Halloween Skeleton Make up

I love Halloween, Always have always will. I'll admit I love christmas and that is my favourite time of year, but autumn and Halloween are a definite close second. Dressing up has always been something I enjoy doing, that topped with treacle toffee, pumpkin carving and scary movies is just on for a winner really. This year i went as a skeleton,... as you can see below :) I cut bones out of an old T-shirt for my top - Martha Stewart's DIY and painted my face and spinal cord.

there are lots of videos on youtube you can look at (and I sure did) to create this look, but this is how I did mine :)

It took about half an hour - 45 mins to do, but the time went quickly :)

 I admittedly used acrylic paint, and probably shouldn't have as I imagine it's not very good for your skin, but I'm a student and we make do with what we have and I didn't have any face paint... on the plus side the acrylic left a much more opaque colouring which worked well. It also peeled/washed off easier than i'd anticipated.

I started with a base layer of all white except round my eyes.

I then filled the eye area in with black felt tip eye liner (I don't like taking risks with my eyes) . I painted the majority with the eye liner, but filled the outline of the socket in with black acrylic, and the same along my eyebrows. I then painted my nose with black acrylic to create an almost hollow nose like skeletons have!

The I painted a little black around the top of my skull to define the shape a little better, but thats optional. I would advise doing it along the cheek area though as this is necessary for a realistic skull. I followed the lines of my cheeks and shaded the outsides with more black acrylic.

I also added a spinal cored (which I rushed a little) but you can see from the picture it gives the rough idea... Just before leaving the house I also painted my lips white and painted rough teeth on (below), this was so

it would last as long as possible as the moisture from lips make the paint peel easier.

 Admittedly by the end of the night the paint had started to peel, but it did add to the scary halloween effect.

 I had a great night and hope you all did too! I don't think i'll ever grow out of enjoying Halloween, so hopefully their will be many more years of costumes, candy and spooky goings on :D

Moroccan Chicken One Pot

Officially the, or at least one of the nicest stews/evening meals I think I've ever made. I honestly can't describe how good this was, but we had it for family meal night, and the whole family were in love with it. maybe it was because it was the last family meal night before I go to uni, or maybe it was just that good, but something when on tonight and this was awesome.

I was inspired by the front cover of good Food magazine. It's a sort of Moroccan stew/one pot dish which I adapted in my own way.

I don't usually document savoury dishes as often as i do sweet on here as they are much harder to photograph, and I'm not the best photographer!! But this was so tasty I felt it had to be shared with you.

ingredient's: (my version of the good food dish)

4-6 chicken breasts

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 onions

4 tomato's

1 tin chopped tomato's

ginger for grating

3 garlic cloves or a dessert spoon of garlic puree

1 tsp turmeric

1 desert spoon of cumin,coriander 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 large butternut squash

1/2 bag thinly chopped cabbage (obviously you can chop your own they were just reduced in Tesco)

 1pt chicken stock

 2 tbsp vinegar (red wine or cider)

1 tablespoon honey

handful of dries cranberries.

method:

In a frying pan with the olive oil, brown both sides of the chicken breasts, and then set to one side. With the remaining oil in the same pan, add the onions and tomatoes (I blitzed mine in a food processor to form a sort of paste, but you could chop them finely if you don't have one). Add the grated ginger and the garlic. return the chicken to the dish and add the chopped tomato's and chicken stock. now add the vinegar and honey. Now add your spices (turmeric,cumin,chilli flakes,and coriander. chop the butternut squash into pieces (small-medium) and add to the dish. season and cook in the oven for about 2 hours on gas mark 3-4. 

20 mins before serving add the chopped cabbage, and when serving add the cranberries.

 I served our with pan fried mange-tout with salt and pepper, and mash potato. It was a real hit and so comforting on a cold September evening :) I also added a few leaves of mint because once again I like to add mint to EVERYTHING, and it also added a nice green colour.

 I hope you enjoy as much as we all did at home!

