Welcome to the new and improved Easy Cheesy Vegetarian! What do you think of the new design? There are still one or two little glitches that I’m trying to sort out but overall I like it a lot. You can now access different categories of recipe with just one click in the navigation bar above – my favourite is the main meals section. Nom!

Anyway. This is basically green macaroni cheese, but I thought ‘pesto macaroni cheese’ sounded slightly less weird. Technically though it’s not actually pesto, it’s just a mixture of spinach, basil and parsley. I love macaroni cheese like it was my own child, but occasionally I fancy something a bit fresher tasting, rather than the usual cheese overload. This version is the best of both worlds – still plenty of cheesy sauce, but the greenery helps to lighten it up and adds huge flavour.

Now I know it’s a little early to be talking about Hallowe’en, but I’ve been seeing some awesome Hallowe’en recipes on blogs lately (Chocolate and Carrots has posted a few adorable Hallowe’en recipes so far this year) and it’s planted the idea in my head that perhaps this could be a good thing to cook at Hallowe’en, since it’s green and all – or is that me clutching at straws? I actually hate Hallowe’en. It might just be me being a scrooge (does the term ‘scrooge’ apply at Hallowe’en?) but I don’t see why we should be forced to give sweets to demanding children who have done nothing to earn them. Luckily, it’s not as big an event here in the UK as it seems to be in the US, so most years we get through the night without too many trick-or-treaters.

While we’re on the subject, does anyone have any really good, low-effort Hallowe’en costume ideas? I’m going to a party this year (rather than my usual game of ‘hiding at home with the lights off so it looks like no-one’s in’) and I’m just as scroogey about fancy dress as I am about trick-or-treaters. I’d like something that isn’t lame, but also costs me no money and requires next to no effort – I think I might be asking too much, but I’ll ask nonetheless.

Are any of you as miserable about Hallowe’en as I am? Surely I can’t be the only boring one. I’m sure some of you go all out (I’ve heard of people actually decorating their whole house in the same way you would at Christmas, which just seems ludicrous to me) and can think of far more Hallowe’eny foods to cook in the next few weeks, but I think I’ll stick with my green macaroni cheese and call it a day.