Cheap and Easy Pac Man Pinata
Alliyah Dawud
July 23, 2019

When the youngest wanted an 80s party I nearly fall off my chair. Child you are really an old soul. But let’s be honest the 80s were amazing.

Pinatas are big business. You see them all over the place and if you look on Etsy you can get some pretty amazing ones.

I tried to make on with a giant balloon and paper mache-EPIC fail! So I moved onto plan B.

A paper lantern Pac Man Pinata.

This really is an easy as pie type of crafting project. I actually had some leftover paper lanterns in the loft as well as yellow plastic table cloths we used last year for Hiffys Rapunzel party which I ‘fringed’ and used to decorate the Pac Man. I then made two eyes….and Pac Man was born.

To replicate our Pinata you will need:

One paper lantern (I used a medium sized one-20 cm). You can pick one up at a Pound store (cost: £1.00)
1 rectangualr plastic table cloth in yellow-£1.65 off eBay
Cellotape
Scissors
Fringing scissors-I bought a pair of ‘security scissors’ which are used to shred addresses etc on paperwork before throwing them in the recycling. You can pick up a pair for £2.99 including postage on eBay.
Piece of stern card (mine was A5 and I trimmed it down a bit)
Duct tape (if you have it; which I did).
Some strong string/rope to hang the Pinata
Stuff to place inside the Pinata.
A stick and mask to smack it with (we got ours from Tesco for £2.00)
Fillers: we used a large bag of party fillers from Wilkos and a large bag of sweets that cost £4.99 from Home Bargains. We actually had leftover sweets which I re-use for another Pinata.

The how to:

1) Set up your lantern. Cut HALF the table cloth into 8 cm strips. The length doesn’t matter as much as the width.
2) using the fringing scissors cut into the strips and create your lovely fringe.
3) Place the card carefully into the lantern. Using the duct tape secure into the bottom of the lantern. Ensure it’s completely secure. You can also stick some tape to the outside too to give it extra protection.
4) Now starting at the bottom and cellotape strips of the fringe to the lantern. I cellotaped them in ‘rows’ to ensure all the lantern was covered. This method worked for me.
5) Repeat until you cover the lantern.
6) Glue on the eyes.
7) Now add your goodies to the Pinata. I used a bag of party favours and a large bag of sweets that cost £4.99. This still made my Pinata cheaper than the ones on Etsy.
8) Attach the string or rope to the Pinata and tie it to something secure.
9) Your Pinata is ready to go.

Meat Free Monday Curry….
Stylemesisteradmin
July 22, 2019

Meat free Monday

My Fast Spinach Curry

Growing up with Popeye it took me a while to acknowledge that large doses of leafy greens did not automatically equate to biceps that would make Dwayne Johnson jealous. Lucky for me though I’m a patient type of chick and I’m steadily changing my body to look the way I want (muscles and all).

This is a super quick curry that I really love. I’ll be honest. The portion sizes here are 250 grams each and feel it’s worth having a larger portion as spinach wilts down a lot.

Like I said it’s quick and actually easy to get onto the table. I use pre-fried onions and frozen spinach….and well the lack of fresh stuff means the food is quick to get on the table. Result!

Of course you can use fresh onions and spinach and adjust amounts and cooking time to reflect this. But like I always say my Meat free Monday recipes are designed for speedy Monday meals.

To make two portions of this amazing curry you will need:

500 grams frozen spinach defrosted and drained
2 TBSP oil
4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1 heaped TBSP ground cumin seeds
1 TSP chili powder
Cooking salt-to your own taste
150 ml (and a bit more just in case) water
Juice of one lemon

1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the onions and fry for about one minute stirring well to ensure it doesn’t catch/stick or burn. If you find the mixture is sticking too much just add 2 TBSP of water.
3) Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4) Now add the salt and spices. Fry for about one minute to cook out the spices. Keep stirring though. No one likes a curry tinted with burnt spices.
5) Add the spinach. Stir well to coat the spinach in the spicy mixture. Fry the spinach for 5-6 minutes.
6) Turn the heat off; your curry is done.
7) Before you serve the curry add the lemon juice.

Enjoy

Leftover Cake Pudding
Stylemesisteradmin
July 19, 2019

No this is not an April Fools joke. Recently we had THREE cakes to mark the youngest child’s 6th Birthday and when you have that much cake sometimes you have leftovers. And when you have leftovers they can be somewhat drying.

