So we ran our first ‘lets talk about health’ event last month at the Gateway café. The theme of this first one was the menopause. I shared healthy tasters and recipes, but the main focus of the evening was to share ideas. I had the inspired idea to invite a local GP, but unfortunately my invite was a bit too short notice. However I was delighted when she said ‘we just need to get people talking about it’, as this was very much the aim of the evening! Indeed we were thrilled when this is exactly what happened. It was such a lovely evening getting together, talking, listening and sharing personal stories.

I shared these menopause muffins at the end, which helped to close the evening on a positive note by showing that however much hormones play havoc with our lives, we can make positive changes and in time we will start to feel the difference. We also came away from the evening with a feeling of togetherness and that building conversations is the way forward….. We will be holding similar events in the future. I’m thinking ‘lets talk about stress.’ I will keep you posted. 

Ingredients

(Makes 12 large muffins)

200g plain flour (wholemeal or gluten free)

3 tbsps. soya flour

Pinch of freshly ground salt

2 tsps. baking powder (gf if necessary)

2 eggs

55g/2oz melted butter (or olive oil/ coconut oil)

175ml/ 6floz soya milk

125ml/4½ floz maple syrup

125g/ 4 ½ oz fresh blueberries

125g/ 4 ½ oz dried cranberries

125g/ 4 ½ oz raisins

125g/ 4 ½ oz dried apricots, chopped

50g/ 2 oz pecans, chopped

1 tsp orange zest

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

• Preheat oven to 200C & grease muffin tins with a little olive oil
• Sift flours, salt & baking powder into a bowl
• In another bowl, beat eggs, & stir in butter (or oil), soya milk, and maple syrup
• Pour into bowl of flour, add remaining ingredients & quickly combine without overworking
• Spoon into muffin tins
• Bake for 20-25 mins
• Leave to cool in tins for a few minutes then turn out and allow to cool before serving.