A Despicably Good Breakfast (and Competition) with Ready Brek !

I don't know if it's purely psychological or if it's because it really does herald the end of British Summer Time but putting the clocks back at the end of October always seems to make a huge difference to my early morning wait at the bus stop. Suddenly it's dark, it's miserable and it's bitterly cold ... Many of you are probably not old enough to remember the original Ready Brek adverts from way back in the seventies when kids on-screen would eat a bowl of Ready Brek, dubbed "Central Heating for Kids", and then go outside with a warm glow radiating from them, but let me tell you, it works for grown-ups too !

The Madhouse kids weren't interested in central heating for kids OR grown-ups though when the postie dropped off this despicably good package - they were instantly drawn to the DM3 goodies accompanying the boxes of Ready Brek and the on-pack promotion that gives you the chance to win a Minions-themed prize every hour.

Weetabix and Despicable Me 3 have joined forces to bring you a fabulous competition, with prizes including Night Mission Goggles, Remote-controlled Drones, Virtual Reality Viewers and ... wait for it ... Flying Unicorns ! With a bit of luck and your on-pack unique code, you may well win everything you need to have your very own Despicable Me 3 adventure. If the worst comes to the worst and you don't win, you'll have a rather lovely breakfast/after school snack as a consolation prize!

If you're unfamiliar with Ready Brek, it's a totally lump-free, smooth porridge that comes in several flavours, including chocolate, honey, seriously oaty and original, which can be customised to suit your own personal tastes - here at the Madhouse, I love a spoonful of strawberry jam swirled through while the kids swear by a big dollop of Nutella. Each to their own ! It's a great way to start the day, offering long lasting energy as well as a quick and simple meal option that takes just seconds to prepare. It's suitable for children aged 6 months upwards, so it's perfect as a weaning food too.

It's also a brilliant ingredient for baking - I frequently use it in place of ground almonds if a recipe calls for them and if you replace some of the flour with Ready Brek in cookies, it really helps them to hold their shape when you put them in the oven. You may remember the horrifically realistic witch's finger biscuits that we made for Halloween (with almond fingernails and strawberry jam blood !) - they were made with chocolate Ready Brek. If you want something less ghoulish, I highly recommend Ready Brek, Banana & Apple Muffins and Cinnamon Raisin Ready Brek Muffins which are school-approved lunchbox treats and also great for breakfast on the go.

They're also great for munching in front of movies too, as we discovered when we settled down to watch the Despicable Me 3 DVD. We went and saw this at the cinema as soon as it came out, but we giggled just as much watching it the second (and, indeed, the third !) time. In fact, we picked up on a lot more jokes and silly comments (that Pierre now won't stop repeating !) watching it again. It's lovely to find a film that appeals to all members of the family, not always an easy task with an 8, 12 and 16-year-old to cater for.

The kids have also been having great fun recreating scenes from the movie and making up their own Minions adventures with the fab Mineez Dru's Super Lair playset. Where better to make a plan for world domination ?!

It has oodles of despicably fun features including a radar launcher, hidden trap door, ejector seat for any misbehaving Minions and ... a fart platform - cue endless giggles ! The silly sounds haven't lost their novelty value yet and Pierre still thinks it's the most hilarious thing ever ! It also comes with 3 exclusive Mineez characters that can be added to your collection.

If you're a fan of Minions and Ready Brek, make sure you stock up now to maximise your chances of winning a despicably great prize - enter your codes at www.winwithweetabix.co.uk/

Disclosure : This is a collaborative post.

Globecooking recipe : Newfoundland Cod Au Gratin #readcookeat

I'm always delighted to learn that a new Sgt. Windflower Mystery has been published, partly because I can't wait to snuggle under the duvet with my favourite Mountie (in a purely platonic, literary way of course - his heart belongs to Sheila !), but also because I know I'm probably going to get several great ideas for dinners and definitely some wonderful inspiration for desserts. If there's one thing that Sgt. Windflower loves as much as keeping his peaceful hometown of Grand Bank safe and sound, it's his food, so there's always a long list of things for me to try out in the Madhouse kitchen for the #readcookeat challenge.

