Robbie Cheadle's Blog, page 46

Robbie’s Inspiration – Recipes from around the world: Italian beef and mushroom stew

I had a busy weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn’t busy because I was doing things l like doing, it was busy because I had to work half day on both Saturday and Sunday. I worked ten hours the previous Sunday, so I am going to be a bit over work by Friday this week.

I did manage to squeeze in making this delicious Italian beef and mushroom stew which was very tasty.

Ingredients

2 kilograms beef cubes;

1 cup all purpose flour;

Olive oil for cooking;

250 grams bacon, sliced;

500 grams portabellini mushrooms thinly sliced;

2 medium onions, diced;

2 celery stalks, sliced;

5 carrots cut in rounds;

15 ml garlic flakes;

15 ml dried origanum;

5 ml fresh Italian parsley, chopped;

60 ml tomato paste;

1 cup (250 ml) red wine; and

4 cups beef stock.

Method

In a bowl, cover the beef cubes with the flour and add black pepper, as required. In a pot on the stove, brown the meat in a little olive oil, and set aside. Use a little red wine to loosen the bits at the bottom of the pot and remove. Add a bit more olive oil and add the mushrooms and onions to the pot. Allow to cook for about 3 minutes then add the bacon and cook for another 5 minutes. Finally add the celery and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the garlic, origanum, parsley, and tomato paste and then the red wine. Reduce for 10 minutes. Add the beef broth and cook on a low heat for another 30 minutes.

Here is a sneak peak at this dish cooking on the stove:

Haunted Halloween Holiday

Thank you to talented poet and author, Annette Rochelle Anne, for hosting the last day of Michael and my Haunted Halloween Holiday WordCrafter book tour. I really enjoyed Annette’s question about my favourite children’s book writers.

Annette Rochelle Aben

Haunted Halloween Holiday

by Robbie and Michael Cheadle.

Giveaway

For a chance to win one of three US$10 Amazon vouchers or one of three paperback copies of Haunted Halloween Holiday just leave a comment to show you were here.

Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win.

The prizes will be given away in a random drawing. Robbie was kind enough to answer a couple of questions! What 2 writers, living or dead, would you like to spend the day with and why?Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton is the children’s author who impacted my life the most. As a girl and young teen, I read many of her 762 books for children. I started reading young and the books I loved were Noddy and his adventures in Toyland, The Enchanted Wood series, the Adventures of the Wishing Chair series, and the Mr. Pink…

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Robbie’s Inspiration – A visit to the circus via cake and a guacamole salad #cakeart #fondantart

On 25 September we had a family gathering to celebrate my parents 48th wedding anniversary. It was a lunch event and everybody contributed to the fare. I made a circus cake display and a guacamole salad. I worked on the fondant figures for the cake for about three months as they are quite time consuming and detailed to make. I made a clown, two acrobats, two empowered circus bears, a strong man, and a ring master. The cake comprised of three layers of my giant round cakes baked in my biggest wedding cake tin.

I made a double mix orange sponge, a triple mix chocolate milk sponge, and a triple mix vanilla milk sponge. All the cakes were very delicious and I took some of the leftovers to the office for my colleagues and our building management team.

Making the cake

Here is how I made the cake in a step-by-step photographic presentation:

Firstly make three giant round cakes: 2 triple cake mixtures and 1 double cake mixtureLayer one of the triple cakes with the double cake. Cover with a butter icing crumb layerCarve the remaining triple cake. The hole is where I inserted a skewer to mark the middle. Layer the tent roof on top of the other two layers and cover with a crumb coatMeasure the tip of the roof to the base. Cut out 6 cm wide strips from orange and white fondant and mark the middles. Cut out the fondant in top-to-toe trianglesCut out orange and white strips for the sides of the cake. Make the bunting using green fodant and a circular cutter. Slice the circles down the middle

You will need the cakes, vanilla butter icing, a ruler, orange, green, black, and white fondant, and a little sugar glue. Oh, and a thick cake board. This cake is heavy.

I cut out an arch for the doorway from black fondant and attached it to the cake using sugar glue. The curtains are squares of green fondant, gathered to look like curtains, and glued to the sides of the door. The curtain ties are strips of green fondant attached with sugar glue.

The flag is also cut out of green fondant and attached to a skewer with sugar glue.

