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

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

TRICK: Fritters re-heat very well in the oven ready to be served as tasty party finger food.
TRICK 2: Fritters offer a great place to hide greens from toddlers who deem them uncool.


Fritters have made appearances in various guises on these pages, even corn fritters. When Billie was a baby I made lots of simple vegetarian fritters. But each time I get in a fritter mood I experiment with texture and substance - to flour or not to flour, to baking powder or not, and so on.

This particular model was a roaring success with Billie but also was very well received at a work do last night to farewell our colleague Ronan. I had pre-party jitters about how the  re-heating would go. But no fear - ten minutes in the oven on a tray left them perfectly light and crispy.

RICOTTA, CORN AND COURGETTE FRITTERS

4 corn cobs, lightly steamed

4 spring onions, finely chopped

3 courgettes/zucchini, grated

1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro chopped (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta (preferably the solid, firm kind - but if it's runny just cut back on the milk)

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup plain flour

generous grindings of salt and black pepper

oil

Allow cobs to cool for a few minutes before removing corn - lay cobs down horizontally on chopping board and use large knife to slice off. This prevents the corn covering your kitchen floor.

Combine corn with spring onions, coriander, courgettes and flour and baking powder. In a smaller bowl combine milk and ricotta with beaten eggs, then pour into the large bowl with rest of fritter ingredients.

Heat about one tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. I used rice bran oil as it heats to high temperatures and doesn't have any flavour, but olive oil works too. Once pan is hot, drop tablespoon lots of batter into pan (don't crowd in pan and keep them small - they cook quicker and look more appetising).

Cook until lightly browned on both sides, flipping once. Keep heat to medium so they cook through without burning. Remove first batch onto plate lined with paper towel, and repeat until mixture used up.

While these re-heat in the oven very well, you can keep the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days and impress your friends and family with fritters and eggs for brunch, fritters on the side of their chili beans, fritter sandwiches, etc.

And a very Happy Birthday to my father...

PARTY FOOD - HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY HENRY

Olives seem to be a hit with toddlers - or at least with Billie and her good friend Henry. And fresh sweet corn is Billie's no.1 vegetable. In fact, these days it's the only vegetable she eats without it being hidden.

So when I offered to contribute to Henry's 2nd birthday bash his lovely mother Emily requested "some of your rice cakes, but with olives, no feta and you could hide some courgette". I wound up filling them with lots of corn so I'm not sure Henry was impressed -  and there were too many toy diggers landing in his lap anyway. But the adults were.

Phew. There was a fair bit of competition this morning - several offerings of savoury muffin-type things. Even one from a fellow food blogger, Morsels & Musings. Anna served some delicious salmon and dill mini muffins. I have to confess Billie preferred those to her mother's vegetarian rice cakes. I'll have to chase Anna for the recipe.

My favorite today though was Emily's gazpacho served in shot sizes. Perfect for a hot January morning. I'm definitely going to follow that one up.

Olive, Corn and Courgette Rice Cakes

Billie chills out with an Olive, Corn and Courgette Rice Cake

All the savory bits were followed by lashing of sweets. Emily made a perfect chocolate cake for Henry. Moist, tasty and light. She did extremely well as first-time cake baker. It's a recipe I pulled out of a cookbook years ago, I don't even recall what book. All I know is the author credited it with their friend Dana - so it's Dana's Chocolate Cake.

But I will call it Magic Chocolate Cake. If you come across another cake recipe that DOES NOT CALL FOR ANY CREAMING of butter and sugar, please pass it on. When Emily mentioned she didn't own a cake mixer - neither do I - I insisted she try Dana's Chocolate Cake. It's easy and extremely good.

Henry gets ready for some Magic Chocolate Cake

Billie had chocolate for the second time in her life. I wish I had a shot of her and Henry post-cake.

The Magic Chocolate Cake recipe follows the Olive, Corn and Courgette Rice Cakes recipe.

OLIVE, CORN AND COURGETTE RICE CAKES

Makes 12-18

1 cup arborio rice - or other Italian

knob of butter

2 corn cobs, steamed

2 courgettes/zucchini, grated

3/4 cup pitted olives, chopped in half sideways 

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

generous grind of black pepper

salt

6 egg, beaten

Place rice in small pot filled with water and salt. Bring to simmer and simmer with lid off for about 12 minutes or until just done.  Drain and mix knob of butter through with fork. Leave to cool.

 Remove corn off cob by placing length-ways on chopping board and slicing with large knife. Place in large bowl with rest of ingredients. Mix well but gently with large fork.

