Halloween Recipes & Ideas

I thought I'd share some fun food and decoration ideas from Halloween parties I have held in the past. All of these were cheap & easy to do, and quite effective. The kids all had a great time!

Boil up some hard boiled eggs. Crack the shells, but do not remove. Place a a bowl with water & red food colouring overnight in the fridge. This is what they will look like when you finally remove the shell!

Bats cut out of black paper. Very effective! Bend the wings slightly, where they join the body, to create shadows on the wall/

This is just orange tissue paper and black paper for the eyes & mouth, tacked to the window.

Cadburys white choc finger biscuits, scratch knuckles halfway down & paint the tips with red gel colouring.

Little meringues with icing pen faces.

Coffee and mason jars, PVA glue & tissue paper! So easy. I then drew faces on with a marker pen. I popped glow sticks into the ghosts and battery-operated tea lights into the pumpkins.

Bandaged fingers .... sausages wrapped in pastry strips, ketchup for blood, bit of onion for teh finger nail.

Scottish Stovies

This is actually my husbands recipe, he is the "stovies maker" in our house. I think most Scottish kids grow up eating stovies ... it's so cheap & easy. Traditionally, you bunged all your left overs from your roast dinner (beef and potatoes) in a pot with some onions & stock and simmer it all down in a pot on the stove (hence the name). Some areas use sausages, mince or Lorne, some add other veg (carrots, peas etc) but the stovies I grew up with were made from corned beef. We serve ours with oatcakes to scoop it up with.

Serves 4
5 medium potatoes, peeled & sliced 1cm think
2 onions, sliced
1 tin of corned beef (replace with leftover mince/cooked sausages/roast beef trimmings if you prefer)
Dripping/lard (or oil) for frying
1 beef stock cubes
Water.

Heat the dripping in a large saucepan. Gently fry the onions until completely softened but not coloured. Add the potatoes to the pan, cover with water to halfway up your potato/onion mix & crumble in the stock cube. Mix, and allow to bubble away until the stock is almost all absorbed. This will take about 30 minutes. Add the crumbled corned beef & stir through - then allow the mixture to thicken up by letting it simmer/bubble for another few minutes. Serve with oatcakes.

Cheesey bacon potato bake

This recipe came about on one of those days where you need to go shopping, but haven't been yet! I am quite busy with college these days, and it's hard fitting it all in. This was surprisingly tasty, and went down a treat with husband & kids alike. It really does need some veg on the side, as it is quite rich on its own. If you are feeling decadent, you can add a swish of white wine to the cream & garlic mix!

Serves 4

4 large baking potatoes (or equivalent in small potatoes) cut into half cm thick slices
4 rashers of bacon, diced
1 large onion, cut into thin slices
2 garlic cloves, crushed
300 ml double cream
250g grated cheese
Steamed veg, to serve

Heat the oven to 180c. Mix the crushed garlic with the cream and set aside. Fry the bacon on onion over a medium/low heat, until the bacon is cooked & the onion soft. Layer the potato slices in a large oven proof dish, and add the bacon/onion. Pour over the cream mixture, then scatter the grated cheese on top. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes, then serve with steamed vegetables.

Beef in Oyster Sauce

This is a great, simple but quick meal idea for those days you are rushed off your feet (which seems to be every day for me just now!). This tasted amazing, and you could serve it with some rice or noodles. You could change the vegetables for what ever you have in, carrots, courgette & onion would all work well too. This makes lots, so there were leftovers for lunch the next day.

Serves 2

300g rump steak, thinly sliced
150g chestnut mushrooms
150g kale or sliced greens
150g baby corn/mange tout
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
Piece of ginger, grated
1 garlic clove, crushed

Mix the 2 sauces together & set aside.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan & quickly brown the steak strips. Remove to a warm plate. Fry the ginger & garlic for 1 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Fry those for a few minutes, then add the other veg. Stir fry for a few more minutes, then tip in the sauce. Warm the sauce through then add the steak back to the pan. let the whole thing heat up for about 5/6 minutes, then serve.

Slow Cooker Bacon & Cabbage

This sounds less appetising than it actually is! I have recently started college, so my time for cooking has been greatly reduced. This is a great recipe that can be bunged in the slow cooker, ready for when you get home. The juices that run out of the bacon joint are used to make a tasty sauce to pour over. I love recipes where you can put everything in together, less washing up too!

Serves 4

1kg bacon joint
1 pointed cabbage, cut into wedges
12 baby carrots
1 onion, quartered
1 bay leaf
500ml water
8 potatoes, halved or quartered (depending on size)
150ml double cream
Chopped parsley


Place the potatoes, onion & carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker. Lay the bacon joint on top, then squash in the cabbage all round it. Pop in the bay leaf, pour in the water then put the lid on & cook on low for 6/7 hours. When ready, remove the bacon & slice up. Remove 150ml of the stock from the slow cooker, mix with cream, pepper & parsley & warm back up. Use this sauce to pour over the bacon & vegetables.

