Introducing Gluten Free Flavours from Schwartz

Last night I was treated to a truly outstanding supper in central London. But this was no ordinary meal, it was a totally gluten free meal. The supper was held to introduce a brand new gluten free product that is now on the market. The herbs and spices experts, Schwartz, have released their very own range of cooking sauces that are gluten free.

We all live in a busy world and it is not always possible to cook a delicious meal from scratch. As much as we would like to, life has a habit of getting in the way. Whether it is because a child has an after school club or work has dragged on, there is many a night when we want nothing more than convenience. If either you or a family member follows a gluten free diet you will know how hard this can be. When cooking meals from scratch it is easy as you know exactly what you are putting into the meal. However when you are buying in a pre prepared packet mix or a ready meal it is essential that you check exactly what has gone into the meal. This can be such a time consuming and frustrating task. This is where the new packet mixes from Schwartz come in. Schwartz has recognised that there is a gap in the market for these type of sauces and that it is something that the consumers want. Approximately 45% of the food consumer market buy gluten free products, 30% of which is purely down to a lifestyle choice. More and more people are choosing to follow a gluten free diet and finally there are some convenient, family friendly, full of flavour options.

Schwartz have just released their brand new Gluten Free range which is made up of three pour over sauces and five complete recipe mixes. This range has been in development for two years and they have worked extremely closely with both nutritionists and Coeliac UK to obtain the certification of the Crossed Grain symbol. Having this symbol on the mixes ensures you that the product, the manufacturing processes and production sites have undertaken stringent tests to ensure that there is no chance of gluten contamination. When you see the symbol on a product you can be confident in what you are eating.

Weekly Meal Plan Week 4 2017 - Plus Top Tips on How to Save Money on your Weekly Shop

Hello and welcome to my weekly meal plan for week 4 of 2017.

I was recently asked how I save money on my weekly shopping and as saving money and meal planning goes hand in hand I thought that this would be the perfect post to write about my top tips. Feeding a family can be one of the biggest expenses each month. It is so easy, whilst shopping, to be drawn in by 'special offers' and 'multibuys' which often result in unnecessary items being thrown into the trolley. Believe me we have done this on many a shopping trip and what was meant to be a small shop ended up being a trolley full and numerous pounds more than we wanted to spend. There are a number of small changes that can be made to help you save money, reduce your food waste and be more of a savvy shopper.

Here are my top tips for cutting your shopping expenses...

2016 - A Year of Food

Now that we are almost at the end of another year I thought it would be nice to look back over 2016. Over the year I have shared so many recipes I thought that it would be fun to pick out my 12 favourite recipes. It has been lovely looking back over the year and reading through the various recipes and trying to narrow it down to one favourite recipe per month. But I have done it and here are my 12 favourite recipes of 2016!

Perfect New Years Eve Party Food from Aldi

Now that Christmas day is over with all of the attention goes to new years eve.

New years eve it a fantastic excuse to have a good get together with friends and family. Any get together needs good food but not a big sit down meal like on Christmas day. On new years eve a buffet, picky meal is so much better. If you have ever tried making canapés you will know how fiddly they can be not to mention time consuming. Thankfully Aldi are here to help and they have some delicious treats that will really impress any guests that you may have. Even better they are at a price that will certainly make you happy!

This is what I am planning to serve up to welcome in the new year...

Italinary - Italian Culinary Experience Review

If there is one cuisine that the whole family enjoys it has to be Italian food. I love everything about it from the fresh ingredients to the whole Italian way of eating, I am a big believer in their ethos of eating together, making it a social event and not just something that we do to survive.

When Italinary contacted me and asked me if I would like to try one of their Italian culinary experience boxes to try I was intrigued to find out more. As soon as I saw what Italinary was all about to say that I was excited to receive the box was an understatement and it did not disappoint.

Clean Eating with MuscleFood's Live Clean Meals

You may have read that I am currently on a weight loss journey with Slimming World. But this time I am not seeing it as a diet, it is a lifestyle change that is for good. Starting my journey has made me evaluate what I eat, how I prepare food and ensuring that my meals are full of goodness. As much as I love to cook all of our meals from scratch sometimes life takes over and all I want is a healthy meal that is already prepared for me. This leads me to the next problem, finding a ready meal that is nutritious and wholesome. This is where MuscleFood's Live Clean meals come in!

If you have not heard of MuscleFood before let me tell you a little about them.

