Food and Drink
Showing posts with label Food and Drink. Show all posts

Win An Organix Goodies Bundle Giveaway

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To celebrate the launch of its tasty new snacks Organix Goodies is giving away a hamper for your little one to munch, crunch and nibble away at the new foods.  There’s also a lunch bag, a hat and water bottle for your little explorer’s adventures.
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Riverford Fruit and Vegetable Box Giveaway

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As farmers, veg box deliverers and self-confessed ‘veg nerds’, Riverford Organic Farmers know a thing or two about healthy, seasonal eating. What’s more, their new ‘Veg Fund’ allows families to raise money for their school while introducing children to healthy eating and teaching them where their food comes from.
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#AirFryerTakeIn - Making Chocolate Brownies with Philips AirFryer

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Since I joined Slimming World I have been noticing calories and fat content more than I ever have in the past. I am conscious all the time especially when eating out. When Philips asked us to take the #AirFryerTakeIn challenge I was quite excited as I love using our Airfryer. For those that are not familiar with the Airfryer you can visit our Airfryer Review. We were sent a selection of different recipes to make that have less calories than if you were eating out.
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Num Noms at Bella Italia

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I have mentioned Num Noms before on my blog but if you haven't heard of them Nums are adorable, scented, squishy characters with tons of personality. Noms are motorized mischievous characters that move around, they're scented too. Stack the Nums on top of the Noms to make over 1,000 sweet scented combinations. We were recently invited to an event at our local Bella Italia to celebrate the launch of series 2 of Num Noms.
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Degustabox Delivery - August

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Another month has gone by and another Degustabox arrived filled to the top with lots of different goodies. As always it's a surprise so you never know what you are going to get. For me this month was not the best as nothing really jumped out at me however I do try everything inside as you never know what you may like.

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Miniscoff - Organic Food For Children Review

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Over the past year we have tried so many different foods for little J as he can be quite fussy. One minute he likes something the next he doesn't. It can be hard to give him a balanced meal every evening as the look of vegetables sometimes makes him push his plate away. I do like to make meals from scratch but as little J is in bed so early sometimes its impossible so I do reach for something easier.
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Daddy Gets Handy In The Kitchen

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Daddy has been making himself useful in the kitchen recently making us some yummy meals and treats. He's actually really good at cooking and I know its something he really wants to start making more of an effort on. Keep an eye out for some yummy posts showing off Daddy's talents but for now I'll pass you over to Daddy who is keen to tell you about what he is up to next.

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Degustabox May Box

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This months box delivery seem to come quite quickly and it didn't feel like a whole month had gone past since the last one. Our box arrived later on in the day so I had seen a few photographs over on twitter of people sharing the contents. It looked like another great box.

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5 Gift Ideas For All Food Lovers

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One of the best ideas when looking for inspiration for picking gifts is the recipients hobbies. Today I am going to take some time and share five great gift ideas for those people who love cooking, baking and food in general. As Christmas is the time to show that you love someone, this list of five gift ideas is a great place to start the joys of gift shopping.
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Toby Carvery - Waterside Review

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The highlight of my week so far has to be our visit to the Toby Carvery - Waterside. It was a very cold, wet and blustery Monday evening and I really didn't want to head home after the school pick up to cook our dinner. I needed a day off from cooking and a nice Toby Carvery was just what I needed to warm me up.


We have quite a few Toby Carvery restaurants close by although we do tend to drive a little further to the Waterside. Daddy and I used to go for meals there before it was a Toby and it's always been a nice restaurant, even better now.
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October Degustabox Arrives

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It's that time of month again when our October Degustabox arrives and we get very excited to see what delicious surprises are inside. We have received many Degustabox surprise boxes over the last year and a half and we have never been disappointed. Even when there are some items inside that I am not to keen on there is always someone who is likes it.


