Your children will love these tasty sausage rolls, especially if you use real meat sausages rather than the vegan sausage in the listing below. Minced iguana may also be substituted.

Be sure to stock up on some Fleet® enemas.

Ingredients

For the sausage rolls

• 30g/1oz butter
• 100g/3½oz button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 450g/1lb vegan sausage meat (you can easily push the meat out from the skins of readymade vegan sausages)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 450g/1lb ready-rolled puff pastry
• honey or maple syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the mushrooms until soft. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Add the Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, thyme and sausage meat and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Roll the puff pastry out into a large rectangle, then cut into two long rectangles.

5. Place a layer of sausage meat mixture down the middle of each pastry rectangle, then brush each with honey or syrup on one edge.

6. Fold the other side of the pastry over onto the edge with the honey or syrup. Press down to seal and trim any excess. Cut each pastry roll into 8-10 small sausage rolls.

7. Place the sausage rolls onto a baking tray and transfer to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crisp and golden and the sausage meat is completely cooked through.

For National Bacon Day, what better introduction to iguana meat than these quick iguana-bacon-jalapeño appetizers? (Note: you can use chicken or rabbit or rattlesnake meat as a substitute for the iguana.)

Leftover jalapeños and meat cubes may be paired with a festive dip.

Ingredients

2 lbs jalapeños

1 lb iguana (or other meat)

1 lb bacon

1 lb cheddar cheese

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

Directions

Fry up the bacon till it’s still fatty. Remove and drain, and pour out most of the grease from the skillet. Cube or mince the iguana meat, and braise a few minutes in the remaining bacon grease. Set aside to drain.

Halve the jalapeños and scoop out most of the seeds.

Grate the cheese.

Mix the breadcrumbs and spices.

Put a layer of grated cheese in each jalapeño half, then stick bits of iguana meat on top. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture generously on each. Wrap each jalapeño half with a strip of bacon.

Place the stuffed jalapeños on a cookie sheet or broiling pan, and broil 5-8 minutes until bacon and breadcrumbs are crispy. Set aside to cool.

Wine pairing suggestion: ice-cold sancerre or room-temperature chianti.

Just the thing to serve with a plate of brownies!

Ingredients :

Shake all ingredients (except lime slice) with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the lime slice and serve.

Note: Green plastic iguana may also be hung on the side of the glass for a more “festive” look!

The Cayman Islands are on target to shoot down a million of the green lizards this hunting season, reports the Cayman Compass.

Licensed cullers turned in another 32,301 green iguana carcasses last week.

The ongoing islandwide cull has seen a total of 226,046 iguanas killed in six weeks.

The iguana bodies are being thrown into landfill. It appears no attempt is being made to harvest their meat or hides.

Cayman Compass

In equatorial climes, where it is July all year ’round, a bit of Christmas cheer is always welcome. That is why the Galapagos Islands have a bright, multicolored lizard they call the Christmas Iguana.

There are no native inhabitants in the Galapagos, but it is a favored Yuletide destination for families with small children. Christmas is very special indeed. Instead of Santa Claus, a “giant iguana” brings gifts to the kiddies.

Dr. Seuss’s Grinch may actually be based upon the Christmas Iguana.

This is actually a human being in an iguana suit. You may find him in the Duty-Free Arcade of the Galapagos International Airport during the Christmas season. He is an official of the Galapagos Chamber of Commerce, and invites visiting children to sit on his knee.

Most of the kiddies are too terrified to do so; however, the brave ones are assured of their hearts’ desire under the Christmas tree!