Celery salt

I got this idea from a great little blog I read called Chocolate & Zucchini. What a great idea to use up celery leaves that normally get tossed out in the compost! (Also, another great use is to toss them into broths for extra flavour) Who would have known that the leaves pack some tasty celery punch? This seasoning salt couldn't be easier to make - just toast the leaves and crumble with some salt. It's great for adding flavour to soups, sauces, omelettes, breads... you name it!

For this recipe I used a nice little celery that we got in our produce pack. It's nice to know where it comes from, and that there were no pesticides used in growing it!

Celery Salt

Ingredients:

Clean, dry, leaves from one celery (the darker the better!)

Sea salt, flaky if you have it

Lay the leaves on a pan and roast them for about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they burn easily! Clotilde suggests putting them in the oven while preheating it for some other purpose.

Once they're dry and brittle, simply crumble them with your fingers into a glass bowl or jar and add about the same amount of salt! Since the leaf crumbs are so light, a flaky salt mixes well and does not pack at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Berry Bran Muffins

I'm baaack! My last blog was 5 days before my life changed forever and our beautiful baby girl, Sophie came into the world. She is now 4 months old, and while I can certainly say that becoming a mom has been the most amazing experiences, it has definitely adjusted my priorities. Napping and showering are at the top of my to-do list, housework near the middle and blogging is pretty close to the bottom... I have been cooking lots of yummy stuff, there is just no blog evidence to show for it. To tell you the truth, part of my motivation to start blogging again is to have a central place where I keep my recipes, because right now they are in an untidy pile of index cards. Here's to getting organized!

These muffins are a great way to use up that unappetizingly spotty and brown banana that's been laying around the counter. They have lots of bran to keep you regular ;) and the berries make them nice and moist (dry muffins are the worst).

Berry Bran Muffins

Prehead oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin tin.

Ingredients:

1 mashed banana

1 egg

2 tbsp oil

1/3 cup molasses

1 cup milk

2 cups bran

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

1 cup flour

2 cups frozen berries (I've used blueberries and blackberries - both work great)

Directions:

Mash up the banana in a large bowl. Add the egg, oil and milk, mixing well after each addition. Here is my use-one-bowl-so-you-don't-have-to-wash-two trick : Dump the bran and flour on top, then add the salt and soda and mix the dry ingredients ON TOP of the wet. Then mix it all together without overmixing.

Spoon into muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin should come out clean. Turn onto a cooling rack. These are best eaten warm with a dab of butter!

Storage:

I found that if I kept them on the counter they go moldy super fast. If I keep them in the fridge the berries make them go all gooey and mushy. Freezing the muffins and taking out a few at a time seems to be the best option for a household that can't zip through a dozen muffins quickly.