Chocolate Caramel Muffins

It's a wet miserable day up here in Scotland (typical of the summer holidays!) so deiced to do some baking with the kids. My daughter picked this delicious summer recipe from the bakingmad website. It was a really easy recipe to follow, my 11 year old daughter did most of it herself. They also tasted amazing! I will make these again, for picnics or packed lunch boxes. It would be easy to swap the chocolate caramel drops for other ingredients too.

Makes 10 large muffins

110g butter or marg, softened
100g golden caster sugar
150 ml milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
100g pack of chocolate caramel drops (silver spoon brand)

Preheat your oven to 180c. Line a muffin tray with muffin cases.

Cream the sugar & butter together. Add the eggs, mix again. Add the milk a drop at a time & combine. Add the flour & baking powder & mix again. Gently stir through the chocolate drops & then add a large dollop of mixture to each muffin case.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, until firm to the touch & golden in colour.

Vichy Carrots

This dish get it's name from the brand name of sparkling water the original recipe uses for cooking these carrots. I personally just use a cheap bottle of sparkling water! This is my favourite way of cooking carrots.I love to sprinkle fresh parsley from my garden over them near the end of cooking for a fantastic flavour. These take longer to cook than just boiling our carrots, because we are simmering them slowly, but it is worth it for the end result.

Use your largest frying pan.

Serves 4

4 carrots, peeled & sliced about 1 cm thick
Sparkling water
Large knob of butter
Chopped fresh parsley
Salt & pepper

Lay the carrots in one layer in the largest frying pan that you have. Pour in enough sparkling water to just cover the carrots. Add the butter & season. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. . Scatter over the parsley, stir & serve.

Swede (turnip) Bake

Up here in Scotland we call them neeps or turnips, but I know the English call them swede and Americans call it rutabaga! No matter what you call it, it's a tasty vegetable, and a great replacement for potatoes in a lot of dishes. This dish is lovely with a roast dinner or maybe some sausages. I think this has more flavour than potatoes, and make it quite often to go alongside roast chicken. I didn't add cheese to mine, but you can sprinkle some on top if you fancy it.

Serves 4

Butter to grease
1 swede, peeled and sliced in 0.5 cm thick slices
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200 ml double cream
Cheese to top (optional)

Grease an oven proof dish with butter. Preheat oven to 200c.
Place a layer of swede slices in the bottom of the dish. Add a little garlic on top. Layer more swede on top, with more garlic. repeat until you have filled the dish or have used all the swede. Pour the cream over the whole dish. Add cheese on top if you are using. Pop in the oven for around 30/35 minutes. A knife should go through all the layers of swede easily.

Growing Herbs

I use a lot of herbs in my cooking, and it is so handy to grow your own in the garden. I love that I have fresh herbs on hand, no matter what or when I am cooking. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to grow vegetables, but my herbs are doing great. I have encouraged my kids to garden with me, and they have a huge patch of strawberries growing. The wee man has had fun planting sunflowers and tomatoes. I have a bay tree, rosemary, tarragon, mint, 2 kinds of parsley, 2 kinds of basil, fennel, chives and lemon thyme. I am going to attempt garlic this year too.

Do any of my readers grow their own herbs or food in their garden? I'd love some tips & hints! Leave a comment below.

This post is an entry for BritMums’ #KidsGrowWild Challenge with www.moneysupermarket.com/home-insurance/competitions/kids-grow-wild/

Celeriac Tartiflette

Celeriac  is one of my favourite vegetables. I quite often use it in place of potatoes, as it is much more flavoursome. I picked one up in Sainburies the other day, and was walking around the store wondering what to do with it when I spotted some Reblochon cheese. Of course, I decided to make tartiflette and use celeriac instead of the traditional potatoes. It was a huge success! I used a recipe that I found on Mumsnet and took it from there. I did take a photograph, but it was terrible so decided not to share it! Believe me though, it was great.

1 celeriac, peeled & chopped
250g bacon lardons or smoked bacon chopped
2 shallots, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
100ml  white wine
200ml double cream
1 whole Reblochon cheese
Salt & pepper to season

Parboil the celeriac for 10 minutes in some boiling salted water. Drain & set aside. Meanwhile, fry the bacon lardons in some olive oil. Preheat the oven to 200c.Add the shallots & garlic to the frying pan and cook for 5 minutes. De glaze the pan with the white wine & allow to reduce down slightly. Place the celeriac in an oven proof dish. Pour over the wine/bacon mix over the top, and then the double cream. Season. Place slices of the Reblochon over the top & pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Serve with a green salad or crusty bread.