MuscleFood is an online food and nutrition supplier. They specialise in foods that are not only a high quality but also contain the necessary nutrients and proteins that you need whether you are a keen sports and fitness person or if you, like me, want to eat as healthily as possible with the aim to get to a healthy weight and maintain it. All of their meats are of the highest quality and all carry quality stamps such as the red tractor, RSPCA assured, free range, Organic Association to name but a few. So you know that you are getting exactly what you want. MuscleFood is tried and trusted by professional athletes, they are suppliers to some of the top British restaurants and deliver straight to your door without adding any water or salt to their products. Their meat has never been frozen and is even classically butchered on the day that it is dispatched to you.

With this ethos in mind MuscleFood have developed their new range of meals, Live Clean. The meals are nutritionally balanced, full of clean ingredients and will never contain added sugars or anything artificial! The Live Clean meals have been hand cooked by a Michelin star trained chef and are ready in minutes!

A Winter Feast at River Cottage

If you follow me on social media you will not have missed that I recently spent the evening at the iconic River Cottage in Axminster. River Cottage is a place that we, as a family, have followed since the start of their journey. From the early days when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall left the city to live in the original River Cottage to developing Park Farm.

When we arrived at Park Farm I was amazed at the beautiful setting. We waited for the tractor at the top of a hill looking down, into the valley, where River Cottage is based. To access the cottage we were transported down in a trailer on the back of a tractor. As we made our way down the lane River Cottage gradually came into view. Nestled in the Dorset valley it really was a picturesque sight.

Christmas with Aldi

Yes I have mentioned the big 'C' word!

The Christmas adverts are on the television, shops are putting up the trees and the shelves are now being stocked up with Christmas goodies. Instead of my regular Aldi recipe post, this week I am going to be telling you all about the Christmas foodie posts that I have got planned, showing you this years Christmas advert from Aldi and show you some fantastic foodie gifts!

But first check out the star of the their advert this year Kevin the Carrot...

Back in July I was invited down to London to experience Aldi's Christmas in July event. At the no expense spared event Aldi showcased the best of their products this Christmas season. While I was at the event I had the opportunity to speak to some of Aldi's chief buyers. Being able to speak to them in person helped me to understand the ethos of the buyers. They clearly stated that what they look for when hunting out products is for the items to have a high end supermarket quality but one that they are able to provide for their customers at a bargain shop price. This is just what customers want. When shopping at a budget shop you do not want to compromise on quality and Aldi are able to allow us to get both!

Whilst I was at the event I was able to taste many of their outstanding Christmas products and over the next 5 weeks I am going to be showcasing my favourite high end products alongside recipes and ideas to make your Christmas table truly spectacular this year.

Degustabox October Contents and Tomato Pasta Soup Recipe

It is that time of the month again, it is time for me to tell you all about what came in this months Degustabox. October's Degustabox was loved by the kids and the hubby. There were so many treats that they could not wait to enjoy. 

For this months post I am going to be telling you about the products, but I am also going to share with you a simple recipe for a tomato pasta soup, or as the kids called it, Minion soup

Before I tell you about my soup let me show and tell you about what other products we received. This is what came in our last Degustabox...

Easy Meals with Hello Fresh

Now that the kids have gone back to school easy meals are a must. When the younger ones get home from school they are tired and you need some dinners which can be made either in advance or prepared in advance. That is where Hello Fresh come in. 

Hello Fresh provide healthy recipe boxes. The boxes come packed with all the ingredients, pre weighed and ready to create delicious meals. We received a family box that came with four meals. Each meal made enough for all five of us to enjoy. I was amazed to see how many different ingredients were packed into the box.

#FoodieseekerFriday - Ji Ji Asian Kitchen

While we were on holiday on Carnival Vista in the summer we had the opportunity to try the speciality restaurants. Before we set sail I wrote a post about the restaurants and even selected what meals I planned to have at each location.

When it came to selecting what we would have when visiting Ji Ji Asian Kitchen I will admit to not really knowing what the dishes were on the menu. There were aspects of dishes that I recognised but all in all I knew that it would be quite a new eating experience for all of us. I also did not know what the children would want to try.

Ji Ji Asian Kitchen was the second speciality restaurant that we visited and we were well and truly in holiday mode. We decided to have our tables booked for 5.30pm when dining with the children. For families with young children this is an ideal time to dine as it is often the first sitting and the quietest time. We found that we were often one of the first families in and the service was impeccable as the restaurant was so quiet.

The staff at Ji Ji Asian Kitchen were so welcoming and interacted fantastically with the children. We were shown to our table and left to look at the menu.

