Let's bake muffins

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are doing well. 

During the Covid lockdown in early 2020, my husband started baking muffins once every couple of weeks. There are lots of recipes on the net. I thought I might share with you the one he uses. They freeze well and you can heat them up in the microwave for breakfast - but I suggest you take them out the night before. 

This recipe came from Bake Play Smile.com/savoury-muffins

Prep time: 5 minutes    Cook time: 15 minutes    Makes: approx 9

Ingredients

300 g (2 cups) self-raising flour
40 g (½ cup) cheese grated
1 tbs chives chopped, fresh or dried
125 g butter melted
250 g (1cup) milk full fat
1 egg lightly beaten
100 g ham chopped
125 g corn kernels drained, or thawed (optional)                                  salt and pepper, to taste

        You could use grated carrot in place of bacon or instead of cheese and bacon use grated apple, chopped dates or sultanas. 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Place paper cases into a 12 hole muffin tin, spray with a little oil, and set aside. 

Sift the self-raising flour into a large bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and gently fold through with a metal spoon until just combined. 

Divide the mixture between the muffin holes, filling cases ⅔rd's full, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. 

Allow to cool in the baking tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

The other day we found this recipe for pumpkin muffins

2 cups SR flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon nutmeg – or use 1 teaspon mixed spice
½ teaspoon bi-carb soda
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup milk
½ tablespoon oil
1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin
1 egg

Alternatives – sultanas or other dried fruit or grated apple

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients. Bake 190C for about 20 minutes

And you can find the recipe for these herbie scones over on my blog post here - Winter Warmers - Minestrone soup and herb scones

Thank you so much for stopping by. Do you like muffins? Do you have a favourite recipe?

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Saturdays Critters - Viewing Nature With Eileen

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Lemons lemons lemons

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are all doing well. I thought spring had arrived but now we seem to be back into winter. 

I have loads of lemons on our backyard lemon tree, and it has started flowering again, so I picked a few yesterday to make Lemon Butter and a sweet French Marmalade. It didn't seem to make much difference to what was left on the tree. I need to start giving them away. It was a wet dreary day yesterday, perfect for a morning in the kitchen. 

I have blogged about the Lemon Butter making a couple of times before - if you click here you will find see more: Lemon butter

Here is the recipe: 

• Juice of 4 lemons and finely grated rind of three
• 500gm (1 lb) white sugar
• 250gm (1/2 lb) butter
• 4 eggs, well beaten together. Make sure they are well beaten so you don't get strands of white in your mixture. 
• 
  
• Place all in a large bowl stranding in a pan of boiling water on the stove. Stir constantly until the consistency of honey, but do not allow to boil. This takes about half an hour. 

Bottle and keep in fridge. Delicious on scones! or slathered on a sponge with cream. 

I also made French marmalade out of my old Australian Country Women's Association Cookery Book and Household Hints. This marmalade is a sweet marmalade made from carrots, lemons and sugar, and is so easy to make. 

3 large carrots - I always find this a difficult measurement - how much is 3 large carrots?

2 1/2 kg (5 lb) white sugar

4 lemons

8 cups water. 

Grate the carrots. Cut the lemons into quarters and dig out the seeds. Put through a mincer, including the peel. Mix the carrots and lemons together and leave in a basin overnight with half the water - 4 cups. 

In the morning add the rest of the water, and boil for half an hour. Then add sugar and cook for about 2 1/2 hours. Bottle immediately in hot jars. 

Note: This marmalade still seems very liquid when it starts to set, so please test as you go so as not to overcook. I just spoon a small amount onto a saucer and put in the fridge for a few minutes. If it doesn't move around on the saucer when cold it is ready. 

My friend in Malta made this recipe with half lemons and half oranges. She said it was delicious too. 

This is an old favourite photo of mine I created for a special friend on the other side of the world one morning a few years ago. I couldn't resist sharing again. Sharing a cup of coffee or tea with a friend doesn't need to be complicated. 

While the French marmalade was bubbling away I also made a batch of muffins from a packet I bought when we were out in the wheatbelt recently. These are gluten free made from lupin flour. They were nice, but a bit heavier and grainer texture than the muffins we usually make with normal self-raising flour. 

My quince tree has an amazing number of flowers on it this year for such a small tree. I love quinces. Do you? So delicious. I am already looking forward to quince season - but I will have to wait till around March-April! We always net the tree to keep the birds off. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. Do you make jam? Do you have a favourite? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Stay safe and have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

ps: what else is yellow right now? Wattle is everywhere! 
   
