Mini Picnic Bakes

I baked these for our lunch today and they disappeared in seconds.  In fact, despite the recipe making 12 muffin sized and 16 mini muffin sized morsels, there were demands for even more of them.  

Perfect for a picnic or as canapes, these Mini Picnic Bakes are packed with vegetables and very moreish.  You could vary the contents, use whatever vegetables you have on hand, these are great for using up vegetables lurking in the fridge.  We enjoyed these morsels with crudites for lunch but next time will probably have them with potato or pasta salad and a green salad for dinner.

Mini Picnic Bakes

2 courgettes

2 peppers, finely diced (any colour will do)

3 spring onions, finely sliced

1 small tin sweetcorn, drained (we use no added salt and sugar variety)

100g wholemeal breadcrumbs

250g ricotta cheese

100g Parmesan or other strong flavoured hard cheese, finely grated

4 large free range eggs

2 cloves garlic, crushed

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan.

Grease 12 holes of a muffin tin and 16 holes of a mini muffin tin.  Use a vegetable peeler to make long ribbons from one courgette and lay one ribbon across the bottom of each muffin hole.  This makes them much easier to remove from the tins once baked.  Finely dice the other courgette and mix with all the other ingredients.  Spoon the filling evenly in to the prepared trays and fold any over hanging courgette ribbons over the top.  Grate a little extra Parmesan over the top then bake the larger muffin sized morsels for 20 - 25 minutes and the smaller mini muffin sized ones for 15 - 20 minutes.

I'm linking this recipe up with No Waste Food Challenge as we used up the remaining vegetables in the fridge and made sure nothing was wasted before our next weekly shop was delivered. The challenge was created by Elizabeth and is being hosted this month by Laura.

I am also joining in with Extra Veg, a monthly blog challenge devised by Helen and I and hosted this month by Sarah. Extra Veg encourages us all to add extra vegetables to our meals.

I am also submitting this to Alphabakes, the blog challenge created by  The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes, Caroline is hosting this month and the letter is P. These Mini Picnic Bakes contain pepper so fit the guidelines.

I'm also linking up with Speedy Suppers, created by Sarah and Katie, the theme this month is Picnics.  Sarah is hosting this month.

This recipe is also suitable for Simple and in Season as almost everyone with an allotment has a glut of courgettes at the moment and they feature in this recipe.  Simple and in Season, was created by Ren and is hosted this month by Elizabeth.

I'm also joining in with Family Foodies, created and hosted alternately by Eat Your Veg and Bangers and Mash, the theme this month is The Under Twos and Eat Your Veg is hosting.  These Mini Picnic Morsels would be perfect toddler picnic food, particularly the mini muffin sized ones.

8 comments Basics, Dinners, Gestational Diabetes, Lunches, Meatfree Monday, Party, Save The Children, Vegetarian