Digestive Art

Fancy an easy and no-fuss bit of baking time with the kids, but can't be bothered with the mess and fuss of a full-blown cake mix extravaganza?

Fancy letting the kids indulge in their own creativity while you 'supervise' and get to eat the proceeds?

Why not try some Digestive Art?

You will need:

1 pack of cheap-ass digestive biscuits (the cheaper they are, the more you get in a pack, the more time that the kids will be 'creating' thus leaving you in peace to indulge in some 'you' time!)

1 pack of writing icing in quite a few colours

Some sprinkles

A bowl of melted chocolate (or 2 if you are feeling like some white chocolate and some milk chocolate!)

Marshmallows

Method:

First, we put two marshmallows between two digestives and blipped them in the microwave for 10 whole seconds.  This made the marshmallows nice and squishy, providing a nice sticky centre (and the kids feel like they are 'baking', ha ha!)

Next, I loaded my 'baked' goods onto a plate, laid down some tissue and let them loose with some melted in the microwave hot chocolate.

They dipped, and wrote with the icing and covered the biscuits in sprinkles.

Busy, busy, busy!

Oh, the concentration!

Ok, I might have made one too - it was pretty fun!

M is for Mum!  My biscuit!

I have to say, this has been one of my favourite activities of the holidays so far - I sat around surfing the net, watching some comedy shows and kicked back while my children made me some delicious sugary treats!

Happy days!

Spicy Coconut Daal In A Hurry: Some Like It Hot

I love a good daal. It's a meal that ticks all the boxes - quick, easy, healthy, satisfying, cheap to make.

Oh and delicious!

Why not have a go at the extra yummy one I made tonight?

Spicy Coconut Daal In A Hurry

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas
• 4 tbsps red lentils
• 50ml Cocount milk
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1tsp Cumin
• 1tsp chilli
• 1 onion
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1tbsp oil
• Spring onion to garnish

optional extras: rice, poppadoms, mango chutney

Method

1.

Peel and chop onion and garlic and whizz with tomatoes until they are close to a paste-like consistency. 

2.

Heat oil in frying pan and add the spices (turmeric, chilli and cumin).  Fry briefly before adding paste.

3.

Let mixture fry for a minute before adding 4 tbsps lentils.  Stir them in, then pour in the coconut milk.  Turn the heat down slightly and allow mixture to cook until lentils soften.

Add the chickpeas and cook through.  If required, add some more coconut milk to stop mixture sticking to the pan.

4. 

Serve immediately with rice and poppadoms.

A cheap and cheerful meal with just enough spice.  Add some more if you like - I like mine with a kick, so I tend to add a fair bit, but what I love about this is the fact that the coconut milk evens it out for those who aren't so keen.

Yum!  What's your favourite curry?  Do you like it hot?