Monday, 27 May 2013

Recipe : Stuffed Courgettes

Today I tried out the final recipe from the selection created by The Co-operative Food Magazine for Open Farm Sunday, produced to showcase what you can do with British food. The eighth annual Open Farm Sunday is on 9th June 2013 and provides a great opportunity for the public to truly get to know how their food is produced and how the countryside around them is cared for. Today on the menu was Stuffed Courgettes - I had some lovely round ones in my veg box but normal long ones would do just fine too.

**********************************************


Stuffed courgettes


Serves: 4
Takes: 15 minutes to make + 50-55 minutes to cook

4 medium courgettes
300g The Co-operative lamb mince
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tsp each of cinnamon and cumin
3 tbsp The Co-operative tomato purée
Small handful (about 40g) sultanas
Handful (about 25g) The Co-operative grana padano


1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/Gas 5. Cut the courgettes in half lengthways and use a small teaspoon to scrape out the middle of the courgettes, reserving the flesh.


2. Put the mince into a pan and dry fry until browned. Tip onto a plate. Heat the oil and fry the onion and courgette flesh for about 5 minutes or until starting to soften, then add the garlic, cinnamon and cumin and cook for a minute. Put the mince back in the pan with the tomato purée, sultanas and a little water (about 3 or 4 tablespoons) and cook for 10 minutes. The mixture will be quite thick but not too wet.



3. Rest the courgettes on a baking tray, spoon the filling inside, sprinkle with the cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes until the courgettes are cooked and the cheese is melted and golden.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Sorry duckies - other ways to use up leftover bread than a trip to the park !

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

Madhouse recipe : Instant Melon Crumble


Scoop out the flesh of three or four deseeded canteloupe melons. Sprinkle with a little crunchy demerera sugar and cinnamon.


Put a few cupfuls of high quality muesli in a bowl and mix in a heaped tablespoon of soft margarine.


Sprinkle the muesli over the melon and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the muesli has gone slightly golden.


I was actually suprised when the Madhouse Mini Testers said they didn't like this. I think it was the fact that the melon was hot though - they happily scoffed the leftovers cold from the fridge the next day ! It was nice (and a great way of using up some of the melons from the entire crateful that I brought back from the farmers' market) but to be honest, just tasted like plain melon really ! This could do with a little oomph - maybe some added honey and walnuts or something tart like cranberries or blueberries. I'd call it a work in progress.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

What to do with a crate load of melons?

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

Inspect a Gadget : Philips Esee HD CAM295BL Pocket Camcorder


Money Supermarket is always a great place for fun blogger challenges. After challenging us to give of one of the rooms at The Madhouse a mini makeover with a maximum budget of £50 in the Room For Improvement blogger challenge, they also asked us if we'd like to review one of their shortlisted top budget travel accessories. They explain : "We want to find out which cheaper travel gadgets can live up to their more expensive counterparts. [...] Each blogger will be asked to review one of the market's most frugal, yet effective travel gadgets from a selection of the top 5 most packed holiday tech items, so we can see which cheaper alternatives should be getting packed in suitcases in 2013!"


There was a choice between a tablet, an mp3 player, an e-reader, a portable DVD player or a camcorder. I almost went for the tablet but in the end decided to go for the camcorder as it also doubles up as a camera and is designed to make sharing photos and videos online a piece of cake - ideal for a blogger then. 


The model that we received is the Philips Esee HD CAM295BL Pocket Camcorder.  It is slightly larger than a mobile phone but small enough and light enough to sit snugly in your hand. At first view, I would actually think it was a first generation mobile phone rather than a camcorder because it's so compact.


The instruction booklet is extremely simple - worryingly so in fact, because it makes it look incredibly basic ! - but it is really easy to get to grips with intuitively, without reading the manual.


 It flips open and, as soon as you switch it on the first time, asks you to set up the date and time.


After choosing the language, you just use the tactile screen to follow the prompts - I thought the screen felt a bit flimsy and was worried I needed to push too hard but it seemed to survive ok. It's certainly simple to set up.


And you're ready to go ! The screen pivots so you can film in whichever direction you want. There's a button to switch between the video or photo option, which again is really simple to work, so it would be ideal for teens or anyone who's never used a digital camera before.

