September Degustabox

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This months Degustabox was a great mixture of items. There was a few brands I hadn't heard of before, Little Miracles and Righteous and there were some brands that have appeared in Degustabox before. There was option this month for non alcoholic or alcoholic products and we received both to try. As always I am usually last to have a look inside the box as big and little J normally dive right.  This month was no different and they both jumped on the Bahlsen Pick Up biscuits. Bahlsen Pick Up Biscuits  RRP £1.69 per pack of 5 These are delicious and we have tasted them before but not the Black N White flavour which is new. You have two biscuits on top of each other separated by a layer of thick chocolate. The Black N White was cocoa biscuits surrounding white chocolate. As expected these went down well but I prefer the milk chocolate version. Burts Lentil Waves RRP £2.07 Avaialble from Waitrose in three flavours, Sour Cream and Chive, thai Sweet Chilli and Lightly salted. We havent tried these yet but I cant wait. They sound and look delicious. Jordans Simply Granola RRP £2.69 My mum loves granola so I gave this to her to enjoy. She eats it on its own or with milk and she loves it. These crunchy oats have a hint of honey to add to the flavour. Crabbies Alcoholic Fruits  RRP £1.50 (normally sold in 4 packs for £5.99) We have actually tasted these before. Daddy enjoyed these throughout the summer as they are very light and refreshing and made with upto 10% natural fruit juice. Three flavours to choose from, black cherry, zesty lemon and raspberry and rhubarb which is Daddy's favourite. Carnation Cook With it. RRP £3.30 I don't cook with cream so I wasn't too excited about this but after reading that it actually has 68% less fat than single cream i may give it a go. Its made with fresh milk and might be good for my chicken korma. Crabbies Lemonade RRP £1.20 This was the non alcohol option and it went in seconds. Big J absolutely loved it. It had a hint of ginger and he is excited to try out other flavour Raspberry. Little Miracles RRP £1.59 Like I said earlier I've not heard of Little Miracles before. Its a blend of organic tea and fruit juice. Sweetened with Agave and less than 90 kcals. We've not tried it yet but will be happy to give it a go. Elizabeth Shaw Dark Chocolate Mint Thins RRP £2.50 We have received Elizabeth Shaw items before in Degustabox and we have also bought some ourselves. These are absolutely delicious. Righteous Dressings RRP £2.19 Made with 100% natural ingredients Righteous have created some lovely salad dressings. Mild English Blue cheese in cider is my favourite out of the three. Very tasty and perfect on my salad. The other flavours were lemon and mustard seed and raspberry and sweet basil. Both very tasty but I did have to pick a fave. As always you can click on each of the above to get more info and if you want to sign up to Degustabox you can by clicking HERE and as a special treat I have a £3 discount code for you to enter 4784591  

we were sent Degustabox to try in return for a honest review

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#Win Dr Oetker Baking Goodies #Competition

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I love spending time in the kitchen with my monkeys, baking cakes or trying out new recipes.   If you like to bake with your little one then I have a lovely competition for you.  

Enter below to win a selection of Dr Oetker Baking Goodies. All you need to do is ANSWER THE QUESTION by commenting on the blog below.

Q. What do you like to make or bake?

All entrants who leave a blog post will be entered into the draw. More ways to get extra entries will become available once a blog comment has been made.

GOOD LUCK

    Dr Oetker baking Goodies     for more competitions visit my competitions page HERE or Loquax  

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Back To School Meals with Birds Eye

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Last week we have been trying out some Back To Meals thanks to Birds Eye.   Birds Eye recently enlisted a panel of mini-chefs aged between 7-12 years to develop a range of delicious kids approved recipes and we gave a few a go.   We are not the greatest chefs and I often read recipes and think wow - that looks amazing but I know it wouldn't be if I gave it a go.  

