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Mum, Banana Muffins and tea bags

Iv had a great weekend so far, my mum came for an over night visit on Saturday.  Was great catching up with her and thankfully I was able to empty the bottom drawer of my freezer of her baked goodies.  As a fellow baker, my mum is chief taste tester.  If my mum enjoys my dairy free recipes, then I know I'm onto a winner. 

I think it's important for non dairy eaters to be able to share the same food as full dairy eaters. It's more sociable and a lot less stress.

My mum lives nearer the north of Scotland so I haven't seen her for a couple of months.  (We keep in touch by texting and blethering on the phone often)   You can bake a lot in 2 months, which is why when I waved her goodbye this morning she left with the following.

- Lemon Loaf cake
- Banana, coconut & chocolate chip whoopee cushions
- Spiced parsnip cake
- Blueberry Muffins  - Taste test approved
- Chocolate Orange cake
- Chai Tea loaf  - Taste test approved
- Bake well inspired cup cake

She left me with 3 very ripe banana's that just begged to be make into Muffins. One of my and my mum's  favourite recipes,  are for these  from the Mary McCartney Food: Vegetarian home cooking. 


I found this one in the local library.  I love reading cook books and be honest?  Who likes every recipe in a cook book. This way I research cooking methods and get inspiration.  It's also a great way of oven testing a cook book before you buy.

While this cook book isn't dairy free, it is easy for many of the recipes to be made that way by using substitutes.  In the Banana Muffin recipe, I swap Soy yogurt for normal and use flax seed as an egg substitute.  It's also a great base recipe, today I added chopped dates and sprinkled the tops with non dairy chocolate chips. 

Tea bags: 

I'm not great in busy supermarkets, but then who is.  People standing blocking isles, driving jams that lead to trolley rage and then there's the music!!!!  Which is why I tend to occasionally pick up the wrong thing to buy.  This time i mixed up my Peppermint tea for Green tea, which I don't drink.  I know because Iv already made the same mistake last month and gave it a try. I now have 2 boxes of green tea!!! 

Since my Chai tea loaf recipe has been passed my mum's official taste test, I'm thinking of giving the green tea a try next.  This then led to a totally andom conversation about my Granny who used to throw her old tea bags into her garden to give the soil a boost.  She also threw in her egg shells, which act as a slug deterrent. Who Knew!!! 

 It was just to good a tip not to pass on.  If it was good enough for my Granny it's good enough for me xxx



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