Toby won't eat it. Just won't. I tried the breakfast muffins detailed below....nope. Even Oscar didn't eat them the day after. So this week in my online shop I bought ingredients to try 4 different breakfast alternatives - 2 muffins and 2 flapjack style breakfast bars.
The shopping arrived tonight at 6.30 so not much time - I did the easiest recipe I found - Granola muffins.
I used Jordan's Superfoods granola with blueberries and strawberries (dried) in it. And Betty Crocker Bisquick as that is what they had at Tesco. I used choc chips and left out the nuts
Here's the recipe...
Ingredients: 2 cups biscuit mix 1 cup granola, your favorite 2 tablespoons honey 1 egg 2/3 cup milk 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or chopped dates 1/4 cup chopped nuts, optional
Preheat oven to 400°. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl; beat with a wooden spoon until well blended, about 30 to 45 seconds. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 12 granola muffins.
It took 5 minutes to measure out and mix, then whacked in the oven! Using the cups is much easier than faffing with scales. And using the bisquick made it easy. They're quite dense - not like the muffins in Starbucks - and they're not too sweet - which is what i wanted as, even with the chocolate chips, I don't want to sugar-rush the boys (especially Oscar) first thing in the morning. I like them - let's see if the boys eat a couple in the morning - I'll let you know!
He's being totally cute and I just have to write these down so I don't forget them.
"I tell you a story. Once upon a time.....there was Me! I lost my present in the water. The end"
"Anuvver story. Once upon a time there was a house. Me was in the house. There was a rooster who ate grass and there was egg. Rooster sat on egg to make it hatch. Look! A hand! Look! A baby hamster"
I went to a lovely open house where some friends and others were selling home-made crafts - I was showing Rob what I'd bought as presents for christmas for friends (not the boys) and Toby was in tears because he didn't have a present. "I is sad" was the wail.....
Argh! My life is bonkers at the moment...Have had so much to do, so many commitments.....
This morning....Oscar wakes up in tears saying his neck hurts. Rob said he felt some glands but now Oscar has his chin glued to his chest, refuses to raise his head and says it hurts too much. He's got a bit of a "honky cough" (his words) and I've no doubt he feels a bit rubbish - but he really is milking it. When he thought I wasn't looking his head pops up to see the telly.....
Because I love him, and I'm a sucker, I'm up to my eyes in grated carrot. I was inspired by my stonecutter chum Annie to make breakfast muffins at some point over the weekend and had made the mistake of telling the boys about it- Oz and Toby are rubbish at eating breakfast and Annie came up with this fab recipe and I thought it was a great idea - cake for breakfast!
Now I'm not a great cook and also a lot of Annie's ingredients were complicated (flax seed meal?) and not the sort of thing I have in my cupboards. I found this one instead on the Waitrose website and we happened to have everything in the house....
300g plain wholemeal flour 50g rolled porridge oats, plus extra for decoration 3 heaped tsp baking powder ½ tsp mixed spice ½ tsp ground cinnamon 100g raisins 100g dried apricots, chopped 50g pecans, chopped 50g caster sugar 100ml sunflower oil 150ml natural yogurt 150ml milk 1 medium egg, beaten 2 medium bananas, mashed 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 small apples, grated 1 medium carrot (100g peeled weight), coarsely gratedPreheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5.
Lightly oil a non-stick muffin pan with 12 large cups (or two six-cup pans). Combine the first nine ingredients (the dry ingredients) in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the remaining (wet) ingredients well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon into the prepared pans.Sprinkle with oats and bake for 20 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then cool on a rack. Eat when still warm.
You can prepare the dry and wet ingredients the night before. Combine the two in the morning and you'll have a fresh-baked breakfast.
So, before I even had a cup of tea this morning, I was grating apples and carrots and combining ingredients. They are in the oven now. I can smell them and they smell lush.....
Oz is coughing, Toby is whining.....hurry up cakes!!!
It's been so long since I've posted...time seems to be on speed at the moment - I can't work out where November went......
I've stretched myself a bit thin this month - Governor and PTA school stuff has eaten my life! I've been doing training at weekends, meetings in evenings, meetings inbetween work and picking up boys......a bit TOO much in a way - I'm hoping it will die down....
Rob has had to work late most evenings in the past two weeks and the evenings he wasn't, I seemed to be out. I haven't even watched House this week!
We had some stuff to deal with too that I'm not quite ready to blog about but am processing - all fine but just a bit of a headfuck.
Toby was in A&E with croup - ambulance and everything - he really couldn't breathe and it was all a bit scary but he's fine now - just got a horrid cough....
Fine. It's a word I keep writing. A few weeks ago I remember thinking how content I was with my life - how things seemed to be settling down with the boys, how Rob and I were happy and reconnected.....and then look what happened - topsy turvy again. It's not bad at the moment - just chaotic.
I have a great analogy I have always used - rowboat moments. Most of the time I feel like the QE2 - blazing through the sea, twinkly lights, big bold ship - no idea where I'm going but forging on ahead....then suddenly I'll find myself in a leaky rowboat with one oar in the middle of the ocean with no idea what to do.....
It took me years to admit I had rowboat moments - I used to pretend everything was wonderful all the time and not allow myself to have weak spots. Now I freely admit it, even plaster it all over the worldwide web when I'm having a crap day.
This doesn't feel like a rowboat moment. I'm still a big ship, I've just lost my compass and there's stormy weather around. I'm sure I'll sail through it but it won't be easy.
Ok I'm analogising myself a little bit too much now. I'm just trying to explain whilst still keeping a bit of privacy.....(why am I writing a blog again?)
Enough. On the upside....I'm getting all Christmassy. I bloody love Christmas and I love that Toby will really get it this year. We're going to Selfridges to see Santa, going to pantomimes and I've been online shopping and have got some fab presents for the boys. My sister is coming over to England for February Half Term which will be fab. My lovely bestest mate Moxie is about to pop her third baby into the world - any day now - and I can't wait to meet him/her.....
Things could be a hell of a lot worse. Some things could be better. ...can't say it any better than this:
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 12 granola muffins.
