very best banana cake muffins ever

I was busy getting our dinner off to a flying start one night last week, when out of the corner of my eye I spied my daughter sitting on the couch with a spoon in her mouth and the tin of milo in her lap...she looked like she was in heaven. The last I'd heard of her she was making a milk milo but obviously she decided to ditch the milk!  I instantly scolded her and got her to put it away.  

When I turned my back, a thought came over me.  Kids aren't allowed to have a binge, they aren't allowed to have a bad day, they aren't allowed to have the poops or sulk, or play hookey or be naughty or yell, or scream in frustration....they really have to be seen as perfect all the time.  I wonder why this has happened? Such pressure for them to live under.

 I turned back around and opened the cupboard and gave her the tin and a spoon and she had the biggest smile on her face.  Truthfully, she probably only had a few big tablespoons worth but it was just wonderful to see her so content with such a simple guilty pleasure.  

Anyway, something that will be eaten, possibly late at night, straight from the freezer, is this recipe for the very best banana cake ever and cook along with the lovely Lorraine from NQN ...ok so I made them into muffins but it helps with portion control :)  It's a strange recipe that has a low cooking temperature and then the muffins/cake is put straight into the freezer to cool.  Have a read of Lorraines post and recipe and tell me you aren't in faux sara lee heaven!!  The batter made 18 muffins and they were baked for 1 hour instead of the 2 hours for the cake. Oh, and be warned that the cream cheese icing is so freakin addictive, it was lucky to make it onto the muffins.  We did have lots of precious licks of the beaters and swipes of the bowl that I'm sure is naughty but oh so nice.

Ciao, Jan x

Coconut, chia and strawberry bread

When I was growing up, my mum (bless her) wasn't a great cook nor did I come home to cookies or cakes straight from the oven with a glass of milk.  I instead usually was home alone until Mum came home from work or I was with my mama (our maternal grandmothers name for us grandies thanks to the first cousin in a long line that couldn't wrap his lips around 'nana') along with a gazillion cousins.  Mama raised 11 children on her own in the 40's, 50's and 60's.  Could you even imagine?  Yep, on...her...own...11 under 11 ~ a set of twins came late down the line just to throw a spanner in the works!  She is a modern day saint that woman.  She has also had a wonderful hand at helping raise all of their offspring.  So you can understand when I say my cousins and I after school at Mama's place was like feeding time at the zoo.  She had a way of whipping up something out of nothing for us all - either her family famous scones, pancakes, spaghetti and potato soup (I must share that frugal recipe), grated potato cakes or she would just put out a loaf of white bread, butter, jam and let us devour the whole loaf before we went outside and left a trail of destruction for her to clean up.

Now that I'm a Mum, and a stay at home Mum, I do make most things from scratch for her lunchbox and a cooked evening meal yes I nearly always have on at the ready, but I don't always have sweet treats just out of the oven for my girl when she arrives home from school,  but I try and do it at least once a week as the pleasure it brings her is worth it :)  

I do try and be a bit sneaky and get in as much fruit or healthy items as possible so when I found this recipe here for coconut bread that also contains no egg, I thought I'd give it a try.   I thought I'd give it a whirl, with my own twists of course. I couldn't not use some of my home clucked chook eggs though so I just added one.  I'm thinking I will have this toasted for breakfast this week too with some slices of banana....ok probably not as I don't think it will last that long.

Coconut, chia and strawberry bread
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup agave syrup or sugar
1/3 cup chia seeds 
1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries (you could use any berries or banana even)
1/cup frozen or fresh strawberries to decorate the top
into your 1 cup measure, crack 1 egg-whisk well- then top up with soy milk or a milk of your choice - coconut milk would be sublime

1.  Pre-heat oven to 170c and line a loaf/bread tin with baking paper.

2.  Sift flour and add all ingredients and mix thoroughly just with a spoon will do, but don't over work it.

3.  Pour batter into the tin and smooth the top - use a spatula to get all of the batter out of your bowl.  Top with 1/2 cup of remaining berries.

4.  Bake for approx. 35 minutes.  Leave to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a baking tray.

5.  Devour with hot cups of tea and conversation.

Truth be known, I'd happily bake something every day for after school but unfortunately between me and my darling heart we would devour it as we both love food so that is why I show some restraint!  Another bonus about this recipe as it seriously took me 2 minutes to whip it together and was ready by the time I'd walked up to the school gate....and there really is nothing like cups of tea or hot chocolate, a warm slice of somethin' somethi'nto get your kids to talking about their day - bribery all the way!!  Although we did fight over another slice...