Giving it a go - Apple Lattice Pie

I have never been any good at pies. it's usually the pastry where I tend to fall, but even when that goes right I can never guarantee success with the filling ! This pie however (with the sneaky aid of shop bought pastry)  was pretty darn good to be honest. I've never made a lattice pie before (the ones that look like weaving on the top) but was heavily influenced by a couple of American food blogs and decided it was finally time....

I chose apple and ginger as it's not quite blackberry season, and Tesco don't sell fresh blackcurrants at the minute.

I've also recently made a pumpkin pie, but my family devoured it before I had time to photograph it, so I will have to make that again as it was very worth posting on here!

ingredient's:

1 pack shortcrust pastry (or you could be good and make your own)

5 cooking apples

fresh ginger

2 tablespoons caster or brown sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

egg yolk for brushing over the top

Method

Roll our your pastry and place it into your desired oven proof dish. scrape away the excess pastry from the rim and chill in the fridge whilst you prepare your apples. Keep the excess ass you'll need it for the lattice part..

preheat oven to gas mark 6.

Cut up your apples into chunks. This part is totally your call - some people like the apple thinner, some chunky, some mushy some firm etc.

I like some chunky firm pieces but also a nice bit of oozy apple.

Stew your apple in a pan along with the sugar and cinnamon, you may need to add a dessert spoon of water to stop the apple sticking to the pan initially. I then grated the fresh ginger into the apple mixture and left to simmer for a few minutes. If you want a few chunky pieces in the pie hold a few back on a little plate and add them to the mixture once the rest have almost cooked.

I put my apples into a bowl and left them to cool before adding them to the pastry.

once the apples have cooled, add them the prepared pastry dish.

Now roll out the remaining pastry, and cut thin slices (long enough to cover the top of the pie).

If your having trouble, there are plenty of videos on you tube showing how to do this part). Brush the top pastry with egg yolk for colour, and you can always sprinkle a little more sugar on here too.

once you've finished preparing your pie it's ready for the oven.

Cook for about 30 - 40 mins, depending on how browned you like it.

And that's it!

 Scott and I had our pie with clotted cream, and my grandparents and dad enjoyed theirs with custard!

I feel all autumny recently as the weather has changed so quickly, and i'm already enjoying bringing out the winter socks, blankets and warming puddings :)

Autumn times

Today we drove home the scenic route with all the beautiful leaf colours turning and already turned golden browns, deep yellows and rich reds. It was so pretty.

 We stopped to get a few pictures and a quick kiss.

 That night my grandmother found this caterpillar (now named Billy) in her chard. So I was summoned to remove it, and again, we took some more pictures.

Finally I finished the night of by cooking a rather yummy chilli.

Recipe: Winter Chilli with fresh Spinach

Feeds roughly 6.

500g Lean Beef Mince

1 large onion

1 red pepper

1 red chilli (and chilli flakes depending on spice preference)

2 Tins chopped toms

4-5 garlic cloves crushed. (We love garlic at our house)

1 small glass of red wine

2 tbs tomato puree

2 tins red kidney beans

1 tbs Worcester sauce

1 chicken, 1 beef stock cube

200ml milk

Half bag of spinach

2-3 tsp Cumin

 2-3 tsp Ground coriander

Fresh coriander

Salt & Pepper 

Just the usual process really. Sauté the onion and pepper add the chilli and mince, brown off the mince and add the wine. Then add the rest of the ingredients but hold the spinach and the kidney beans until nearly ready to serve before adding, as they would overcook.

Finally top with fresh coriander and grated cheese and serve over rice, a lovely meal for a cold autumn evening. We like adding spinach as it makes us feel that bit healthier, and it does taste very good too.

Bonfire Night

 Last night was Bonfire Night! Scott and myself went to our local firework display, and had a monster of a bonfire at home.

 This was two months worth of scrap furniture from the shop, along with many local people's garden waste. It was so lovely to watch it all crackle and burn to nothing, and it kept us nice and toasty while we watched too.

I like this shot of my mum and Grandad.