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My Mum is just back from visiting family in Chicago.  Aside from bring back lots of photos, some treats for Annika and herself, she also came home raving about her visit with Cousin Donna and the delish muffins that they’d had every morning.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love warm, homemade muffins as much as the next person, but she really was RAVING!  So when I asked her to tell me what, specifically was so special she shared the following.  We tried them over the weekend and they are fantastic, I hope that you enjoy them too!!  Spring is often good for getting into some more entertaining, so keep these on standby and you can’t go wrong.

Enjoy!

This wonderful batter may be kept in a covered container in the fridge for up to 6 weeks, great to use for the family or guests over that time and you have fresh muffins, just out of the oven, every morning or for a special treat, what a find for the busy mummy.

• 1 425g box of sultana bran
• 1 cup oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 beaten eggs
• 4 cups buttermilk
• 5 cups plain flour
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp vanilla

 Bake at 180 degrees C.

Mix bran, sugar, flour, salt and soda in a large bowl, add eggs, oil and butter milk and mix well.  Fill paper cups in muffin tins and bake until brown.

This are just yummy and will impress!

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Check out the August/September edition of Mothers

Matter Magazine…..

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I recently came across this business and wanted to share it with you.  A mother and daughter team who create beautiful jewellery with inspiring messages.  You can either pick one of their messages or create your own. 

The idea for the business came about when Filomena was going through a tough time and created herself a ring with a positive affirmation ‘I can do it’.  Eventually her daughter Natalia joined her and they now work together.  Quite aside from being passionate about family and supporting small business, their jewellery is really beautiful.  Check them out at http://www.madetoinspire.com.au

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This is another that Mum made for us recently when my husband was away travelling for work.  It not only made juggling Annika, the business and house heaps easier but was soooooo tasty.  I ate it the first night and was going to have takeaway with my girlfriend Glenys the second night, but we ended up eating this again.  Its a smidge similar to our fruity chicken korma curry in that it combines chicken with fresh apple.  So in the spirit of being truthful, I haven’t made this one myself, but I can certainly attest to the taste, and Mum says that its easy!

I hope that you enjoy this and the fact that we’ve only got less than three official weeks of winter left. 

• 1 kg chicken pieces
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 rashers bacon, diced
• Butter
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 apples cored and cut up
• 2 cups unsweetened apple juice
• 2 tbsp cream

Dust chicken with some flour and then brown it along with the bacon in butter.  Remove.  Sauté onion, celery and apple until soft, sprinkle in remaining flour and cook for 5 minutes.  Add juice, bring to the boil and return chicken and simmer gently for 45 minutes. 

Before serving, stir in cream.

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My Mum shared this with me, and its REALLY good!  This has become a bit of a weekend favourite in our house, its both indulgent and kinda healthy all at the same time.  My little treasure enjoys it as well so all the better!!

Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend.

Ingredients for Healthy Breaky muffins:

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• ¼-1/2 cup chopped dates, figs or prunes
• ¼ cup nuts and seeds
• 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• Grated orange peel
• Wholemeal bread or English Muffins

 Mix cheese spread ingredients together.  

Spread on bread.  Place on baking sheet and grill until bubbly, easy peasy!

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 My friend Georgie sent this to me, her mum has been quite unwell of late and I thought that it was cute, so I’m passing it on.
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions: 

Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the sticky tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mum just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mum?
1. We’re related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s Mums like me.

What kind of little girl was your Mum?
1. My Mum has always been my Mum and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mum need to know about Dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mum marry your Dad?
1. My Dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mum eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My Grandma says that Mum didn’t have her thinking cap on.

Who’s the boss at your house?
1. Mum doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because Dad’s such an idiot.
2. Mum. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mum is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.

What’s the difference between Mums & Dads?
1. Mums work at work and work at home and Dads just go to work at work.
2. Mums know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Mums have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s.
4. Mums have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mum do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don’t have spare time.
2. To hear her talk, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mum perfect?
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. You know, her hair. I’d die it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mum, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my Mum smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3…. I would like her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head. 

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My friend Ruth, who now lives in London, just sent me this link.  If you need a little amusement in your life today, check it out, purely for fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogWem5F4bLs

Speaking of which, I read a quote the other day that said that everyday you should do something that makes your heart sing, and I wanted to share that.  I think that it’s so easy to get caught up in life being busy - so I’m going to try and live this one.  Have a great day!

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Last week my Mum became the first female president of the Euroa Rotary Club, which is a pretty great achievement in a number of ways I think!  Though she doesn’t appreciate it when we hum ‘Hail to The Chief’ which is played pretty much everywhere the US President goes (and Mum is American, so you’d think that she would appreciate our humour), nor does she take us up on our offer to make bumper stickers promoting her as candidate…. 

Anyway, I digress, this week’s taste comes from the courtesy of the new president and the July Edition of Rotary Down Under Magazine.

• 1kg stewing beef cut into cubes
• 2tbs olive oil and a knob of butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 16 whole shallots
• ½ L beef or chicken stock
• 3 tabs red wine vinegar
• 1tb balsamic vinegar
• 8 juniper berries, crushed
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• ½ chilli finely dices (optional)
• Salt and pepper
• 8 small, uncooked beetroots, peeled and halved
• 2 tbsp crème fraiche
• 2 tbs mustard
• 3 tbs horseradish cream
• 1 tbs  flour mixed with 1 tbsp butter (optional)

Preheat oven to 160C. 

Place the olive oil and butter over a high heat in a heavy, flameproof casserole dish.  Brown the beef all over, remove and set aside. 

Reduce the heat, sir in the shallots, garlic and chilli and cook until the shallots are softened.  Pour in the wine vinegar, stock and balsamic, raise the heat and bring it to the boil.  Stir in the spices and sugar, then add the meat and beetroot, season well with s & P.  Cover the casserole and put it in the oven for 1.5-2 hours.  Bring the casserole out and let it rest, skim off the fat if there is any.  If the sauce is a little thin, thicken with a mixture of half flour and butter, then mix together crème fraiche, mustard and horseradish.  Stir into the casserole before serving.  Enjoy!!

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I just discovered a great website for Mammas and babies  http://babyuniverse.com.au , or in their words Baby Universe is an Australian based website created to help parents search for all things baby!
Great articles, competitions and product reviews.

There is a fun competition on there at the moment, which I’m going to enter - its the Stylish Baby Bjorn Daddy Competition - they’re currently requesting photos….

Certainly worth checking out!

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