Happy Halloween – some spooky food to delight and disgust!!

Abbie has been sooooo excited about Halloween for the last few days – much Scooby Doo has been watched and this has encouraged the obsession even further. So I thought it only fitting that we should plan a Halloween themed dinner, ably aided by recipes from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Feast’. Abbie rejected slime soup and witche’s hair (although i quite fancied both!) and opted instead for ‘Blood and Guts potatoes’ with extra limbs and ‘Blood Clots and Pus’ for pudding.

On Monday night I set to carving yet another pumpkin from our garden (the last one went mouldy whilst we were on holiday) – after Abbie’s Uncle Gigi had carved a wonderful ‘Super Why’, she was very keen on the idea that I would do ‘Hello Kitty’. Luckily Jon found a printable stencil on the internet and so 30 mins later here was the result!

Hello Kitty... what will be requested next year??

Next we sat down to our ‘Blood and Guts Potatoes’ with added ‘limbs’ – cocktail sausages

Blood and Guts Potatoes

You will need Baking Potatoes, Balls of Mozarella (use 2, for 3 potatoes or 3 for 4 potatoes), Tomato Ketchup

• Bake your potatoes for about 1 hour at 220C
• Let them cool for a little while and then halve them, carefully scooping the flesh out into a bowl
• Add your mozarella, diced and 2 tblspn ketchup and mash and mix
• Add this mixture back into the potato skins  and return to the oven for 10-15 mins to warm up and go all gooey
• Add a few more splodges of bloody ketchup for effect as you serve!!

Blood and guts potaotes - delightfully stringy!

Then it was on to the gruesome…

Blood Clots and Pus

For the Blood Clots I made up some raspberry jelly (Nigella also makes blackcurrant and strawberry) and then when it has set, scrunch it up into bowls.

For the Pus – make up lime jelly cubes with 100ml hot water, heat in microwave to dissolve the jelly and then make up to a pint with milk. Again, scrunch some over the top of your blood clots. Disgustingly gorgeous! And incredibly simple to boot!

Blood clots and Pus - nuff said!

All in all a very happy little ghost – although quite scary looking here!!

Boo!

Operation Christmas Child…

I had to post about this campaign as it is something that I have participated in now for many years… for me it’s a Christmas essential. Our schools are both involved with Operation Christmas Child, run by Samaritan’s Purse and so we have been busy searching the shops for the perfect gifts for our Christmas Child. A link to the campaign webiste is here: http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/

We decided to pack up a shoebox for a girl of the same age as Abbie so that she would be able to choose easily what she would like to receive. A hat, a scarf, a toothbrush, a My Little Pony, a heart-shaped sponge, a bee skipping rope, a bouncy ball, coloured pencils, normal pencils, erasers, London 2012 sweeties and fruit pastilles, make-your-own Christmas badges and a cuddly hippo later and we were ready to pack! I was really impressed with how Abbie was enthused by the whole activity and she never once complained that we weren’t buying for her….. she was totally enchanted by the website video and I think that this really helped to make the whole task real for her.

Abbie just giving the hippo a final cuddle before packing!

If you have a shoebox at home, please find time to put together a package for a disadvantaged child this Christmas, especially if you have a child to help you. I can’t think of a better way to encapsulate the true spirit of Christmas…..

Half-term day 1 – Pancakes and Pumpkins!

Hooray hooray for holidays!! Abbie and I decided to have a pyjama day today and laze around at home.. believe me a rest was needed after the half-term we have both had. Abbie said there was only one way to start a lazy day (after we had stayed in bed, reading books and chatting for an hour!) and that was to have pancakes. I found some Bisquick at the back of the cupboard and decided that these would be about the laziest pancakes I could make… besides buying them ready-made!

Just add egg, milk and water

Abbie was keen to make the mix herself, so I can honestly say these were so easy to make a child could have done it! They were actually very decent pancakes – more English style than American and they definitely fanfared that we were on holiday.

Abbie making her way through the first of many!

I wrap the rest in greaseproof paper and pop them in the freezer for impromtu snacks

Then it was out to the garden to see how our pumpkins were doing…. Abbie picked the best of 9 and we carried it back inside like the prized possession that it was.

