe. No, I didn't use liners. I despise liners and dont' use them unless I have to.

I baked these adorable green muffins at 375 for about 20-25 minutes - just watch them, though. They smelled super good while cooking in the oven and - bonus - this cooking method didn't fill the house with smoke! I can't wait to make them again with the modifications I listed above. 

These are clean and husband and kid approved. Enjoy!