MUFFIN MANIA

Muffin mania began in our household when I was pregnant with Billie. Something about nesting brought out the baking urge in me. We're talking sweet, savory and everything in between.

Billie is nearly 18 months and I haven't kicked the habit. Much to Miles' pleasure, as his regular cafe order is a muffin with his soy honey latte (uggh - not my cup of tea). But we're both regularly disappointed with cafe muffins - too dry, lacking in the key ingredient as advertised, and generally just large and floury. So one of the reasons for muffin mania is to fill a necessary gap in the market.

But the main motivation has become the creative challenge. I just use what's around to flavour them, backed up with an easy and relatively healthy muffin base. I do fiddle with the base a little too - sometimes one egg, sometimes two, and sometimes less oil or milk. But the main creative challenge offered by muffin mania is balancing the chosen extra ingredients so that you wind up with a muffin that isn't too dry, moist, sweet or bland.

Happily I can report no complete failures, but I will note polenta is a challenging ingredient.

A few muffin varieties can be found in these pages but often I don't bother to log them. However, due to popular request, today Billie Bites starts a special Muffin Mania page. which I will add to irregularly. It's useful for me too as I often think, hmmm, what were those muffins I took to so-and-so's?

To kick start, today we have these healthy savory numbers - another way to get vegetables into toddlers.

I served them yesterday to Billie and her friend Marilla (born only one day later). Both toddlers devoured two and a half muffins. Now that's a fair bit of carrot.

Billie and Marilla eagerly await their carrot and corn muffins

CORN, CARROT AND CHEDDAR MUFFINS

1 large carrot or 2 small, grated

1 cup grated tasty cheddar cheese

1 corn cob, raw

1 handful fresh herbs, chopped - I used basil, oregano, thyme

220g self-raising wholemeal flour, or use plain and add 2 teaspoons baking soda/powder

3/4 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup oil - I use rice bran

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to medium - about 190 c or 380 f. Prepare 12 muffin tins - depending on what sort you use. I have recently started using those silicon ones so only a very light smear of oil is needed. 

Sift flour and baking powder/soda if using into large bowl. Add cheese and herbs and salt and pepper.

In a small bowl mix eggs, oil and milk together. Slice raw corn kernals off by placing cob horizontally on chopping board and add to wet ingredients with carrot. 

When you are ready to bake, gently combine wet and dry - only swiftly stirring until just mixed through. Then quickly and gently spoon into tins. Bake in middle of oven for about 15-20 minutes or until browned on top.

Leave for 5 minutes in tins before removing to cool on wire rack. Eat fresh. They don't even need butter.

Marilla wonders why her lunch is being photographed

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

I had a strange experience on Saturday night. We were sitting around the table with some dinner guests and I noticed something odd.

While we shared funny stories of fussy family members that only ate chicken nuggets , one of our guests appeared to not have touched her meal. Or rather, her soup. She was chomping back on sour dough toast okay.

A shiver ran down my spine. I had cooked a bad meal for our guests.

Now if the conversation had been hovering around a topic unrelated to food and eating and fussiness, I may have sat there uncomfortably all night wondering whether I had over-dilled the pea soup.

"Um, you having trouble with that soup there?!" I chimed in. Thankfully, plenty of laughs. "Oh yeah I just don't do soup. I don't like liquid food".

Now this is a particularly chunky soup. It ain't the blended type. Vegetables bob about quite obviously. Then came the confessions of 'oh well I actually mainly eat burgers and pizza and all that'.

But here's the twist: I can comprehend a non-cook person with no interest or knowledge of food taking such an attitude to my soup. But she went on to explain she normally cooks southern-style fish and seafood dishes, and a great vegetarian lasagna I must drop by for...

Well, despite this soup being rejected, I can heartily recommend it. The DILL IS ESSENTIAL, so don't be tempted to omit it. No pictures sorry, but it's a lovely light green base with flashes of orange, white and green from the chunky vegetables.