When we think leftover cakes we think Cakepops. But this time I wanted to make something less laborous (we all know I like shortcuts).

So after a bit of experimenting I opted for this….Cake Pudding…like Bread and Butter Pudding but with leftover cake.

This is amazing. I know I’m biased but it really is amazing!

To make enough Pudding to serve 4 you will need:

1/2 a double layered 20 CM cake. Ours was Chocolate flavoured and was ‘filled’ with Caramel flavour frosting.

500 ml milk

2 eggs

50 grams castor sugar (plus an extra TBSP for sprinkling).

100 grams chocolate chips

Optional: a tub of Caramel or Chocolate Frosting (we didn’t add any extra as the cake already had a layer in it OR about 3 heaped TBSP of Nutella or other chocolate based spread.

1) Remove the icing/frosting off the cake. Slice the cake up. Generally the thinner the slices the better. Just don’t make them too thin or they’ll fall apart.
2) If you wish to use the optional ingriedent of Nutella/Caramel spread it on half the slices. Then make ‘sandwiches’. So one slice of nutella’d cake with 1 slice of non-nutella cake.
3) Place the cake in an ovenproof dish (I used an old fashioned rectangular tin). I placed them so the point of the rectangle was at the top (and would be a bit crispy when I sprinkled on the sugar).
4) Whisk together the eggs, milk and sugar. Pour over the cake slices.
5) Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
6) Place in the oven at 170C/Gas Mark 4 for 35-40 minutes.
7) Remove from the oven and serve with cream…ice-cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Alternative: if you wish to make a ‘chocolate’ custard mixture you could add the nutella to the milk mixture and whisk it in. Or if you want even more chocolate you could still apply nutella to the cake and also make the chocolate ‘custard’ mixture too.

Tarka Daal
Alliyah Dawud
July 15, 2019

Meat Free Mondays

I’ve always naturally leaned towards vegetarian food. Perhaps the fact I love lentils a tad bit too much for a lot of people’s liking is the reason I love a good vegetarian curry.

I love a good curry. None of this paste/out of a pack business (I’m Asian so….) it’s from fresh and needs to be cooked to perfection.

Since I was a child Tarka Daal has been my comfort food. Over the years I tried pimping it up however I always resort back to the basic, original homely edition.

My plate of daal usually contains more daal than rice (I’ve reduced carbs in my daily diet) plus pickles and freshly sliced red onions dressed in lemon. And that’s it. No fancy garam masala. No fancy business. It’s good old fashioned food like my late Nana and Grandmother would have made.

This daal cooks super quickly. If I pre-soak the lentils it takes 15-20 minutes. If I don’t it takes about 25 minutes. If I know I’m making daal I do tend to soak them before hand. Its not essential. Whilst the daal is cooking I tend to cook the rice (basmati folks; rules are rules in my house).

So what is Tarka Daal. Well Tarka just means tempering. In this case we use oil, garli and chilies. For some other recipes you may find mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger, tomatoes and other wonderful ingredients too. But this is a simple, filling and amazing recipe that literally is a few ingredients.
Daal is the hindi/urdu for lentils.
It’s really that simple….the recipe is Tempered Split Red Lentils.

Tarka daal freezes well and if you really are one of those people that like to cook once a week you could freeze portions of daal with rice to have a ready meal on hand.

There’s method to my madness (How I calculate the volume of liquid for my daal)
I ‘measure’ by volume (e.g. place the lentils in a glass) and then double the amount of liquid. It’s that simple. So if I cook say one large mug of lentils I add 2 large mugs of water. And this gives me a thick daal. I do like thick daals and also eat it like a soup (minus the rice). Low in carb, highly filling and so good. I find the fragrance warm and earthy so I feel you could easily take a mug of this to work and ‘not offend’ the less adventurous people.
If you do decide to consume the daal as a soup consider a good squeeze of lemon as a garnish.

To make 4 big bowls of Tarka Daal you will need:

1 glass red lentils (approximately 250 grams) washed
2 glasses water (approximately 500-550 ml)
Cooking salt-to your on taste
1 level TBSP Chili Powder
1 TSP Turmeric (haldi)-for a more earthy taste use more. For a less earthy taste reduce the amount. I love the golden colour it gives and Turmeric is a wonder spice.
OPTIONAL: 1-2 dried red chilies (I like a hot daal)

2 TBSP fresh coriander-including stalks chopped finely

Tempering aka Tarka

3 TSBP oil (I’ve successfully used Rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil and olive oil).
4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly (I would use more but if I am going to serve the daal to someone I generally have a rule of 1 clove to 1 bowl. But if you love garlic and are eating alone you can go up to 6 cloves for the recipe).