Spoon into oiled muffin tins - depending on cup size this recipe will make between 12 and 18.

Place in preheated oven on medium-hot (200 c/400f). Cook for 15-20 minutes or until browned.

Remove from tins and cool on wire rack. Serve warm or cold. Perfect picnic fodder.

Emily and Henry start the jam

MAGIC CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 2/3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

100g butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Filling/Icing:

100g butter - soft

250g icing sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

 milk to mix

 1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 180c/350f. Grease a 20cm loose-bottom cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper. Put all the main ingredients in a food processor, or just mix by hand (very easy, remember - no creaming). Pour into the prepared tin and bake for at least 50 minutes.

The cake will rise a lot and when cooked the centre should spring back when gently pressed, or a skewer poked into the centre will come out clean.

To make the filling or icing, place butter and dry ingredients in food processor, pulse to combine. Again, no worries if you don't have one, a wooden spoon and bowl will do you fine.  Add a dash of milk, mix, and add tiny amounts of milk until achieve a thick, soft, spreadable icing. Add vanilla.

Slice cake in half horizontally and spread some icing on the lower half. Replace the top half and ice the whole cake. Alternatively, just leave cake intact and use all icing on the top. Leave to set and keep in sealed airtight container.

Birthday Super Mum Emily and myself

DESERT INSPIRATIONS: SANTA FE BLACK BEAN SALAD

Santa Fe farmers' markets

Get ready for some superb Southwestern-inspired food. But first, Santa Fe is kind of the Disney Land of New Mexico. You wouldn't know this if you didn't venture further into the desert, to the mountain town of Taos say. Or even better - little Las Vegas - a town frequented by Billie the Kid and now a popular film set for Western-tinged films by the Coen Bros etc.

Santa Fe's New Mexico Museum of Art uses the faux-dobe made popular by the town's planning laws

But for wide-eyed tourists such as myself fresh off the train, it's hard not to fall for Santa Fe. Town planning laws dictate that all buildings must pay some homage to the traditional Adobe, invented by the Pueblo people - the traditional land owners. So you play the guessing game of which is the faux-dobe and which is the real mud brick. At least it all looks nice. Even the petrol stations.

Real adobe or faux-dobe?

Shell gets into the dobe-mode

It's not just the mud bricks that tourists flock to Santa Fe for. The town has become an eating destination, with it's own cuisine reproduced in many cookbooks and famous restaurants. Unfortunately I cannot report that our dining experience was anything to write home about  - probably because all the good ones were booked out or had queues longer than Billie could possibly stand. 

The best food we ate in Santa Fe was found right here on the plaza

However, we ate well throughout the rest of New Mexico and the US South West. It's a blend of Mexican, Native American - such as fry bread, corn and beans - and some other stuff tossed in.

Getting hungry? This fabulous salsa salad is easy to make and will impress most palettes. Last night I took it to Skye's birthday beach picnic, and there were enough recipe requests to pass the test.

And yes, Billie loves it. Nine-month-old Fig enjoyed a few mouthfuls last night too - although she preferred the beans to the corn.

I pinched this from my current favorite, Feeding the Whole Family, by Cynthia Lair. I've only made a couple of small adaptations. She suggests serving with tortillas or polenta but I have always used corn chips.

This recipe brings together some of my favorite ingredients: black beans, lime, corn, fresh coriander/cilantro and red pepper/capsicum. Served with a bowl of corn chips, it makes a fantastic dish to share. It can be prepared a few hours ahead of time, so good for outings.

SANTA FE BLACK BEAN SALAD

2 cups cooked black beans  (1 1/2 cups dried or one 400g tin = 1 1/2 cups)

1 red pepper

1 corn cob, steamed (or 1/2 cup frozen/tinned corn but use fresh if you can)

1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro

plain corn chips, to serve

Dressing:

3 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 Tablespoons lime juice = one lime

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use 1/4 if not serving to any kids)

Soak and boil/pressure cook the black beans. They only take 15-20 minutes in pressure cooker if been soaked a few hours. About three times as long if you regular boil in a pot, after soaking. Or open a can or two.

Next, roast red pepper/capsicum to char the skin for easy removal. You can do it under a grill or directly over the low flame of a gas burner. Turn until skin charred on all sides. Place inside paper bag and close to allow pepper to sweat - this will make skin easier to remove. After about ten minutes - or longer if you can wait - the skin should slip off. Slice pepper into thin strips and then chop strips in half.

