Halloween Tricks or Treats!

Unilever Kitchen are the guardian of loads of house hold names such as Knorr, Hellmans, Colemans, Flora and so many more.  I was invited to take part in a Halloween Challenge to make something using products included in the hamper they sent me.

I wanted to make a few things that would please a crowd after Trick or Treating on Halloween evening. When I grew up in America Halloween was a big deal however when I was first in this country hardly anyone celebrated.  But hurrah, it is now popular and there are loads of Halloween celebrations around.

What could be more autumnal than Sausage and Mash but with a difference. 

I marinate my sausages (mini sausages) in a mixture of 3 Tablespoons Colemans wholegrain mustard and 3 Tablespoons runny honey and leave in the bowl for at least 45 minutes. 

 

 

Pop onto an ovenproof dish and cook in a hot oven until cooked and sticky.

Meanwhile, whilst the sausages are cooking boil potatoes in salted water and cook until soft. Drain and mash until fluffy with a knob of Flora buttery, salt and pepper, a drop of milk and Helmann's Mayonnaise with lemon.

Serve the sausage and mash in little individual pots ready when the trick or treaters come home.

Something sweet: Ginger cupcakes with ginger icing.

 

 

I used the all in one method to make the cup cakes.  In a large bowl add all the ingredients:-
115g tub Stork
115g Castor Sugar
2 eggs
140g Self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
55g stem ginger chopped
2-3 Tbsp ginger syrup

Mix well until smooth and pour into 12 prepared cup cake cases.
Bake in a pre-heated oven 180o, 160o Fan, Gas 4 for 15-20 minutes.
Allow to cool before icing with:-

85g tub Stork
225g icing sugar
1 Tbsp ginger syrup
Pipe on to each cupcake and then decorate with a bit more chopped stem ginger.  Grate dark chocolate over the tops

My final piece for this Halloween is a Giant Spider Web Cake!

Cake mixture:-
230g tub Stork
230g Castor Sugar
4 eggs
185g Self raising flour
95g Coconut flour
4-5 Tbsp milk to bring a dropping consistency (using coconut flour you need a little bit more milk to get the right consistency.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, pour into the cake tins.
Bake in two prepared round cake tins in a 180o, 160o Fan, Gas 4 oven for 30 minutes.
When cool ice with a coconut icing with a bit of black food colouring. (I used a whole tube of Dr Oetker black food colouring and only got grey!) I added white squeezy icing to make a giant spider's web.

If you are not too scared of the spiders cut and serve!

Thanks Unilever Kitchen for the starter hamper and the inspiration to create. I was not paid to write this piece and as usual all opinions and photos are my own.

Winter Warmer Recipe Challenge - Sausage Casserole and Cheesy Two Mustard Potatoes

Boy it's been cold outside and the perfect weather for a sausage casserole winter warmer recipe.

I was set a challenge to come up with a warming winter recipe using a selection of products sent to me by Unilever.  My recipe is a Sausage Casserole with CheesyTwo Mustard New Potatoes
 

 

As I was the winner of a sausage casserole competition recently and the prize was a new stock of sausages and bacon I naturally thought of making a different sausage casserole for this challenge.

 

Sausages get popped into the cast iron frying pan and browned on all sides. I put them into the casserole whilst I cooked the onions and bacon.
 

As most of my meals start with onion and garlic and a glug of olive oil, I sautéed some thinly sliced onion and minced garlic. 

Into the frying pan I added three onions, peeled and sliced and cooked until browned along with one packet of back bacon cut into chunks. 

When these were ready I added them to the casserole with the sausages.

 

In the frying pan I added Knorr beef stock pot and Knorr beef gravy pot, 1 Tbsp tomato puree, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce and 1 Tbsp Bovril and when warmed through I added it to the casserole.  Towards the end of the cooking I will be adding a good glug of red wine!

 

Into the oven, covered at 180oC for about 35-45 minutes.  If you want to thicken the liquid at this point you could add some gravy granules.

 

To serve this I boiled new Charlotte potatoes (unpeeled) and cut into pieces and when soft I drained them. 

 

Back into the cooking pot (the residual warmth helps keep the potatoes warm and the butter to melt) and added 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, salt&pepper and a little bit of milk.

 

After taking them off the heat I added some grated cheddar cheese and then added 1 Tbsp Maille wholegrain mustard and 1 Tbsp Maille Dijon mustard with honey.
 

 

The above was served with carrot batons and made enough to serve four.
 

I received a hamper of goodies from Unilever but was not paid to write this recipe.  All recipe and opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pic-nic Challenge - Its British Pic-nic Week 17th - 23rd June 2013

In honour of British Pic-nic Week (17th-23rd June 2013) Unilever Kitchen have issued a challenge to come up with a fantastic pic-nic item using one or all of the products they sent to us. The products came wrapped in the most fantastic pic-nic basket with all the plates, cutlery etc needed to go for an amazing meal al fresco.

We were asked to make a fantastic pic-nic food using one or more of the products enclosed.  I decided to make a couple of things and dips to match for a real backyard pic-nic with the grandsons when they visited over the weekend.

For the oven baked crispy chicken goujons I crumbled a Knorr chicken stock cube up and mixed it with a little olive oil to make a paste.  I smeared the chicken goujons with the stock cube paste then I dipped the chicken goujons into flour then beaten egg and then seasoned breadcrumbs. Baked in the oven on a piece of stoneware they cooked evenly in about 12-15 minutes at 190oF.

 

 

For the dip I mixed Maille au Miel (Dijon mustard with honey) with an equal amount of Greek yoghurt.  This makes a lovely creamy dip with a honey tang and goes really well with the chicken goujons.

I also made a satay style dip as an alternative my mixing peanut butter with Hellman's Mayonnaise and Colman's Sweet Chilli and Mango Sauce.

I decided to make a boiled egg sandwich with a difference! First of all the bread for the sandwich.  I made a 1lb loaf of wholegrain Beer Bread from My Secret Kitchen.  Although it is called Beer Bread you don't need to use beer, any fizzy drink will do and I used lemonade in mine. When the bread was cool I cut off the top horizontally and take out some of the insides (save these to make crutons for a salad).  I lined the bread with lettuce and spread some Flora Buttery on the top piece.

I was given some goose eggs recently which I hardboiled (along with 6 hens eggs) to use in my egg sandwich. 

I peeled the cooked egg, sliced them in half and took out the yolks.  To the yolks I added some Colman's English Mustard and Hellman's Mayo, some paprika and salt and pepper.  I refilled the hollow in the boiled eggs and placed the two halves together again.

Carefully place the egg into the lettuce lined bread, top with sliced tomatoes or cucumber - optional, and put the lid back on. This is then an easy to wrap sandwich which can be cut up or sliced when you get to your dining destination.

The hens eggs I hard boiled also had the yolks taken out, mixed with mayo and mustard and seasonings and served them in their halves (we always called the deviled eggs when I was growing up). (Note the radishes from the allotment!)

No pic-nic would be complete without quiche and armed with some ready to roll shortcrust pastry I made a couple of small quiches.  The quiches contained onions, celery, bacon, eggs, mayonnaise with dijon mustard and some milk.

To finish up our feast we had a lemon drizzle cake which used Flora Buttery instead of butter.

So to sum up my pic-nic take one pic-nic basket, one red blanket and one backyard.  Add two grandsons, some sunshine, a little white dog who wouldn't sit still for a photo, a Unilever challenge and some sumptious food and ENJOY!!

The dog eventually had a photo taken but note there is no Unilever Kitchen products in his dinner!!

Thanks Unilever Kitchen for your #PicnicChallenge!!