What do you like to bake that's in the oven in minutes?

Ciao, Jan x

round here

Brrrrr it's been cold, wet and wintery around here.  I love it :)  The home fires have been kept burning with lots of slow cooked meals and yummy things for an excuse to keep the oven on to help warm the house.

Here's a peak at some.

These would have to be the pick of the bunch.  Chelsea buns that I bastardised beautifully with chia, walnuts and sultanas...dangerously delicious if I do say so myself!!

horribly addictive chocolate coconut slice that Kathy from Our simple and meaningful life posted here.  I doubled the recipe though to make it thicker :)

easy peasy honeycomb

I had a stash of rhubarb, apple and pear puree that needed using up and it was turned into this gorgeous pudding called Shelia's pudding from Jamie Oliver's return of the naked chef cookbook

lamb shanks with lentils and vegies

my first try at melting moments

our first crop of lemons!! Hallelujah!!!!

We almost had snow!! Here's a glimpse at my hubbies rock wall he is building ~ steps still to go

I've fallen head over heels in love with crochet.  I've been making these cute beanies.  They are quite easy, as long as you pay attention!! A few have been pulled out but I'm getting there.

If there are any recipes that you would like just leave a comment below. Have a great week wherever you are.

Ciao Jan x

pumpkin and brown rice soup with walnuts

Hasn't winter kicked in! I'm one of those rare breed of people who actually loves winter.  I love the change of seasons and the excuse to snuggle inside with the heater on and recharge.  Days of constant sunshine and heat wear me down...I know, strange.  But true!

I've had the slow cooker out working for me so I can do my crochet.  Yep, it's official, I'm hooked on hooking.  I've finished a pretty blanket for my daughter and am now working on connecting one for me :D  

This pumpkin soup is nothing new, but the addition of brown rice is.  I just cut up 1/2 a pumpkin and add in whatever I have on hand ~ carrots, sweet potato, potato, celery, onion and garlic.  Plop it all into the slow cooker with a cup of well rinsed brown rice  with enough chicken stock to cover and turn the dial up to high for the next 4-6 hours.  

Blend and serve with crushed walnuts and a big dollop of natural yoghurt.

This is the easiest blanket as it's just a continuous granny square.  I just love this soft pink and green wool.

Now on to crocheting up my granny rug.

I think this is going to take awhile, lucky the weathers bad, no summer sun guilt here!!

What do you do to get you through a rough winter?

Ciao, Jan.

Rhubarb and ginger cupcakes

A few months ago, I finally got up the nerve to ring up Foxtel after searching for Foxtel deals here and put the consumer squeeze on them to upgrade my dodgy old cluncker Austar set top box for a shiny new Foxtel one that recorded and series linked programs for you with a glorious press of a button.  I'm happy to say they came to the party :) Due to hubby being a shift worker, we have had pay tv for over 15 years and we love it.  He gets to watch his fill of doco's and big strong tough guy make it shows and I get to O.D. on cooking shows, it's perfect!  Over the past few months though I have noticed I have stopped watching my usual cheffy gurus and swapped them with baking shows and am hanging off their every word.  I've even been looking at ebay deals here for baking sheets and the best price on piping bags, I really am developing a new love affair.  I saw this recipe for Rhubarb and ginger cupcakes while watching one of these cooking shows, Baking Mad with Eric Lamlard and straight away I book marked it on the laptop as a definite bake make!  For those of you who don't know who Eric is, he is a French Patissiere with a following akin to Jamie or Nigella in the baking world with a beautiful accent to boot.  

I have tweeked the original recipe of this, wouldn't you know it, and have used Rhubarb and Raspberry jam from Lana's garden for her rhubarb coulis in the cake and icing.  I've also used brown sugar instead of the light muscovado sugar in Eric's recipe.

