Why is it always the case that during the school week I have to (sometimes literally) drag the kids out of bed, yet on Sunday – when we can all sleep in – they are up at 5.30am and ready to start the day!?
Yes, as I lay in bed this morning, enjoying what I thought was going to be a little extra snooze time, the all-to-familiar call came through the monitor. Followed by a little patter of feet down the hall. No amount of coaxing could get the girls back to bed, so that was it – our day officially started.
We played games, we ate breakfast (and second breakfast), we read stories, we more than likely annoyed the neighbours when we took the fun outside (sorry), and we even did a little baking. And all before 9.00am.
On the menu? Savoury muffins – made with only 6 ingredients.
Flour, grated cheese, ham, milk, egg and olive oil. Kept very simple on this occasion as I plan to use them in the kids’ lunch boxes this week (and anything ‘green’ or ‘unusual’ is likely to be met with disdain at the moment).
While I measured the ingredients, the girls had fun stirring them and dividing them amongst the cases. Into the oven for 20 minutes, and we soon had ourselves a tasty morning tea.
I love the simplicity of this recipe – but it could easily be jazzed up for more adventurous palates. Some fresh herbs, sundried tomatoes or zucchini would be lovely, or even some olives if you had some on hand.
Oh and the littlest one, in particular, wasted no time in sampling our efforts!
| Servings |
muffins
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- 230 g self raising flour sifted
- 170 g grated cheese
- 100 g ham chopped
- 200 ml Milk
- 1 egg
- 50 ml olive oil
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 200C and line a muffin tray with paper cases.
- Place the sifted flour, 3/4 of the cheese and the ham in a large bowl. Stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and olive oil.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Spoon into the prepared cases and top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
After realising that I can be a bit of a frozen puff-pastry hoarder, I’ve been looking for ways to make sure we use up the packets before they are lost in the depths of our chest freezer. Sausage rolls, in the traditional sense, have been baked in abundance for this reason, and are definitely a ‘go to’ for parties and entertaining. As are my favourite 
And just like that, the Summer holidays have come to a close. School uniforms have been ironed, school and day-care bags have been cleaned, and school lunches are again, inevitably, on my mind.
These were made even easier by using ready-made puff pastry. For all I had to do was top the sheets of pastry (I went with cheesy vegemite and “‘pizza”), roll them, slice and bake.
And while the kids demolished quite a few scrolls straight from the oven, the others were packaged up and placed in the freezer for a quick ‘grab and go’ addition to the lunchbox. My kids don’t mind eating the scrolls cold once thawed, however you can easily re-heat them for 10 minutes or so in the oven if you are wanting a nice after-school treat. 
Growing up, our family had a regular Sunday night ritual. After dinner, Dad would present four chocolates of different varieties to the family, with instructions that we could each choose one. We’d then sit down to some TV time as a family, and noting the era, we probably watched an episode of The Wonder Years, Xena Warrior Princess or, perhaps, Home Improvement.
Day 1: Apple for morning tea, ham and cheese sandwich, cucumber, carrots and sultanas for lunch, and some homemade muesli bars for afternoon tea.
Day 3: Sliced oranges for morning tea, pasta (leftover from dinner the night before), grapes, dried apricots and a few pretzels for lunch, popcorn for afternoon tea.
Day 5: Sliced apple for morning tea, a “monster” cheese sandwich, carrots, cucumber and lamington balls for lunch, and popcorn for afternoon tea.
This week’s healthy lunchbox treat was named by Miss C. For she is a big fan of lamingtons, and declared these little balls to be rather similar to lamingtons when I packed some in her lunchbox.
But, unlike their cake counterparts, these little balls have no butter, sugar or flour. Rather, they are sweetened with medjool dates, and given their chocolate flavour with some cacao powder.
Others I kept ‘plain’…
Kid approved!
After the success of 
They slice nicely too, making them perfect to pack into little lunchboxes, and could easily be jazzed up with the addition of walnuts or the like (if you don’t have any school nut-bans to be mindful of, that is). 
Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I’m keen to get back into the kitchen. To develop new recipes, and generally get creative!
Pressed into a lined tray, and allowed to firm up overnight in the fridge.
The following day, it was simply a matter of slicing the mixture into bars.
The honey also made the bases a little sticky, so I wrapped each bar in some baking paper for ease of transport.
And just like that, my baking mojo has officially returned! Not to mention being able to share some time in the kitchen with Little J.