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Sharon's Sovenirs 
Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday
The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

Daily photo project

Hi everyone, how are you going in these stressful anxious tragic times. I can hardly believe what is happening daily hourly in our world at the moment. Like a friend said to me the other day..."I just want to wake up and find it was all a bad dream".
Unfortunately I don't think that is going to happen. 

Much has changed here in the last week. I am afraid I was a bit blaze about it a few weeks ago, but reality has hit. 

 Australia closed its external borders, its internal borders between states and now our state Western Australia, has created internal regional borders across which we cannot cross. The South West is our corner of the world. It is a beautiful corner to be isolated in, but they are encouraging us to stay at home and not travel at all and caravan parks and hotels are closing. We can't go to our capital, Perth, but I don't want to go there anyway, because the majority of cases are there.  

In Perth they have had to accept virus cases from several cruise ships which is imposing pressure on our health system. But I guess the other side of the coin is, if my son or daughter were overseas and sick, I would want that country to help them.

 Restrictions have been imposed to limit only 2 people in a gathering, cafes have been restricted to take away only, gyms, libraries and art galleries have closed, many businesses are shutting their doors and the unemployment queues get longer by the day.  Only essential travel is allowed - ie to buy groceries or medicine. Schools are still open but many parents are choosing to home school.  School holidays will be starting in a couple of weeks. Teachers and schools are scrambling to provide on-line classes. We have decided to keep our son home for the duration from the sheltered workshop where he works. He is stressed about all that is happening.

I am trying to stay positive for my son and my husband, and trying to keep connected with family and friends, and let them know I am here for them on the end of the phone if they need to talk. It seems like I am using Facebook much more than ever, but I am grateful for the connections I can make through this social media. 

There are lots of jokes and music videos out there to try and lighten the mood. Here is a little video for you for those who like The Sound of Music... though I am not sure they are practising social distancing....

Here is the continuation of my daily photo project...
there is so much to be grateful for in this isolation slow down world - I think we needed the reminder to remember what is most important to us. 

Monday - 23 March 2020 - sunny daisies in my garden, seem to bloom on and off all year. They are such a happy colour. 

 Tuesday - 24 March 2020 - view from my pre-op waiting bed. 
Last September I broke my ankle, which subsequently healed after 6 weeks in a moon boot.  In February they discovered through an MRI that I had 2 torn ligaments in my ankle requiring surgery. It was really a toss of a coin whether I would get in for my operation before they closed the hospital operating theatres. On Monday they rang and asked if I could be there by lunchtime Tuesday. I was very lucky as they closed the operating theatres the next day. I feel so grateful as otherwise I probably would have had to wait 6 months.  A huge thank you to my surgeon, pre-op and post-op nursing staff - they were amazing. 

  
Wednesday - 25 March 2020 - in my hospital room before I came home. My leg will be in plaster for 2 weeks, resting at this angle, and then another 4 weeks in a moon boot.

 Have you seen one of these scooter things - I am not allowed to put my foot down, so on this thing you kneel on the padded part and push yourself around with your other foot. It works well and much better than me teetering around on crutches right now. It even has a little basket to carry my bits and pieces - book, phone, water bottle etc in.  And my husband has made a ramp so I can get outside. Our bathroom looks like a grannies bathroom with camode chair, shower chair and hand rails everywhere. :)

Thursday - 26 March 2020 - my husband has been cooking muffins the last month or so. Delicious for breakfast. These are cheese bacon and chives. 

Friday - 27 March 2020 - getting some online castanet tuition. I certainly need to practise and now I have time to do it and drive my family and neighbours crazy!  
Once I get out of this plaster and moon boot I can take advantage of the exercise videos out there. 

 Saturday - 28 March 2020 - a little take on the great toilet roll debarkle and social distancing... 

 Sunday - 29 March 2020 - playing with rotating my camera in my garden to see what I can get. 

 And a bonus shot - Saturday 28 March 2020 - the beautiful moon flower in my garden.  Each flower only flowers one night. You can tell in the afternoon which ones might open, but if you forget to go and look after dark, you will miss them, as by the morning they will be closed up again. My husband held the torch for me so I could take some photos. 
They have a very strong perfume to attract insects. 
I've blogged about them before here - Her beauty only lasts one night

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you are doing ok and staying well. Perhaps you would like to share in your comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.