Wednesday, 19 October 2022
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Happy Avoween! Healthy and Tasty Halloween Recipes from the World Avocado Organization
● Balance out some of the trick-or-treat sweets with four devilishly delicious low-sugar recipes
● Dishes include ‘Mummy Toast’, a ‘Frankenstein Smoothie’, ‘Guac Brain Dip with Spooky Crackers’ and a ‘Guacamole Spiders Web’
● Perfect for Halloween parties or simply getting the kids involved in the kitchen
Photos thank you to The World Avocado Organization
But besides the witches, ghosts and vampires, what can be a little frightening is how much sugar there is in a handful of trick-or-treat goodies. While Halloween is a day for indulgence, parents seeking to diffuse the sugar rush with some healthier options should look no further than the avocado.
With its bright green colour, unique texture and incredible versatility, the avocado lends itself fantastically to an array of tasty low-sugar Halloween recipes that both kids and adults will enjoy. What’s more, aside from their great taste, avocados are also packed with important nutrients including healthy monounsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
So whether you’re planning a Halloween party, or you simply want to get the kids involved in preparing some devilishly delicious and nutritious Halloween dishes, here are four fun recipe ideas from the World Avocado Organization.
About the World Avocado Organization
Mummy Toast
Children will love decorating their own mummy toast. Make it a competition:? The scariest mummy wins!
Ingredients
2 avocados, sliced into thin strips (for the ‘bandages’)
12 mini mozzarella balls
Cheese spread (e.g. cream cheese, goat cheese, mascarpone or burrata)
6 slices of bread
A handful of your favourite seeds (e.g. pumpkin, sunflower, poppy or black sesame)
Salt and black pepper
Method
1. Toast a slice of bread.
2. Spread the toast generously with your chosen cheese spread.
3. Garnish with thin strips of avocado for that terrifying mummy bandage look.
4. Place two mozzarella balls on the toast, add two seeds for the.
5. Sprinkle the toast with your seed selection, a grind of black pepper and a few grains of salt.
6. Repeat to make six spooky mummies!
Frankenstein Smoothie
This vitamin-packed smoothie recreates the monstrous Frankenstein, complete with blueberry brains.
Ingredients
2 avocados, pit and skin removed
Juice from 1 orange
Juice from 1 lemon
2 frozen bananas, cut into chunks
2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
250ml unsweetened almond milk
2 tbsp. hemp seeds
2 handfuls of blueberries
100g dark chocolate
Equipment
Food processor or blender
2 jam jars
Method
1. Blend all the ingredients together (bar the chocolate and blueberries) until smooth, add extra almond milk if you’d like your smoothie to be thinner.
2. Next melt the chocolate (in the microwave or a bain marie) and pour it round the top of the glass to get the drippy effect as seen in the photo, add two dots for the eyes and stick a couple of blueberries to the jar. Chill in the fridge for a few minutes.
3. Pour your smoothie mixture into the glasses, top with some blueberry brains and serve with a reusable straw.
Guac Brain Dip in a Cauliflower Bowl with Spooky Crackers
This is a super fun, simple, and safe way to get kids cooking, using seasonal cookie cutters.
Ingredients
4 multigrain tortilla wraps
2 tbsp. olive oil, or truffle oil for a more decadent version
Curry powder (or you try your own spice mixtures using paprika, cumin or za’atar)
1 small cauliflower
3 ripe avocados
½ red onion, finely diced Seasalt
Juice of 1 lime
20g coriander, finely chopped
50g coriander, roughly chopped
1 green serrano or jalapeño chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
2 ripe tomatoes, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
Equipment
Cookie cutters (Halloween-themed if possible!)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
2. While the oven is warming up, prepare the guacamole. Lightly salt the chopped tomatoes and place in a colander or sieve over a bowl to remove the excess juice.
3. Mash the avocados with a fork and add the onion, tomatoes, a pinch of salt, lime juice, coriander and chilli and set aside while you make the crackers.
4. Brush both sides of the tortillas with olive or truffle oil.
5. On a chopping board, use cookie cutters to cut as many shapes out of the tortillas as possible.
6. Arrange the shapes on a baking tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle them with the curry powder or the spice mix of your choosing.
7. Bake the shapes until they are crispy, ±8 minutes, though keep an eye on them as they can burn quickly.
8. Meanwhile, wash the cauliflower. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and cut a slice from the top (opposite side of the stem) so it can stand upside down. Remove as much of the tough stem as you can to create space while keeping the head in one piece.
9. Fill the cauliflower ‘bowl’ with guacamole and serve with the tortilla crackers.
Guacamole Spiders Web
A spidery take on the classic Mexican dip. Perfect for a Halloween party!
