'Kitchen garden' recipe

We go through a lot of apples in this kitchen at this time of year. Since I made a more conscious decision to improve my eating, this has meant even more apples disappear from the bowl. I would think a minimum of 5 apples a day, but more likely 8, daily. Yes I know we are supposed to embrace the imperfection of organic apples with their blemishes, and I do - sometimes. The range organic apples here isn't that great, so I mix it up by buying non-organic. Well in truth the mixing is the organic, the range of non-organic is far greater. It's very difficult not to be tempted. Have a look at these Pink Lady Apples:



Aren't they just picture perfect? Gorgeously pink and shiny - begging to be eaten. Is it any wonder we go through so many? Really, I bought enough for the day (about 10) and they all looked like this, a green stem on them too, suggesting they really are relatively freshly picked (for supermarket produce). Cheap as chips too, and local in terms of food miles...or should we be saying 'food kilometers'? Doesn't slip off the tongue as well does it?



Anyway, my own personal dietary intake is not common knowledge in the family. Trying to avoid the children being influenced by any weight obsession issues. They're perfectly healthy weights and eat healthily themselves, so no need to hear me talking KJ's or low fat. The family always find their tums rumbling after swimming. There isn't much that makes them much happier than the aroma of freshly baking muffins when they come through the front door.



Stephanie Alexander has a book titled Kitchen Garden Cooking which I have mentioned previously. It's full of recipes that you can cook with children, and is based on the programme to get kitchen gardens into Australian schools. The recipes, which are mostly savoury, are not what you would think of as 'kid's food'. By that I mean, this is not a book full of gentle, bland and 'safe' recipes.



There is a presumption that children have a palate far more adventurous than some would give them credit. Recipes like 'Baby Beetroot and Blood-Orange Salad', 'Felafel' (filled with cumin, coriander, mint, cayenne and lemons), 'Salad Nicoise with Green and Yellow Beans, Nasturtium Blossoms and Bantam Eggs' and 'Grilled Quail Marinated in Lemon Juice, Olive Oil and Herbs'. These are the sort of recipes some Aussie school children (aged 5 to 12) are cooking up and eating.



The great thing is, the schools are not necessarily in 'posh' areas and they're state (public) schools. Some of the children might otherwise not get a lot of veg in their diet. It's such a great initiative.



Now, none of the above recipes, delicious as they are were going to work for 'second breakfast' at our place though, but there are a few sweet delights that are options. The one I settled on, was from the Autumn section of the book. The 'menu 17' in this section started with a 'Rocket, pear and Walnut Salad', followed by 'Fettuccini with tomato, sausage and fennel sauce' (yes they make their own pasta), 'Potato Cakes with Chive Sour Cream', and then, (and this is where breakfast comes in) Apple and Cinnamon Muffins. Who wouldn't eat any of that delicious menu?



Apple and Cinnamon Muffins



220g self-raising flour

110g castor sugar (1/2 metric cup)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 eating apple

3/4 cup buttermilk*

1 egg

180ml (3/4 metric cup) flavourless oil (I used light olive oil)



*I had hardly any buttermilk left so I used half buttermilk (all there was left) and half fat-free plain yoghurt to no ill-effect.



Preheat oven to 180C. Pop a cupcake case into each of 12 standard muffin holes (otherwise grease the holes with butter).



Combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.



Grate the apple (leave the skin on) and stir this into the dry ingredients.



Whisk together the buttermilk (and yoghurt), egg and oil in a jug.



Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients.



Stir the mixture together until just combined. I prefer to use a silicon spatula for this.



Spoon the mixture into the cases to about two-thirds full.



Put the muffins in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took the full time). Remove from the oven.



Leave the muffins to rest for a few minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool a little.



Makes 12




These are gloriously moist and delicious. Using the ground cinnamon we did ourselves in the mortar recently, I can now see it's best to grind your own, the fragrance is far and away better than bought ground cinnamon. I had always thought buying ground cinnamon was an acceptable substitute, believing it was too difficult to grind this spice myself. Wrong, wrong, wrong.



Perfect 'second breakfast' eating. They were so light and fluffy. I had a taste only - quality control you understand. There are a few left which I have popped in a marked snap-lock bag and hidden in the freezer. No doubt they'll appear in lunchboxes to ensure more smiles.