This month we received a lovely selection of products including


Lorina - Coconut and Lime. Daddy drank this and he had mixed feelings about it. On his first taste he said it tasted like cream soda but then he said it tasted like sun cream. He continued to drink it but said the combination was quite strange. He would like to try the other flavours though.


Appy Drinks - Spongebob Drinks. These went down well with both big and little J. I was really impressed that they contain 50% less sugar and calories than regular fruit juices.


Provena - Gluten free oat muesli. 
Kabuto - Noodles
9Bar - Original Carob
The Snack Organisation - Freeze Dried Fruit (Apple)

We haven't tried the muesli or freeze dried apple yet but the 9bar and noodles were delicious. We have had both of them before.


Liberation Foods - Nuts
The Snack Organisation - Sweet Chilli Rice Crackers

We haven't tried the nuts yet but the rice crackers are delicious and low in kcals too.



Chip Strips - Smoky BBQ and Cheese & Onion.

These were absolutely delicious and we all tried them including little J. The cheese and onion were tasty but the smoky BBQ were our favourite. They did remind us of Texas BBQ Pringles.


Cirio - We are fans of Cirio anyway so we enjoyed using the passsata and chopped tomatoes.

Although this wasn't one of my favourite boxes I still love Degustabox and its nice to have a surprise each month.

If you would like to try out or find out more information you can visit Degustabox



*we received the Degustabox in return for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own*

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Savse Smoothies Review

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When we received a selection of Savse Smoothies, I was looking forward to trying them. I was quite shocked when big J wanted to try them to. Normally he doesn't like anything like this but he was really keen to try.

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My First Pizza From Little Dish

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I am a big fan of Little Dish meals and more importantly little J is too. He has tried most of the meals now and little J does have his favourites including Alphabet Pasta Bolognese and Lasagne. I was so pleased when I heard that last month they have included My First Pizza from Little Dish to their product range.


Little J has been trying out My First Pizza and he loves them. The full range consists of three flavours. Margherita, Mini Meatballs & Veg and Pesto Chicken & Veg.

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Organix Goodies Bundle Worth £20 Giveaway

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Little J doesn't always tell me when he is hungry but as his Mummy I have started to know the signs. He becomes cranky and clingy. Have you noticed any signs with your toddler? Maybe they seem a  little tired, cranky, clingy, or you can see the start of a tantrum brewing?  You know then that they are probably ‘hangry’, that’s grumpy, hungry and in need food. 



Little J is a big fan of Organix Goodies and we always have some to hand when snack time arrives. Although little J does eat three balanced meals a day he loves to snack in between and that's okay because he needs it.


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Lunch at The Beeches, Wrexham

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Last weekend we had planned to do some shopping at McArthur Glen, Cheshire Oaks and were lucky enough to be asked to review a local pub restaurant. So after a morning of retail therapy we headed off for lunch at The Beeches, Wrexham.

Lovely beer garden - although it was a little too cold for us. Maybe in Summer!

On arrival The Beeches was quite large and was next to a Premier Inn. We parked up and where one of the first in the restaurant for lunch which starts at 12pm.
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September Monthly Review Round Up

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September has been a busy month here. The Summer has officially gone and it was back to school and work. It's always a busy month for us and it flies by so quickly. We did manage to try a few great products so here is our September Monthly Review Round Up


Birds Eye
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August Degustabox Review

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I am genuinely excited to be reviewing Degustabox again this year. I absolutely love the idea of receiving a box full of food / drink surprises each month. When we last reviewed Degustabox we found quite a few brands that we either hadn't heard of or hadn't tried yet so it was nice to explore new foods. 

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Monthly Review Round Up - April

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Last month we tried out some great products.

Little Dish


Little J has been trying out Little Dish meals this month. Little Dish have a range of toddler meals that are perfect for 1-3 year olds. Each meal has 100% natural ingredients, low in salt and sugar. Little J has tried Little Dish meals before but  he has just tried the new meal Shepherd's Pie with British Lamb.