Ingredients
3 ripe avocados
½ red onion, finely diced
Seasalt
Juice of 1 lime
20g coriander, finely chopped
50g coriander, roughly chopped
1 green serrano or jalapeño chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional) 4 tablespoons of soured cream
3 black olives
A pack of your favourite nachos crisps
Equipment
Cocktail stick
Method
1. First, prepare the guacamole. Mash the avocados with a fork and add the onion, a pinch of salt, lime juice, finely chopped coriander and chilli.
2. Put the guacamole in a wide shallow serving bowl and carefully pour four or five rings of soured cream starting from the inside out.
3. Using a cocktail stick, mark lines from the centre out to create a spider web effect.
4. Create a spider using the black olives, using half an olive for the head, strips to make the legs and a whole olive for the body. Place the spider on the web.
5. Decorate with the remaining coriander and serve with nachos.
About the World Avocado Organization
The World Avocado Organization is a non-profit organization founded in 2016 whose members are avocado growers, exporters and importers from around the world - including the top four grower supplier countries to the EU and UK. The World Avocado Organization promotes the consumption of avocados based on their nutritional value and recognised health benefits. It also shares information and insights with the public on avocado production, supply chains and sustainability. For more information, visit avocadofruitoflife.com.
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Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Beers for ears! Egham beer festival raising funds for tinnitus charity
Tinnitus is an extremely debilitating condition in which people hear noises in their head and/or ears but which have no external source. There is currently no cure.
Tinnitus impacts some affects around 10,500 adults in the borough of Runnymede alone, and one in seven nationwide. That's over 7.6 million people in the United Kingdom, alone.
Bob Inman, who his Egham United Services Club’s Social Secretary and organiser of the beer festival said: “We’re supporting the British Tinnitus Association at the suggestion of one of our committee members whose son suffers with tinnitus.”
The Beer Festival will run from Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 November, running from 10:00am until late each evening at Egham United Services Club, 111 Spring Rise, Egham TW20 9PE.
Bob went on to say: “We'll be offering a wide and eclectic range of harder-to-find ales alongside with a range of hand-picked ciders & perries, we will have a BBQ with real steak burgers, plus pies, curries and chips. We’ll also have great live music on Friday and Saturday evenings, too.”
He went on to say: “It's our 38th beer festival since we started in 2008 and we have held three every year since, apart from during lockdown, of coursed. During those 14 years we have presented cheques totalling in excess of £25,000 to a variety of good causes and we’re delighted to be raising funds this year for the BTA.
"We have a loyal following from local real ale drinkers, plus as many regulars from much further afield from places such as Sheffield, Sunderland, Bolton, Peterborough, Shrewsbury, Norwich and Swindon and I hope all will put their hands in their pockets to make a donation!”
The BTA’s Fundraising and Supporter Engagement Manager Sabiya Hussain commented, “We’re thrilled Egham United Services Club have chosen to raise funds for the British Tinnitus Association.
"We really do appreciate the time and hard work that goes into running events like these. We hope everyone attending will have a great time and I'd like to say huge thanks to them for supporting the tinnitus community and the work we do. “
More details of the festival can be found at www.eghambeerfestival.co.uk or email fundraising@tinnitus.org.uk if you would like to host your own fundraising event.
(Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann and Pixabay)
Make Soup, not waste! Love pumpkins this year!
And That's Food and Drink is backing the campaign by UK Environmental charity UKHarvest to stop food waste this Halloween.
Join their first ever “Pass the Pumpkin” Challenge at UKHarvest this month to encourage people to cook and not just carve their pumpkins this year.
Last year it was estimated a shocking 41% of pumpkins bought ended up in the bin, uneaten.
It is expected a horrifying 22 million pumpkins will go to waste this year
But it doesn't have to be like this. Because this Halloween you can help reduce this scary number.
UKHarvest have come up with a simple and fun plan to gather your friends with a pumpkin and follow their instructional video @UKHarvest on Instagram or via the link below.
We want you to video the following messages loud and clear and share them as a story with the #passthepumpkin and @UKHarvest before cooking up something orange and delicious.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CjnMsK8INU3/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
We are encouraging everyone to:
“Make Soup NOT Waste”
“Cook it DON’T Carve it
“Save our seeds!”
“Boil it DON’T spoil it!”
“Mash it DON’T Smash it!”
“Don’t be shy, make pumpkin pie!”
“Support UKHarvest this Winter”
“Together we can end food waste!”
Pumpkins are cheap, nutritious and all different varieties are grown across the UK. This campaign aims to make people think twice about their food waste, and we reckon some hot pumpkin soup is just what we all need this Winter.
UKHarvest uses its fleet of refrigerated vans to collect surplus food from across the supply chain to feed those who need it most. Please show support by sharing the “Pass the Pumpkin” Challenge or text your support with a simple £5 donation to help us rescue more pumpkins to feed those who need it most. Text PUMPKIN to 70580. For more information and pumpkin recipes please visit www.ukharvest.org.
(The image used in this post is courtesy of RitaE and Pixabay)
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