Healthy muffins and a clever twist on a fish pie will keep the family on track for nutritious eating, writes DOMINI KEMP

Good muffins are a cinch to make at home. More often than not, commercial varieties are so full of cheap vegetable oils that you should stay far away from them, despite the fact that they are sometimes pitched as a healthy alternative to breakfast.

I liked this recipe as it didn’t contain inordinate amounts of sugar or sunflower oil and I reckon you could replace the light muscovado sugar with either coconut sugar or some agave.

I made them with self-raising flour and the addition of some bicarbonate of soda. This gives them a nice lift and as long as you don’t over-mix the batter, you’ll be guaranteed good results.

You barely want to mix the ingredients together; otherwise you end up with a poor, dry texture. A cursory mix is all you need to do (count to 10) and as long as you don’t have a massive beach of sand on the base of your bowl, it’s fine. Less really is more when it comes to mixing a muffin batter.

I have given up buying muffin cases in the supermarket as they are a bit mean in size. Instead, I cut out small squares of baking paper and push these into the tins to form my own cases.

This mixture produces eight good-sized muffins, which were really lovely to eat and very satisfying. They were also still quite edible after two days – though maybe a little dry.

The baked spuds are a short-cut fish pie, which saves you the bother of preparing a bechamel sauce and making too much of an effort, but you still get some fish and greens into the children.

I’ve seen frozen fish mixes in some supermarkets, which are a handy way to get this supper on the table in a hurry.

I baked the spuds the day before I made these, so they could be finished in flash. Feel free to leave out the cabbage entirely and just use peas. This isn’t the most gourmet recipe in the world, but it’s easy and good for reluctant fish-eaters.

BREAKFAST MUFFINS

175g self-raising flour

50g oats

140g light muscovado sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 egg, beaten

150ml buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

90ml sunflower oil

Zest and juice of 1 orange

175g stoned prunes, roughly chopped

85g walnuts, roughly chopped

A couple of teaspoons of sunflower or mixed seeds for the topping

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees/gas 6. Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly (flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda). I would go so far as to say that you should whisk them so they are really well dispersed.

Mix the wet ingredients together (egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract, sunflower oil, orange zest and juice). Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in. After you count to five, add the prunes and walnuts. Count to five again and then spoon into muffin cases. Bake for 15 minutes, then top with some seeds and bake for another few minutes. A skewer should come out clean.

Allow them to cool and then remove from the tins. I think these are best eaten cold, and they should be fine to keep for a few days.

BAKED FISH PIE POTATOES

2-3 large baking potatoes

Approximately 100g diced fish (it can be salmon, haddock, coley, cod, or a mixture)

100mls milk

Good knob butter

100g frozen peas

1 savoy cabbage, very finely sliced

50g grated cheddar cheese

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees/gas 6. Make a slit around the spuds and bake them for about 40-50 minutes, until tender inside – stick a knife into them to check.

You could bake these a day or two in advance. If so, don’t bother scooping them out. Just let them go cold and then when you are ready to make the filling, scoop out the cold flesh and start as below.

Get the fish mix ready about 15 minutes before the spuds are finished baking.

In a small saucepan, heat up the fish, along with the milk and knob of butter. You can season this lightly or even add a bay leaf or little scrape of nutmeg. Feel free to introduce some garlic, or a small pinch of mild curry powder.

Once you have won over the nippers with these potatoes, you can start manipulating the flavours to help them to develop interest in new flavours. The fish will cook very quickly. Just leave it on a gentle heat to simmer for a few minutes and when the pieces start to look a little opaque, add the peas.

Remove from the heat after another minute or so and let it sit. It will keep cooking while you scoop out the potato flesh into a bowl.

Blanch the cabbage and drain it. Take half – or even a quarter – of the cabbage and add it to the spuds. The other bit you can eat all by itself with a little knob of butter or a splash of tamari soy sauce.

Mix everything well and taste. You may want to add a good spoonful of natural yoghurt if you feel it is a bit dry. Then spoon the mixture back into the spuds, top with the cheddar cheese and bake for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees/gas 6.

If you want to brown them under a grill, go for it.

Food cooked and styled by Domini and Peaches Kemp

*This article was amended on January 29th, 2012. The recipe for fish pie pototaoes requires 100ml of milk, not 10ml.