I slightly adapted this from Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family.

DILLED DOUBLE PEA SOUP

 Serves 6-8.

2 cups green split peas

2 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 t salt

2 large carrots, chopped

3 potatoes, diced

2 t ground cumin

black pepper

8 cups water

1 vegetable stock cube

2 large bay leaf

1 cup frozen peas

2 T snipped fresh dill

Soak split peas for about five hours in eight cups of water. Discard soaking water.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker or large pot. Add onion and salt and saute until golden. Add carrot, potatoes, cumin and pepper and saute few more minutes. Boil water and add a small amount to chopped stock cube and mix to dissolve. Add to pot with rest of water, split peas and bay leaves.

If pressure cooking: Bring up to pressure on high heat then lower and cook for 40 minutes.

If using a regular pot: Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 60-90 minutes. (Yes, it's worth finding that pressure cooker down the op shop).

Once split peas have softened and the soup has become creamy, add dill and frozen peas. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if needed. Cook a few more minutes (don't over-do as peas will go mushy).

FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS AND OLDER: Reserve some frozen peas/carrot/potato and steam until soft. Blend/mash and serve with no salt.

FOR BABIES 9 MONTHS AND OLDER: Serve soup as is, but cut back on salt.

FOR BABIES/TODDLERS ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve soup just the way it comes.

BABY-FRIENDLY CURRY

Billie bites' latest challenge is to create food that the baby can feed herself, or at least attempt to feed herself while mamma spoons the rest of the meal into her open mouth. Don't get me wrong - Billie LOVES her food. There is no force-feeding going on here. In fact, Billie loved this simple yet eagerly-devoured-by-all vegetarian curry so much that she forgot she (mostly) wasn't feeding herself.

However, as Billie increasingly asserts her independence and desire to prove she can eat all by herself thanks very much, more and more ingenious feeding methods are sought. She has her own spoon to clench and bang on the table when dinner appears to be late. At breakfast she has a segment of mandarin or orange to suck and chomp on between mouthfuls of porridge (also useful to get that vitamin C necessary to absorb the iron from her millet/rice cereal). But the last few days we have seen such staunch attempts to grab the spoon from my hands that more food is going on the floor than down her throat.

So, enter the curry. Chunks of vegetable and tofu Billie could feel personally responsible for, while enthusiastically gulping back many spoons of the curry and rice blend I placed in her mouth.


COCONUT, TOMATO AND PUMPKIN CURRY

What makes this a baby-friendly curry? NO CHILI, and only a little salt. Serve with brown rice. 

1 onion, finely chopped

3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 can tomatoes, chopped

1 can coconut cream (pref. organic)

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 large carrots, sliced into rounds

1/8 pumpkin, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 head broccoli, cut into florets and stalks into chunks

1/2 teaspoon salt

small block of tofu (optional)

 Heat oil in large heavy pot. Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add spices and tomatoes (including juice), salt and coconut cream. Slowly bring to boil and immediately turn down to low simmer.  Leave lid on, stirring occasionally. Add carrots, and 10 mins later add pumpkin. Wait another ten minutes before adding broccoli.

Prepare the tofu, if using. Cut into small cubes and either fry in oil in hot pan until golden, or just throw into curry with broccoli to cook. I did a bit of both, sprinkling the fried pieces on top of the curry when serving.

Meanwhile, place 1 1/2 cups brown rice in small pot with 3 cups cold water. Bring to boil with lid on, then immediately turn down to low simmer. Leave lid on and DO NOT stir. Check after 20 mins and when water absorbed or almost absorbed, remove from heat and serve with curry.

To serve to baby, blend a portion of curry and rice until as pureed as needed. Reserve a few pieces of vegetable (esp pumpkin) and serve alongside mush. Billie managed a bit of straight rice tonight, but I'm not sure how well digested it will be...

Homemade Curry Powder