Before I had my kids I was very good about following a low GI (Glycaemic Index) diet but then motherhood and all that came with it hit and my good habbits melted away.  I am trying to get back into the low GI diet so I dusted off my two trusty cookbooks – Eating for Sutained Energy 2 and Snack and Treats for Sustained Emergy 1.  The kids and I have been having some fun trying some of the recipes.

The kids favourite Low GI recipe to make and eat are these yummy banana muffins from the Eating with Sustained Energy 2 cookbook by Gabi Steenkamp and Liesbet Delport.  The recipe in the book is actually for banana bread but the kids enjoy making it as banana muffins.  One of the authors (Gabi Steenkamp) of this lovely cookbook has given me permission to share this very tasty and healthy recipe.

Ingredients :

• 2 bananas
• 30 ml (2Tbs) lemon juice
• 1 small apple, grated
• 100 ml skimmed milk
• 250 ml (1 cup) high fibre cereal
• 10 ml canola or macadamia oil (we have used sunflower oil before)
• 125ml (1/2 cup) of soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 250ml (1 cup) cake flour
• 10ml (2 tsp) baking powder
• 2ml (1/2 tsp) salt
• 5ml (1tsp) vanilla essence

Steps  (all mixing steps are done by my kids)

• Peel the bananas and mash the flesh with the lemon juice (This is my sons favourite part of making this recipe).
• Mix in the grated apple and set aside
• Heat the milk and pour over the high fibre cereal.  Stir and leave to soften. (Both my kids are fussy about the texture and this step is important as the cereal needs to soften).
• Cream the oil, sugar and egg until smooth but no longer then 1 min
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate mixing bowl.
• Combine all together and mix with a wooden spoon
• Add the vanilla and stir
• Spoon into a greased loaf pan (about 30 cm long) and bake for an hour at 180C

OR

My kids like scooping the mixture into greased muffins trays.  Depends upon the size of the muffin tray that you use but we get about 10/11 muffins out.  We bake at 180C for around 25 to 30 mins

We have made these muffins so often that I now know the recipe off  by heart and I have actually ordered the Sustained Energy for Kids cookbook by Gabi Steenkamp, Jeske Wellmann and Tanzia Merlin.  I am looking forward to trying some new recipes out of this cookbook with the kids.

For more information about the authors, their cookbooks and the GI diet please click on their names and the links will direct you to their personal websites.