3 green chilies slit (or prick them well all over so they don’t explode

1) Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. You can use the water to water your plants.

2) Place the lentils in a large pot and add the salt and spices followed by the water.

3) Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil. I usually leave a wooden spoon in my pot as I believe it stops the pan from boiling over. Once the lentils come up to the boil reduce the heat and remove the foam that you can now see floating on top of the lentils. You don’t want that to be a part of the lentils.

4) Add the coriander, stir and simmer. I stir a few times throughout simmering and find it takes about 15 minutes post boil for lentils to become tender. Now if you are happy with the consistency turn the heat off. If you want it more runnier add a bit more boiling water (you don’t want to bring down the lentils tempreture). If you want it a bit more thicker leave the heat on and allow it to simmer a bit more.

5) Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilies and reduce the heat to avoid burning anything. Stir well (and turn the chilies over). You only want the garlic to be golden NOT burnt so once the garlic is turning golden kill the heat.

6) Pour the tempering over the lentils. Job done.

7) Serve the daal as is, or with rice, roti….or however takes your fancy.

Enjoy.

Additional notes:

you can ‘flavour’ the daal with vegetable stock if you wish to serve it as a soup.

Tarka Daal can be frozen….why not freeze up portions with rice for a quick freezer meal?

Penne Arrabiata with Aubergines.
Alliyah Dawud
June 24, 2019

I love pasta…but when I do have it I try to make it a tad bit healthier. One of my favourite ways is by adding a vegetable to the sauce.

One of my favourite old skool pasta sauce is the simple but awesome Arrabiata which literally translated means angry. As someone who likes heat I love the spiciness of this.

This sauce in it’s simple classic form is really easy to knock up and there’s a high chance you’ve got everything at home. My aubergine version is a bit more work.

You can leave out the aubergines if you wish. I personally love it. If you wish to leave it out just skip the steps for the aubergine prep.

Ingredients (to serve 4):

  • 300 grams penne pasta (cooked till Al dente) drained. Keep about 6 TBSP of pasta water just in case (I’ll explain later)
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic-minced
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • Chili flakes-to your taste
  • Salt-to your taste
  • 1 X 350 ml carton passata (you can use one with garlic or herbs)
  • 200 ml water or vegetable stock
  • For the aubergines:
  • 1 whole aubergine sliced into slices (either way is fine). Sliced into a pounds (£) thickness.
  • Spray oil
  • Garlic Granules
  • To bake the aubergines:
  • Baking tray
  • Greaseproof paper
  • Spray oil (1 cal works)
  • To serve:
  • Italian style Hard cheese of your choice
  • Fresh basil (if you wish)

1) Pre-heat the oven to 170 (160 on fan assisted ovens). Place the aubergines on the tray and spray with oil. Sprinkle on garlic granules and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn over. Spray again and sprinkle on more garlic if you wish. Now spray on more oil. Place bake in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Once the aubergine is done set aside.
2) To make the actual sauce: heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and fry until garlic is lightly brown. This won’t take long so don’t leave the pan. Burnt garlic is horrible.
3) Add the basil, salt, chili and stir well. Add the passata and water. Bring to the boil. Then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4) Now add the aubergine if using. Stir well and simmer for another 4-5 minutes. If the mixture becomes too dry add 4 tablespoons of water. You don’t want a dry sauce as you want it to cling to the pasta.
5) Add the drained pasta to the sauce (I like doing it this way) and if the sauce is too dry add the pasta water you saved earlier to it. This should restore the sauce.
6) Divide the pasta into 4 pasta sauces and shave over the cheese and add the basil if using.
7) Stuff mouth and enjoy (I’m joking about the stuffing bit btw).

I find the sauce can be frozen WITHOUT aubergines. However it’s just a quick sauce you may not want to have it in your freezer taking up space.

PS: Tesco have recently started stocking chargrilled sliced Aubergine. This still needs to be cooked but it makes the recipe even more easier to knock up as you don’t need to worry about having a fresh Aubergine in the Fridge. Plus they taste nice (no, Tesco did not pay me to say that).