Sunday morning in the kitchen

I generally do my grocery shopping on the weekend (possibly the best opening line for a blog post  FYI - who wouldn't want to continue reading when I've opened with such a cracking sentence?). Because of this, I have usually ran out of bread and anything exciting for breakfast by Saturday (awesome - following sentence was just as strong, let's just get through this and see where it goes). 

So when my 3 year old yells out to me at 5am saying he's hungry, I picture the contents of my fridge and realise, I either have to get up and make something or let him starve. And let me say, the starving would never happen as he would constantly be in my room whinging "Mummy, I'm hungry", "Mummy, my tummy is crumbling" (yep, yesterday he said crumbling instead of rumbling, cute. He also saw a tweety bird balloon and said "Mummy, who is that chicken guy", made me laugh! - but I disgress). On these mornings, I get myself into some kind of semi-conscience state and make something easy but suitably tasty. 

Below are some recipes for just these kind of mornings. Please feel free to suggest others, as I am running low on brain energy before 6am (and coffee)...

Choose-Your-Own-Flavour Muffins
Makes 6 muffins 

Basic muffin recipe
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup olive oil (for the savoury muffins, use melted butter for the sweet)
1/4 cup sugar (only for the sweet muffins)

Prepare a muffin tray with some muffin cases or grease with butter and push in squares or baking paper. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. 

In a jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg (for the sweet muffins, also add the melted butter). In a bowl, add the flour (and sugar for the sweet muffins) then pour the egg mix over and stir until combined (don't oven mix). For the savoury muffins, add the oil and set aside ready for flavours.

It's now time to add your flavours. Scoop about 3 tablespoons of the mixture into a separate bowl and add whatever you want. I made a blue cheese and olive muffin, a ham and zucchini muffin and a nutella muffin (for the toddler). Lightly fold through your desired flavours then spoon into the muffin tray. Pop into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!


Vegemite and Cheese scrolls
2 cups self-raising flour
50g butter, cubed
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk
3 tbs Vegemite
1 cup cheddar cheese

Line a tray with baking paper and pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

In a bowl, add the flour, salt and butter. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until you get a sandy consistence. Add the milk and using your hands (they're already dirty, just go with it), continue to mix the dough until a ball forms and the dough doesn't feel sticky (you might need to knead slightly). Between two sheets of baking paper, roll out the dough until it's about 1.5/2cm thick. Spread the vegemite over the dough and sprinkle with cheese. Roll the long side of the dough from one end to the other. Using a knife, cut the dough into even portions (about 5cms each), then place on the baking tray scroll side up and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden on the outside. Allow to cool then enjoy!