I love learning about the traditional, regional dishes from around the world, so I have had great fun recreating Newfoundland Raisin Molasses Bread, Pea Soup with Dough Boys and Fried Fish with Scrunchions, amongst many other things. In the latest novel, A Tangled Web (click through for my review), there was a mention of another fishy dish that caught my eye.

p48 Marie, the long-time waitress, came by to take their order.

I'll have the cod au gratin and the turkey soup, to start, please" said Tizzard.

"Sorry, b'y. We're all out of the cod au gratin", said Marie.

Tizzard feigned great disappointment, but as Windflower knew, he would be happy with almost any kind of food, as long as it didn't focus on vegetables.

When I started to google, I didn't realise that this was part of the repertoire of iconic Newfoundland cuisine, but it seems to be a long-loved local classic. I read a number of online recipes, including one for Canadian Cod au Gratin at Genius Kitchen and Girl Heart Food's Traditional Newfoundland Cod Au Gratin, then I came up with my own twist, using what was in the Madhouse kitchen. The result, while not being much of a looker, is great comfort food, like a hug in a bowl, perfect for a chilly autumn evening.

 Newfoundland Cod Au Gratin

ingredients :

drizzle of olive oil/butter

1 onion 

2 leeks (not a traditional ingredient but it works really well)

some cod fillets

salt, lemon pepper/lemon zest, sumac (optional)

white sauce (butter, milk, flour)

grated cheese

dried breadcrumbs

Heat the butter or olive oil (or a bit of both) in a large frying pan and gently fry the onions and leeks until they start to soften.

Lay the cod fillets on top and continue to cook for a few minutes.

Break up the fish with a fork or a wooden spoon as you cook it, until it goes white all the way through.

Zesty citrus flavours work well with white fish, so I decided to add some of the sumac that I brought back from Turkey, which has a lovely sharp, lemony tang. It added great flavour but also gave it a slightly worrying pink colour that made the fish look very undercooked ! You could use lemon pepper or lemon zest, along with salt and pepper, instead.

 Make up your white sauce - I never bother weighing ingredients for this. I put in a couple of tablespoons of butter and a couple of tablespoons of flour, cook it until it creates a thick paste then add about half a pint of milk and bring it to the boil, whisking constantly, until it thickens up and creates a creamy sauce.

Transfer the fish mixture to an ovenproof dish, pour in the sauce and give it all a good mix.

Scatter a layer of dried breadcrumbs and grated cheese over the top and then off to the oven at 180° for about half an hour until the cheese has melted and the topping has gone golden brown.

My sauce, with a dark orangey-red colour from the sumac, bubbled up around the edges, but it made up in taste what it lacked in visual appeal !

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

Linking up with the #readcookeat challenge over at Chez Maximka. 

Gel-a-Peel Colour Change Kit review

As you'll know if you're a regular follower of my blog, Juliette is already a big fan of Gel-A-Peel, which she has used to create all manner of fashion accessories and personalised goodies, including notebooks, T-shirts, bracelets and even a funky unicorn-themed jewellery box which still has pride of place in her bedroom. She was super excited to learn about the latest additions to the range : Gel-a-Peel 2-Tone Kit, which lets you watch your designs flow from dark to light with two colours in one gel tube, whilst the cool Gel-a-Peel Colour Change Kit means you can transform your day to night style as your designs turn from pink to coral, purple to lavender or turquoise to gold.

We received the latter to put through its paces and even before it was out of the box, Juliette was oohing and aahing over the pretty colours of the tubes. The special gels are light sensitive so, as it says on the packaging, they change colours in the sun. Sunshine is in pretty short supply at the moment though so it's good to know that they also change colour if you hold them up to an artificial light too.

