Very Chocolatey Easter Nests

Just in case Easter isn't chocolately enough...

Easter Nests

Melt cooking chocolate and add cornflakes/rice crispies/coco pops in the usual way. Line a plastic mixing bowl with cling film and spoon the chocolate mix in up the sides to make a nest or basket. Once it's set, lift out and peel off cling film (if it sticks in bowl, you can loosen it by quickly plunging the outside of the bowl into warm water). Fill with more chocolate treats - mini eggs are good!


Other things to do with kids


For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

With a similar heat to tandoori, plain old chicken drumsticks taste amazing!

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

This marinade will cover about a kilo of chicken drumsticks or thighs (3-4 people)

Mix 2 tsps cumin, 2 tsps paprika, 0.5 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tsps turmeric, 1 tsp black pepper and a pinch of salt. Add 3 cloves of well crushed garlic and 4 tbsps of lemon juice and mix into a paste to rub over the chicken pieces.

I cut into each drumstick before I rub the marinade in, one cut in the side that will be down in the roasting tin and two on top to really get the flavour right through the chicken. For thighs I cut either side of the bone underneath and two slits across the top. It's up to you whether you leave the skin on (it will still go crispy if you do). 

Ideally leave it to marinate for 2-3 hours then roast for about 40 mins at 200c/GM 7 (pour off any fat and liquid after about 20 minutes)

(The poured-off liquid and any excess marinade is nice heated up and thickened with a little bit of cornflower as a sauce to go with)

This goes well with Potato Wedges or Mushroom Rice

You might also like Chicken Kebabs or BBQ marinade for ribs

1 tsp = 5ml

1 tbsp = 15ml

For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Cooking with Kids

Fun/easy things to make with kids (will be added to as I find/remember things : )

Cinder Toffee
http://www.mumsnet.com/food/recipe/1645-Cinder-toffee

No Whisk Microwave 5 minute Meringues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcer2xUwX8Y&noredirect=1

Fudge
http://fudgerecipes.co.uk/condensed-milk-fudge.html
Don't start timing it cooking until it is melted and make sure it bubbles gently for a good ten minutes. If it doesn't set, you can scrape it back into the pan and heat it some more (you can micowave it gently to get it to pour).


Chocolate Mug Cake
(You wouldn't serve it to Mary Berry, but it's not bad for just throwing some stuff into a mug and microwaving...)

Mix 2 tbsp of flour (add half a tsp of baking powder if using plain flour), 2 tbsp of cocoa powder, tbsp of sugar in a large mug. Add 2 tbsp milk, 2 tbsp of oil and an egg white. Mix making sure you get all the dry stuff out of the corners mixed in. Microwave on high for 3 mins. Fun to watch it through the window as it looms up over the top of the mug! (From a Blue Peter recipe that no longer appears on their website, slightly adapted by me for if using plain flour not self-raising)


Separating an egg using a plastic bottle
Crack egg into bowl. Get a small clean plastic bottle. Squeeze it slightly, gently put the top of the bottle on the egg yolk and  then unsqueeze. The yolk should suck intact into the bottle!
http://www.flixxy.com/how-to-separate-eggs-using-a-plastic-bottle.htm


Glow-in-the-dark Jelly
If you dissolve jelly cubes in half the quantity of boiling water, then top up using tonic water (containing quinine), it will glow under a UV light once set : )


Easter Baskets/Nests
Melt cooking chocolate and add cornflakes/rice crispies/coco pops in the usual way. Line a plastic mixing bowl with cling film and spoon the chocolate mix in up the sides to make a nest or basket. Once it's set, lift out and peel off cling film (if it sticks in bowl, you can loosen it by quickly plunging the outside of the bowl into warm water). Fill with more chocolate treats - mini eggs are good!


Winter Scene
(Unless you are incredibly quick, you will need to do this a bit at a time and keep sticking it back in the freezer. Use the lid of a plastic box as a base, so you can use the box upside-down as a lid. How big a funnel is entirely your choice - it's nice to have a small one each, or you can do one big one to share. Trees are less fiddly than snowmen to make!)

Snowmen - Fill a funnel with white ice cream to shape the body. Use a round measuring spoon to shape a white ice cream head. Snap a Matchmaker for arms. Use cake decorating sprinkly stuff for the face and buttons (or you can finely slice a Matchmaker). Cut the corners off an After-Eight into a circle to make the brim of a hat and squish the off-cuts up to make the rest of it. Strawberry laces can be plaited or finger-knitted into a scarf.

Trees - Fill a funnel with mint choc chip to make a tree. Decorate using cake decorating sprinkly stuff, strawberry laces are good as tinsel, white chocolate buttons with sprinkles on can go on top as stars

Reindeer Hand Biscuits
http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/graham-campbells-reindeer-hand-cookies.html 
(you can do these any time of year, varying the decorations to other animals)

(Other wintry/Christmas things to do with kids here: http://tyne-teas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/seasonal-things-for-kids.html)


Making Butter in a Jar
If you have some leftover double-cream, put it into a clean jar and shake. About five seconds after you think nothing is happening and that you will just give up (in reality just a minute or two!), it will suddenly go into a big ball of butter in liquid. Pour the liquid off and shake a bit more to get some more liquid out. Either repeat this again, or put the butter in a bowl and prod at it with the back of a spoon to squish more liquid out. You now have unsalted butter.


