Citrus Yoghurt Muffins

Well, I haven't managed to add any of the other recipes I promised, but I have found another one, which is one of our favourites.  These muffins will not hang around for long once they are made, they are gorgeous!

These low fat, delicious moist muffins are a great gluten free treat. They can be made dairy free by using soy yoghurt instead of the fat free dairy yoghurt.

• 200g Gluten free plain flour
• 175g Soft Brown Sugar
• 225ml Fat free plain yoghurt or soy yoghurt
• 115ml Sunflower oil
• Zest and juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 tbsp Orange Zest
• 1 tbsp Lime zest
• 1 tbsp gluten free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon xantham gum
• 1 Egg (beaten)

Makes 8 large or 12 medium muffins.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ Gas mark 6

Mix the flour, sugar, citrus zests, baking powder, xantham gum and salt together in a bowl until they are well combine. In another bowl beat the yoghurt, oil, lemon juice and egg together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently together until combined. Don't worry if the mixture is lumpy.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cases and bake in the oven for 18-20mins. Once golden brown, remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Variations: Sprinkle the tops with sugar and citrus zest before baking for a gorgeous crispy top.

Hobbies 2

More Cakes:

A few more of my hobby cakes, passes the time x

Hobbies

With J's coeliac disease I have discovered a dormant passion for baking which has meant I now make birthday cakes for friends with intolerances.  I made a haunted castle for F's birthday, which was a few days after New Baby arrived, so it wasn't great but I am still pleased with it.  I have a good recipe for gluten and dairy free sponge which also makes great cakes for decorating, so I will dig it out and add it to the blog, hopefully tomorrow, but as it is May bank holiday we are attempting to head off for some washed out festivities!

Relaxing

Am risking a little drop of pear cider and hoping that New Baby won't need feeding for maybe an hour or so, and putting my feet up in front of crap saturday night tv.  Before New Baby arrived I can't remember the last time I sat and watched all this junk, but since Rob had his paternity leave I am becoming quite partial to it.  Today I have managed to eat about 20 of the biscuits I made earlier, which on reflection might have been a mistake, as I think any post-baby weight loss may have been made up for today.  Have had 5 children in the house today, which has been lovely but quite tiring, tiring enough for the boys to fall asleep straight away this evening, hooray.  Tomorrow, there will be 6 perhaps more demanding children here, so perhaps we will all be asleep by 6.30.  I even managed to make gluten-free garlic bread to go with the pasta for tea, so am feeling very super mum-ish, but am sure I will regret all the hecticness tomorrow when we have to do it all again, and I am knackered, Rob is knackered after his week at work and I am nagging him to walk the dog before everyone arrives.  Looking forward to it already.

Global vaccinations programme

Please follow this link to sign the petition to get vaccinations fully funded for the world's poorest children

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/4-million.htm

Pass it on to everyone you know and ask them to sign it too.
Thank you.

The War on Breastfeeding

http://politicsrespun.org/2011/05/nestles-war-on-breastfeeding-mothers-takes-shameful-new-turn/

If you are interested in the Politics of breastfeeding this article might be of interest.  And check out the reaction of the masses at this facebook page, makes very interesting reading

http://www.facebook.com/Nestle/posts/125662994179631

If you want to comment you have to like this page, but you can 'unlike' as soon as you have commented.

Eating out with a coeliac/ fussy eater/ Vegetarian and Diabetic-What fun

We have always loved to eat out, finding places with nice things for me was alaways a bit of a pain as I am vegetarian, so we always tended to go for chinese or indian restaurants, but now we have the extra element of eating out with a fussy child with coeliac disease we have to be more creative.  We have a number of things we do to try and make sure that everyone is catered for.
1.  We always take gluten free rolls and snacks for J so if we are really stuck we have something to fall back on.
2.  We try and check the menu before we go, lots of pubs and restaurants now have their menus online, so you can have a look before you go and make sure there is something to suit everyone.
3.  If the menu is not online phone ahead and ask if they can cater for coeliacs.
4.  Take your own- we have gone to several restaurants, including Ask and Pizza Express and taken our own pizza bases for them to top, or pasta to be reheated.  The only problem with this can be cross contamination from the flour in the kitchen.  Pizza Express did not even charge us for topping the gluten free base.
5.  Mashed potato is a good alturnative to chips or a baked potato if it is made from real potatoes and is not instant.  Luckily it is J's favourite.