These recipes looked good and easy to make and I know my monkeys would enjoy them because its what we eat.   First we created   WAFFLE NACHOS  

Pre heat the oven and cook Birds Eye mini potato waffles (4 per person) as per instructions on back of packaging   Heat baked beans as directed   Place shredded lettuce on a plate and top with waffle, beans and salsa   Sprinkle grated cheese on top   Place under the grill until cheese is nicely melted.   **********   Chicken Finger Pizza (we substituted fish fingers for chicken fingers)   

Cook Birds Eye Chicken fingers (2 per person), Birds Eye Fresh Supersweet sweetcorn and Birds Eye field fresh Garden Peas as per instructions on packaging.   Spread tomato sauce ( tinned chopped tomatoes or a tomato puree) over a naan bread and scatter peas and sweetcorn over the top.   Chop Chicken Fingers and place onto naan bread - scatter a little grated cheese to finish   Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 200 degrees.   **********   We haven't tried this one yet - but really looking forward to it.   Chicken Dipper Fajitas   Pre heat oven and cook Birds Eye Crispy Chicken Dippers ( 4 per person) as per instructions on packaging   Finely slice onions and peppers   Fry the onions and peppers with a dash of oil and a pinch of seasoning   Heat tortilla wraps as directed   Dollop tomato salsa onto your wraps, add the peppers, onions and dippers   Wrap up tight, cut in half and enjoy   **********  

We are big fans of Birds Eye anyway and we do buy lots of Birds Eye products but it was nice to use them as ingredients to create some teatime meals.    My favourite was the waffle nacho's they were so yummy. Daddy, big and little J enjoyed the chicken finger pizza. It was strange putting tomato puree on a naan bread but somehow it worked.   For more yummy recipe ideas visit Birds Eye Website HERE     *we were provided with birds eye vouchers to buy ingredients to create the birds eye recipes. recipes above belong to the mini chefs who created them - all photos above are our own* 

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Breakfast With belVita #MorningWin

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Daddy has never been a breakfast eater but since I found belVita breakfast biscuits he will always make sure he grabs a pack. He will either sit down with a cup of tea or eat them on the go. We all like them but me and big J will have variety during the week, cereal or toast but for Daddy if there is no belVita he has no breakfast.  

This week we were sent some belvita crunchy biscuits in three new flavours to try. Apricot, hazelnut and chocolate chip. Belvita crunchy are different to the biscuits we usually buy. They are thicker and there is only three biscuits per pack instead of the usually four.   

There are a few flavours Daddy already likes, cocoa, milk and cereal or honey and nut. I like the fruits of the forest or fruit and fibre. We tend to stock up when they are on offer in the supermarket.    So it was time to give them a try, Daddy tried Hazelnut, I tried Apricot and Big J tried the chocolate chip.   I have to say the flavours were very tasty and the thickness of the new biscuits made me feel fuller just after two biscuits. They are harder than the normal belVita but I usually dip then in my cup of tea anyway.   One of the reasons we like belvita so much is that they slowly release carbohydrates over 4 hours. I never want to have a mid morning snack after I have ate the biscuits. I am full till lunch.  

The new belVita crunchy also kept me full even though there are only three biscuits in the pack. If you see above the 3 biscuits are about the same in thickness as four of the regular belVita biscuits.   Like I said before we are a big fan of belvita and it was nice to try out new flavours. I would definitely add the crunchy versions to my shopping list but I would buy if on offer like I do now with the normal versions.   *This post is an entry for #MorningWin linky challenge sponsored by belVita Breakfast, Learn more at Belvita UK*   *we received the new flavours to try*

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#win a Loop Journal Download Code

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Every year for Christmas I always get a new diary and I always get excited and start filling it out but by the middle of January I get bored and give up.

I have recently started using Loop Journal and I love it. It's an online app that I have on my iPad and every day a question pops up that I answer. It's a quick way to complete a diary and you can look back at what you have wrote in previous months.

I have 5 codes to give away to 5 winners so you can download the app for FREE.

