Daisy Chains and Picnics

Cerys and Blake made our Easter Sunday tea, they put on quite a spread and boy was there a lot of dishes and cleaning up to do!! They did a fantastic job, everything was delicious. I made a pie for next days tea using the leftovers.

I bought the Christmas Movie cookbook a few years ago. I have made a couple of the recipes, so decided to make another. This recipe is from the movie ELF. Buddy the Elf pours maple syrup over his bowl of spaghetti to the horror of his stepmum and the delight of his stepbrother. Ingredients 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 large, sweet onions,  finely chopped 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste 6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped 2 tbsp dried Italian seasoning 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 1 tsp fine sea salt 1/2 cup red wine 6lbs fresh ripe tomatoes coarsely chopped and deseeded 2 tsp sugar (optional) hot cooked spaghetti  for serving freshly grated Parmesan  for serving chopped fresh Italian parsley or basil for serving Method 1.  Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over a medium-high heat. Add onions. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, Italian seasoning, cocoa powder, red pepper f...

  This recipe is from the Disney Villains cookbook. The queen used an apple to cast a spell, but the fruit in this recipe supplies nothing more than a touch of sweetness to an already yummy golden soup. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp butter 1 large onion 2 medium carrots, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 2 garlic cloves,  minced 1 tsp grated fresh ginger 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper About 6 cups butternut squash, chopped 2 medium apples,  peeled, chopped 4 cups chicken broth Method 1.  In a large pot over a medium heat, melt the butter and oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, salt and pepper, cook for 1 minute. Stir in the squash and apples, then add the broth. 2.  Bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, then let cook until vegetables are completely softened, about 12 minutes. 3.  Use a blender to puree the soup in batches. Serve im...

If there's no problem that can't be solved with a little cheesecake, that must mean there's no international crisis that can't be solved with a double fudge chocolate cheesecake! This latest recipe from The Golden Girls cookbook is one of Rose's. For the crust 1 packet Nabisco famous chocolate wafers 1/3 cup sugar 5 tbsp melted butter,  at room temperature 1/4 tsp salt Method 1.  First eat a few of the cookies!. You know you will anyway. Then grind the cookies and sugar in a food processor until very fine, stopping once or twice to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Set 2 tbsp of the crumb mixture aside and move the rest of the crumb mixture to a 10-inch nonstick spring form pan. Using a flat bottom glass wrapped in clingfilm, make an even layer of crust across the bottom of the pan, working the crumbs outward toward the sides of the pan. Then, with the sides of a glass, press the crumbs about 1-inch up the sides of the pan. Place the cake pan on a baking shee...

We were watching the movie Hotel Transylvania on the run up to Halloween, a scene came on where it was Mavis' birthday and her dad, Count Dracula presented her with her birthday breakfast which was a worm cake, a cake made from a stack of pancakes with wriggly worms squirming through them, I got Jodie to pause the scene and I took a photo as I wanted to try and replicate one as a Halloween dessert. I bought a packet of pancake mix and some Allen's jelly snakes. We cut the heads off the snakes, then cut the snakes into thin pieces to resemble "worms". Ingredients and directions 1 packet pancake mix 1 packet Allen's snakes alive maple syrup square of butter 1.  Mix and cook pancakes according to packet instructions. Cut the heads off the snakes and cut them into thin pieces to resemble worms. 2.  Place one cooked pancake on a plate, add some of the thin strips of snakes, have them overlapping the edges of the pancake. Add another pancake on top, add more "worms...