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!

‘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.

When there is nothing in the fridge…. thank goodness for the freezer!

Still waiting for my delivery tonight (the godsend of any working mother!) and so the freezer has to deliver instead. I freeze Abbie portions of anything that I make that is freezable. We’ve already had paris mash this week and today Abbie chose veggie soup. A quick zap in the microwave and presto! Dinner is served!
Basic veggie soup
Roots: carrots, parsnip, potato and/or turnips
Alliums: garlic and onion/leek
Extras:peas/broccoli/green beans
Chop
Cook in a little oil in a big pan until going soft
Cover with veg stock and cook for 1 hour
I play around with the ingredients every time I cook it. Always yummy!

Waybaloo…. more like WaybaPOO!

A few weeks ago, we were in Sheringham Park when I saw an invite to ‘come and play peeka with the Piplings!’ Yes, for the uninitiated, Waybaloo was coming to town and even though Abbie had not seen the programme for months, she was beyond excited! I even invited some friends to join us!

In the bower...

Imagine then the disappointment, no mortification, upon entering the bower to find 2 knee-high cardboard cut-outs of said Piplings and a plastic playhouse and slide. Where were the Piplings? Clearly they had better things to do….

Yojojo's house....

Thank goodness that a) it was a free event and b) we could easily nip to Lizzy’s for a restorative cup of tea and a comfy sofa upon which to put the world to rights…..

Paris mash - from Sophie Dahl

'Feeds a few' says the recipe - I encourage you to cut the ingredients by at least half - we have weeks of leftovers!

Had this wine with our lentil supper - absolutely gorgeous!

Abbie’s treat… what do you think she chose??

I just HAD to post about my crazy daughter! Yesterday she finished two lines of her reward chart, meaning that she could choose a great treat when we went out today. Soooooooo…. Abbie decided upon careful consideration of comics, books, toys and other delights that she wanted… CHEESE! She asked if she could have a cheese plate with 3 cheeses on it.

Both Jon and I were completely stunned, but Abbie happily bounded up to the deli counter and asked for ‘that blue one’ (Shropshire Blue), ‘Cammememebert’, and ‘that stripy cheese’ (5 counties). She couldn’t have been more pleased with her choices. She has nearly finished another row – wonder what it’ll be next time… maybe a selection of fine wines!!

The cheese plate!

Breadelicious!

Hooray for handmade bread – it is addictive to make as well as to eat! This week we made 1/2 granary, 1/2 white flour. Abbie and I are loving making our weekend bread and this lazy method fits in well with our routine…..

1.30pm – made the sponge (bit of the flour, water and yeast left to rise) and it in the airing cupboard – then it was off to Glee 3D and to drop Jon off at the station for his boys’ weekend (or Geekfest as they are calling it!).

Click to print off recipe

5.00pm – continued to make the dough, adding the remainder of the ingredients and did a good bit of kneading before putting the dough in the airing cupboard to rise.

We kneaded through 3 Warblers' songs

8.00pm – with Abbie in bed, I started on the next stage – thumping the dough down and shaping it to make a loaf. I spray the top with a little water and dust with flour – I use a shaped stencil to decorate. This takes a few minutes and then it’s onto a baking tray, cover with a teatowel and leave for the morning.

7am – Couldn’t believe that I was up before Abbie this morning – must have been the excitement of baking! I heaated the oven up to 200C (fan) and baked the loaf for 35 minutes. The delicious smell of bread had roused my daughter by then who came down with the words “I’m hungry”…. Neither of us are particularly patient people so we ate the bread, still hot with butter and jam. I broke into my rose petal jam, bought last year in France – heaven!

Can you smell it from there?

Here are the remainder of the instructions for the sponge method…

The amazing Maize Maze, a huge downpour and some smoky cobs!

Last week we were treated to a visit from my sister-in-law and two of Abbie’s cousins; Molly and Jessica. Jon, Abbie and I had passed the Maize Maze so many times this holiday that I thought it was time we finally took the plunge and visted. Have to say I was really impressed with how much there is to do for children; the only downside was that Pip and I were deemed ‘too old’ to jump on the huge inflatables.

Molly and Abbie leading the way through the maze in drier times

We set off into the maze with the fairy trail in hand – you have to collect letters at various stamping points and then scramble them to tell you an ingredient for a potion at the end for a prize! We used Jon’s ingenious method of always going right to make our way around and quickly found ourselves bang in the middle…. that is when it happened. The heavens opened! Rain poured down with such a force that it felt as if someone was actually pouring buckets of water on us. No problem.. I shouted for Jon to get the raincoats out of his backpack.

‘Oh….’ he said… ‘they’re in the car!’. To make matters worse he then looked in his bag and discovered that he had brought his raincoat with him! We were not impressed, but we wrapped Jessie and Abbie up and tried again to make our way out of the maze. It was not a day to wear a thin, white blouse….. all at the prize booth had a good laugh at the lot of us and we obviously looked very pathetic as even Pip and I were given a lolly and packet of seeds! Jon was not permitted a lolly after we told the woman in charge of his error!

Should we forgive Jon?

So to commemorate our wet, but hilarious afternoon, I made sweetcorn (from the maize maze and our garden) with chipotle butter. The butter can be made with chipotle pickle/chipotle hot sauce, mashed into unsalted butter, with a little Maldon salt added. Then refigerate and smear on top of corn on the cob (boil for 10 mins). Grated cheese optional. Smoky and warming….

Making chipotle butter

Our corn is stacked!

Change 4 life – Day 2 …. the Bushtucker trial!

Last week we were sent a ‘Change 4 Life’ pack….. I’m sure that if you live in the UK you have received one also. You may have thrown it away, but as a family we have decided to step up to the plate. I have been to Asda, to buy the on offer stuff (being reliably informed by a cashier that it was a big con as they have hiked the prices up of said goods, so that the money off didn’t hurt their profits!) and we are tackling one challenge every day, chosen by Abbie.

Choosing today's activity

So we have played piggy in the middle, with a modicum of success, and today decided to hold a ‘Bushtucker trial’ at lunchtime, sampling new foods. Jon was in charge of obtaining these and came home with an odd, but interesting selection of capers, apricots, Camembert, plums and passionfruit… We then all tasted at the same time and I recorded the results.

The video tells the tale!