Everybody loves this Salad, and the best Banana Muffins

 A few years ago we had a Relief Society presidency lunch at Sister Mary Pugh's house. She provided the food, so the rest of us just had to turn up. It was such a nice afternoon, and I got one of the best recipes I've ever had that afternoon....no exaggeration! Everyone that I've ever made it for loves it, which is why I've started calling it 'everybody loves Salad' instead of the original Chicken Bookclub Salad'?!?!?

Everybody Loves Salad

500g Chicken...Cook in oven and pull apart into small pieces

1 Bag mesculan lettuce

4-5 slices bacon....cut into pieces and cook in pan

2/3 C dried cranberries/craisins

70g slivered almonds

2tbsp Sugar....Put both into a pan over medium heat until almonds are coated and sugar has dissolved.

Dressing....

1/4 red onion

1C sugar

2tsp dry mustard

1/2 C red wine vinegar

1 C vegetable oil

Finely chop red onion. Add sugar, mustard and vinegar. Blend until frothy. Slowly add oil.

Toss all salad ingredients in a bowl. Add dressing to coat and then sprinkle with sugared almonds.

 

This morning is my first morning at home with Ella and Seth in over a week. I worked last week and yesterday so it is a welcome day off from teaching and a day for me to catch up on household jobbies. Is it weird that I'm seriously excited about that?

First on my list of things to do was make a batch of baking to freeze for school/kindy lunches. I hadn't planned what to make, so I was hoping that with what I had in the pantry and the fridge would combine to make something yummy, and boy did we hit the jackpot. I decided to make a double batch of banana and choc chip muffins. In the past mine have always come out somewhat heavy and rubbery if that makes sense? So I didn't have high hopes of them working out brilliantly. 

To my pleasant surprise, they're the best banana muffins I've ever made. I'm not sure if it's due to the slight alteration I made to the recipe but boy are they good.

Banana Choc Chip Muffins

2 C Self Raising Flour

1/2 C Caster Sugar

1/2 C Choc Chips

1/2 tsp Salt

100g Butter

1 C Milk

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1 C Mashed Banana (2-3)

With fork stir together in large bowl the flour, caster sugar, choc chips and salt.

In another container melt the butter. Remove from heat and add milk, egg and vanilla. Beat well.

Mash and measure the bananas and then add them to the liquid mixture.

Tip all the liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Fold everything together carefully until all the flour is dampened, stopping before the mixture is smooth.

Grease about 12 muffin pans and put about 1/4 C of the mixture into each cup.

Bake at 180 celcius for 12-15 mins, until the muffins spring back when pressed in the centre.

*I doubled the recipe and the change that I made was only using 1 egg instead of 2 (just because I only had 1!)

The double mixture made 20 large muffins. Yum, especially warm straight out of the oven!!!!

From this.....

.....to this

Delicious!