I'm sure there are lots of other things, maybe other people can let me know what they do, or good places to eat.  This list will continue to be updated.

Carrot Cake Muffins with Zesty Lime Icing

J and mine's favourite muffins.  Can also be made in a loaf tin, or cake tin for a gorgeous treat.  And they are gluten and dairy free, hooray!

Make 8 large or 12 medium muffins.

•  250Mls Sunflower Oil
•  250g light brown soft sugar
•  5 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic, separated
•  zest and juice of 1 large orange
•  170g Rice Flour or any gluten free flour mix., sifted 
•  3 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder
 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon 
•  a pinch of ground nutmeg
•  ½ teaspoon ground ginger
•  250g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 1 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• A pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.  Line a twelve hole muffin tray with eight or twelve large muffin cases, depending on the size of muffin you prefer. Beat the vegetable oil and sugar together by hand or in a food processor until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the orange zest and juice. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and xanthan gum, and add the spices and grated carrot and mix together well.

 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix. Scoop the mixture into the prepared muffin case, sharing evenly between them.  Cook in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden and risen. You can check to see if the muffins are cooked by poking a cocktail stick into one. Remove it after 5 seconds and it if comes out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky it needs a bit longer, so put the muffins back in the oven.Once cooked, remove the muffins from the tin, and leave to cool on a rack  for at least an hour.

 

Choose which sort of icing you prefer: sugar, or butter.

 

For the Sugar icing:

 

150g Icing Sugar

Teaspoon of warm water, or as much as needed for the required consistancy

Zest of 1 lime

 

Mix the ingredients, then use to decorate the muffins once cooled.

For the butter icing:

100g Pure or other dairy free spread

100g Icing sugar

Zest of 1 Lime

 

Mix ingredients and use to decorate muffins.

 

Sprinkle the decorated muffins with cinnamon.

Gluten free shopping.

As J is sill fairly new to this gluten free lark, we are still experimenting with finding alternatives to the things he really loved.  We have found sainsburys is pretty good, but weren't able to find tortillas anywhere, which he kept asking for, until now.  All the shop bought ones are made with corn and wheat flour.  The Mex Grocer has packs of 30 small gluten free tortillas for £2.95.  I ordered mine at about 4pm yesterday, and they arrived this morning- fab, looks like mexican for tea tonight, yeah!

http://www.mexgrocer.co.uk/ Pay them a visit.

New Baby Flashbacks

Just caught a glimpse of new baby fast asleep in his bouncer chair, and the likeness to our eldest J took my breath away.  For the first time I have had the 'falling in love with new baby' experience.  With J it lasted for four days before it was taken away, and even then it was tainted because he wouldn't feed and we knew that there was something wrong.  Having a new baby in hospital, especially your first, can be a really overwhelming experience.  As a parent you have to hand much of your control over to the medical staff caring for your baby.  Having to ask to hold your baby, and needing to have help to get them out of the incubator, to manage the tubes and monitors the baby may be attached to, for me took away any feeling that he was our child.  Despite this, Rob and I tried really hard to build a special relationship with him, and I think that has lasted.  With F, we were still so raw from months in hospital with J that it took a long time to relax into being a new mum, but with new baby we have made up for all those experiences we felt we had missed.  Poor J had another blood test this morning, and was very brave.  We have been practising slow breathing to help him relax while he is having it done, which he is very good at, a future yoga master maybe, but when it came to having the blood test he was so scared he forgot all about it, and had to rely on a play specialist blowing bubbles at a cuddly toy for distraction.  It didn't work.  With things like that it brings back all the feelings we had when he was a baby, desperately wanting to protect him, but having to give in to the medical way of doing things.

More gluten and dairy free treats-Peanut butter and banana muffins

These gorgeous gluten and dairy free muffins are a lovely treat for breakfast, or any other time of the day!

Make 12 medium muffins.

230g Gluten free self raising flour

225mls Sunflower oil

200g Sugar

300g Ripe mashed banana

4 Tbsp Peanut Butter

1 tsp Gluten free baking powder

4 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Xanthan gum

Heat the oven to 200Degrees C.  Line a twelve hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

Mix the sunflower oil, sugar and eggs together until well combined.  Add the vanilla, peanut butter and mashed banana.  Sieve the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and xanthan gum together.  Once combined add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix gently.  Do not overmix, the batter will look lumpy, but it is supposed to.  Spoon the mix into the prepared muffin cases and place in the oven.  Cook for 18-20 mins until golden brown.  Once cooked, remove from the oven and cool on a cake rack, or eat warm.  Do not leave in the tray to cool or they will go soggy.