While we were waiting for some drinks to arrive our waitress arrived to explain to us how the dining experience works in Ji Ji's and little bit about the foods. We were told that we would be having a true Asian style family meal. We would be selecting a variety of appetisers, entrees, sides then desserts. The dishes would be served in the middle of the table allowing everyone to dig in and try a bit of all sorts. As soon as we heard this we had a feeling that we would enjoy dining here. Before we could order we needed to decide who would be the lucky host. Ji Ji means lucky lucky and the dice would show us who the lucky host would be. The waitress rolled the dice and it came up with the number one, that was to be our lucky number. We were then told to take it in turns to roll the dice and whoever rolled a one first would be the lucky host. The dice was passed to J and he immediately rolled a one, making him the lucky host.

Naturally Tasty with Knorr

Last week I was invited to an event in the Kings Cross area of London. Before I went I did not know a great deal about the event. I knew that it was being hosted by Knorr and that it was being held at a venue called the Skip Garden. Before I left home I did have a look online to have a look at what the Skip Gardens were and I was astounded to read that it was literally gardens in skips. Also as the event was being held by Knorr I had a sneaky suspicion that were going to reveal a new range of herbs.

When I arrived I was amazed by how the Skip Garden was such a little oasis of natural calm in the midst of all of the construction chaos of central London. There were numerous skips that had been transformed into mini gardens, a man made greenhouse, a glass house made with reclaimed glass panels, a kitchen and even a cafe! While we waited for everyone to arrive we were treated to cocktails that use fresh herbs. We could have either a Gin and Basil Smash or a Vodka and Rosemary Highball. I went for the Gin and Basil Smash which adds fresh basil before shaking to release the maximum amount of flavour. The cocktail was the perfect mixture of gin with the sour from lemon juice combined with the sweetness from some sugar water and finished with the fresh basil. It was heavenly!

 

Top Tips to Help You Stick to a Healthy Diet

Guest post

Dieting is such a strong word for many of us and conjures up images of either total hunger or feeding oneself on lettuce all day long. Personally I hate the word when it is used for slimming. However, trying to eat a healthier diet is a completely different story that promotes our well-being and, of course, overall good health, with everything that comes along with that. But, as we all know, that is easier said than done. We have all thrown our healthy diet out of the window every chance we get, like during the weekends or holidays or when going out to eat with friends or when we are invited to a party, and the list goes on and on!

The good news is that there are just as many ways to stick to your healthy diet as there are to stray from it!

Here are some top tips that you might find as handy as I hope to...

Foodieseeker Friday - All About the Food and Drink!

Being the Foodieseeker Blogger for Carnival Cruise has meant that I have spent a lot of time looking at what food Vista will have to offer. I have already told you about the places to eat on Vista but today I thought that I would tell you about what meals I am looking forward to tasting!

We now have our tables booked to visit three of Carnival Vista's speciality restaurants Cucina del Capitano, Ji Ji Asian Kitchen and Fahrenheit 555 Steakhouse. You may remember that in April I told you about Cucina del Capitano and made my own version of Nonna's Linguine and Meatballs so this is a meal that I will definitely be ordering when we visit.

As I am terrible at ordering when in a restaurant I have decided that a bit of forward planning is needed. I simply cannot make my mind up when faced with so many delicious meals to choose from. I am known for taking a long time to decided and for changing my mind!

The first speciality restaurant that we will be visiting is Cucina del Capitano. As we all love Italian food I just know that we are going to love eating there. I have looked at the menu in the past but have revisited it and am planning to order:

• Appetiser - Antipasti - This is a favourite dish of ours, we love to start a meal with breads and olives so this will be a must have!
• Entrees - Nonna's Linguine and Meatballs - I cannot wait to try this dish, especially after I cooked how I imagined it to taste!
• Dessert - Magic Tiramisu - In my mind tiramisu is the ultimate Italian dessert and Vista's Cucina del Capitano's tiramisu sounds amazing!
• I am planning to accompany the meal with a glass of Cucina Chianti

7th May - 13th May 2016 - One Picture Everyday For One Year

Hooray this week is over!

J is in year 6 so this week he had his SATS. At the beginning of the week I thought that I was more worried for him than he was. But as the week went on I could see that the pressure was in fact getting to him. By Thursday I was relieved that they were over and done with.

This week has seen a lot of outdoor pictures. We have enjoyed meals outside and it is lovely seeing the flowers in the garden showing their colours.

Here is my week in pictures...

Saturday 7th May 2016

Saturday was a beautiful day so we just had to have a barbecue! I made a delicious potato salad which made the perfect side dish!

Sunday 8th May 2016

As Sunday was another glorious day we made the most of it by eating outside again. My mother in law came over so that barbecue was used again! I used the Panasonic Slow Juicer to make this strawberry and banana ice cream and filled some oyster shell wafers with it.

