Aunt Bessie's Saves Dinner!

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Why would anyone go to all the effort of making batter for a yorkshire pudding when someone else has done it for you?

Four eggs? Four?!

Why would you when you can buy a packet of either ready-made, or cook from batter, yorkshire puddings? I certainly don't and that is why I always have a supply in my freezer.

Therefore when I had an e-mail asking me to try some of the Aunt Bessie products, I jumped with glee and agreed immediately. A few days later a very nice chap knocked on my door (having driven from Yorkshire) and delivered this for me…

There are a few things that really stood out to me from the selection above:

  • vegetarian toad in the hole;
  • boat-shaped yorkshire puddings (perfect for The Boy);
  • gravy tablets;
  • apple pie.

These vegetarian toad-in-the-holes are absolutely gorgeous. Yes it's a tray full of batter with two vegetarian sausages in, but they are genuinely some of the nicest sausages I've tasted; herby and succulent, they swelled beautifully while cooking in the batter. I thoroughly enjoyed this and have since bought them to eat again because of the ease and convenience.

The image on the left is of the boat-shaped yorkshire puddings which are a genius idea and perfect for children! I managed to fit two hot-dog style sausages in alongside each other (although one 'normal' thickness sausage would fit just as well) and The Boy thought it was magic! He absolutely loved them floating in the sea of gravy and wolfed the lot down. On the right above is a giant yorkshire pudding which I filled with chopped up sausage, carrots, brocolli and topped with a cheese sauce. It's a really quick meal, incredibly filling and because it's presented in a different way, my sometimes-difficult-eater was far more engaged in eating his meal.

The frozen gravy is something that I know Aunt Bessie's are very proud of, and I'm told by the meat-eaters in the family that it's with good reason. A concentrated gel-like capsule which is kept in the freezer, melt it in hot water over a stove and it is just as good as 'proper' gravy and far superior to granules. And for a vegetarian cooking meat, it's such an easy and fool-proof way of producing a quality gravy.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to apple pie; I don't like crunchy pastry, I like a deep filling and the lightest amount of crunchy sugar sprinkled on top. Unfortunately the bramley apple pie fell apart when I took it out of the oven, and the ability to serve it in a complete slice also seemed elusive. It tasted good, but I would have preferred more chunky apple filling with a bit more cinnamon.

I'm thoroughly impressed with the range of convenience products that Aunt Bessie's produce; I had no idea there were so many different items and some of them are truly imaginative. I personally prefer the yorkshire puddings that cook from frozen batter, but I will be adding the boat-shaped yorkshire puddings, the vegetarian toad in the hole and the gravy to my regular shopping list.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.

Slow Cooked Gammon In Coke

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Since I've had my Morphy Richards Slow Cooker (48701 'Sear & Stew') I have been far more happy to cook meat than I ever was before. The fact that it can be used on the stove to sear the meat, then transferred to the slow cooker, and even placed on the table as a serving dish means it's quick and convenient to use. My husband reports it is also one of the easiest things to wash up as well!

For a vegetarian, it means that cooking meat is easy: minimal handling is necessary, a few extra flavours are popped in and the meat-eating members of my family (all the men bizarrely) are over the moon with the results. I tend to buy quality joints from the reduced section in the supermarkets and then freeze them until needed, and I've picked up some real bargains. This gammon joint was less than £2.00!

Ingredients:

  • Gammon joint
  • Half a can of coke (about 150ml)
  • Mushrooms
  • Leeks
  • Salt and pepper
  • Stock cube
  • Cornflour
  • A knob of butter
  1. Place the inner pot on the hob and melt the butter. Add the leeks and mushrooms and sweat them for a few minutes until the leeks turn almost translucent. Stir in the stock cube.
  2. Cross the fatty side of the gammon and sprinkle on salt and pepper, this will help it to crisp up.
  3. Put the gammon into the pot on top of the mixture and sear each side for thirty seconds-a minute, turning once each side is done. This helps keep the 'juices' in the meat as it's cooking.
  4. Transfer the pot to the slow cooker and pour in the coke. Place the lid on top and leave to cook on medium for five-six hours or high for four hours.
  5. Once cooked, remove the gammon and set aside to rest for a few minutes while transferring the pot back to the hob. Add a teaspoon of for flour and stir in with a wooden or plastic spatula. This will thicken into a gravy to use with the gammon.
  6. Serve with the usual roast vegetables!