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Everything Is Better With Cake

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For those that red my blog regularly will know that one of little J's first clear words was 'Cake' Now we weren't sure whether it was just a word he had heard, found easy to say or whether he does actually love cake. Well we have soon realised he does actually love cake.

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Spooky Ghost Cake Pops Recipe

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Disclosure - We went sent ingredients to try out this recipe. Any thoughts and opinions are our own. 

We love baking and we recently tried this fun recipe to make Spooky Ghost Cake Pops. They are perfect for Halloween or a rainy day activity to do with the kids. 

ghost pops
SPOOKY GHOST CAKE POPS

Preparation time: 2 hours plus cooling and chilling

Cooking time: 40 minutes plus 10 minutes to melt 2 lots of chocolate

Ingredients

For the cake balls
120g Cocoa Extra Dark Fine Cooks Chocolate
150g soft unsalted butter at room temp
200g Light Muscovado Sugar
3 medium free range eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp Madagascan Vanilla extract

For the cake pops:
2 X 100g bags White Chocolate Chips melted for sticking the balls onto the sticks & coating the cake pops
Teaspoon of vegetable oil

To decorate the ghosts:
1 x  pack of Dr. Oetker White Regal Ice
Icing sugar for rolling out
Dr. Oetker White Designer Icing for sticking the regal ice to the cake pops
Dr. Oetker Jet Black Gel Food Colour.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F, gas mark 1). Grease and line an 18cm (7 inch) square cake tin.

To make the fudge brownie mix melt the extra dark chocolate in a microwave on medium power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time until melted,  or in a heat proof bowl on a gentle heat over a bain marie. Leave to cool.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand beater for approx. 2 minutes until pale and fluffy. If you haven’t got an electric mixer you can do this with a wooden spoon in a bowl .

TIP: if you are in a rush or the butter is quite cold, the addition of a couple of tablespoons of boiling water at this stage, beaten on slow until mixed will speed up this process.

Add your eggs on a slow speed about a third at a time, mixing until combined.

Add your cooled chocolate stirring continuously.  Add the vanilla Extract and stir. On slow speed mix in the flour until just combined. Do not over beat. Alternatively fold in by hand.

Pour the mix into your cake tin and bake for approx 40 mins. Check it with a sharp knife or metal skewer. You want this to be slightly under baked, so the knife should come out pasty, with a nice paste on the knife.

Leave to cool, then turn out into a bowl and crumble with your hands to fine fudgy crumb.

To make the cake balls, take a handful of fudge cake mix and squeeze together tightly - you are aiming for little balls about the size of a large walnut, approx. 30g each. If the mixture is dry, the addition of a little chocolate or vanilla butter cream will help the mixture stick

Once you have all of your balls ready, dip the end of your stick into the melted chocolate chips  and push the stick into each ball, about half way in. Hold the ball to stop it splitting open when the stick goes in

Once all the cake pops are ready, refrigerate them for 1-2 hours before dipping them, or pop into the freezer for 30 mins, so the balls are firm enough to hold when dipping in the coating

To coat the cake pops melt Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks White Chocolate on low power in a microwave bowl until just melted -  stirring occasionally.

Plunge each cake pop into the chocolate coating until completely covered. Tap the cake pop gently on the side of the bowl to shake off the excess. Once all are covered, dip each cake pop again

To decorate the ghosts roll out half the white regal icing into a large rectangle using plenty of icing sugar and a large plastic rolling pin. Roll fairly thinly – 2 to 3mm thick. Squeeze a little Dr. Oetker White Designer Icing onto the tops of the cake pops or brush with some melted white chocolate, to aid sticking of the sugar paste

Using a cake cutter or small bowl, cut out circles of regal icing and place on each of the pops, smoothing down with your fingers to create the white sheet effect. Allow a little wavy movement by using your fingers to create smooth.

Give them a try and we would love to see your creations. Tag us on socials @PlaydaysRunways.

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Michelle

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