Yellow Split Pea Soup and Homesteader Cornbread

Today was a good day for cooking with my boys. I made oatmeal with apples and honey, that N said was "scrummy!" Then dinner went over well too. The boys helped me make the Homesteader cornbread, which is a recipe I found on all-recipes and is my favourite; it is so moist. Of course the boys LOVED the cornbread, but they also enjoyed the soup (and they aren't real big soup lovers). N said it was delicious, and very nice! I don't get that very often.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

2-3 cups dried yellow split peas, soaked overnight

1-2 Tbs Vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

3-4 carrots, chopped

Large Handful Parsley leaves, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried marjoram (or to taste)

1 tsp dried thyme (or to taste)

Water or homemade stock

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or stock pan on medium heat. Sauté the onion, celery and carrot for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the parsley and garlic, sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the thyme, marjoram and bay leaves, sauté for 1 minute.

2. Drain and rinse the split peas and add to the pot. Add enough water or stock to cover the split pea mix by about two inches. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for a couple of hours or until lentils are soft, adding more water if necessary.

3. When peas are soft, remove pot from heat, and let cool slightly. Remove bay leaves. If desired, you can use an immersion blender to blend some, but not all of the soup. You could also take a couple of cups from the pot and blend in a blender until smooth, then return to the pot and stir until thoroughly mixed. Season with salt and pepper.

Apple Cinnamon Harvest Muffins

We've had a beautiful, warm September, almost like an Indian Summer, as they say in the States. Last week the weather turned a bit colder, and Saturday was a beautiful sunny autumn day. We were having a service project with our church, rolling hay bales, building a hay rick, painting and clearing. It was a perfect day for a muffin that reminded me of autumn.

I don't like my muffins very sweet, so this recipe doesn't call for a lot of sugar. I also used a combination of cooking (tart) and dessert (sweet) apples. You may want to add more sugar if you like your muffins sweet, or you are using very tart apples.

(The picture doesn't really do these muffins justice, it was taken with my mobile phone.)

Apple Cinnamon Harvest Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups wholemeal/whole-wheat flour

2 cups oats (porridge, quick or old fashioned rolled oats will do)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

2 cups apples, grated

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz) milk

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup (1/4 pint) vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C, grease two muffin tins. In a medium bowl, mix together the grated apple and dark brown sugar, set aside.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, breaking up any clumps of brown sugar.

3. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the apple and sugar mixture, until well blended.

4. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredients in the center. Mix the two together, just until blended. (Do not over mix, or the muffins will be tough).

5. Divide the batter evenly between the 24 muffin cases, and bake for 20-30 minutes. Muffins should be golden brown, and a knife/toothpick, when inserted should come out clean.