Quality wise, for the photos and videos, I was impressed. The 3" screen makes it easy to see what's in shot and, if you're a "point and click" kind of photographer (as I am), it does a lot of things for you, such as automatic white balance and exposure, flash, auto focus, face and smile detection (which sounds great, whatever that is !). If you like to play around with your photos, there are some effects that you can add - Normal, Sepia, Black and White, Negative, Seventies, Analogue, Colour filter. For the videos, there is also a very clever feature that can be turned on so that you record in dual format simultaneously - high resolution (1080p) for watching on a HD TV or lower resolution (240p) for sending by email without having to compress it.


Now, be honest, how many times have you had to rummage all over the house to find the camera charger ? Quite a few, if it's anything like our house ! Well, one handy feature of this camcorder is that it has a USB plug built-in that flips out so that you can plug it straight into your computer to charge or transfer files.


While it does hold itself in place by itself, it doesn't look very safe so you'd be better off propping it up on a book or box next to the computer while it charges ... especially as it can take a whopping five and a half hours for it to charge fully.

As this is a budget item, costing a very reasonable £51.99, it doesn't come with any added extras, including some which are pretty much essentials. You will therefore have to buy a memory card for it - the internal memory is only enough for a few seconds of film and three or four photos - and a protective case would probably be a good investment too.

If you want a cheap and cheerful piece of kit for taking on holiday, giving to a teen interested in photography or for vlogging, you could do a lot worse. For the price, overall I'm very impressed.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £51.99

Disclosure : This is my entry for Money Supermarket's Inspect-a-Gadget blogger challenge. I received the product in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Binatone KidzStar eReader review
 Powerfreakz Evolution 2500 Solar Portable Charger review
Keeping your kids entertained in the car
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Sunday, 26 May 2013

What to do with a crate load of melons?


Following on from my post about this week's veg box and an extra crate load of melons, I've been off looking for inspiration. Here are some recipes that caught my eye that I may have to try out :


Gee-Gee's Chicken Salad with Cantaloupe














I'm also thinking of blending some into smoothies or juice, possibly trying sorbet and have also discovered that you can roast the seeds like pumpkin seeds - should keep me busy !

Right, I'm off to the kitchen - wish me luck !

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: , ,

This week's veg box (and a "little" extra !)


I still have a few bits left over from last week (round courgettes and avocadoes mainly) so today, I opted for a small veg box - two different sorts of lettuce, some more of those beautifully sweet cherry tomatoes, some baby potatoes and a white cabbage.


Then the fruit & veg man offered me a whole crate of melons for the same price as I was going to pay for three ! We've already eaten a few with the barbecue at lunchtime but I need to go searching for melon recipes now ! Any ideas ?

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

#VegBoxChallenge Week 5

Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels: ,

Sophie's room makeover - Room For Improvement £50 challenge


This was Sophie's attic room before - nothing really wrong with it but it's a bit girlie-girlie and she's almost about to become a teen so she wanted something a bit more grown up and hit on the theme of London/Union Jacks.


It needed a good tidy up too ! With perfect timing, Money Supermarket got in touch with news of their latest challenge and asked if we'd like to try a room makeover with a £50 budget (which they sent through to buy supplies).


Well, originally, before knowing we'd be trying to keep to a £50 budget, we'd toyed with the idea of repainting the walls in red and blue or possibly making one wall into a feature wall with a Union Jack themed wallpaper. However, to keep costs down, the key word became ACCESSORISE ! We opted for this London skyline wallsticker from Achica instead which cost £9. Madhouse Daddy expertly put it up with no problem at all.


Next, I decided to raid my crafts boxes to find some red, white and blue goodies costing zero pence. I was quie impressed actually, I found some material - a black throw and a red blanket - in my patchwork box, a Union Jack tea towel and some Union Jack bunting left over from the Jubilee. Hmmmm.


I used the material to cover her beams which were just bare dusty, splintery wood before (as you can see in the top photo), and jazzed them up with the bunting.


We bought some Union Jack bedding for £20 and a rug for £10. The tea towel is pinned on the wall above her bed.


A couple of Union Jack cushions for a couple of quid each and a Big Ben canvas for £5. The One Direction poster was free from a magazine she had !

So we did it - just under the £50 budget. Sophie's now looking through her possessions for anything else London-themed that she can put out on show in her room and has found some Olympic mascot toys and a Union Jack boomerang so far ! She loves the idea of adding her own personal stamp to her room so the rest is over to her !

