Disney Pumpkin Ideas

Always do the same thing with our pumpkins...

Cut out the eyes & mouth, then insert the candle.... BORING!

Boring until I came across the Disney Pumpkin idea page :) CHECK THESE OUT!!!!


 

Love these so much! And there are so much more that you can find on the Disney Pumpkin Templates page.

Chicken, Red pepper & Almond Bake

A tasty one-pan roast chicken supper with lemon, cumin, paprika, coriander and other North African flavours. Easy & gorgeous!

Ingredients

• 500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3 medium red onions, cut into thick wedges
• 500g small red potatoes, cut into thick slices
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into thick slices
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 tsp each ground cumin, smoked paprika and fennel seeds, slightly crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• zest and juice 1 lemon
• 50g whole blanched almonds, roughly chopped
• 170g tub 0% Greek yogurt, to serve
• small handful parsley or coriander, chopped, to serve

 

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Place the chicken, onions, potatoes and peppers in a large bowl and season. in another bowl, mix together the garlic, spices, oil, and lemon zest and juice. Pour this over everything and spread the mixture between 2 baking trays.
2. Roast for 40 mins, turning over after 20 mins, until the chicken is cooked through. Add the almonds for the final 8 mins of cooking. Serve in bowls with a big dollop of Greek yogurt and some chopped parsley or coriander.

Chocolate marble cake

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm YUM YUM YUM :)

Marble cake is a classic childhood cooking memory. Whether using lurid colours for a psychedelic finish, or just chocolate and vanilla, it's a teatime treat

 Ingredients

• 225g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/gas 160C/gas 4. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. If you want to make life easy, simply put all the ingredients (except the cocoa powder) into a food processor and whizz for 1-2 mins until smooth. If you prefer to mix by hand, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.
2. Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. When all the mixture has been used up (and if young kids are doing this, you’ll need to ensure the base of the tin is fairly evenly covered), tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren’t any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.
3. Bake the cake for 45-55 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool. Will keep for 3 days in an airtight container or freeze for up to 3 months.

Posh Fish & Chips

Everyone love Fish & Chips.... now try and make your own :) ENJOY

(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 sustainable firm white fish fillets or loins (cod or haddock)
50g plain flour seasoned
2 eggs beaten
60g breadcrumbs
50g Parmesan cheese grated (optional)
2-3 large sweet potatoes cut into wedges
2 tbs oilve oil
100g smoked pancetta
300g frozen peas defrosted
2-3 spring onions finely sliced
1tbs fresh mint chopped (or 1 tsp mint sauce)
Small squeeze lemon juice

For the tartare sauce:
4 tbsp mayonnaise
½ tsp Dijon mustard
3-4 cornichons, finely chopped
1 tbs flat leaf parsley, chopped
Small squeeze lemon juice
1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving



 
Method:
1. Dip the fish into the seasoned flour, then the beaten egg and finally the  breadcrumbs mixed with the grated parmesan.
2. Cook in a frying pan with a shallow layer of vegetable oil for around 6-7 minutes, turning until golden on both sides, drain onto some kitchen paper.
3. Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges then place into a bowl, drizzle with the oil, season with salt and pepper then toss around to make sure they  are well coated. Tip onto a baking tray then cook at 200c gas mark 6 for 30-40 minutes.
4. In a pan fry off the pancetta until crispy then add in the peas and heat  through before adding the mint, spring onions and lemon juice.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Mix all of the tartare sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Broccoli Floret Pasta

Ever find it hard to get your fussiest eaters to eat their greens?

Well I found this recepie that goes down a storm with the whole family...

Broccoli Floret Pasta






(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
1kg broccoli heads and leaves
2 tblsp olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 small dried chillies, finely sliced
50g unsalted butter
150ml double cream
250g orecchiette
120g Parmesan, freshly grated
Salt and freshly ground pepper to season

Method:

1. Cut the broccoli into small pieces so that each has flower, stalk and leaf. Reserve a couple on the side.

2. Blanch the remaining briefly in boiling water.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the garlic gently until light brown. Add the chillies and the butter and let it all cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the broccoli and the cream to the saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes or until the broccoli is cooked.
5. Mash or pulse in an electric blender half of the broccoli sauce and then return to the pan with the other half of the sauce.

6. Cook the orecchiette in a generous amount of boiling salted water, then drain well and mix into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Before serving, sprinkle the grated Parmesan on top of the dish and finely grate the raw broccoli florets reserved earlier.


Top Tip: If your children are really fussy, just blend broccoli until it has completely blended in with your cream sauce and don't grate Broccoli on top of your finished meal

Moon Sand Recipe

We love ‘moon sand’ or ‘magic sand’ for sensory sand play. You can buy it from art and craft suppliers, but it is fairly expensive.

When we did a post on it a while ago, some kind people sent in the recipe so we could make it ourselves at a fraction of the cost.

Mix together:

4 cups sand

2 cups cornflour

1 cup of water.

We gave it a go and although different from the commercial sort …

it was still very successful.

The children had a lot of fun with it.

When it dried out in the sun a bit, it crumbled up beautifully and was easily restored with a bit more water added to it.

Halloween - A Row Of Ghosts

We have so much fun decorating for Halloween. We’re crafting and baking like crazy and I am amazed how many free crafts I can find out there to make. This one was the best because it was totally free. Yep, free!
We go through a ton of milk jugs but I sent out an email at work asking for some more. My co-workers probably think I’m a nut because I’m always asking for their “garbage.” But hey, one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, right? (Or something like that.) This great idea came from Disney Family Fun Magazine. Have you heard of it? It’s awesome! I love it.
It was super easy. We cleaned out the milk jugs. You can use as many as you would like.
Use a permanent marker and draw a face on each one.  Can you guess which one my Son likes the most?
Then cut a piece out of the back of the jug so you can put lights in it. White lights would have probably looked better but we didn’t have any of the all white ones. So we used a string of multi-coloured Christmas lights. (I wanted this to be free so we used what we had.)

Put the lights in the back of the jugs and line them up. I used a piece of duct tape to tape the jugs together. Just in case the wind blew or something. I guess you could fill them with sand or something else to hold them down. Hopefully they won’t blow away ;-)