'Homemade' Oatmeal Soap
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/bath-and-body/soaps/soap/ 


Spaghetti and Hotdogs
http://veryculinary.com/2011/10/27/threaded-spaghetti-hot-dog-bites  
(we put four half strands through each quarter and call them octodogs)

For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Cooking Quirks

A collection of links that have made me smile 
more to be added as I come across them : )

Theseus's recipe:
http://notalwaysfriendly.com/a-recipe-for-disaster/34252

How not to cook spaghetti:
http://metro.co.uk/2012/07/10/two-men-set-flat-on-fire-after-cooking-tin-of-spaghetti-on-top-of-toaster-3372714/

Not so much stealth veg as deceitful:
http://notalwaysrelated.com/not-just-the-cake-thats-lying/30256

70s and 80s foods
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/you-grow-up-70s-80s-7201567

An interesting way to peel spuds!
http://t.co/xt1yG5hjXp

Quick way to peel apples
http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2014/09/05/how-to-peel-apples/


Tetris Cheese Sarnie
http://t.co/ySNCA22QAj

For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Sticky onions

A quick cheat alternative to caramelised onions that livens up an everyday dish

Sticky Onions

This is nice with steak, lamb chops or even sausages

Thinly slice a couple of onions and gently soften them in a frying pan in a little bit of butter/spread for four or five minutes (so they are no longer crisp, but not to the point they are mushy).

Add in four or five teaspoons of honey, a pinch of thyme and some black pepper and heat gently stirring occasionally for about five minutes. At first the honey will go really runny, and then it will thicken up. When it is really sticky, add a two or three teaspoons of vinegar and gently heat for a couple of minutes stirring until it is sticky again.

(also nice with a few chilli flakes in)


For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

You might also like:

Burgers

Barbecue Marinade

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Potato and/or cauliflower curry

Somewhere along the lines of bombay aloo or cauliflower bhaji...this is a lovely side-dish for a curry (or makes a good snack or lunch)

Potato/Cauliflower Curry


You can use raw potatoes or cauliflower, or it's a great way of using up leftover boiled new potatoes and steamed/boiled cauli.

You can use all potatoes, all cauli or a mix. This will do about a pound of potatoes or a medium cauliflower (or a proportionate combination)

It's best made the day before to let the flavours develop.


Put a small amount of oil in a pan, and soften one or two chopped onions and two or three cloves of garlic.

Stir in a teaspoon of coriander, a teaspoon of cumin, half to one teaspoons of cayenne (or use paprika or chilli powder if you want it milder or hotter. I usually don't add quite enough cayenne and end up adding some tabasco), and about a quarter teaspoon of turmeric.

Add a tin of tomatoes (if they are whole, bash them up in the pan) and about half the tin of water (if you are using a bit more potatoes or cauli, and especially if raw you may need a full tin of water so there is enough liquid for them to cook in and then the sauce to reduce a bit).

Add in some ground black pepper, a pinch of salt, a bay leaf, three cardamoms and about a tablespoon of lemon juice, then bring gently to boiling.

(If you don't have them, you could leave out the turmeric, cardamoms and bay leaf without any great loss.)

Add your chopped potato and/or cauliflower and let it all simmer until softened, about ten to twenty minutes. (Chop potatoes into bite-sized chunks, break the cauli into small florets and chop the stalks finely)

You might need to add a little bit of tomato puree if you either have a bit too much potato and cauli in it to make the sauce stretch, or if you added too much water and need to thicken it a bit.


You might also like:

Things to have with Poppadoms

Mushroom Rice

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks


For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )

Barbecue Marinade

Great as a marinade or a relish

This is a great marinade for pork ribs (will do two to three strips, about 1-1.5kgs) or it can be used as a burger relish too.

This is best made the day before

Barbecue Marinade

Grate a small onion and crush about three cloves of garlic into a pan and heat gently for two or three minutes to soften. Add a little tin (usually about 150g) of tomato puree (that is about three quarters of a tube). Half fill the tin with vinegar then top up with water and add this to the pan (this is about 4-5 tablespoons of each if you are using a tube of puree). Add a pinch of oregano, some black pepper, about a teaspoon of brown sugar and a good dash of Worcestershire sauce. Bring it gently to the boil and simmer for about five minutes. Taste and add any more vinegar, worcester or sugar to taste.

If you are using it as a marinade, it will need to be cool before being put on the meat unless you are cooking it straight away. I usually leave ribs marinading for a couple of hours, then put them in the oven for 30-40 mins. About half-way through cooking I pour off the marinade and meat juices, and simmer gently in a pan to reduce back down as a sauce for the ribs, which I serve with potato wedges

You might also like:

Devilled sauce

Mushroom Rice

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

Salsa Salad

For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )