Pizza Express with Iceland and the Power of Frozen

It is nearly the weekend and time to think about some time to relax with the family and enjoy some good food. We all love pizza but we cannot always afford to be able to go out so when I saw that Iceland had launched a new range in collaboration with Pizza Express I was curious to see what they had done!

The new Pizza Express Artisana range is exclusive to Iceland and has been freshly frozen to retain the quality that you expect when eating at a Pizza Express restaurant.

What is different about the Artisana range is that it goes so much further than just pizza. Along with the pizzas they have also brought out a selection of Italian dishes as well as Italian gelato. Thanks to this range you can enjoy the full Pizza Express dining experience for a fraction of the price, without travelling, in the comfort of your home. So whether you decide to have a family feast or want to wait until the kids are in bed to enjoy a romantic meal together as a couple, with Pizza Express Artisana from Iceland you can.

 

Back to School Lunch Box Meal with #PowerofFrozen

Now that we are coming to the end of the long summer holidays it is time to start thinking about the children returning to school. The return to school also brings the return of preparing packed lunches. I don't know about you but making packed lunches always seems like a chore, it is always done at the end of the day and I often get stuck for ideas. So when Iceland challenged me to devise an easy recipe for a healthy packed lunch I knew that it would need to be a lunch that will not take long but that would also be full of healthy foods that the kids would love. The one way I find that my children tuck into a salad is if it is fun, colourful and with mayonnaise.

The beauty of this recipe is that the majority of the ingredients are frozen so there are no worries about whether you have the fresh ingredients to prepare. Even the bread rolls are frozen! One of my packed lunch fails has to be not having enough bread or forgetting to defrost some fresh bread. When I defrost bread that I have frozen it never tastes as good, so when I saw that Iceland stocked bread rolls that could be baked from frozen I knew that they would be a must have! I was not disappointed the rolls came out of the oven just like freshly made bread rolls do.

For my back to school recipe I decided to make a rice salad. Rice is full of carbohydrates so acts as a fuel for the children's bodies. The return to school can be tiring for them so they need all of the energy they can get to keep their bodies and brains going! The addition of an egg provides them with protein to help keep their energy level up. The tuna provides them with healthy omega 3 fatty acids while the vegetables give them their much needed vitamin goodness! When using frozen foods you are guaranteed to have a high amount of vitamins as the vegetables are frozen at the optimum time after picking to preserve all of the goodness that wears off as they ripen.

Today's recipe is colourful, fun and full of goodness. This is what I did...

#PowerofFrozen and Kids in the Kitchen - Chocolate Eclair Ice Cream Sundae

Now that it is coming to the end of the summer holidays, the kids are starting to get bored and us parents need new ways to keep them occupied. If there is one thing that all three of the kids love it is spending time in the kitchen either helping to prepare their lunches or baking.

When Iceland challenged me to come up with a recipe that the children can help with I knew that a dessert would go down a treat with them all. I don't know about you, but our plans often change depending on the weather, if I have work to be done and what the kids want to do on that day. So having fresh foods can often lead to waste if we get busy doing something else. But when buying frozen foods you know that if you need a last minute activity for the kids or they simply come and say they want to make something you know you have got the ingredients in.

J and I went shopping to our local Iceland to pick up some supplies. As we have had some gloriously warm days we decided to make an ice cream dessert. There are so many different ice creams to choose from. Iceland stock their original ice creams in vanilla, Neapolitan and raspberry ripple. They also have some delicious Italian gelato ice cream in cherry ripple, vanilla and caramel swirls. To go with the ice creams there was a wide choice of toppings and additions!

We decided to go for their Bellissima Chocolate Italian Gelato. This ice cream comes with three irresistible flavours in one, white chocolate flavoured ice cream with white chocolate flavoured ripple, chocolate and cocoa flavoured ice cream with chocolate flavoured ripple and lastly hazelnut and chocolate flavour ice cream with hazelnut and chocolate flavour ripple.

In the end we decided to get the following ingredients...

Today we are going to show you a super easy, delicious sweet treat that not only the kids will love but is perfect for the whole family to enjoy. As much as we all love a good old hot pudding and custard it just won't do in the summer, plus I wanted this to be a safe and easy recipe for the kids to be fully hands on without the worry of the oven. Plus my kids are not very good at waiting for things to bake, like most children when they want something they want to be able to enjoy it as soon as they can. What is even better is that this recipe requires no preparation. You simply need to defrost the eclairs for 30 minutes and then let them go!

This is what we did...