If you're unfamiliar with Gel-a-Pel, it's a rubbery silicon gel that comes in all sorts of colours and finishes, including glitter, neon and glow-in-the-dark. The tubes always remind me of a cross between glitter glue pens and a piping set for icing cupcakes, because there are a selection of different nozzles that you can attach to the tubes to get a different effect. (Juliette has quite a collection so some of the items in the photos, such as the work station in this photo, are sold separately.)

You can use the gel pens free hand and let your creative juices flow or follow the templates that come in the box for things like bracelets.

You can also use little plastic moulds to make 3D embellishments or charms, which can be stuck in place with a little squirt of Gel-A-Peel. It sticks to pretty much everything including wood, glass, plastic, card, canvas, cotton, ... 

The packaging of the Colour Change Kit, which includes 3 colour change gel tubes, 16 design templates, 5 designer tips and a gel tray, says that you can make over 60 colour change accessories.

 

There are some lovely charm moulds in the pack, including winged hearts, interlocking heart pieces, Cupid's arrows and feathers, with a funky Native American vibe going on.

The moulds and bracelets need to be leftover overnight (at least - if making very thick designs, you may have to wait a few days for it to be completely dry) and I haven't been allowed to see the finished items - Juliette muttered something about Christmas and surprises and made a hasty exit !

Any tween or teen-aged girl who is keen on fashion and crafts would definitely love to find a pack under the tree on Christmas morning, but it's also a lovely addition to your crafts supplies in the run up to the big day, opening up lots of creative opportunities for making totally unique and personalised handmade gifts for friends and loved ones.

for more information : https://gel-a-peel.mgae.com

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You - the new festive family film

Are you feeling festive yet? You may be rolling your eyes and thinking it's far too early to be talking about Christmas but there are only 42 sleeps to go - woohoo ! I went into town with the girls at the weekend and we started stocking up on stocking fillers, as well as oohing and aahing at all the Christmas jumpers and accessories in the shops. The Madhouse kids would quite happily put the tree up and get all the decorations out right now, but we'll hold off until the first weekend of December as usual. That traditionally also signals the time I get my beloved Christmas CD out and this invariably ends up being the non-stop soundtrack to our time at home for the whole of December and January. One of the ultimate cheesy Christmas classics is Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas so I was delighted to learn that a new animated movie Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You hits the shelves today. The film, narrated by Mariah Carey, follows little Mariah as she chases her dream of having a puppy of her very own, making her ultimate wish for Christmas come true.

When Little Mariah (Breanna Yde) sees a darling little puppy named Princess at the pet store, she suddenly knows exactly what she wants for Christmas. Before her Christmas wish can come true, she must prove that she can dog-sit her uncle’s dog, Jack, a scraggly rascal - in fact, the worst dog in the county! Jack turns Mariah and her family’s perfect holiday preparations upside down in hilarious ways. It wasn’t exactly the Christmas she wished for … it turns out that it was more than she ever wanted !

Showcasing stunning visuals in beautifully realised CGI animation and an amazing festive soundtrack, the film features several songs from Mariah Carey’s immense discography, including the all-new original song Lil Snowman, two more of the pop queen’s holiday classics, Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) and Christmas Time Is In The Air, and - of course - the iconic song All I Want for Christmas is You.

After the song and the popular illustrated book of the same name, Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You film featuring Mariah’s music and narration will definitely be a festive family favourite for years to come.

If you're looking for Christmas printables to keep the kids busy in the run up to the big day, click through on the picture for the bigger, high res version of the maze, featuring Little Mariah and Jack the dog from the film.

Disclosure : We received a copy of the DVD.

Madhouse recipe : Spaghetti Squash with Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo & Parmesan

During the half term break, we went to visit my friend and work colleague who retired at the end of the last school year. I took her a big bag of books and she gave me a box of lovely home-grown fruit and veg from her allotment - some potatoes, fantastically sweet grapes and a butternut squash - as well as some gifts from her Moroccan husband's family - some sweet almonds and tiny dried figs from her mother-in-law's garden, as well as some tiny home-baked aniseed cakes.

