Spicy Mushroom Stuffing Muffins

I am a total neat freak.  I like to have my refrigerator, pantry and freezer well organized.  But lately, work has really been busy and I haven't had time to cook as much as I'd like to.  When I don't cook as much, the fridge, pantry and freezer tend to get a little out of control.  Last night, I decided to take charge and utilize some products sent to me by some companies for product reviews.

First up were a few samples of dried mushroom sent to me by Marx Foods to both try out and utilize in a recipe contest.  They sent me a variety of dried mushrooms to use and I decided to start out with the chanterelle mushrooms and porcini mushrooms.

I also had a box of stuffing from Olivia's Croutons in my pantry.  I've reviewed Olivia's Croutons on this blog before and I'm a huge fan of their products.  When I was offered to try out their new stuffing products, I was definitely interested!

To start, I got my ingredients together:

• 1 ounce of dried mushrooms
• 2 cups of boiled water
• A box of stuffing mix
• 1/2 stick of butter (or 4-5 tablespoons)
• 1 small yellow onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of cayenne pepper
• 2 cups of chicken broth (can also substitute vegetable broth)
• Salt and pepper to taste

I started out by pouring the two cups of boiled water into a bowl with the dried mushrooms to rehydrate them.  I let the mushrooms sit in the hot water for about twenty minutes while I worked on the rest of the ingredients.

I chopped up the small yellow onion and three cloves of garlic.  I softened them in a small pot on medium heat with the butter.  Even though the stuffing was very well seasoned, I added some salt and pepper to the onions and garlic.  I slowly added the two cups of chicken broth to the butter and vegetable mixture and let these ingredients simmer.

I then put the stuffing in a large bowl.

When the mushrooms were rehydrated, I drained the mushrooms and roughly chopped them up.

I added the chopped mushrooms to the large bowl with the stuffing and also added slowly added the butter, onion, garlic and chicken broth mixture to the bowl.  I gave all of the ingredients a good stir to make sure that all of the liquid was mixed in with the stuffing and mushrooms.  I also added my secret ingredient - about a tablespoon of cayenne pepper to give these muffins a kick!

I let the stuffing sit for about eight minutes and I stirred it several times until most of the liquid was soaked into the dry ingredients.

I put the stuffing into a greased muffin pan and make sure to pack the tins so that the muffins wouldn't fall apart.

I put the stuffing muffins in the oven at 375 degrees for thirty minutes.  When they were done, I let the muffins sit in the pan to cool.

These muffins came out perfectly! The longer they cooled, the more they came together.

The dry stuffing itself was well seasoned but the addition of cayenne really added a spicy kick to the stuffing.  The mushrooms made the stuffing taste so much richer and I was a huge fan of this side dish, which went really with baked boneless halved chicken breasts (seasoned with herbs de Provence) and steamed green beans from my mom's garden!

These spicy mushroom stuffing muffins were so easy to make and I know that I will definitely be making them again during the colder months!

Thanks to Marx Foods and Olivia's Croutons for letting me try out their respective products!

Tell me, what warm savory dishes have you been cooking up in your kitchen lately?

And if you haven't already, don't forget to vote for me in round three of Project Food Blog!