Rhubarb and Ginger Cupcakes  Makes 12
250g unsalted butter at room temperature
170g brown sugar
3 eggs
125ml milk
225g self raising flour, sifted
2 - 3 tsp ground ginger, sifted

For the icing
2 tbspn Lana's rhubarb coulis plus 8 tspn for centre of cupcake
75g butter
150g icing sugar

• Preheat the oven to 180c.  Line a cupcake/muffin tin with paper cases.
• With an electric beater, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and then slowly drizzle in the milk.  Gently mix in the flour and ginger til combined. *I add flour with each egg addition as it stops the mixture curdling.
• Spoon,pipe or use an icecream scoop to put the batter into the paper cases.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.
• Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
• For the topping, in a large bowl, cream the butter with a hand held electric beater on medium speed.  Blend in the sugar, a quarter at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the rhubarb coulis or add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and continue mixing until light and fluffy.  Keep the frosting covered until ready to decorate the cupcakes.
• Using a melon baller or a 2cm wide cutter, cut out 1cm into the centre of each cupcake to make a hole for the rhubarb coulis to go.  Spoon the jam into the holes, return the removed piece of cake and pipe the frosting on the top.

• Eat them!

Ciao, Jan.

Cinnamon and Pear muffins

I've been still quite poorly, hence not much blogging, but I've still been cooking when I can.  Pears are one of my favourite fruit, and it was with so much delight that I found myself with a little bounty off a friends tree.  They are the type that when you bite into the ripe flesh, you have juice running down your face, nothing like fruit straight from the tree.  I made a pear and walnut cake and then also made them into cinnamon and pear muffins so they are nut free ready for the school lunchbox this week.  I love nothing more than the smell of these kinds of goodies in my kitchen, and I'm sure I put a whole lot of love in them to help boost my body along!

Cinnamon and Pear muffins

For the batter/cake

• 150g softened butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 150g selfraising flour, sifted
• good pinch of cinnamon, sifted with the flour

With electric hand beaters or a mix master, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Gradually add one egg at a time with a big spoonful of flour to stop the mixture from curdling.  Do that until all the flour is used up.  Line a 12 capacity muffin tray with patty pans, although I only got 9 muffins out of this batter.

You need around 3-4 very ripe pears for this.  Peel, core and slice them once you have made the batter so they don't go brown.  You can also add chopped walnuts on top, and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar, equal quantities, over the pears.  Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes, or if for a cake, place in a 20cm spring form round cake tin and cook for around 40 minutes.  You can swap 1/2 the flour for almond meal if you like and you can also use apples, or any fruit that is in season for that matter.  If you are using fruit that is a bit firmer than the ripe pears, slice up and fry in a pan with 25g of butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar until slightly golden, then allow to cool and arrange on to batter and pour the syrup on as well.  They are gorgeous served warm with a good vanilla yoghurt or cream. 

I found these cute vintage muffin cases at Aldi for a few dollars, cute!

My perfect kind of comfort food.

This is the pear and walnut cake before going in the oven.

Lets hope this is the beginning of more blogging as it's nice to be back doing something I love.

Ciao, Jan.

panzanella bread salad with a twist and Week 9 of the Money Challenge

I don't know about you but our garden is brimming with the summer glut of basil and tomatoes.  Even if you aren't growing them, they should be a great price at your green grocers.

Panzanella bread salad is a favourite of mine as it is packed with flavour and is a perfect way to use up stale sour dough.  It dates back to the 16th century in Italy, where traditionally it is made by soaking the bread in water for a few minutes then wringing it out.  Not too long though, as you don't want a soggy mess.

I make mine a little different but the result is still delicious.

 My love affair with sour dough is continuing and I made this delicious salad using some of the stale slices that were lucky enough to survive.  

Take a garlic clove, cut in half, and rub the inside of a porcelain bowl that will be big enough to make salad for 2 hungry people.   Doing this gives a slight garlic flavour without having pieces of raw garlic in your salad.

Cut your stale sour dough into chunks and add to the bowl along with a good handful of fresh basil and mint.  You could easily use ciabatta or pana di casa also, as long as it's not just white sandwich loaf, or you will have slop on your hands. 

You need a very generous glug of your best extra virgin olive oil, some white wine vinegar or you can use balsamic, chopped up summer tomatoes, a good grinding of black pepper and sprinkling of sea salt.  

Give this all a good toss around and let stand for at least 30 minutes.  

I paired this panzanella with some crisp cos lettuce torn up, a few slices of left over roast chicken breast, an anchovy or 2 if you like and a good shaving of parmesan and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.  Mwah!  Leftovers never tasted so good!

If you have been playing along, you'll know what to do with week 9 of the money challenge.  I hope no-one has broken in to the stash!! Keep your fingers out!!

Ciao, Jan.