This week, I decided to make butternut soup but when I sliced it open, I discovered that it was full of stringy fibres - aha, spaghetti squash. I've heard of it and seen pictures online but had never eaten it before, let alone cooked it. Google to the rescue !

I'm still not entirely sure it was a spaghetti squash because all the recipes said that it is really hard to cut and you need to bake or microwave the whole thing so that you can pierce the skin. My one was actually quite soft and I managed to cut it into quarters and scrape out the inside without pre-cooking it.

It looked more like grated carrot than spaghetti so I'm not sure - maybe it was another type of squash altogether. It tasted lovely though, whatever it was !

Here's the recipe I threw together, using up odds and ends from the fridge.

Spaghetti Squash with Cherry Tomatoes, Chorizo & Parmesan

ingredients :

1 spaghetti squash

drizzle of olive oil

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

1 mild chorizo, diced

a big handful of cherry tomatoes

a good handful of parmesan

a dozen or so fresh basil leaves 

salt, pepper

Heat the olive oil and gently fry the onions and garlic.

When they start to soften, add the diced chorizo and cook until it starts to change colour and release some lovely fragrant, red oil.

Add the strands of spaghetti squash and give it all a good stir. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Toss in the halved cherry tomatoes, the chopped basil leaves and the parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and give it all good stir to combine.

Serve with more parmesan on top and a couple of extra basil leaves for a splash of colour.

This was surprisingly tasty, despite my initial reservations. I thought spaghetti squash would be stringy and horrible but it's actually really nice and I'll be keeping my eyes open for more at the local farmers' market.

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky as it used up lots of random things from the fridge.

Book review : The Visitors - Catherine Burns

Without revealing the whole sordid picture, the blurb on the back of the book gives very big hints of what is to come : "Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother, John in a decaying Georgian townhouse on the edge of a northern seaside resort. A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to shut out the shocking secret that John keeps in the cellar. Until, suddenly, John has a heart attack and Marion is forced to go down to the cellar herself and face the gruesome truth that her brother has kept hidden. As questions are asked and secrets unravel, maybe John isn't the only one with a dark side."

There are no prizes for guessing what Marion will discover in the cellar, but this is unimportant - the book is a chilling look at the "how" rather than the "what". The novel intertwines stories from the siblings' past as well as their present, which give great insight into their unconventional and disturbing lives. With a deceased wayward father and a cold distant mother, the children were never shown how to love and enjoy life in their formative years. With her mother's incessant warnings about the dangers lurking in the most banal, day-to-day situations echoing in her head, Marion, crippled by fear, has become largely reclusive, spending her days with soft toys, imaginary friends and daytime soap operas. She has been ill-equipped to deal with real life and lives in the shadow of her manipulative and seemingly psychopathic brother.

As if painstakingly putting together the pieces of the mosaic of their personalities which will only reveal the complete picture at the very end, the author reveals anecdotes from their childhoods and scenes from their unhappy cohabitation which help to show the reader how they came to become the dysfunctional adults that they are today. This drip-feeding is tantalisingly slow because we all want to know exactly what is lurking in the cellar, but each new piece of the puzzle does give greater insight and understanding. Their upbringing certainly explains but does not justify their actions and skewed moral compasses. 

The end of the novel is satisfyingly double-edged because it leaves you full of questions. Quite surprisingly, Marion finally manages to find a happy ending, but does she deserve it? Is she a victim, shaped by her unhappy childhood, or equally to blame? The same questions could be asked about her brother. Perhaps the most chilling reflection is that Marion ends up as an outwardly respectable, perfectly integrated member of society, whose new persona hides the damaged core within. It makes you look at the people sitting next to you on the bus or in the supermarket queue and wonder what deep dark secrets are lurking beneath their respectable exteriors, and that is enough to give you the chills, long after you have finished reading the final page ! It's a disturbing, unsettling but strangely addictive read.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £14.99

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Legend Press (3 Oct. 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1787199851
• ISBN-13: 978-1787199859

Disclosure : I received a copy of the book in order to write an honest review.

