Tomato & Scamorza Breakfast Muffins

Makes 8 Muffins

Do you struggle to get in a quick yet nutritionally-balanced breakfast on the go? Then these healthy savoury muffins are the answer to your breakfast prayers!  Now that we are officially in Tomato Season over here in the UK, I have started to experiment a little more than the usual homemade pasta sauce that is on repeat in our house each week.  Today’s trial was a variation of some high protein any-time-of-the-day courgette and halloumi muffins that I made a few weeks ago.  They were so versatile and easy to make, I wanted to make all different versions with every vegetable possible.  And these healthy breakfast muffins certainly do not disappoint.  In fact, I was really in a proper quandary as to which ones I preferred when my husband kindly pointed out that “it really didn’t matter one way or another”, so mental crisis averted!

Since they only take 5 minutes to prepare and then 12 minutes in the oven, there really is no excuse to skip breakfast.  Especially when they last for several days in the fridge and are great to freeze (simply defrost in the microwave for a quick on-the-go brekkie).

One healthy breakfast muffin provides 152 calories, 2g of fibre and 9g of protein.  Tomatoes themselves contain a potent antioxidant called Lycopene, which is what gives them their red colour, but it becomes more readily available to the body when it is cooked. Studies have shown that this might play a role in preventing or even slowing down the growth of some cancers, particularly prostate cancer.  And very interestingly, particularly apt during this mega UK heatwave that we are experiencing right now, there have also been many different trials that have shown Lycopene to have some photoprotective benefits.  This means that Lycopene-rich foods (such as tomato paste in particular) can go some way to protecting our skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. That’s definitely not to say we can eat a bunch of tomatoes and forgo the SPF of course!  But it is great to know that simply by increasing cooked tomatoes in our diet, we can help protect our skin from the daily sun damage that occurs without us even realising.

INGREDIENTS

·     285g Cherry Tomatoes
·     4 Large Eggs
·     50g Sundried Tomatoes
·     100g Wholemeal Self-Raising Flour
·     3 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
·     A big handful of chopped fresh Basil and Chives
·     90g Scamorza (or any cheese of your choice)
·     4 Spring Onions
·     Salt & Fresh Black Pepper
·     Optional – Chilli Flakes if you like a little spicy kick

METHOD

·      Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
·      Line 12 silicon muffin trays with a tiny bit of oil to prevent from sticking.
·      Finely chop the herbs.
·      Quarter the cherry tomatoes. 
·      Chop the scamorza and sundried tomatoes into small cubes.
·      Whisk the eggs.
·      In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour.
·      Slowly incorporate the eggs into the flour until there are no lumps.
·      Add the chopped tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, scamorza, herbs and the salt and pepper (and chilli flakes if using).
·      Spoon the batter into the muffin trays and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.
·      Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until a fork comes out clean.
·      Enjoy fresh out of the oven or else cool on a wire rack and freeze.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories – 152
Protein – 9g
Carbohydrates – 11g
Fat – 8g
Fibre – 2g
Vitamin A – 5%
Calcium – 9%
Iron – 5%