Halloween baking time

Halloween is just around the corner.  I love getting the house ready for decorations and finding new ideas for them.  And i love baking novelty things and coming up with ideas for them also. 

  

 Here's some things i've done in preperation for the scary holiday!

Saucy Sauces!

Sauces don’t always have to be ones you buy in a tin or a pack.  When making your own, you know every last ingredient that goes in.  Once you got a stocked up cupboard of spices; herbs and stocks, you can create anything. 

Tinned tomatoes are great to have also.  You can bung them in on top of a pot of meat, add them to your Bolognese or use them to create dips.  I think they are a great store and you will always find them in our cupboard. 

However, not everybody likes tomato based sauces or perhaps there might be an allergy issue where you cannot eat them.

Here i give you some of my favourite sauce recipes and ideas:

Spooky Cookie spiders!

Trying out some treats for this years Halloween. 

How about these Halloween spider cookies for treats for the family or a party?

Made with peanut butter, they are chewy and delicious. 

They are simple to make…a little lengthy and a bit of organising but very easy!

(they are also a great basic peanut butter cookie recipe to have)

*Truffles: You can use chocolate truffles like Lindt or similar here.  I used my own truffle bite mix that I have previously posted up.  These will need to be made in advance to have them ready.

Here’s how to do them:

SMOOTHIES & JUICES:

What’s the difference?:

Juice: To juice a hard fruit, you need a juicer/juice extractor.  It will separate the juice from the pulp by cutting or pressing the fruit leaving you with just the juice. 

Examples of fruits to be juiced are apples; kiwis; pears

Examples of veg to be juiced are beetroot; broccoli; cucumber

Smoothie: This is when you process a juice/yogurt/milk/water and cored fruit into a puree.

These will be thicker and more filling than juices as they will have all the pulp and fibrous cellulose removed.

Read on for lots more information.

Quick & simple lunch idea - FRITTERS

FRIDAY 10^TH

CAJUN FRITTERS:

If you haven’t already tried or made and tasted fritters……do it!

You don’t know what you’re missing J 

They are so tasty, so quick to whip up for lunch snack and….yes…you guessed it…. EASY PEASY!

I found before I was lazy with lunches and snacks.  But everything included bread…… a sandwich; a toastie; a wrap; a painini……..

And I find it difficult when out and about too.  If you go for a coffee all I can seem to see on offer are cakes and buns or sandwiches and paninis. 

If we can just make that little extra effort to prepare something, you’ll find actually, “it’s not that difficult” or “that’s easy” and “it took no time at all”.  The best thing is it will be healthier for us too.

This is a great little snack and you can use gluten free flour.  

The kids will love them too.  You can make simple plain ones for them which will be similar tasting to waffles!  You can let them pick out things for themselves from the press or the fridge and they can help in preparing their own fritters. 

Sweetcorn; ham; cheese; tuna; pepperoni; salami…….these are just a few ideas. 

PORK MEATBALLS CREAMY BASIL:

Here’s a simple dinner to whip up.  It’s yummy, creamy and so tasty.

1.      Sauté ½ diced onion in some flora cuisine over medium heat in skillet until soft and translucent.  Add 1 chopped garlic clove and cook for a further few minutes.

2.      Add * pork meatballs and a good splash of white wine.  Cook to reduce the wine.  In a jug add 400ml boiling water; 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon; 1 tbsp pepper sauce powder; 1 tbsp cornflour (make sure to add this to the water gradually, stirring/whisking so to avoid it from going lumpy) and 1tbsp tomato puree paste and combine.  Add this to your pot.

3.      Season with paprika; salt; pepper & 4 freshly chopped basil leaves.  To the pot then add 2tbsp crème fraiche and stir to combine.  Simmer for few about 10minutes.  Everything is cooked just need a simmer through.

4.      Serve over a bowl of yummy pasta! 

*For this I have used a pack of ready to eat Pork meatballs made for ALDI called “Alpenmark” mini Frikadellen meatballs.  I have previously posted a blog about them as I find them great to have in the fridge.  You can eat them cold in salads or on their own or hot with meals.  They’re great value with 20 meatballs in each pack. 

Of course, you can also make meatballs from scratch if you wish.   

COOKING APPLES – STEWED & HEALTHY ENERGY BARS:

I have posted quite a bit on apples.  I had some cooking apples lately, some given to me and some I bought.  They are great.  

I use them:

·        to add to bun mixtures (by stewing them in orange juice first)

·        to make apple sauce for Pork (not just for side sauce but rub some on top of your pork before roasting for a wonderful flavour)

·        for pies/tarts (add some juicy blackberries/pears also)

·        to make stewed apple with cinnamon (yummy warm in a bowl, with a dollop of warm custard)

·        to stew them to sweeten healthy home baked treats

·        to make yummy chutney

·        for making jam (blackberry & apple is fab)

The list really is endless.  Most things made fresh can be popped in the freezer so you can make a lot of things in advance. 

Yesterday I posted a yummy tasty APPLE PIE.  Previously I posted recipe for APPLE BUNS. 

Today……….It’s STEWED CINNAMON APPLE & HEALTHY ENERGY BARS

Leftover-shortcrust-rolls!

Any leftover pastry I had when making apple pies, I just rolled into long stick shaped rolls, sprinkled with caster sugar and cocoa powder and baked in the oven at 190°C.  Perfect for dipping in chocolate sauce or served on the side with a coffee.  SIMPLES !!

APPLES – APPLE PIE:

I got some yummy cooking apples lately.  They are so versatile.  You can make stewed apples and serve with warm custard as a sweet treat or make apple sauce for roast pork.  They can be added to Madeira buns or some yummy chutney or jam.  The list is endless.  

For now I’ve made an apple pie with shortcrust pastry.  It really is easy to make. 

You can buy ready to roll pastry but have a look at how to make it from scratch and then decide for yourself!

The recipe is lengthy but it’s really not difficult to make. 

My advice would be to read through it first and familiarise yourself with it before starting.

And here’s how I did it:

BANANA PANCAKES

BANANA PANCAKES:

If you want a healthy start to your day why not try some guilt free yumminess in banana pancakes with fresh fruit.

1.     Blend/blitz 1 banana with 2 eggs (this will give you 4 nice thin pancakes)

2.     Heat on med heat, a knob of butter.  Add a quarter of the mix and cook for about 2 mins.  Flip the pancake over to cook on other side.  Continue with the next 3 pancakes the same way.

3.     Serve warm with what you fancy.  

     My toppings here are fresh berries; natural yogurt; sunflower, hemp & pumpkin seeds.

For a sweet treat, you could add some chopped bananas; nutella and nuts.  (maybe some vanilla ice cream too? !!)