What Can We Do Today?? – Muffin Tin Madness!

You know the humble muffin tin is useful for way more than just cooking muffins!

We dragged out our very well used muffin tins this afternoon as they make the perfect containers for sorting and counting. Teamed with these little owl counters which are part of a lotto game we got from the toy library this fortnight the Twinadoes had a lovely time counting and sorting and mixing and matching.

A collection of old buttons would also be fun for sorting colours and sizes. Shells or gum nuts, plastic bottle tops, stones even scraps of ribbon or fabric would all be fun for small hands to arrange and re-arrange.

Of course you could also use the muffin tins to cook muffins in – like I did this morning. Our current favourite is ‘Rhubarb Mini Cakes’ an original pickle farm recipe – well an adaptation from a simple butter cake recipe from the Women’s Weekly actually!

Rhubarb Mini Cakes / Muffins

125 g butter
1/2 c castor sugar – we usually use brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup milk (depending on how much juice is in the rhubarb)
2 cups self raising flower
a small bunch of rhubarb cooked with a bit of water and sugar
mixed spice

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and mix well. Add flour and spices. Add the rhubarb and the juice and then the milk just using enough to make a nice soft mix. Pop the lovely pink marbled mix into your trust muffin tin and bake for 10-15s in a moderate oven

There are other bloggers out there who are into muffin tins as well..

Sycamore Stirrings hosts ‘Muffin Tin Mondays‘ – a great idea of how to present a range of foods to kids (and adults) in a fun and interesting way!

In other news…

For those wondering, the architect visit went great this morning. He is right into the environmental impact stuff and had some great ideas for ways to make our house much more effcient, especially on the heating front, which is great as one of the main goals of the renovations is to become more self sufficent. We got some new ideas and things to think about while he goes away and draws up plans and ideas and I am not entirely sure how we are going to afford all of this… but it feels SO good to finally be doing something more than just talking and dreaming about it.

And now I must dash – Muski has just amused himself by emptying the basket of wet washing all over the floor (yes I should have been hanging it not blogging) and I need to chase the girls inside and clean them up before heading off to the dentist. They are desperately looking forward to going to the dentist. This will be Izzy’s first proper visit as in the past she’s been so shy she’s refused to open her mouth, but with three missing front teeth Zoe is a dental expert. This local dental practice is so kid savvy they sent each of the girls a postcard with Nemo and Mickey Mouse on them, covered in stickers and saying how much they can’t wait for them to come to their appointment – my girls are now totally IN LOVE with the dentist and have asked me every five minutes if it was time to go there yet… hence why I sent them outside to play in the mud! Now the time has finally arrived I hope they are both as keen once they are in the chair!

Oh one last thing.. anyone with Flickr Friday theme ideas for tomorrow.. fell free to yell out now!