Yesterday I had a CCWK Halloween photo shoot which was great fun. I had my little home economics team by my side – my good old mum who is fab at washing up and keeping everything in order, and my big sis, who if you haven’t met her, is the most artistic and creative person EVER! She always has some great styling ideas, and so I’m very happy to have her in my life with her artistic touch, an attribute that I sadly lack! We photographed lots of recipes that I will of course be sharing with you closer to Halloween.

So as my last job of the day, I am writing this blog still completely wired from a busy day, but desperately wanting to send this recipe out to my avid fans! I’m not going to fib – blogging is time-consuming, and when you aren’t a naturally good writer it can be painfully difficult to say what you mean without waffling or boring everyone to sleep! Anyway, good news guys, I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

My ‘Detoxember’ 14-day course begins on Tuesday Nov 3rd, and it is filling up nicely. I know November seems like a funny time to detox, but I personally think that the hardest thing about dieting is getting in the zone! The anticipation of party season is a great motivator to encourage you to get into detox mode, especially once the weight loss becomes apparent as the muffin tops disperse! Party season means party dresses as well, and we all want to look our very best. Hopefully it will keep you focused on maintaining good eating habits right up to December 25th, when you will have my permission to eat gluttonous amounts for three days only – note that I say ‘three days’ as Christmas Eve is included in this! If you are interested, the price is £80. Please email me for further details.

As we head further into settling the children back into school term time, the homework is surely creeping back up to unbearable amounts – not only for the kids, but for me too! Seriously… Reading, comprehension, spellings and co-ordinate building (what the hell is that?) are taking their toll on me! For a split second, I think ‘roll on half term’, and then I remember the bickering and arguments between my two naughty boys in the final week of the summer holidays!

With the evenings drawing in, I thought that I would share this really easy Cottage Pie with A Twist recipe. This can be prepared in advance, and then simply be cooked in the oven to give you all more time to help with the homework! You can freeze this mixture for up to four weeks, but you need to cook the topping fresh as cauliflower does not freeze well. For fussy kids, top theirs with mashed potato or sweet potato. So, don’t think of Cottage pie as a heavy, fattening meal, because with this light topping you can halve the calories. Oh and I nearly forgot … If you think this recipe is good, you may want to check out my cookbook which is full of little rascals like this – it is on sale on my homepage.

Kate x