The charactersClownStrong manAcrobatAcrobatRing MasterCircus bearsThe salad

I made a most delicious guacamole salad. I used Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella’s recipe here: https://www.notquitenigella.com/2022/09/07/guacamole-salad

Lorraine shares all sorts of terrific recipes for cakes, tarts, salads, and other foods.

Here is a picture of the salad:

Haunted Halloween Holiday blog tour stop

Today’s post is being sponsored by the lovely Tori Zigler, a talented poem and children’s book writer. Tori has shared her review and the origination of the book which started as a poem for a poetry challenge.

You can read Tori’s post here: https://ziglernews.blogspot.com/2022/10/wordcrafters-book-blogtour-for-haunted.html?spref=tw

Haunted Halloween Holiday by Robbie and Michael Cheadle – Blog Tour

Michael and I are over at Miriam Hurdle’s lovely blog with a day 2’s post in our WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday book tour. Miriam asked two great questions which we enjoyed answering.

The Showers of Blessings

I’m delighted to welcome Robbie and Michael Cheadle to my blog today. They have a new book for your trick-or-tricking fun read with delicious recipes for the activities.

Haunted Halloween Holiday WordCrafter Book Blog Tour

Giveaway

For a chance to win one of three US$10 Amazon vouchers or one of three paperback copies of the Haunted Halloween Holiday, just leave a comment to show you were here.

Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win.

The prizes will be given away in a random drawing.

Robbie has been writing children’s books with her son Michael for years. It’s an admirable project between mother and son for such a long time. I invited Robbie to talk about Michael and their children’s books.

Hi Robbie, how did you begin writing children’s books with Michael?

Thank you for this question, Miriam. Michael and I started writing together…

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Welcome to the WordCrafter “Haunted Halloween Holiday” Book Blog Tour

Kaye Lynne Booth from Writing to be Read and WordCrafter Press is hosting day 1 of Michael and my new book, Haunted Halloween Holiday. Kaye has shared a terrific review and we are delighted.

Writing to be Read

Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour

Welcome to the WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour, in celebration of this delightful new children’s Halloween adventure by Robbie and Michael Cheadle. This is going to be a wonderful tour with a guest post from author Robbie Cheadle and a review at every stop. Today will be a real treat with not one, but two tour stops, but you may comment on either stop here. Instead of making Robbie sit through another tedious interview, we will have each tour stop host ask her two questions, so you can learn more about her at every stop if you follow the tour, and she also has a great giveaway.

Tour Schedule

Monday – October 3 – Double Stop Day! – Guest Post & Review – Writing to be Read

– Guest Post & Review – Undawnted

Tuesday – October 4 – The Showers of…

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Robbie’s Inspiration – Recipes from around the world: Prawn pasta bake

I have mentioned before that I am not the world’s biggest seafood person, but I do love prawns. I often make dishes that use prawns, with or without another seafood addition. I came across a recipe for garlic shrimp pasta bake and I amended it to my preferred specifications. It came out very well.

Ingredients

500 grams multicoloured spiral noodles (spinach, tomato, and plain)

120 grams butter

125 ml all-purpose flour

600 ml low fat milk

3 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

3 teaspoons chopped fresh dill

200 ml grated parmesan cheese

125 ml grated Romano cheese

125 ml grated mozzarella cheese

1 Tbspn flaked garlic

1 Tbspn dried parsley

4 chopped Roma tomatoes

500 grams shelled large prawns

Method

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add 5 ml of olive oil and 15 ml of salt. Add the spiral pasta and allow to cook for 15 minutes until soft. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.

In a saucepan, add a little olive oil and cook the prawns and the garlic for 5 – 7 minutes until light pink all over.

Add the butter to the saucepan and melt. Mix in the flour and allow to cook for a few minutes. Add the lemon juice to the chicken stock and slowly add to the flour mixture, whisking continuously. Add the milk, parsley, dill, salt and pepper, and whisk until the mixture comes to the boil. It should have thickened nicely by that time. Do not stop whisking or the sauce will go lumpy. Add the Romano and parmesan cheese and half of the mozzarella and allow to melt completely. Add the chopped tomatoes and the prawns.

Prepare a large baking tray, layer with the pasta. Pour the sauce over the pasta, making sure the pasta is completely coated with sauce. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with a fresh green salad.