Madhouse recipe : Beef & Veg Ramen Stir Fry

Some leftover steak and a Ramen Noodle pack from a recent Degustabox resulted in a classic #KitchenClearout meal - quick, simple, tasty and it used up lots of odds and ends.

The noodle kit included two nests of noodles, along with some Shiro White Miso Soup Paste.

There was also a sachet of dried Wakame Seaweed and Spring Onion as a garnish.

I started off by boiling the noodles in salted water and draining them.

I cooked up a bag of frozen Chinese vegetables.

I cut the steak into fairly thin slices. 

I made up the soup base with the paste and a little water.

Then added the vegetables, meat and noodles to the soup base, giving it all a good stir to coat everything. I added some sweet soy sauce for added flavour and sprinkled over the seaweed garnish.

It just goes to show that ramen noodles can be used in stir fries as well as soups, if you want a meal that the whole family can share.

Adding to the #KitchenClearout linky as it used up lots of odds and ends.

What's Cooking at The Madhouse? menu plan 10/11

This week will be much less hectic than the killer week last week, so I can get back to home cooking. As I'm snuggled under the quilt after getting caught in a hail shower as I write this, I'm thinking winter warmers and hearty stews in the slow cooker.

Saturday

lunch - Time for the traditional KFC/Burger King/McDonald's option

dinner - Mexican bean soup

Sunday

lunch - roast dinner, probably chicken

dinner - leftovers from lunch or fridge grazing

Monday 

 lunch - pasta with cherry tomatoes, leftover chicken & pesto

dinner - cod au gratin with mash & broccoli

Tuesday 

packed lunch - chicken salad wrap

dinner - chilli con carne & rice

Wednesday 

lunch - Spanish tortilla omelette

dinner - sticky marinated duck with rice and veg

Thursday 

packed lunch - leftover duck with rice salad

dinner - sausage casserole with beans & veg

Friday  

packed lunch - tuna salad sandwich

 dinner - I have a pouch of Brazilian cooking sauce, with chicken or prawns & rice

***Click on my Menu Plans tag to see all my other weekly menu plan blogposts.***

Join in with the weekly meal plan bloghop !

Book review : The Winter's Child - Cassandra Parkin

Susannah Harper is the woman that all mothers dread to be one day. Five years ago, her world imploded when her only son, troubled teenager Joel, disappeared without a trace. The book jumps around in time, showing us the early days when he was adopted by Susannah and her husband John and their struggles to find a balance in their new family, the time just before he went missing, with Susannah having turned into an over-protective mother whose fusional relationship with her son leads to her deceiving and excluding her husband, and the present, where Susannah, divorced and unable to move on, finds bittersweet solace in visiting mediums who she then criticises on her blog.

However much she slams them as charlatans, she can't help but continue to nurture a glimmer of hope that one of them will one day give her the breakthrough she needs, so when she is told that her son will come back to her before Christmas, she becomes intent on discovering what happened. Strange goings on start to surround Susannah - she spots her son in crowded places, his belongings start to turn up, she receives spooky visitations - but are they hallucinations brought on by the mental strain or real other-worldly messages ?

It's a harrowing look at what it must be like to live in the limbo of not knowing whether your beloved child is alive or dead, and my heart really went out to Susannah. However, even if the story is told entirely from her perspective, I couldn't help but also feel sorry for her husband John, who had to suffer the same pain at losing Joel while also dealing with an increasingly neurotic and over-bearing wife. Susannah is not presented in a particularly positive light and I couldn't really warm to her, especially as she seems to resent everyone else who has any sort of a happy home life - her ex husband, her sister, even her case worker. It's hard to work out if her moral compass has been skewed in later years due to her suffering or if she was always quite a nasty piece of work.

The shock ending didn't come as much of a surprise to me because I had worked it out long before the end and even had inklings of doubt from the very beginning. It's still a raw, gut-wrenching journey through one woman's personal hell though, and a chilling story that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £8.99

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Legend Press (15 Sept. 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1785079034
• ISBN-13: 978-1785079030
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Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.