Disclosure : This is our entry for the Money Supermarket Room For Improvement challenge. We received £50 to buy the supplies necessary for the room makeover.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: ,

Sunday weigh-in : Not counting today !



Today is mothers' day in France so I was treated to breakfast in bed - porridge, chopped banana and orange juice - before I could do my weigh-in. When I finally jumped on the scales, it said 78.2kg which is basically the same as last week. However, yesterday, I jumped on the scales before breakfast and they flashed up the magic figure of 77.7kg - as that was my target for this week, that's the figure I'm counting !!

Positives of the week

- A pair of jeans that were "snug" now get on my nerves because they're too loose.


This week's targets 

Last week's target was : Get down to the 77 point somethings. Listen to the SlimPod every day. Stay positive ! (Haven't managed to listen to the SlimPod but hit the other targets)

This week's target is :  - Listen to the SlimPod a few times and stay in the 77's.

Longer-term targets : I need some new target jeans !

START WEIGHT : 91.9kg
TARGET WEIGHT : 66kg
WEIGHT LAST WEEK  : 78.1kg
WEIGHT TODAY : 77.7g
WEIGHT LOST SO FAR :  14.2kg
STILL TO GO : 11.7kg
CHANGE THIS WEEK : -400g 

Feel free to add your weightloss posts to our weekly linkie - it's great to see how everyone else has been getting on and give each other support and encouragement :)



Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter


 MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods


Posted by at 5 comments:
Labels: ,

Saturday, 25 May 2013

Good Food Show recipe : Angel Food Cake

I posted a giveaway earlier where you can win tickets to the Good Food Show Summer, taking place in Birmingham next month, from 12th-16th June. To whet your appetite, I have a recipe to share from the lovely Rachel Allen,who will be taking part. This looks lovely so I'll definitely be trying this out :

Angel Food Cake


Angel food cake is a classic American dessert, especially popular in the South. Its name derives from it being almost magically light, making it seem like the ‘food of the angels’. Once the cake is made, you can cover it with rose-water or lavender icing, if you wish. Iced or plain, this cake is delicious served with summer berries and whipped cream, to which you could add a dash of rose or orange-blossom water or a few drops of lavender essence for a refreshing, floral note.

Prep time: 20 minutes (excluding the icing)
Baking time: 20-28 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves: 6-8

Butter, for greasing
125g (4 ½ oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
Pinch of salt
175g (6oz) caster sugar
½ tsp cream of tartar, sifted
8 egg whites (250ml/9fl oz)
2 tsp vanilla extract

23cm (9in) diameter cake tin with 6cm (2 ½ in) sides

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Gas mark 4. Butter the sides of the cake tin and dust with flour, then line the base with a disc of baking parchment.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and mix in 150g (5oz) of the caster sugar. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining sugar with the cream of tartar.

Tip the egg whites into a large, spotlessly clean bowl or in an electric food mixer. Using a hand-held electric beater or the food mixer, whisk the egg whites for about 20 seconds or until they begin to turn cloudy and frothy. With the beater or mixer still running, add the mixed sugar and cream of tartar, then continue to whisk until the mixture is glossy and forms stiff peaks.

Carefully fold in the vanilla extract, followed by the dry ingredients, adding these a quarter at a time and folding in very lightly, so as not to knock any air of out of the mixture.

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 20-28 minutes or until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. Using a small, sharp knife to loosen the edges, carefully remove the cake form time tin and leave on a wire rack to finish cooling before transferring to a plate to serve.

While the cake is cooling, make the icing, if using, and decorate the cake following the instructions given in the individual recipes.

Variation
Instead of icing the cake, you could serve it with softly whipped cream and berries such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries or blackberries, or a mixture. You could either top the cake with about 450ml (16 fl oz) of softly whipped cream and a generous scattering of berries, or alternatively you could simply serve each slice with cream and berries.

Tip
Being a delicate, fat-free sponge, it needs to be cut very carefully with a serrated knife.

Rose-water icing with pistachios

Prep time: 5 minutes
Makes: enough for 1 large cake

1-2 tbsp rose water
250g (9oz) icing sugar, sifted

To decorate
75g (3oz) unsalted shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
Fresh or crystallised rose petals (optional)

Stir together 1 tablespoon of the rose water with the icing sugar until well mixed and runny enough for drizzling – adding a few more drops of rose water if it seems too stiff. Use a spoon to drizzle all over the cake in zigzags, then, before the icing has a chance to dry, quickly sprinkle the pistachios all over the cake and scatter with the fresh or crystallised rose petals, if using.