All you need to do is complete the entry form below. good Luck

Loop Journal

Competition closes on Monday 13th October 2014 at 12AM Entrants must have a valid UK address Bulk, third party or any other entries using automated software will be disqualified All entrants and entries are checked and verified. All entrants must follow the mandatory step and answer the question as a blog comment. 5 lucky winners will be chosen at random by the Gleam application. Mummy2Monkeys will contact the lucky winners within 1 day of the competition closing The winner must respond within 28 days. If no response a new winner will be chosen. The prize is a Code which is redeemable on the App Store against the purchase of Loop Journal There is no cash alternative. It will be the responsibility of the representative of the company representing the  above to issue the prize.  The winner must consent to their name and details being passed on to the representative so their prize can be distributed.

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Italian Meals from Aldi

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Today we went on a shopping spree in Aldi specifically looking for some ideas for Italian meals. As you may remember I have reviewed some of Aldi's tipples in the past (which you can read HERE) and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality for the price.   I was hoping I would be as happy with the Italian range as I was with their beers, wines and spirits.    I asked big J to choose some products from the range so we could make some nice meals for the upcoming week.  

Big J loves his pasta and will have it mixed with bolognese sauce, tuna or chicken and sweetcorn.  I usually make a big pan of pasta and he will eat it that night warm and then he will take it to school the next day in his packed lunch cold.    So the first two items he put it the trolley was pasta, Fusilli and Penne. He likes fusilli with tuna and penne with chicken and sweetcorn. I'm not too fussed which type of pasta goes with what really to me it all tastes the same.    Then we got some spaghetti and a bolognese sauce. I bought two jars of sauce because I don't like it when it's dry.    Big J noticed a reasonably sized margherita pizza in the chilled section and asked could we also get that with some garlic breads.    So we put them in the trolley and he then saw a large lasagne. As you may have read in previous blog posts I like to make a Quorn lasagne but as treat I said he could also add it to the trolley.   Just as we were leaving the chilled section he put in some fresh tortellini filled with tomato and basil.    So that was our shopping done for now until on the way towards the till big J noticed some Italian style grated cheese so that was added too. I was really happy with the variety available and it was really reasonably priced too.   So I was looking forward to making some yummy Italian themed dinners this week.    So far we have tried the pizza, garlic breads, Lasagne and the pasta. We have also used the grated cheese on top.   The pizza is delicious. There is a pizza restaurant in Disneyland Paris called The Outpost and if you have been and love the pizzas then you will love Aldi's. It tastes just the same but its not in the shape of Mickey Mouse. haha.   Overall I was really impressed with the quality for the price. Everything in the photo above was bought at the same time and came to just over £10.   To view each weeks special offers available at Aldi visit the website HERE  

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So Glad I Found Berry Clever

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Yesterday I was introduced to Berry Clever and I am so glad I was.  Berry Clever is a website which allows you to put tips on products for kids or pets. It's like a review site but the tips are only 150 characters so straight to the point.

When you have logged in it brings you to the home screen which highlights the most loved products. Here you can browse products that parents think are great.

If you want to search for something in a specific area you can use the tabs at the top of the screen

Move

Feed

Care

Sleep

Fun

Once you click on a tab it will highlight a drop down menu

When you find a product you get two options of want it or have it. When you click have it you get a further two options of love it or meh.

So the idea is simple you write a tip for other people to see. If you love a product and want to write a great tip you get the chance to on Berry Clever and also if you are not to impressed with a product give it a Meh and tell the readers why.

You can also create lists for viewers to read so for example Feeding Must Haves. It's very simple to add a product to your list. When you click the product just click add to list and done. There are a few products I use that are not listed which I would love to tell the world about and that's fine because they have an option to email them telling them about the product, and fingers crossed they will add it. It's simple and easy to use and is a must have website for parents to use.  You can visit Berry Clever by clicking HERE

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