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Linking up to Mediocre Mum's Slow Cooker Sunday

Little Dish: New Recipes & A New Look

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As I've said many times before, I'm fussy with the food that I let The Boy eat, always have been. In his first year I cooked everything from scratch for him so that I could guarantee the contents and quality of the food. When it came to loosening the reins a little there were very few brands that I trusted, but I genuinely always trusted the quality of the ingredients in the Little Dish meals. Now I'm back to work part-time and my mum is feeding him, I do tend to buy the ready meals as a standby, to make it easier for her if she's not up to cooking from scratch.

Recently, Little Dish have refreshed their ready meals, both visually (by introducing the 'zoo crew' to the packaging) and recipe-wise, and have a fantastic range of eight ready meals to choose from (all suitable from 12 months+). The range includes The Boy's favourites of Chicken and Butternut Squash Pie, Pasta with Cheese, Peas and Brocolli Trees, and Spaghetti and Meatballs, but also has a mild Chicken Korma too. The Boy always enjoys the flavours of these meals, and wolfs them down!

Little Dish

However, The Boy's utmost favourite meal is cheesy pasta with ham so I'm really pleased that Little Dish have done it again and produced a brand new range, this time it's fresh, free-range egg, filled pasta!

These (child) bite-size pasta come in two flavoure: Mini Tortellini with Cheese and Tomato, and Mini Ravioli with Spinach and Ricotta, and are perfect for little ones and their little tums. I also like that it gives you the freedom of which sauce you can use to accompany it and add vegetables (or ham!) as appropriate. I knocked up a bowl of Mini Tortellini with Cheese and Tomato in a cheese and ham sauce, and The Boy couldn't get enough of it!

The pasta is made with 100% natural ingredients, and cooks in just three minutes which makes it ideal for tea-time, weekend lunches, play-dates or eating in a hurry. The 230gm packets contain between 2-4 servings, depending upon how big your child's tummy is, and are ideal to keep in the fridge on standby!

Little Dish Filled Pasta is available from Waitrose and Ocado.com, priced at £1.99.

I was sent samples of these products to try, my opinion is honest and unbiased.

Bara Brith

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Bara Brith is a popular spiced tea loaf in Wales and means 'speckled bread'. The speckled part comes from the raisins which are scattered throughout the bread, which would have been made traditionally from leftover bread dough. To make the dough more of a sweet than a savoury, mixed spice is added, and the raisins are soaked in tea to plump them up and make the bread moist. Modern day Bara Brith recipes don't use yeast, making the loaf a lot quicker to make.

The first thing to do when making Bara Brith is to put the kettle on and make a strong cup of tea, but not for yourself!

Ingredients:

  • 225g mixed dried fruit
  • 225ml hot strong tea, strained
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • 1tbsp mixed spice
  • 25g butter
  • 100g brown sugar
  • 1 egg

1. Soak the fruit in the hot strong tea for at least an hour to plump up the raisins (this process can be sped up by microwaving it for 2 minutes). I added the mixed spice at this point to infuse it into the tea, traditionally it is added in with the flour.

tea loaf

2. Preheat the oven to 180degreesC/350degreesC/gas mark 4. Grease and line a loaf tin, or use a silicon baking 'tin' instead, far easier.
3. Sift the flour (and the mixed spice) into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix into a breadcrumb consistency.
4. Stir in the sugar, then add the fruit and its liquid along with the beaten egg. Stir well to make a mixture with a soft consistency.

tea loaf

5. Transfer to the baking tin and put into the preheated oven for about an hour or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
6. Turn onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
7. Serve the Bara Brith sliced and buttered.

fruit tea loaf

Special K Cracker Crisps & Biscuit Moments (Review)

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When I did the Jenny Craig diet over the Summer, the snacks were some of my favourite things in the food parcel. I like a cheeky snack mid afternoon when my energy levels are flagging, and this is the time I'm likely to turn to chocolate, crisps and coffee to keep me going.