Here is my YT video of the sauce for this pasta bake:

Book Club Mom’s Author Update: News from Robbie and Michael Cheadle

Michael and I are over at Book Club Moms blog with a post about Haunted Halloween Holiday. We have featured our character, Jack Frost. Barbara shares lots of interesting titbits about books and excellent reviews of books. She also has a great YouTube Channel where she shares interactive and chatty videos.

Book Club Mom

Hi Everyone, I recently caught up with children’s author Robbie and her son, Michael. Today they are sharing their new book with you!

Author names: Robbie and Michael Cheadle

Genre: Children

Book: Haunted Halloween Holiday

News: Robbie Cheadle and her son, Michael, are thrilled to announce that their new book, Haunted Halloween Holiday, is available from TSL Publications and Lulu.com. This entertaining story is aimed at children aged 5 to 9 years old and is beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art illustrations.

Count Sugular and his family are invited to a party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. He and his wife, Witch Honey, decide to hire a gingerbread caravan and enjoy a weekend away. Their young son, Baby Howler, the only male banshee in their extended family, has been keeping them busy with his noisy wailing. A night of sunbathing on…

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Treasuring Poetry – Meet poet and author, Yvette Prior and a book review #Poetrylovers #readingcommunity @bookreview

Today, I am delighted to feature blogger, poet and writer, Yvette Prior from Priorhouse blog, as my Treasuring Poetry guest. Thank you for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth

Writing to be Read

Today, I am very excited to welcome Yvette Prior from Priorhouse blog as my September Treasuring Poetry guest. Yvette is among the first bloggers I met when I started Robbie’s Inspiration and she was always encouraging and supportive of my artwork and writing. Thank you, Yvette.

Today, Yvette, a talented poet and author herself and a huge supporter of other writers and bloggers, is going to share some of her thoughts about poetry and some readings from her lovely poetry book, Avian Friends.

What is your favourite poem and why?

Winter Chill

Stood and listened

to birds tweet and whistle

had breakfast to make

day to begin

stuff to do

but standing

in winter chill

at the back door

harmony

stopped me

hope flew in

melodious infusing during a winter chill

trees still bare

yet birds were there

dulcet air

momentary loss of care

cold days

soon to part ways

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Guest Post: Haunted Halloween Holiday by Robbie and Michael Cheadle.

I am over at beetleypete blog with a post about my new book, Haunted Halloween Holiday, and a short reading. Thank you for hosting, Pete. If you don’t know Pete’s blog, he shares excellent short stories and series, and lots of great posts about life in the UK, present and past. Do go over and have a look around.

beetleypete

Robbie and Michael have a new book out! Just in time for Halloween too.

Robbie and Michael Cheadle are delighted to present their new book for children, Haunted Halloween Holiday. This book, for children aged 5 to 9 years old, is illustrated with Robbie and Michael’s fondant and cake art and introduces new fantasy characters including Count Sugular, Witch Honey, and Baby Howler.
You will also find our old favourite, Sir Chocolate, featured. He’s in the thick of the Halloween Party, helping the Nougat Clown brothers, Hoot and Flute, deal with Toot’s anxiety and depression.

Clink on the link to listen to a short reading from Haunted Halloween Holiday:

About Haunted Halloween Holiday

Count Sugular is delighted when the Sugarpop Bats invite his family to a Halloween party at the Haunted House. He and his wife, Witch Honey, decide to hire a caravan and enjoy a weekend away with their…

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Growing Bookworms – Interactive books for children – Part 2: Digital books

I am over at Writing to be Read with this month’s Growing Bookworms post which discusses interactive digital books for children. Thank you to Kaye Lynne Booth for hosting.

Writing to be Read

Last month, I discussed physical interactive books for children and their benefits. You can read this post here:

This month, I am sharing the pros and cons of digital interactive books for children.

Firstly, what is an interactive eBook?

An interactive eBook is an ebook that has elements with which the reader can directly interact. This type of ebook has a lot of touchpoints where the reader can interact with videos, audio recordings, links and other content.

I read several articles about the benefits of eBooks for children and the experts believe that reading print books to toddlers and small children results in a better reading experience for the child. Research shows that children and parents/caregivers interact more frequently with one another when they are reading a paperback book and turning pages, and the quality of their interactions are better. This translates into better language development, literacy and bonding with…

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