Peach and Ginger Muffins

Peach and Ginger Muffins

This very seasonal recipe needs to be shared before the peaches are past their best. We are enjoying the local peaches so much in this house, that I'm on a daily search for new ways to add them to our plates. I haven't been baking much in the last month but I suffered bigtime withdrawal last week and baked these muffins and eggless brownies one evening after the kids went to bed. The eggless brownies were misnamed. If there are no eggs in the brownie; you lose the fudginess which most of us love. They turned out to be little chocolate cakes. Pleasant but nothing to write home about.

The muffins, however, were delicious. I used the muffin mix from the apple butterscotch muffins in a previous post. Its my "go to" time saver for making muffins and is a pretty healthy base to work from.

Here goes:

Peach and Ginger Muffins

makes 15 muffins

Ingredients

1 cup mashed bananas ( approx 2 bananas)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup shaken buttermilk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon, zested

3 cups muffin mix (stirred to aerate before measuring)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 cups chopped peaches (skin on)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/ 200°C
2. Lightly oil muffin tins or line with paper cups
3. Using a large bowl, lightly whisk the egg
4. Add the oil, buttermilk and bananas, lemon zest and vanilla extract and stir well
5. Add the ginger to the muffin mix, and whisk until incorporated muffin mix
6. Add the muffin mix to the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed
7. Gently fold in the peach
8. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the muffins approx 2/3 full
9. Place the muffin tins in the oven for 7 minutes, turn, then bake a further 7 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool on a wire rack just enough so they don't burn your mouth then enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Enjoy!

Chicken and Peach Salad



Chicken and Peach Salad



As a child, for many years, my choice for birthday dinner was "chicken and peach bake". It wasn't only me, in fact, I seem to recall my brothers deep love for it too. It is a recipe reminiscent of the 70's; using canned peaches and packet white sauce, with crushed chips on top. Heaven! I must get busy this winter and recreate the flavors with a "from scratch" version. In the meantime, tonight's recipe is a summer take, echoing the creaminess of the sauce and the sweet savory combination.

We have been reveling knee deep in peaches this week; the season is finally here. Mean Mummy in this house has not bought peaches since last summer so the girls have been enjoying the bounty too. We've had peach ice pops and smoothies, peaches for snack and now, peaches for dinner.

Alongside my chicken salad, I served some baby new potatoes and a green salad of baby romaines. The potatoes are worth a mention (I am Irish after all!). I microwaved them for 5 minutes, then halved them, tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted in my grill. Very quick compared to the usual roasting time, so I was happy. I should explain; I rarely turn on the oven in the summer; we don't have central air conditioning so the heat from the oven is no fun. Need I explain that an overheated Mummy is a cross Mummy! Instead, I use my outdoor grill as an oven and roast my vegetables and potatoes in a roasting pan with the burners on low-medium

Chicken and Peach Salad

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
2 medium peaches, chopped into similar sized pieces
1/3 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup 0% Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced and mashed to a paste
salt and pepper
handful of herbs (I used mint, basil, chives and parsley)


Directions

1. Whisk together the sour cream, Greek yogurt, mustard, garlic and vinegar in a medium bowl
2. Stir in the chicken and peaches
3. Add the herbs either on top or stir in just before serving.

My kid friendly tip would be to leave out the herbs; mine still object to the green flecks. This said, one ate it; the other picked out the peaches and told me she was done.

Please excuse the various errors in fonts etc in this post but I'm tired waiting for my blog host Blogspot to fix their endless glitches.

Enjoy!