The Jenny Craig cereal bars and crisps were great because they provided the required feeling of naughtiness in a measured dose. In addition, after a few days I didn't feel as hungry following the programme of a few snacks a day as it maintained my metabolic rate. Having a snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon keeps your system topped up and prevents the hungry feeling which means no gorging at meal time. Obviously though, it's a bit difficult to continue a pricey diet programme just so that I can continue to have the yummy snacks.

I don't like conventional diet snacks: rice cakes make me feel like I'm eating polysterene and seeds are quite frankly for hamsters not humans. This is why I was more than happy to receive some Special K snacks through from Kellogg's to try.

diet snacks

Special K Cracker Crisps (similar to the Jenny Craig crisps) are a savoury snack made from potato and wheat, and are available in three tasty flavours; sea salt and balsamic vinegar, sweet chilli, and sour cream and chive. They are available in both individual 23g bags akin to conventional crisps (60p a bag), or a 100g box of crisps for in the house (£1.99). We were sent a box of sea salt and balsamic vinegar, and sour cream and chive to try out. At around 95 calories for a 23g bag, they're not a bad little treat, with only 0.5g of saturated fat, 1.5g of sugar and 0.6g of salt (often a hidden issue in snack food). They are also very tasty!

Special K Biscuit Moments come in two different flavours: blueberry and strawberry, and in 25g packs. Each pack contains 98 calories with 0.8g of saturated fat and 8g of sugars/carbohydrates. A light biscuit, similar in taste to a rich tea biscuit, with a jammy filling, they are incredibly more-ish and my favourite snack of late.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Red Hot World Buffet (Review)

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We were recently invited to review the menu at the Red Hot World Buffet in Cardiff. As we're fans of eating out, and I personally feel that a buffet is my favourite ever meal (seriously! What more could you ever want to eat when there's such variety available?), I was very keen to try it out. I'd heard great things from the children in school about it, and I'll admit that put me off slightly; if it's a favourite with children, is it just a more elaborate fast food joint?

'No' is the answer.

We went into the 270 cover Cardiff restaurant at midday on Saturday, it was busy but there were still plenty of tables. Seated quickly at a clean and tidy table with plenty of cutlery and glassware, The Boy was given a clean highchair (take note Frankie & Benny's!) and we perused the paper placemat which explained the system to us. Our waitress was over within five minutes to take our drinks orders (which arrived within another five minutes) and was very pleasant and friendly.

I went up first to check out the system, and got way-laid by all the sights, sounds and smells! Then when I'd worked out where everything was, I took The Boy to choose his food, closely followed by Mr. TBaM in third place.

There are a variety of food stations, 95% of which are self service: salads (many of which are Mediterranean inspired), Italian pizzas and pasta (with a chef cooking risotto to order while you wait), Spanish, traditional British, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Tex Mex, Sushi, and probably a few more which I've forgotten. In the evenings, there are more dishes available.

There is a huge desserts station with the most beautifully prepared tiny sweets, tarts, mousses and cakes. The Boy's face lit up when he saw the vast array of traditional and adventurous ice-creams!

Each dish is well prepared, cooked and presented, as well as being incredibly tasty. When I looked at the menu online beforehand, I was sceptical. "How on Earth can that many dishes be cooked to a high standard, be tasty and not stand around for a long time waiting to be served?"

