Spooky Halloween Dinner - Severed Fingers in Mash

Halloween is here and it is a time of year that we can have some fun with food. As it is half term for the children I thought it would be fun to serve them a spooky lunch.

This meal is so effective and so easy to make and is always a winner with children! Today I am going to show you how to turn sausages and mash into spooky severed fingers in mash!

This is what I did...

Peanut Butter Cake

I love peanut butter and jam.

I love the savoury taste of the peanuts combined with the sweetness of the jam. So what better flavours to combine in a peanut butter cake!

The peanut butter gives the cake a lovely stodgy texture that any peanut butter fan will love!

This is what I did...

Win a Dinosaur with Chicago Town

With the release of the new Jurassic World movie on DVD Chicago Town are celebrating by giving away one free dinosaur every 15 minutes!

Extension Update - A Dining Area to Plan

You may remember a while ago I mentioned that we were planning to extend our house. Things are still going ahead but it will now be next year when we get the work completed. We have also changed our mind on the use of the extension. 

Originally we had planned for the new area to be and kitchen, dining and living area. Now that we have had all of the plans drawn up we are not too sure if there will be sufficient room to make the extension everything that we wanted in one area. At first I was disappointed but after a lot of thought we have a solution that will work better for all of us and maximise the space.

The extension will be built onto the back to the house, as previously planned and the area will be a living area and the kitchen will be open plan. But we will now change our current living room into a large dining room.

Therefore I now have an extra room to plan for!

This is both exciting and a bit daunting!

Even though we are not getting the work completed until next year my mind is already full of ideas! What furniture I would like, what colours to pick, what style to go for, what carpet to select and what blinds to go for.

The list is becoming endless!

Here are my ideas so far...

Slow Cooked Beef and Bean Hotpot

At this time of year I love using my slow cooker even more than usual. There is something so warming about a meal that has been in the slow cooker all day. Slow cooker meals are also a great meal to have on a busy day. You can simply prepare the meal and leave it to cook throughout the day and enjoy in the evening. Slow cooked meals are so flavoursome as the slow cooking process allows the flavours to combine together like no other.

This meal is inspired by chilli con carne but is more child friendly as it has a more mild taste. The kidney beans have been replaced by baked beans and some extra vegetables have been added.

This is what I did...

CookBlogShare Week 14 - The Dark Roundup

First of all, as always, I want to thank everybody for joining in with CookBlogShare last week. Thank you to Steph from Misplaced Brit who shared three delicious pumpkin recipes and did a great job at hosting, thank you!

When it came to choosing my favourite recipes from last week the was a dark connection to them all. With Halloween coming up I have decided that this weeks collection is the dark roundup. All four recipes feature dark ingredients that are perfect for this spooky time of year!

Here are my four, dark, favourite recipes...