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Knitting, Soup & Savoury Muffins

As much as I love the warmth of spring and summer, there’s something about the autumn light and the urge to wrap up, nest, and make warm, hearty food that makes me wonder whether I should really choose autumn as my favourite season.

The weather cooled all of the sudden just a week or so ago. Before that, luckily while my parents were visiting, we had some 20-degree days where it was warm enough to want to swim and perfect for picnics. Then the next day, just like that, it was 3 degrees. Almost overnight the leaves on the trees turned and the last courgette and tomato plants withered in the veggie patch.

The contrast between being in and out of the sun at this time of year is stark. On those 20-degree days it was glorious outside. The house we rent doesn’t have a garden. The garden is there but is owned by a neighbour and no longer connected to the house. We have permission to use it, which is great, but it means going out of the front door, onto the road, and around through the gate at the side. Also, not having direct access means there are no doors onto it and since that’s where the sun is, as soon a the sun starts to dip in the sky, this East-West facing house becomes cold inside. I’d say on the days with warm sun and cool air there can be a 10-degree difference between inside and out. Over the years that adds up to a lot of extra wood being burned!

With the cool air, the crunch of leaves underfoot, and a sewing room that is open to outside via an uninsulated storage room (grange) on the ground floor below, my mind has made the mental switch in to hibernation mode. At lunchtimes I’m craving soup over salad. On cool days I think of knitting woolly hats and socks rather than sewing summer dresses.

The only trouble is the two smalls rarely eat the soups I make. To my amazement both the recipes below got the seal of approval from DD, which is why I thought I’d better make a permanent record of them pronto! DS did all but throw his on the floor in protest. Oh well. It’s going to a long winter for him if he refuses to eat soup!

The savoury muffins recipe is thrown in at the end because it was also a bit of a hit. If you try and of these or have your own variations, let me know in the comments! Next time I make something I’ll try to add some pics.

Recipes

https://aleapintothevoid.com/recipe/squash-pumpkin-lentil-soup/

Cheesy Green Soup

Inspired after bumping into my neighbour, who was coming in from the garden with a basket of freshly picked leaves, I thought I’d try this soup on everyone at lunch time. To my surprise it was a success, measured by DD saying, “Well done, you cooked the right dinner, Mummy,” and eating it all up!

Ingredients

A good handful of young and small mallow (mauve) leaves
1 leek
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium-sized potato
1 cup of spinach (I used chopped frozen spinach, as it needed using up!)
50g of blue cheese
1 onion
A handful of fresh parsley
1 stock cube (I usually use chicken but for a veggie version just use a meat-free one.)

Method

  1. Chop all the veg.
  2. Saute the onions and garlic in a deep pan until translucent.
  3. Add the leeks and cook until softened, stirring often.
  4. Add the greens and stir to cook through.
  5. Add enough water to cover all the veg, then stir in the stock cube.
  6. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer.
  7. When all the veg is softened, add the parsley and stir to cook through.
  8. Whizz up with a blender.
  9. Add salt and pepper to taste (mine didn’t need salt because the stock cube was salty enough).

Breakfast Muffins (Bacon and Mushroom)

This one came about one morning when we realised we had run out of pretty much everything, in particular our usual breakfast of either pancakes or porridge.

I used this recipe from The Worktop for the base, with a few tweaks because, of course, I did’t have everything I needed. These came out well but the smalls didn’t like them. More for me and James then!

The great thing about muffins is the will freeze well, much like scones, so any leftovers can be stored for another time. I used to do this all the time when DD was small as muffins were a baby-led weaning favourite of ours but I don’t think I’ve made them once since DS was born. But now they’re definitely back on the menu. I just have to find a good combo that DS and DD will eat.

Ingredients

Muffin base
1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour (also called golden wholegrain flour)
3/4 cup oatmeal
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 medium egg (it should have been two but I only had one, so I added extra milk and a squirt of mustard mayo)
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup oil

Filling
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 packet of lardons (back bacon would be better but it’s impossible to buy in France)
1 clove of garlic (it’s that time of year – garlic in everything!)

Method

  1. Set the oven to 190 degrees.
  2. Saute the mushrooms in oil until the start to soften.
  3. Add the garlic and lardons. Stir until the lardons are cooked through then turn off the heat and allow to cool.
  4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  5. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl.
  6. Stir the bacon and mushroom mixture into the flour etc in the large bowl.
  7. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.
  8. Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tray.
  9. Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes. They’re ready when a skewer or tooth pick comes out clean.
  10. Allow to cool a little or eat straight away.
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