Easily. The serving dishes are not deep so the food at the bottom hasn't congealed waiting to be eaten, bacteria isn't breeding and the food doesn't get dried out. Additionally some of the dishes (risotto and stir-fry) are cooked freshly. I counted at least ten chefs behind the food stations with another five constantly monitoring the cleanliness of the serving dishes, replenishing platters and wiping up any spillages.

And so to the food that we ate.

  • The Boy had pizza, some salad bits, bread, cheese and chips.
  • I had a plate of salad, pizza and a few wedges. I also had a quesadilla (the hottest thing I've ever tasted!) and the most delicious little mango and cheese tartlets. I went back for more!
  • Mr. TBaM went spicy and had Indian, Chinese and some Tex Mex.
  • The Boy and I shared some of the puddings together, as well as him having a bowl of ice-cream. Each portion was small, one or two bites, but that was more than enough.

The main thing that struck me was that despite it being billed as an 'all you can eat' buffet, and both of us going back for a little more to test that theory, there wasn't wastage and it wasn't excessive. Slices of pizzas, for example, were thin but alongside the other things that on your plate, that was enough. It also means that the restaurant aren't wasting food with people leaving excessive amounts of food.

Mr. TBaM took The Boy up to the toilets on the first floor and this was the only criticism of the restaurant. For somewhere that has over 250 covers, three urinals and two cubicles aren't really enough for a restaurant of that size. However, it was clean and tidy. We've taken to shouting, "Don't touch a thing!" to The Boy in public toilets but that wasn't necessary.

As for anything else wrong with the place, I tried to find something, I really did! If anyone has read my Frankie & Benny's review, they'll know I'm not afraid of pointing out the awfulness of somewhere, but I couldn't at Red Hot World Buffet. I watched the table of three adults and one toddler leave next to us and it was a mess. Within two minutes it had been stripped of debris, thoroughly cleaned, seats and floor swept, and the table relaid with a new family sat down. I can't fault the staff at all. And I can't fault the food. It was some of the tastiest I've had in a while.

I always moan to my mum that I can't find anywhere in Cardiff to take The Boy. Everywhere is unfriendly to pushchairs, children or vegetarians. It's also expensive. But not at Red Hot World Buffet. At £9.99 for a Saturday lunchtime buffet, it's comparable to the other well-known restaurants, especially if you include a dessert into that. We paid £2.65 for a pint of soft drink which is a good price.

In total the meal came to £27.93 for three of us. Children under ten eat for half price but in this instance The Boy wasn't charged for his food. I can't see anything on Red Hot World Buffet site which indicates toddlers are free (often places put them down as eating from a parent's plate) so it might just have been a fluke on this occasion. I think that's a really good price, especially as we paid £10 more for food (which wasn't as tasty) the next day in another restaurant.

So, golden question: Would I go again if paying for it? YES!

Red Hot World Buffet invited us to try their food with a complimentary meal; all opinions are our own.

Frosty Friends (Review)

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Last week we went to see my brother and his family in Oxfordshire. They are über healthy and I watched my brother make a smoothie. 'Not particularly impressive,' you're thinking, right? However, I've never made one before for no other reason than I don't know how.

Only now I do and we're going through bananas and strawberries at the rate of knots!

That night when I got home from my brother's, I saw an e-mail asking me if I'd like to review a lollipop maker. They looked cool and funny so I said 'yes' and they arrived earlier this week. I mean who could resist making a lolly that looks like this:

homemade lollipops

We decided to use the smoothie recipe that we've perfected to test out these shaped rubber moulds. The eyes are actually part of the lolly stick and are a really 'cool' addition to the whole concept. Making them was incredibly simple and only took a few hours to freeze. They peeled out of the mould easily, hadn't spilled all over the feezer and tasted delicious. The best bit is that the mould is dishwasher proof!

lollipop maker

The Frosty Friends lolly mould is available for £7.98 from JustMustard.com.

