Got a new twist on jacket potatoes that everyone should know about?
You can never have too many scones.
We have had so many requests for the recipes that our fabulous cook Janet produces each Messy Church that we are going to produce a MC recipe book to celebrate our first birthday in September. Watch this space and I'll try and post it here so others can make use of it too!
Simple but effective idea c/o Big Cook Little Cook(Cbeebies programme for those who have moved on from such TV)!!
Make jelly in small dishes or if you are feeling adventurous - slice an orange in half, scoop out the orange and fill with jelly. When it is set cut it in half to make a boat . Finish by sticking a triangle to the top of a cocktails stick for the mast and put it into the centre of the set jelly.
We used this with the story of Noah, so added an animal biscuit on the side.
We have just started Messy Church at Hill St Baptist Church in Swadlincote. The response to our first one in April was amazing. We had more people through the door than we could ever have hoped for, 39 adults and 51 children. We decided for our second one that we would run it over two sessions, Friday night and Saturday morning. We had around 120 people over the two sessions, big wow!!
We have a good sized kitchen at Church with a regular cooker. I am struggling with ideas for food that is practical to cook. We have a small team so we need to be realistic too. We cooked mild chilli in slow cookers last time and had bar-b-q sausages and burgers this time. Any suggestions would be much appreciated as we want everyone to feel important at Messy Church and feeding them nice food is really important to us.
Jane writes...
Lots of ideas in Messy Cooks but suggest the pasta hob recipes which can keep warm or bake in the oven served with lots of french bread. Hearty soup is good cooked on a hob too. At L19: Messy Church we have regular 120 folk coming and stressed out messy cooks! So have started Messy Cooks Team 2 to alternate and offer sandwich varieties & crisps in summer months. Working well.
My Son's story
At the half term holiday club they were struggling to keep the chocolate melted for long enough...my son suggested they use a slow cooker on "keep warm" it worked!
A suitably messy desert that children can make as an activity. Just pour the powder into large bowls and provide balloon whisks. Ideally the children can spoon the finished dessert into small bowls and top with sprinkles.
This is my favourite playdough recipe. I got it from my Mum.
You get a biggish pot and add: 2 cups (half-pint mugs) of plain flour, 1 cup of salt, 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, 2 cups water, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar and a very few drops of food colouring. Cook and stir until the lumps are gone.
When it starts to dry and come away from the pan, tip it onto a flat surface and knead it for a while until you get a nice, smooth non-sticky ball of dough. (I like to use grease-proof paper and maybe scatter a bit of flour, to stop it sticking to the table). Try not to burn yourself, but it should only be pleasantly warm.
This stuff is cheap and cheerful, keeps for days in an airtight tub, and definitely not for eating - but the cup of salt guarantees that!
Have fun!
Antony Worrall Thompson is very supportive of Messy Church and has kindly provided this set of recipes he think s might be suitable either for Messy Church or to encourage families to cook and eat together: enjoy!
1) Use a powdered pizza base mix and add appropriate amount of water as stated on the pizza mix box. The children (and adults) enjoyed getting messy making the dough. Then roll it out. It could cut into different shapes to fit different themes.
2) Add tomato puree and grated cheese.
3) Have a range of toppings available to put on pizza - sweetcorn, pineapple, ham, peppers, mushroom etc. You could make faces or other pictures with the toppings!
4) Bake in oven using guidelines on box - 10-15 minutes.
Beryl Tillin came across a recipe for Resurrection Cookies which are left in a cold over overnight (as yet untested - let us know if it works). Visit this website for details.
1. Cook the mince, onion, peppers and kidney beans in a tomato paste sauce (basically like a chilli).
2. In a lightly greased baking tray take tortilla wraps, fill each one up with some of the mince mixture and place wrapped side by side.
3. Sprinkle over cheese (any leftover tomato mix should be spread over the wraps first).
4. Place in oven for about 10 minutes and serve!
If you would like to share something with the community or respond to any of the posts, have your say here.