30th April - 6th May 2016 - One Picture Everyday For One Year

This week it has been lovely to enjoy the sunshine. It finally feels like winter has gone. This week has been a quick week thanks to the bank holiday Monday, it has flown by. This week I finally got my hotel booked for BritMums live next month which has started the excitement for the conference. Last year was my first year attending and I loved it. I am hoping that this year will be just as good, if not better!

This week has seen us watch the Tour de Yorkshire, a meal out, lots of yummy food and some pretty new nails!

Here is my week in pictures...

Saturday 30th April 2016

The hubby loves cycling so when we found out that the Tour de Yorkshire was having a finishing line in Doncaster we planned to visit. We managed to avoid most of the rain and hail stones and watched the riders head up to the finishing stretch. The kids loved waiting for the bikes and watching the police motorbikes going past. It was fun to see, albeit quick, but something we might not see again! We were even able to spot ourselves on the television highlights in the evening.

Sunday 1st May 2016

Sunday was a day in the garden for the hubby and time in the kitchen for me. This is a meal which I am planning to write about. Instead of a regular roast I made chicken breasts on a bed of leeks in a white wine sauce.

Degustabox - March Contents

Every month I love it when the delivery man arrives with my Degustabox. I have learnt that the best time to open the box is when the children are not around. If they are with me as I open it, their hands dive it and the contents vanish!

In the March box we found lots of delicious sweet treats, well it was Easter time wasn't it and there is not better excuse! As well as the sweet treats there were breakfast delights for on the go and other ingredients.

This is what arrived in the March Degustabox...

• Pipers Crisp Co - These crisps are really tasty and are a high quality crisp. Pipers cook locally sourced potatoes for their crisps and use regional suppliers. They make a great snack as well as a crispy topping for a baked pasta dish!

• Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn - Who doesn't love a sweet treat that is a tasty skinny version? Metcalfe's Skinny popcorn a incredibly moreish. Once you start nibbling at their cinema sweet popcorn you will find it hard to stop!
• Lindt Bunny - Lindt has to be a favourite chocolate of mine so I was pleased to see one of their famous bunnies in my Degustabox. However, this bunny, was a white chocolate bunny. I am not usually a fan of white chocolate but, as always, Lindt did not disappoint. This is one brand of white chocolate that I will have again!
• Parle - We received two different varieties of Parle biscuits, a savoury salt biscuit and a chocolate chip biscuit. I was not keen on the savoury biscuits but the children did enjoy them, but I will admit to hiding away the chocolate chip biscuits! Yes, I kept them hidden away from little fingers. They were so good and a perfect size for a little sweet treat!
• Chewits - Chewits are not a new sweet, but they are celebrating their 50th birthday this year! They did bring back childhood memories of buying sweets!
• Karyatis - This Meze to go is a handy way to enjoy the taste of the Mediterranean while on the go. The sweet, smokey roasted pepper and feta dip comes with crunchy rosemary crackers.

Apple and Berries Crumble Plus Degustabox Contents and Discount Code!

Last month I received another delicious Degustabox. In last months box there were some really exciting products, a few of which have become a yummy addition to my shopping list!

Degustabox is a monthly subscription service where each month you receive a box full of foodie treats. Many of the products that you will receive are new to the market. That is what I love most about Degustabox, the chance to find new products. I find that each month there is something for everyone in the family which is another huge selling point.

Before I tell you about my feature recipe this month using my favourite product in last months Degustabox let me tell you what else arrived...

19th March - 25th March 2016 - One Picture Everyday for One Year

This week has been such a long week and one that I am pleased is over. The children have got more and more tired as the week has gone on. I can tell that they are ready for the Easter break. Towards the end of the week things started getting back into a routine, which has been good.

This week has seen a heartbreaking day, a meal out, signs of spring and food!

Here is my week in pictures...

Saturday 19th March 2016

On Saturday when we popped out to Tesco the three children loved taking part in their Easter egg hunt challenge. They were over the moon with their Easter bag of treats!

Sunday 20th March 2016

January Degustabox - The Contents

Each month I look forward to seeing what delights are inside my Degustabox and January's box was no disappointment.

As you can see below it was full of a variety of foodie treats from breakfast cereals to snacks, from Chinese new year inspired products to drinks. There really was something for everyone.

So far I have created one recipe using the products. That was my Baked Apple Oat Crumble which I made using Clarks Carob Fruit Syrup. Carob fruit syrup is a way to sweeten food the natural way. I am also planning a couple of recipes using the Amoy curry sauces and a dip which is going to be perfect with Finn Crisp sourdough rye cracker breads.

Let me tell you all about the products that were included in January's Degustabox.