I was sent this product for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Little Dish Meals (Review)

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I have spoken before about how important it was to me when weaning The Boy to ensure that he had the best quality food, home-made as much as possible. When I returned to work after my year's maternity leave, I still cooked in bulk for him but I soon discovered the wonders of Little Dish meals and was happy to supplement his diet with them.

Why do I like Little Dish?

  • 100% natural ingredients
  • no added salt or sugar
  • no additives or preservatives
  • taste tested by a panel of real-life little people who are selected to approve new recipes
  • suitable for home freezing
  • damned tasty!

Little Dish has sent a few meals for The Boy to test, and me their cookbook with over sixty recipes in it.

Chicken Risotto

This tasty meal contains bite size British chicken breast, tomatoes, butternut squash, sweet potato and cheddar cheese. Risotto is one of his favaourite meals, and this particular dish went down a treat. Like many infants, he doesn't like the texture of proper meat and finds it difficult to chew. The chicken in this meal is tenderly cooked and small enough that he manages it with no problem.

With the sun shining, he wolfed it down enjoying the balmy weather on the patio! It's a large portion and he ate three-quarters, which bearing in mind his main meal is at lunchtime, was a lot. He sat there, looking around the garden, took a big mouthful, smiled and declared (after he'd swallowed), "It's lovely, mummy!"

Beef Lasagne

Beef. He's not a fan of it and I can't cook a single thing with it that he will eat, and I didn't hold up much hope for the beef lasagne that I placed in front of him with extra cheese on top (because that always works).

He absolutely wolfed it down! The bechamel sauce was thick and creamy, the tomato ragu wasn't strong and complimented the beef well (or so my non-vegetarian husband informs me!). The above portion is half of what's in the packet so you can see that there's a fair amount.

Chicken and Butternut Squash Pie

The Chicken and Butternut Squash pie is one of The Boy's favourite Little Dish meals as it is an incredibly tasty meal. The chicken has been diced into small chunks and is easily chewed, the butternut squash is a sweet addition and the mashed potato topping is creamy and smooth. I served it with wedges and peas, knowing that he was going to be getting several of his five-a-day in the meal.

Little Dish meals are great quality and are always guaranteed to go down well with The Boy. It is reassuring to know that the ingredients are quality and natural, and the price is very reasonable especially if you split them and serve them with vegetables as we do.

I was sent three Little Dish meals for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Slow-Cooker Sunday: Rainbow Vegetables & Goat's Cheese Wrap

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While the marvellous Mediocre Mum is off in the pursuit of lasting sunshine on the other side of the pond, Aly from Plus2Point4 and I will be taking care of her popular linky so she can enjoy the Canadian weather while we dodge the rain showers.

Recently Mediocre Mum put out an appeal for Summer recipes, and it's with that in mind that I'm using this recipe which was inspired by something that The Crazy Kitchen posted.

Rainbow Vegetables & Goat's Cheese Wrap

slow cooker vegetables

Ingredients:

  • peppers, carrots, leeks, mushrooms, courgettes
  • mango chutney
  • stock cube
  • soft tortilla wraps
  • hard goat's cheese
  • caramelised onion chutney (optional)
  1. I sweated down chopped mushrooms and stipped leeks in a knob of butter in the slow-cooker first, before adding pepper, courgette and carrot strips. To this I put two tablespoons of water, a stock cube and my old faithful of two tablespoons of mango chutney. Stir and cook on high for two-three hours.
  2. Drain off the liquid and put a good spoonful onto the middle of each wrap in a rectangular shape.
  3. Place a layer of goat's cheese on top, then a smearing of caramelised onion chutney on the top again.
  4. Fold up the wrap, use cocktail sticks to hold it in place and place in the over for ten minutes to crisp it up, maintain its shape and allow the cheese to melt in.
  5. Serve with ranch salad and onion rings.

Please join in below with your slow-cooker recipes: either savoury and sweet.

TheBoyandMe's Slow-Cooker Sunday

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