This one!

When will this fashion catch on??

She remembered just what we had to do to prepare the pumpkin for carving and set to deseeding by scraping, turning and banging the seeds out… although making her own pumpkin hat was probably her favourite part! Then it was up to me to hollow the pumpkin out, placing all the flesh into a deep baking tray, a little water over the top and into the oven for 40mins at 160C. This roasts/steams it – I then make pumpkin puree to use in scones, muffins and pumpkin soup – see later…

Friendly, not spooky was my brief...

We started making bread (sponge stage), did some jobs around the house and then started getting ourself ready for our Movie lunch. I decided to make ‘Beanie Nachos’ as they are a favourite, and easy to eat in front of the TV. All I do is fry a little garlic in a pan, add a can of ‘Taco Beans’ which are mixed beans in a chilli/tomato sauce and a couple of handfuls of frozen sweetcorn and a little grating of dark chocolate (1/2 square). I put a couple of handfuls of lightly salted tortilla chips in the bottom of a pie dish, top with the beans and a couple of handfuls of grated light cheddar. Pop under a hot grill until the cheese melts and then serve with a dollop of sour cream for dipping (and pickled jalapenos for me). Delicious…. feels trashy but convince myself that the beans make it healthy!

Movie lunch - all polished off!

We made bread in the afternoon – I gave Abbie her own handful of dough to knead, rise and bake; using the rest to bake our loaf. She was delighted with her finished bread (baked for 10 mins at 220) and also loved our Autumn pumpkin soup, made with the innards that I roasted earlier.

• Dry fry a packet of cubed pancetta (don’t add oil) and when crisy, add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped clove garlic and 3 chopped carrots – cook until onion is soft
• Add stem of fresh sage, 3 tsp Marigold veg bouillion and cover with boiling water, stirring to dissolve the stock. Simmer for 20 mins
• Add roasted pumkin and simmer for another 20 mins. Remove sage and blitz in a blender.
• Add back to the pan and reheat when needed. Serve with homemade bread.

Jon described this as the best soup I have ever made…. and asked how many more pumpkins we had. Think I know what I’m going to be doing with the remaining 8!

Twenties girl…..

On Saturday night, we had a few moments to not be Mums and return to the roaring Twenties at Bonana Fana Social Club. This is a pic of me and my lovely friend Vic, dressed up to the ninesWe wiggled, jiggled and charlestonned on the dance floor. One friend even stuck to a revolting drink which could have definitely been invented in the time of the Speakeasy….. ‘Sin’ – a pint of cider containing a shot of gin. Have to say I steered clear!

Suffered a bit on Sunday and I am sure that someone should do some reearch into why when hungover all you want to do is eat rubbish. Thank goodness for Vic’s early sausage baguette and Jon’s scrambled egg for lunch, because children are completely unsympathetic about hangovers!

‘Is this really Weight Watchers?’ Sausage ragu.. a big hit with the whole family!

Sausage Ragu with Gnocchi and a touch of basil

7lb gone in the last 6 weeks and I am feeling soooooo much better for it! As I have been trying hard to drop the lbs, it has been back to the Weight Watchers cook books, which Jon always moans about! I don’t understand it at all because when eating each and every meal he has said ‘Is this really Weight Watchers??’. This would be a classic example of such a meal – with both husband and daughter coming back for seconds!! Ready in under 25 minutes… what’s not to love!

Sausage Ragu with Gnocchi (6 points for ragu, 4 points for 125g gnocchi for Weight Watcher devotees)

Serves 4 

From ‘Weekdays’ by Weight Watchers

low fat cooking spray
big squeeze of garlic puree (or 2 cloves, chopped)
6 good quality pork sausages
600ml passata
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tblspn tomato puree
1 tablspn tomato ketchup
125g canned chickpeas, drained

• Heat a lidded saucepan and lightly coat with spray. Squeeze sausage meat from casing and add to the pan, browning it (couple of mins), add garlic and stir for another minute
• Stir in passata, oregano, tomato puree and ketchup. Season to taste
• Bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 mins. Add the chickpeas and 75ml of water. Simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally, while you cook the gnocchi according to packet instructions.