Lavender icing

Prep time: 5 minutes
Makes: enough for 1 large cake

¼ tsp lavender essence
1-2 tbsp boiling water
250g (9oz) icing sugar, sifted

To decorate
About 8 lavender flowers (optional)

In a small bowl, mix together the lavender essence with 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Sift the icing sugar into a separate bowl, then add the lavender mixture and stir together until well mixed and runny enough for drizzling – add a few more drops of hot water if it seems too stiff. Use a spoon to drizzle all over the cake in a zigzag pattern, and scatter with the lavender flowers, if using.

Recipe taken from Cake by Rachel Allen, published by Collins £25 HB.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Sorry duckies - other ways to use up leftover bread than a trip to the park !

Best of British recipes for Open Farm Sunday

Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: ,

Giveaway #290 : Win 5 pairs of tickets to Good Food Show/Gardeners World Live - cloed - winners Julie Thomas, Dolly Anderson, Chris Deacon, Sally Rees, Sharon Lines



The BBC Good Food Show Summer is running from 12th–16th June at the NEC in Birmingham and to celebrate, I have teamed up with the organisers to offer you this fantastic prize - you can win 5 pairs of general admission tickets to enjoy a day at the Show.


The Show is packed full of celebrity chefs including Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry, James Martin, John Torode and Gregg Wallace demonstrating live on the Supertheatre sponsored by Tesco Real Food. Plus see your favourite TV programmes brought to life including The Great British Bake Off, MasterChef and Saturday Kitchen. Shop till you drop from over 200 food stands. Visit the Producers’ Village and the Good Food Champions area to find small and artisan produce that you won’t see on the high street and don’t forget that your ticket also gets you free entry to BBC Gardeners’ World Live where you can learn how to grow your own from some of the nation’s top gardening experts!


Not a winner? To book tickets and for more information on the BBC Good Food Show Summer please visit bbcgoodfoodshowsummer.com or call 0844 581 1341

To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 5/6/13

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners.

Terms and conditions for tickets and giveaways for BBC Haymarket Exhibitions

 All tickets are general admission excluding Saturday.

 Tickets are non refundable and non-exchangeable. Ticket terms and conditions apply.

 Tickets do not include a seat in the supertheatre.


Other giveaways you may be interested in :
Posted by at 74 comments:
Labels: , ,

Loubilou kids' global emporium review


Last month saw the launch of a new online retail hub called Loubilou, described as "a new website offering parents a global emporium featuring individual sellers of children’s clothing, gifts, toys and accessories". They kindly sent me through a voucher to try out the website and see what they had on offer


These London wall stickers (£99.99)  would look great in Sophie's attic room, which she wants to make over with a London theme. Slightly out of my price range though !


For a younger child's bedroom or nursery, this cloud and raindrops mobile (£30) looks very cute. I think we've been seeing more than enough rain out of the window though, thank you !


Loubilou promote themselves as selling quirky items that you won't find in highstore shops and just one look at the funky designs in their clothing section really confirmed this. This adorable fox play dress (£42)  immediately leapt out at me. There's also a dungarees version for boys so that they don't miss out. I think they're brilliant but the kids laughed, rolled their eyes and said no way. Awww, those were the days, when Pierre was a baby and I could dress him up in his koala suit without him uttering a word !



In the end, I opted for this rather more sensible pink coat for Juliette, as she managed to break the zip on her coat last week. It's only £22 in the sales (was £30). One thing to look out for (and that aren't very clear before you get to check out) are the delivery charges - I needed to add an extra £4.55 for this order but I seem to remember some of the other items I looked at had free delivery.


On my laptop, I had a problem going through the checkout because my pop-up blocker was obviously blocking the Paypal window and I couldn't manage to override it. Once I managed to get on to a different computer though, it was very quick and very simple to place the order.


If you like buying clothes and accessories for your kids that are a bit more original than the things you can find on the high street, it's a great place for browsing through to see what's on offer.


for more information : http://www.loubilou.com/


 Disclosure : I received a voucher in order to check out the website and write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Thanks Vertbaudet for the kick up the bum !

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...