Ok, so it has been some time. I promise to get back on the wagon and add more write-ups to this blog. I have been very lax of late, so I apologise. I finish exams tomorrow, and yes I am avoiding work right now. I thought I would change the look of my blog too, to go with the whole New Life thing. Who knows?

Anyway, instead of my usual political rants I thought I would entertain you all with some recipes. the first recipe is for some banana muffins. I love banana muffins and particularly enjoy making up a mixture, then baking them in the morning when I get up. Studying a bit while they bake, then having them with some coffee. Superb.

The second is a soup that I have taken to making, I only tried it out very recently and is an adaptation of some recipes that I've seen. I generally take recipes either from books or the net and then change and alter them how I see fit. Hope you enjoy them!

Banana Muffins of Joy and Loveliness

4 Large Bananas (Mashed)

¾ Cup Sugar

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

125g Butter softened

1 tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Salt

1 ½ Cups Flour

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

100g Chopped Walnuts

Cream together the butter, sugar and eggs.

Sift the dry ingredients and and combine with the butter mixture.

Add the bananas and the vanilla essence.

Stir in the nuts.

Bake for about 25 minutes or so. I'm quite intuitive about this. I also like to bake them in the middle rack of the oven, then move them up when they're close to being down in order to get a crispy top. YUM!

Makes about a dozen.

Fantastic Rosemary and Bean Soup

750 ml Stock (whichever type you prefer, I use chicken)

400g Tin Tomatoes

400g Tin of Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

400g Tin other beans (I have used Cannellini)

2 Garlic Cloves (Crushed)

8 Spring Onions

2 Tbl Sp chopped rosemary

2 Tbl Sp Olive Oil

Optional addition:

250g Pancetta (chopped bacon)

Warm the oil and add the chopped spring onions, garlic and rosemary. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes, ensuring that they are crushed up. Cook for five minutes, allowing to boil. Do not cover! Add the stock, I generally use chicken stock as we regularly make roast chicken and I almost always use it to make stock. Having added the stock, add the beans and allow the soup to warm through simmering it for another five minutes. If you so choose, you can add the bacon close to the end, first frying it in its own fat, draining of the fat and then adding it to the soup. This reminds me of a favourite soup I used to purchase at Woolies. Fantastic for cold wintry days!