For extra special muffins top with candied peanuts before baking.  I will add a recipe for these soon.

National Breastfeeding Awareness Week is dropped

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/campaigners-livid-as-whitehall-axes-breastfeeding-week-2287445.html

It is such a shame that this is not going ahead this year, increasing pressure on local support groups, most of whom have also had funding slashed or withdrawn completely.  Although this article is supportive, the opening sentence, that health professionals like to drum the message about the advantages of breastfeeding 'into exhausted mother's brains', hardlyextols the virtues, but puts everyone in mind of the 'breastfeeding nazis',  the label given by some to anyone who is pro-breastfeeding.  Forget the scientific research that puts
the health benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby far above anything that money or lifestyle can give you, forget the 'dangers' of formula, the increasing allergy rate in children and the ballooning obesity epidemic that is sweeping across the western world.  These problems will not disappear unless breastfeeding is put firmly on the government 's agenda, not the wishy washy half hearted attempts at promotion that they have used in the past, but proper funding for local support for mothers, up to date training for health professional across the board, and programmes in schools that put breastfeeding in a positive light for girls and boys.  Without this the rates will never increase, and the health problems our country is experiencing now will only ever increase.  Another own goal for the Cameron/Clegg Government.

Gluten and Dairy Free Indulgent Chocolate Muffins

These muffins are really gorgeous, and great for a special treat, add icing and decorations for celebration or birthday cakes
Makes 12 standard or 8 large muffins

200g Gluten Free self raising flour/ rice flour (Using the blended flour rather than rice flour gives you a softer lighter cake)
200g soft brown sugar
120g Pure Sunflower Spread/dairy free spread or 120 mls sunflower oil
200g Dairy free chocolate, chopped
4 tbsp quality cocoa powder
2 eggs
150ml rice milk
Optional:
'butter' icing for decorating-
100g dairy free spread
50g icing sugar
50g Extra cocoa powder

Line a muffin tray with 8 or 12 muffin cases, depending on the size you are making. Preheat the oven to 180c. Add the flour, cocoa butter and caster sugar to a large mixing bowl and mix together. Cut the butter replacement into cubes and then add to the flour mixture. Rub together with your fingertips until you have a breadcrumb consistency.
Mix in the eggs and rice milk and beat together until smooth. Add the chopped chocolate and stir in gently. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, levelling the tops and leaving a little room at the top for each muffin to rise. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes until risen. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool before serving.
If you are decorating the muffin, mix the ingredients for the butter icing together, and pipe on top of each muffin. Decorate with sugar stars and sprinkles for an extra special treat.

New Website to check out

An interesting new website to have a look at, there are forums, information pages and articles, you might just come across something you didn't know:

http://www.coeliacsmatter.com/index.html

See what you think.

Waking up

Quote of the day from our eldest, when talking to a mum in the playground  'When our baby wakes up, he wakes up like a cockerel'. 

Bed Time

The boys actually went to bed without a fuss tonight, leaving me wondering what I should do for the next hours, as I didn't have to run up and down the stairs shouting and feeling like a wicked witch.  I even managed to get the bath done in record time and J got to read his school book too.  I would still prefer not to feel like I am a single mother, and for R to be here in the evenings instead of slaving over a hot stove.

Earth Mother

I realise I may be turning into what can only be termed an earth mother as i sit at the kitchen table helping a four year old make biscuits, with one boob hanging out, while i try and feed new baby, roll dough and tidy, all at the same time.  F doesn't seem very bothered by it, but i'm sure the people going past the end of our garden on a bus would find it interesting if they happened to look in our kitchen window.  We are now 2 and a half weeks in to the new routine with new baby, although routine gives our lives an image of organisation that they really don't have, I have survived 3 nights with the mother in law who invited herself to stay and sat around smoking fags and drinking red wine while poor hubby who was supposed to be bonding with his new family had to rush around after her like a blue arsed fly.  We are settling down quite nicely, and I am even managing to type this one handed, while feeding new baby, which may explain the erractic use of capital letters.