meet a new kind of muffin

The other night I was planning dinner and decided on a quick soup.  But, in my mind, soup isn't quite complete without bread, so I added, "hearty bread" to the grocery list as well.  Mid-shopping-excursion, I decided, "I can make something instead of buying something.  Maybe a savory muffin of some sort."  And, with that spontaneous decision, I crossed "hearty bread" off my tattered list and begin cooking up an ideal muffin in my head....multiple kinds of flour, some cornmeal, nice and moist texture, a crispy top.  When I got home, I knew that a recipe of some sort was needed to back up the vision I'd concocted.  So, I did a quick search of allrecipes.com and found a simple, no-frills recipe for a Peppery-Cheddar Muffin that suited us and our soup dinner just fine.  I made a few substitutions to attempt to align the muffins with my mental creations, but generally stuck with the original recipe.

Most importantly, a quest for delightful savory muffins was born that day.  I've long been a lover of the sweeter types of muffins: pumpkin muffins, berry muffins, lemon-poppy seed muffins, even bran muffins.  But, I never thought to dabble in muffins any more savory than a corn muffin.  Now, my newfound mission has been leading me to all sorts of interesting creations, most excitingly a recipe that my sister immediately dubbed "odd":  Spinach, Feta, & Roasted Pepper Muffins.  Turns out that you can't judge a recipe by its ingredient list.  These muffins are fabulous, unique without being over-the-top weird, and a perfect companion to a bowl of potato soup.  Trust me.  We've been eating (and loving) this combo for the past two days.

Just set aside your preconceived notions of what a muffin is, and say hello to this little fella.  You'll be glad you did.