peanut butter and banana muffins-YUM!

I love all things peanut butter and banana. It's such a magical combination. These muffins are so soft and fluffy they simply melt in your mouth.

What will you need:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large over- ripe bananas mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
2 heaped tablespoons peanut butter

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Sift the dry ingredients and leave aside. Combine bananas sugar, egg, butter and peanut butter in a large bowl. mix well. Add in the dry ingredients and fold the mixture. The mixture should have a cake- like consistency. I found mine to be slightly too thick so I added in just a little milk. Scoop into greased muffin pans or liners. Bake until golden brown.

Food groups incorporated:

fruit: bananas

Cinnamon strawberry syrup crumpets

There's nothing better than strawberries and crumpets for Sunday breakfast. I much rather prefer strawberries to traditional maple syrup because this way the kids are eating their fruits too.

What will you need:

Crumpets (store bought or home- made)

2 cups self- raising flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or ordinary butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk

Beat eggs, sugar and butter together. Add flour and milk (you may need a little extra) to make a runny batter. Drop spoonfuls on a hot greased frying pan. Flip over and cook till golden brown.

Cinnamon strawberry syrup

In a pan add chopped strawberries, castor sugar (about half a cup), 2 teaspoons cinnamon and let it simmer on a medium heat until the strawberries are soft and gooey.  Layer three crumpets with the strawberry mixture between each one. Top with the mixture. Sprinkle cinnamon and serve with ice- cream.

Food groups incorporated:

Fruit: strawberries
dairy: ice- cream

Savory waffles

These savory waffles are not only great for the kids but a real treat for the adults too.

What will you need:

You could attempt making your own waffles which are actually super easy, or if you don't have time or just not in the mood you could buy store bought waffles instead.

Waffles

2 eggs
1 and a 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch salt
1 and 1/2 cups flour

Beat all the ingredients together to form a batter. Heat a waffle iron and grease well with a non- stick spray. Pour batter and cook waffles until evenly cooked on both sides.

Creamed spinach

Slightly braise 1 chopped onion (should be yellowish in color)
Add 1 bunch spinach cleaned and cut
Add: salt to taste (add small amounts at first)
chopped green chillie to taste
aromat to taste

Cook for a few minutes till done.

Make a paste with:
4 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon flour
half a cup of milk
Add to the spinach.

Lastly add 2 tablespoon fresh cream and a handful of crumbled feta.

Method:

Spread spinach over the waffles. Add grated cheese. Sprinkle red chillie powder. Melt the cheese in a pre- heated oven on 180c. Enjoy:)

Note: Instead of using waffles you could also use crumpets or roll the creamed spinach in crepes and then top with grated cheese after you roll it.

Food groups incorporated:

Veg: spinach/ onion
Dairy: cheese/ feta cheese/ milk

Banana balls (fritters)

What you will need:

In a bowl mix together:

250ml self- raising flour
pinch salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
5 ml banana essence (optional)
half an egg lightly beaten
Mix together.

Add:

3 large ripe bananas mashed
100 ml milk to make the batter. (You may need to add extra milk, batter should resemble a cake batter that has a dropping consistency but should not be runny)

In a separate bowl mix together castor sugar and cinnamon and keep aside for dipping.

Heat approximately 500ml oil in a small pot on medium- high heat. Using your four fingers take approximately a tablespoon of batter and push off into the hot oil using your thumb so that when you drop the batter it drops in the shape of a ball. Deep fry till golden brown. Remove from oil. While still hot dip in castor sugar/ cinnamon. Enjoy!

Food groups incorporated:

Fruit: bananas

Pumpkin crumpets

My kids were overjoyed when I put before them a plate of crumpets with ice- cream for lunch. Little did they know that these were no ordinary crumpets, they were pumpkin crumpets. I was happy that they were eating veg and they were happy that they were getting crumpets for lunch. Win win!:)

What will you need:

1 cup pumpkin puree (I bought a whole pumpkin, steamed it and liquidized it and then took out one cup for the crumpets and froze the balance in ice cube trays after which I transferred it to a zip lock bag and left in in the freezer for later use)
2 cups self- raising flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped pecan nuts

Beat eggs, sugar and butter together. Add dry ingredients. Add milk to make the batter. Last add the pumpkin puree and pecan nuts. Do not over mix the batter. Over low- medium heat melt a tablespoon of butter or vegetable oil in a skillet. Once the skillet is hot drop 2 spoons of the mixture for each crumpet. Flip over and cook till golden brown. Once browned and cooked transfer to an oven- proof plate and place in a pre- heated oven at 100 C to keep warm.

Serve with golden syrup, cinnamon and ice- cream.

Food groups incorporated:

Veg: pumpkin
Eggs: Protein

Chicken sandwiches

Have left- over chicken? Why not turn it into a healthy meal for the kids.

What will you need:

2 slices bread of your choice
margarine
Shredded chicken
grated cheese of your choice
sauces of your choice
cottage cheese
shredded lettuce

Mix chicken, lettuce and cheese in a bowl. Add sauces. I used tomato sauce and mayo. Mix well. Butter the outsides of the bread for toasting. Add chicken mixture. Now add blobs of cottage cheese.
Close the sandwich and toast. Enjoy:)

Food groups incorporated:

veg: lettuce
protein: chicken
dairy: cheese/ cottage cheese
grains: bread

Serve a fruit for dessert and you covered all the food groups in just one meal:)

Root vegetable mash

original pic from the MasterChef SA website

Ozzy, one of SA's top 7 MasterChef contestants recently did a pink peppercorn sirloin with a root vegetable mash. He basically took traditional mash to a whole new level. I was so excited to try it out on the kids and just as I thought they loved it!

Here's what you will need:

1 small potato peeled and cubed

1 small sweet potato peeled and cubed

1 small carrot peeled and cut into rounds

Boil all the above veggies together until the potato and sweet potato is soft and mushy. Remove from the stove. Drain out all the water. Mash up the potato and sweet potato. Grate the carrots into the mash. Add about a tablespoon butter and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

I decided to try to incorporate protein also into the mash. I had some left over lamb from the evening before so I shredded it into small pieces and added that also in. You could use any left over protein you have (chicken/ steak/ lamb).

They loved it and didn't even notice that it was different from the usual mash they eat.

Food groups incorporated:

veggies: carrot/ potato/ sweet potato

protein: lamb