Had a lovely afternoon making these Banana & Chocolate chip muffins with Abi and Jessica:

I'd used the last 2 eggs at lunchtime so when we decided to do some cooking I searched for recipes without eggs - turns out that the best thing to search for is eggless recipes. I then found the recipe for these muffins which after I made a couple of alterations to, we had all the ingredients for. We all had fun making them and they were delicious, although unfortunately I decided to only make half the quantities so we only had 6! The recipe with my alterations is below (makes 6)

Ingredients

• 1 cup self raising flour

• ¼ cup oats

• ½ cup sugar

• 6 squares of chocolate (chopped up)

• 2 bananas (mashed)

• ¼ cup sunflower oil

• 2 tblsp water

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C

2. Mix the mashed banana, oil and sugar and water together to create a smooth paste.

3. Mix in the flour, oats and chocolate pieces.

4. Spoon carefully into muffin cases, about 3 tsp of mixture per case

5. Cook for 20 minutes.

A while back I saw that Pete had posted this on twitter, and we decided it was worth a try - since then I can't remember how many times we've made them as it's so simple and tastes good!  Just posting it on my blog so it's easier to find in the future!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons flour

• 4 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons cocoa

• 1 egg

• 3 tablespoons milk

• 3 tablespoons oil

• A splash of vanilla extract (we didn't use this)

• 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large coffee mug

2. Add the egg and mix together

3. Pour in the milk and oil, mix

4. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla extract (if using)

5. Microwave for 3 minutes

6. Allow to cool and tip onto a plate

(Originally from http://i.imgur.com/6edYs.png)

After seeing that one of the contestents on Masterchef this week had cooked butternut squash risotto, it made us fancy it ourselves. I had a look for a recipe in some of the usual places, and then decided to make one myself (with a little help from the example risotto on the back of the rice packet).

• 1 Onion (finely chopped)

• Handful of mushrooms (chopped)

• 1 litre of light vegetable stock

• 150g Risotto Rice

• Blob of Butter

• Butternut Squash (cubed)

• Couple of sprigs of fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C

2. Drizzle Butternut Squash with Olive Oil and roast for 30 minutes

3. Once the Butternut Squash has been roasting for about 15 minutes, heat the butter in a frying pan and add the onions - fry them until the are soft.

4. Add the mushrooms followed by the stock and rice and stir.

5. Leave the rice mixture to simmer until all the water has gone (should be about the same time as the butternut squash is finished)

6. Mix in the squash and the fresh parsley and serve.

Just a recipe I cooked for tea tonight!

Ingredients

chicken pieces (1/2 chicken breast cut into bit size pieces)

• 100ml double cream

• mustard

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/4 green pepper

• 1/2 small zapallito (or courgette)

• sweetcorn

• few leaves fresh parsley

• sprinkle of oregano

• dash of cumin

fry the chicken and garlic in olive oil, after a few minutes, add the mustard and mix in well

once the chicken is cooked, add the cream and the herbs

leave cooking until the cream starts to bubble, then add the vegetables

4. cook for a few minutes and serve with rice