Saturday, October 18, 2008

A Bare, Pregnant Foot in the Kitchen

This is what hours in the kitchen barefoot does to you... it makes (parts of you) fat! No, I'm not expecting, and there aren't even any buns in the oven these days. Judging by the state of things in my life, though, recently any new baking projects will be waiting a little while.

As you can see by the gorgeous photo of my foot and ankle, I managed to develop tendonitis. Meaning walking and standing are not the most wonderful things in the world, let alone working in the kitchen. Sigh. Once I figure out how to knead dough and mix cookie batter on crutches though, I'm back in the game!

Before I screwed myself up, I did made a batch of muffins. They're ever so Christmasy - filled with spices and made extra-moist with carrots, honey and a generous dollop of home-made mincemeat (it was taking up half a tiny plastic tub in my freezer and I couldn't throw it away. I'm frugal!). I also tossed in a handful of roasted and salted cashews because I had them on hand, and because my mom loves them. For more texture I added some chia seed and 100% Bran cereal.

The result? A huge batch of breakfasty cakelets that fed the hungry masses at school and work alike.

Mincemeat Cashew Carrot Muffins
Makes 18
50g 100% Bran cereal
¼ cup boiling water
1 tbsp chia seeds (Salba)
1/3 cup boiling water
50 ml oil
150 ml skim milk
1 tsp orange zest
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
2/3 cup sugar
¾ cup mincemeat (if you don't have home made, try this kind...it's awesome!)
400 g carrots, grated
200g whole wheat flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp apple pie spice
2/3 cup toasted, salted cashews, chopped
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin cups.
  2. Place bran cereal in a large bowl.
  3. Pour ¼ cup boiling water over the bran, and let stand 5 minutes.
  4. In another small bowl, pour 1/3 cup boiling water over the chia seed, let stand 5 minutes.
  5. Add soaked chia (it will be like a gel), oil, milk, zest, vanilla, honey, sugar, mincemeat and carrots to the soaked bran, beating smooth.
  6. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add to the wet blend, stirring until just smooth.
  7. Fold in cashew pieces.
  8. Bake for 20–25 minutes, then cool 10 minutes in tin before turning out and cooling completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 153.5
Total Fat: 5.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.2 mg
Sodium: 64.9 mg
Total Carbs: 25.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
Protein: 3.3 g

4 comments :

  1. oh no, hope your foot gets better soon!!!

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  2. Feel better soon - sorry you can't do the things you love.

    Recently I was thought to have had a stroke and couldn't move my left arm or hand, so I guess it could be worse! I'm all better now and I hope you will also be 100% soon.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You poor thing! I hope it's better soon. The muffins sound delicious.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!