Corn Dog Muffins

We love almost everything about our Classical Conversations group, with the exception of lunch.  We don't do tables, we just sit on the floor, picnic style, but for some reasons indoor picnics don't go very well for my kids.  My daughter spills something every week and then cries because she thinks she's in trouble.  She's not in trouble, it's a laminate floor, very little she could have in her possession is going to mess the floor up.  My boys try to avoid eating if humanly possible and blame it on the fact that it's hard to eat or they're uncomfortable.  The only thing we've had any success with is lunchables, which I'm too cheap to buy on a regular basis, so they generally get turkey pepperoni, cheese, and crackers.  Fruit goes relatively well as long as it's already cut and bite-sized.  Veggies require ranch dressing and that's a whole other mess.

Anyway, enough whining.

I decided that in my last few weeks before classes resume at our campus I was going to head to Pinterest and StumbleUpon and try to find some bite-sized lunch options that I could make ahead, freeze, and toss in lunch boxes.  The only real requirement is that they be easy to eat sitting on the floor.  Today we tried corn dog muffins, which we did, in fact, eat sitting in my living room on the hardwood.  The kids approved, and even said they were good enough to enjoy without ketchup and mustard, although that was their preference.

 Not to be bothered by actually reading and following a recipe, this is what we came up with.  Rather than using a mini-muffin pan (although we tried that, too) we actually preferred using the bottom half of our cake-pop pan.  The recipe I'm providing here made 22 cake pop bottom sized corn dog muffins which were, in fact, easy to eat sitting on the floor.

Hot dogs totally creep me out.  I broke one of the muffins open for you, but that's as good as it gets for me, people.  The nice part about this is that you could change the hot dog portion for anything you'd feed your kids.  These are reduced fat Hebrew Nationals, but you could use turkey dogs, veggie dogs, or whatever mixed-bag brand of choice your family enjoys.  My kids all gave this two thumbs way up. Not the healthiest thing ever, but it's better for my sanity than listening to them ask if it's time for recess yet every 30 seconds for half an hour!

Corn Dog Muffins
1 box corn muffin mix (we used Jiffy, but Giant has Guaranteed Value for something like 44 cents this week!)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (ours is white cheddar which is why you can't see it)
4 regular sized hot dogs, cut in to quarters length wise and then chopped into small pieces
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk

Mix the corn muffin mix, egg, and milk.  Add the cheese and hot dog pieces.  You could also mix in chopped jalepeno if you were making this for spice lovers.  If you're using a mini muffin pan, fill it about 3/4 of the way.  If you're using a cake pop pan, just slightly under full baked perfectly for us.  We did not find we needed to grease our non-stick type pans, but a spray of cooking spray will ensure success.  Bake at 400 for 11-15 minutes, depending on the size of your mini muffin tin.

Have a suggestion for a bite-sized lunch option we should try? I'd love to try your recipe!! Email it or leave a link or directions in the comments below.