Rhubarb

Rhubarb Relish
Rhubarb Relish is a nice condiment to poultry, pork or beef and is great to have in sandwiches as a sauce option.

Ingredients

* 2 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb
* 2 cups finely chopped onion
* 2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
* 1 cup vinegar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients.
2. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
3. Cool
4. Fill sterilised jars and cover
5. Store the jar you are using in the refrigerator. And store the unopened jars on a kitchen
shelf or cupboard of choice

Candy Eyeballs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 3 tbsp. butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Butterfinger candy bars
• 3 cups white chocolate chips
• 5 tbsp. shortening
• 2 packages small, red, cinnamon candies
• Red food coloring
• Toothpicks

Method:

1. Combine the creamy peanut butter and the softened butter in a large mixing bowl, and beat the ingredients with a mixer on medium speed until they become smooth and creamy.
2. Turn the mixer on low setting, and add the powdered sugar a little at a time until the mixture is moist enough to stick together.
3. Chop the Butterfinger candy bar into small pieces, and stir it into the peanut butter mixture.
4. Use your hands to press and shape the mixture into round shapes about the size of a walnut, and put the "eyeballs" on a tray or baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Then, put the eyeballs into the freezer, and leave them for about an hour.
5. Place the white chocolate chips and shortening in a large microwaveable bowl, and cook them at 10-second intervals just until they melt, stirring after each interval.
6. Remove the eyeballs from the freezer, and roll each one into the melted white-chocolate mixture, holding the eyeballs with a toothpick. Press a small, red, cinnamon candy "pupil" into each eyeball.
7. Put them in the refrigerator until the chocolate sets up. Dip a toothpick into red food coloring and draw bloodshot veins on the candy eyeballs. Store the candy eyeballs in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve them.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Candy Spiders

 Ingredients:

Black jumbo gumdrops

Thin black licorice

Red hot candies

Method:

1. Using a toothpick or tip of a sharp knife, poke holes in the sides of the gumdrops.

2. Insert thin licorice, cut to desired leg length.

3. Make holes at the top.

4. Press red hots into the gumdrops for eyes.

5. Store in tightly covered containers and serve when required.

 

Mummy Franks And Vampire Dip

Mummy Franks or Mummy Dogs

These are hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry to look like Mummies.

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
8 pork or beef hot dogs
mustard or ketchup ( or tomato sauce dending on where you live )

Method

1.Preheat oven to 190 degrees C or 375 degrees F.

2.Optional: Cut a slit in the hot dog and insert a piece of cheese.

3.On lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry dough slightly to remove creases and cut into 16 strips.

4. Wind strips around a hot dog, starting at the bottom, pulling dough slightly and overlapping a bit so the dough looks like bandages. When one strip runs out, add another and keep on wrapping. Leave a space near the top for the face and then keep wrapping to make a cap at the top. Be sure that the cheese is covered with the dough if you used cheese.

5.Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

6.Bake for 13-18 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden brown and hot dogs are hot.

7.Remove from oven and draw eyes on the exposed hot dog using mustard or ketchup.

8.Serve with Vampire Dip. Serves 8

Vampire Dip

This is a great recipe to serve with Mummy Franks for a Halloween party. The spiderweb on top is a nice finishing touch.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup drained dill or sweet pickle relish

Method:

1.In small bowl, combine all ingredients.

2.Place in serving bowl.

3.Pipe concentric circles on the top using more mustard. Use a toothpick to draw lines from the center to the outside, then the outside to the center, alternating directions, to look like 1.a spiderweb, if desired.
2.Serve with mini franks or Mummy Franks.

A Healthier You

You need to eat a balance of various food types to maintain health, vitality and weight control.

Here is some more information on fat, sugar, salt and fibre.

Fat
Fat has a variety of roles in the body including protection of vital organs, carrier for fat soluble vitamins and used as a storage form of energy. It is the densist source of energy when compared to carbohydrates and proteins. Fat weighs less than muscle so weight is not a good indicator of how fat a person is.

There are several varieties of fat which include good fats and bad fats.
Good fats are the monounsaturated fats eg in olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated fats eg oils and polyunsaturated margarines.
Bad fats which raise blood cholesterol, include saturated fats, mainly animal in origin eg butter, fatty red meats, and full-fat dairy products.
Very bad fats are the man made trans fats. Trans fats, which are created when hydrogen gas reacts with oil, are found in many packaged foods, including margarine, cookies, cakes, cake icings, doughnuts, and potato chips.

Various ways to reduce fat include:
~ cutting down on fried foods, buttered vegetable, fat on meat, cream
~ grill, roast or bake foods rather than fry.
~ steam or microwave vegetables.

Dietary Fibre
Dietary Fibre is the residue of whole grains, fruits and vegetables that the digestive enzymes in the upper intestine cannot break down and that the bacteria in the lower intestine only partially digest, hence the food components pass through the digestive system virtually unchanged. It is found in foods which grow in the ground eg vegetables, cereals ,nuts.

When you eat foods with fibre you fill up and feel satisfied for a long time and hence decrease the need to eat as much. It also absorbs water which helps cure constipation with soft, bulky faeces.

So you can increase your fibre consumption by using wholegrain / high fibre bread instead of white. wholemeal flour instead of white flour, high fibre cereals like weetbix and porridge, and brown rice instead of white rice.

Sugars
These are simple carbohydrates used in most desserts and confectionary and is the main cause of weight gain for most people. There is a range of processed foods that have hidden sugars in eg tomato sauce.canned soups.

Please note that carbohydrates are compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the form of starches and sugars. Starches are the energy-boosting complex carbohydrates eg grains, legumes, vegetables and some fruits.

You need to keep sugars in balance so as to avoid risks of prediabetes and diabeies and other conditions. Take a look at this to learn how to balance your blood sugars.

Salt
Salt is a source of sodium which is an essential mineral. You need very little sodium in your diet, around 1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoons. There is also some sodium found in most foods, from fresh vegetables to cakes. Sodium is also used to process and preserve foods eg meats, fish, poultry, cheeses.

If you have too much sodium in the diet you could increase the risk of hypertension and high blood pressure which can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease. One way of reducing sodium is to cut down on salt eg do not add to cooking and reduce consumption of the above mentioned foods.




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