Healthy Halloween Treats

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31 October, apple a day, banana, bases, blood sugar, bones, bunch of bananas, carve, celery, chocolate chips, cool concoction, cool costumes, core, crunchy carrot, cucumber, drinks, eye of newt, five a day goal, freak, fruity frogs, fussy eaters, ghost, guests, Halloween, Instagram, jelly sweet, kiwi fruit, lychee, magic, marshmallows, munched, naughty, olives, party, pepper, photo, pumpkin, sick salad, silver platter, slice, sliced grapes, spiders, spooky snacks, strawberries, supreme, sweets and chocolates, tangerine segments, temptation, toe of frog, tomato sauce, Vitamin C, waistline, wash

With cooler than cool costumes being chosen and tricks being planned, Halloween is in the air and it is coming to get you!

While many of us think of stocking up on sweets and chocolates for 31st October, but these aren’t the only things you can serve up to party guests and doorstep visitors.

We have had a look at some spooky snacks which look, and taste great, but won’t play havoc with your blood sugar levels or waistline.

Haunted pizzas
Make your own bases, then add tomato sauce, cut out ghost shapes from mozzarella and make olives for eyes, and when it comes out of the oven, you will have a wicked haunted pizza that people will be dying to eat.

Serve a skeleton with slime
This idea is super simple but also totally delicious and good for you. Place slices of crunchy carrot, cucumber, pepper, and celery together on a plate in the shape of a skeleton. Then mix the eye of newt and toe of frog (avocado and lemon juice to you and I) and you will have slime to go with your bones.

Kiwi frogs
If you want to ensure that your five a day goal is reached, even when the temptation is to go for the toffees, fruity frogs are a real winner. Layer thick slices of ripe kiwi fruit, add a slice of strawberry to make a tongue, and blueberries are great for eyes, and you will soon have a healthy witching treat, even fussy eaters will enjoy.

Sick salad
This sounds gross, but it is actually really delicious. Buy an extra pumpkin, wash and clean it, carve out eyes and a mouth and put your masterpiece on a large plate. Then, place a cool concoction of fruit like strawberries, sliced grapes, tangerine segments, blueberries and melon balls in the mouth of the pumpkins, and you will have a sick salad just waiting to be eaten – but take a photo for Instagram (#halloween) before you do!

Banana ghosts
Now you see them, now you don’t! Banana ghosts are really simple to make, look brilliant, and are just a little bit naughty too. Take a bunch of bananas (medium-sized and not too soft), peel and chop them in half, stand flat side down on a plate, create mouths and eyes from chocolate chips and you have a seriously spooky offering.

Satsuma pumpkins
For a tempting dose of Vitamin C, why not use a little magic to turn your satsumas into pumpkins? Take a bag of the little lovelies, peel them, put them on a spooky napkin on a plate, add a carrot stick to make a stork and a sprinkling of plastic spiders, and you have created a scary masterpiece. You can also smear celery sticks with peanut butter, strategically place a handful of fake spiders and you’ll have some spooky logs just waiting to be munched.

Just add eyeballs
If you want to really freak your guests out, forget the ice and add eyeballs to their drinks. You can buy jelly sweet versions, or if you want to go for the natural option, stuff a lychee with a blueberry, pierce with a cocktail stick and then rest this on the rim of a glass and watch their mouths fall open!

We hope we have shown you that sweets don’t have to reign supreme when it comes to Halloween, and we wish you a very scary 31 October.

Team Pure Beauty

Keep calm and get flipping

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baked beans, blue cheese, breakfast, brunch, butter, cheese, Chocolate sauce and marshmallows, Courgettes with feta cheese, crepe, delicate, dinner, eggs, fillings toppings, Fish fingers, flip, flour, fruity, ham, healthy, lettuce, loaded, lunch, mayo, naughty, non-stick pan, onions, organic, pan, pancakes, plain, Pure Beauty, red pepper., Rhubarb compote, savoury, scoop of cookie dough ice cream., skinny, Smoked salmon and cream cheese, Soft fried egg, spinach, strawberry jam, sugar and lemon, sugary, sweet, swirl, thin, vanilla ice cream, vegetable oil, veggie, whipped cream

Pancake Day, officially known as Shrove Tuesday, is heading our way and we are super excited!

The great thing about pancakes is that as well as tasting great they are easy to make and a really sociable way of cooking. Family and friends can all help with making the batter, fillings are a totally personal choice and of course, everyone likes to get involved with the flipping.

To avoid pancake disasters on the day, we suggest you get some practice in over the next week. For a basic, but brilliant batter, you will need:

140g plain flour
200ml whole organic milk
2 large free range eggs
Table salt
25g unsalted, melted butter
Vegetable oil (it has no taste)

With everything ready, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a medium-size bowl. Create a shallow hole in the middle of the mix then add the milk and break your eggs into the hole and slowly whisk it altogether. Add the water, whisking constantly, until you have a smooth, lump free batter.

Keep the batter covered and leave it to settle for around 30 minutes, after this time you can whisk in the melted butter, again until your mixture is smooth.

Put a little oil in a non-stick pan and place on a medium heat.

Once hot, pour around two tablespoons of your batter into the pan and swirl around the based ensuring it is evenly coated.

The idea is to create a thin, delicate, crepe so you only need to cook for around one minute on each side.

If you are brave enough, flip your pancakes and hope for the best but for the more cautious cooks out there, use an egg slice to turn.

Once you have a stack of pancakes, it is time to get to work with toppings.

Sweet, savoury, healthy, naughty, skinny, loaded, sugary, veggie, fruity or plain, you can be as creative as you like when it comes to pancake fillings and toppings.

We are torn between sweet and savoury here at Pure Beauty, but our favourites, in no particular order, are:

Melted cheese and baked beans.

Fish fingers with lettuce and mayo – yes, really!

Ham, onions and blue cheese.

Peanut butter and ice cream.

Strawberry jam and whipped cream.

Chocolate sauce and marshmallows with a scoop of cookie dough ice cream.

Courgettes with feta cheese and red pepper.

Chicken and garlic mushrooms.

Soft fried egg and spinach with black pepper.

Rhubarb compote and organic, vanilla ice cream.

Kiwi fruit and blueberries with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Bacon with cheese and sun dried tomatoes.

Pulled pork with apple sauce.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Banana and mango with crème fraiche.

Cooked apples with salted caramel sauce.

And of course, sugar and lemon.

Don’t forget, you can change your batter so it is gluten free, or use whole wheat flour instead of plain.

Pancakes are perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, so don’t keep them for just one day of the year, enjoy them all the time.

Have fun making your pancakes and let us know your favourite fillings.

Team Pure Beauty