24.2.12

Magic Muffins! - Charity Challenge DAY 5

They are magic!  Well, they certainly have been this week.  Muffins not only filled a space in the lunch boxes, they also filled that tricky gap between the end of school and the evening meal.  
The children are always starving when they get home and head straight for the biscuit tin.  It's a fine balance - giving them enough to restore household harmony without spoiling their appetite for tea! 
This week there haven't been any biscuits in the house.  Instead the kids have had a muffin and I've made sure we eat a little earlier.  They're all hungry by teatime which is perfect.  Even my fussy eater has finished meals he'd usually play with. 


So muffins have been my Charity Challenge saviour!




They're so versatile and you can fiddle about with a basic recipe as much as you like - I always do.  This is the one I use, but there are loads out there.


260g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 salt
110g sugar (a little more or less is fine)
1 egg
240ml milk
90ml of vegetable oil 
190-200 degrees C for 25 mins

For the peach muffins, I used half a tin of peaches, chopped up, and half the light syrup - so reduced the milk to 150ml.  
I think you could put more fruit and juice in, but my supplies were limited this week. I watered down the milk for the same reason - and they still tasted good!  


I put three large grated carrots (300g would be best) in the other batch, 100ml of water instead of milk and added some cinnamon, vanilla essence and a tablespoon of honey.   
Sift the dry ingredients together, mix everything else including the egg in a measuring jug and pour the wet mixture in the bowl.

Top tip is not to over beat the batter, just 10 seconds then into the cases and into the oven. 
didn't use proper muffin cases, just the smaller cupcake ones to make it go further.


I got distracted yesterday, so here's a quick run down of what we had.
  
I made a sauce with the two tins of tomatoes, the large onion and a rather soft garlic clove I found in the cupboard.  Pepped it up with a splash of vinegar, spoonful of sugar, a squirt of tomato ketchup and some grated carrot. (yes, those carrots keep on comin'!)
We had it with pasta and there's plenty of sauce left for tomorrow's pizza. 




Tonight we're having an almost spanish omelette.  I'm using the five eggs I've got left, a teaspoon of mustard, fried potato and a small handful of frozen peas (a slight bending of the rules, but It was either that or more carrots!)  


And guess what's for pudding?!