When I first started working in special needs education I was placed in a class with a young teacher named Angie. We hit it off immediately, Angie's style of teaching was very innovative and the onus was about having fun. Myself, Angie and Cathy worked together and were a great team, we shared a common bond of loving the children, kindness and a mutual sense of humour which made for a very happy class.
To this day, Angie, Cathy and I remain good friends. Much has changed in all our lives since those halcyon days. Angie is now mum to two gorgeous boys and still teaches. Cathy is a grandmother and a stalwart at St Francis, and I now write for a newspaper.
Angie has always been a food conscious girl and a strict vegetarian, she often sends me snippets of information because like myself she is horrified by what's happening in our food chain and constantly educates herself about what she's feeding her family.
Eating has become complicated, the complexity that attends this once most natural, creaturely activity has become a minefield. Whilst many of us are familiar with the health risks posed by E numbers or trans fats, and many of us boycott the most obvious forms of processed food, few are familiar with the 6,000 food additives found in everyday products.
Additives and flavourings, glazing agents, improvers and bleaching agents lurk within many of our foodstuffs and our food chain is awash with stories of processing and intervention that their labels do not reveal.
As a mother to young children, Angie has concerns regarding how much sugar her children are consuming and is always searching for information on how she can reduce their intake.
Baking with children is a great bonding experience and a good vehicle for communication and having fun, added to which, homemade cakes don't contain hydrogenated fats, additives, preservatives, artificial colours and flavourings or high levels of salt.
Mini apple and banana muffins
Recipe
150g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
50g caster sugar
100ml milk
1 free range egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
40g butter, melted
1 small apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 small banana, mashed
Preheat oven 200c/gas mark 6
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl
Stir in sugar
Put milk, egg, vanilla extract and melted butter in a jug and beat
Add to dry ingredients with apple and banana and stir gently until just combined
Spoon mixture into 12 paper cases
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack
'There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with flavourings. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing.'
- James Beard
Love Donna.............Mark and Ryan xxxxxxxxxx
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