Meanwhile, steam whole corn cob - again only takes 5 mins in pressure cooker, 10-15 mins probably in regular pot. Let cool then place sideways on board and slice kernels off in strips. Place strips in large bowl with beans, coriander and pepper. Mix gently.

To make dressing: Mince garlic and salt to a paste, either in pestle and mortar or on bread board with a knife. Place in small bowl and whisk in oil, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Pour over salad and toss gently.

Serve with corn chips. If you go for the more spicy option, a bit of yoghurt on the side works well. And if you are feeling energetic, or you want to make the meal go further, the salad partners very well with guacamole. 

My suggestions for making this work for all ages:

BABIES AGED SIX MONTHS AND OLDER: Make a little extra corn and puree

BABIES/TODDLERS AGED NINE MONTHS AND OLDER: Set aside a little beans and corn

TODDLERS AGED ONE YEAR AND OLDER: Serve as is - check seasoning

 

And now, I can't resist a little garden update. 

Just two weeks on, and we have several small green tomatoes and one little courgette. 

The tomato plants are topping their stakes, and the aubergine plants are getting huge too. The poor lettuce, spinach and basil are getting a bit overwhelmed by the growth of their neighbors, losing a fair bit of their sun. Next time I would put tomatoes in their own patch I think.

THREE SISTERS STEW

While Billie has taken to throwing the vegetables out of the highchair, she still devours beans like they're almost as good as sliced bread. She also still appreciates vegetables if they're mingling with beans in a stew or casserole. Not sure on the logic here, but we are dealing with a toddler.

Three Sisters Stew

Three Sisters Stew is a marvelous all-in-one dish which teams well with whatever grain you have to hand. We tried a whole wheat cous cous the first time I made it, and then quinoa this week. However, because corn is a whole grain it doesn't need the grain for nutrition purposes.

I doubled the recipe this week, which was great to keep us in lunch for several days - Billie and I had it four days running. However, I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you have a party to feed, as I reckon a bit of the flavour was lost.

This hearty vegetarian stew comes courtesy of my latest culinary find. Feeding the Whole Family By Cynthia Lair is a fantastic cook book I stumbled across in a second hand shop a few weeks ago. It's all about using whole foods to create meals suitable for a range of ages. Sound familiar? Yes, there goes my book idea...

Anyway, expect to see a few more recipes where this goody came from. The core ingredients diverge a little from my kitchen shelves, so I need to do a re-stock before I can approach many of the others. She uses lots of Japanese ingredients.

Cynthia Lair credits author Jackie Williams with this stew. "Native Americans grew corn and planted the beans at the base. The corn stalks served as a bean pole. The ground space between the stalks was used to grow squash. The three sisters (corn, beans and squash) lived harmoniously," writes Lair.

I have made a couple of little adaptations to the original.

THREE SISTERS STEW

1 cup dried black beans (Lair suggests Christmas lima beans but any dark beans will do)

3 cups stock

2 tspn ground cumin

1 T extra virgin olive oil or ghee

2 tsp dried oregano or 1 T fresh, chopped

1/2 tsp cinnamin

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

3 cups pumpkin (Lair uses squash), peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1 tin tomatoes (400g)

1 tsp chilli powder or paste

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn (I used fresh)

1 cup grated cheddar

sour cream (optional)

 Cous cous, quinoa or rice 

Seasonal greens - bok choy, broccoli, or asparagus work well

Soak beans for 6-8 hours, or less is fine if using pressure cooker. Place soaked beans with 2 cups of stock and 1 tsp cumin in pot or pressure cooker. Bring to boil and then simmer on low, covered, until tender. Takes about 50-60 mins or 45 mins in pressure cooker.

Heat oil in large pot on medium and saute the onion and garlic in the remaining spices and salt. Cook until onion is soft (about 5 mins) and then add pumpkin/squash, tomatoes, oregano and chili. Add 1 cup of stock, bring to a simmer and cook with LID OFF until pumpkin is soft (about 20 mins). If getting dry replace lid. Add corn and cooked beans, simmer until corn tender (won't take long). Season to taste and serve over a bed of grains with a generous side of cooked greens. Sprinkle with grated cheddar, and sour cream works well on the side if there's some about.

I SUGGEST FOR BABIES 6 MONTHS: Put aside some pumpkin chunks, steam and puree.

FOR 8 MONTHS: Put aside some cooked beans and puree with pumpkin.

FOR 10 MONTHS: Offer some cooked beans and pumpkin, not pureed

FOR 12 MONTHS AND UP: Offer complete Three Sisters Stew. Billie loved!