The Gruffalo Lunch - Favourite Television Programmes

When I was asked which television show was our favourites a lot sprang to mind. I always love it when The Great British Bake Off returns and I can bake along with them and the baking bug returns. When I asked the hubby he said that his favourite was Peaky Blinders which is another great show which I also loved!

I thought that I would ask the twins what their favourite programme was. As they are only 3 quite a few choices can out as you can imagine. But one that they certainly do love has to be The Gruffalo. I know that technically it is a film but for the twins it is on television so it counts!

With this in mind and after the twins asking for a Gruffalo lunch I thought that I would make them a Gruffalo lunch and combine it with a few results that have been given to me about the best show of 2015.

Recently Slotfruit asked 1600 people what their favourite show of 2015 was. From the data that they received they have listed the top 15 shows of 2015. I will admit that I was a bit surprised by some of the results but others I was not.

But before I tell you the results let me tell you all about the twins Gruffalo lunches...

At Christmas the twins got The Gruffalo 2016 Annual and in there they have got ideas on how to make a Gruffalo lunch. The twins excitedly pointed this out to me saying "mummy, mummy, we want a Gruffalo lunch" so how could I refuse? I knew that this would be a fun activity not just for them but for me too and a chance to have some quality time together.

The first thing that I made was the owl sandwiches. These were really simple to make. Take two slices of bread and fill with your favourite filling, the twins had cheese. Cut the two bottom corners off to create a triangular base. At the top of the sandwich, remove the crusts and round off the edges so that you have a rounded top. Place two slices of cucumbers, topped with carrot slices and blueberries as the eyes. Using carrot slices and a sharp knife cut out a triangle for the owl's nose and the feet. To create the wing effect simply pull the bottom triangles out as in the picture.

The following day the twins wanted me to recreate the snakes log pile house from The Gruffalo's Child. So we went shopping, armed with the book and got everything that we needed!

After getting everything that we needed for lunch we went home and it was time to recreate the snowy log pile house. With the children's meals, I like to make them as healthy as possible and incorporate as many vegetables as I can. In the annual for the snow they use dessicated coconut and marshmallows for the Gruffalo snowman.

To make this healthier I used mashed potatoes for the snow and forgot the Gruffalo snowmen. Instead I concentrated on making the log pile house a snowy one. I created a base of mashed potatoes and used cocktail sausages for the log pile house. To make them snowy I just ran the tops of the sausages through some mashed potato. Instead of using a sweet, gummy snake as the book used, the hubby came up with the great idea of using chopped up carrots! For the bushes and trees I used a bag of mixed leaves. The twins were over the moon with their log pile house lunch!

When it came to creating a Gruffalo that was quicker and easier. For the head we needed a round base so used Dutch Crisp Bakes. For the orange eyes I used Red Leicester cheese topped with raisins for the pupils, a pea for the poisonous wart on the end of his nose. For the mouth I used pieces of sweetcorn followed by terrible tusks made of cheese. For the Gruffalo's terrible horns I used a cocktail sausage that has been halved and the quartered length ways. Then last of all we finished it off with cheese ears!

Now let me tell you about what was voted as the best television programme of 2015.

The result was a tie and the two winners were The Great British Bake Off and Downton Abbey. In second place came Strictly Come Dancing, followed by Dr Who, then X-Factor and The Apprentice in fifth place. The last tenth shows were, in order, Broadchurch,  Humans, Eastenders, Masterchef, Britain's Got Talent, Bear Grylls, Coronation Street, Dr Foster, Poldork, The Voice and finally Casualty.

I was not surprised with the top two. I have never seen Downton Abbey but you cannot miss the hype that has been around the programme. I was surprise that Dr Foster only came in at 12 because I really did enjoy that programme!

Here is to another good year of television and lots of ideas for more food!

What will the twins request next?

Stick Man????

Just wait and see!!!!

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post