Cadbury Dairy Milk Mixed Buttons review

Not all of the chocolate that we have been eating lately at The Madhouse has been egg-shaped. Cadbury kindly sent us through a couple of bags of their brand new Dairy Milk Mixed Buttons to try out.

They are a mixture of milk chocolate and white chocolate buttons so if you can't decide which type of creamy chocolate is your favourite, they're perfect ! They're also great for sharing as a family, in front of the TV or on a long walk in the country (in my experience, refuelling on chocolate makes kids forget about their legs aching and their feet hurting !). I was impressed to see that it's about a 50-50 split between the two types of chocolate so there are no squabbles !

Inspired by the picture on the bag, we have also been playing noughts and crosses with them. Everyone is keen to win because the winner gets to eat the whole board ! The 115g sharing bags have an RRP of £1.99 and they've been really popular, here at The Madhouse.

These weren't the only Cadbury's goodies to arrive for Easter though. The postie also dropped off this lovely bag of chocolate eggs with a brilliant hat with rabbit ears. I will have to practise the Cadbury Caramel bunny's sultry voice (which obviously involves lots of taking it easy by eating a bar of gooey-licious Cadbury's Caramel while wearing the hat !). That's my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it !

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Bratz Sweet Style (Jade) review

Have you had your fill of Easter chocolate and sugar-laden treats yet? Well, if you have, or if you're trying to get your kids to come down from their post-Easter sugar high, feast your eyes on these "sweeties" instead ! The Bratz Sweet Style Collection features each of the girls in outfits inspired by their favorite sweets. Cloe's all about the sprinkles & icing - the best part of any cake! Her pet froyo pup feels the same. Jade's got a major sweet tooth for mint chocolate chip and cotton candy and Yasmin's fashion inspiration is her all-time favorite froyo topping: crushed peppermint candy.

We received Jade to review and Juliette was instantly wowed by her enormous, pastel green, thigh-high platform boots (and the fact that, these being Bratz dolls, you can pull off the legs/feet to change them around). She also oohed and aahed over the cute little koala with an upside down ice cream cornet on its head. The blurb on the back of the box says : "Had this sweet dream ! Made a koala out of froyo and it came to life ! It was epic - she turned on all the machines and rode the frozen wave on a chocolate bar. Best. Dream. Evaaar !" Yep, she's definitely been ODing on the Easter chocolate too !

We all loved her sweet treat-inspired outfit, with boots the colour of mint-choc chip ice cream, a fluffy pink top that looks like candy floss and a sweetie-print skirt. The accessories carry on the theme - she has a fabulous clutch bag that looks like a chocolate bar with the corner bitten off and ice cream earrings. She also comes with a hair brush.

As a parent, I was pleased to see that the Bratz girls have a fresher-faced look than I remember, with much less full-on makeup and a more childlike appearance. They are fully jointed and posable and the cute accessories lead to a lot of imaginative play.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £20

Available exclusively at The Entertainer

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Madhouse recipe : Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Chicken soup is not only good for the soul, as the famous book says. It is also good for the pocket because it is an incredibly frugal meal, using up a few odds and ends out of the veg compartment of the fridge and the carcass from the Sunday roast - that's it !

 Chicken & Vegetable Soup

ingredients :

a knob of butter

1 leek

3 carrots

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 chicken carcasses and any leftover roast chicken/vegetables

1l water

salt, pepper, spices/herbs of your choice (garlic pepper, thyme, smoked paprika, for example)

to serve : a crumbled Ryvita (optional)

Peel and chop the veg - you could use up whatever is lurking in the bottom of the fridge but I used leeks, carrots, onions and garlic.

Put in a large pan with the butter and gently cook for a couple of minutes to soften.

Toss in the chicken carcasses - I used two, as we'd had the Madhouse grandparents over for Easter Sunday, but you could just use one or freeze one and save it until you eat another roast chicken. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Pass it through a sieve to remove the bones (which will partly dissolve but leave lots of little gritty bits, if you don't sieve it). Pick out the vegetables and any pieces of meat and toss them back in the broth, being careful to avoid adding back any pieces of bone. Whizz it up with a stick blender to thicken and season to taste with herbs and spices of your choice. I crumbled a couple of stale Ryvita on top in place of croutons.

It always amazes me that you can gets something so tasty and nourishing from basically nothing ! You could add a splash if cream but it doesn't really need it.

As this is made with the bits that usually end up in the bin after the Sunday roast, this is a prime contender for the #KitchenClearout linky !

Madhouse recipe : McVitie's Chocolate Tiffin

Hopefully you've had a lovely Easter and aren't totally sick of chocolate yet. Just after Easter, I always start seeing recipes online telling you how to use up "leftover Easter eggs" - is that even a thing ?! 

Well, McVitie's obviously understand that it isn't because they sent me through a lovely baking kit with all the ingredients needed for making tiffin, including - count them and weep ! - four bars of chocolate. There was also a packet of figs, which I decided to substitute for raisins, partly because the Madhouse kids prefer them and partly because that was was in the original tiffin recipe that I made in home economics at school many moons ago. I haven't made it for years, although it is very similar to the fridge cake that we make very regularly.

McVitie's Chocolate Tiffin

ingredients :

250g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids)

200g unsalted butter

2 tbs golden syrup

150g roasted shelled hazelnuts, chopped

200g McVitie's Digestives, roughly chopped

150g dried figs, chopped into small pieces (I used raisins instead)

75g white chocolate

Break the dark chocolate into pieces in a bowl. Add the butter and golden syrup and melt in the microwave or in a bain marie (a glass bowl over simmering water).

Add the chopped nuts and raisins.

Roughly crumble the digestive biscuits and add to the bowl. Give it all a good stir until evenly coated.

Press into a greased/lined square tin.

Melt the white chocolate and drizzle over the top.

Leave to cool in the fridge for a few hours then remove from the tin and cut into squares.

Delicious and so simple, especially served with strawberries on the side. The only hard part is making the kids wait long enough for it to set !

Disclosure : I received a baking kit from McVitie's with all of the ingredients needed for the recipe.

Giveaway #547 : Win £35 to spend at Peach Perfect - closed

The lovely Kate from Peach Perfect recently got in touch and told me all about her online gift shop, which is full of quirky gift ideas for all occasions with a strong ethical slant - she has created the Peach Perfect World Collection to provide a range of gifts that you can feel good about giving. 

One product from the collection is this unique, handwoven, Maharjan laptop cover from Nepal, which is available in a range of designs exclusively from Peach Perfect.

Last year, in April 2015, Nepal was hit by a massive earthquake, in which over two million people lost their homes and thousands lost their lives. Many aid agencies and NGOs have worked hard to help the people of Nepal rebuild, but it wasn’t just homes torn apart, or roads destroyed by the earthquake. The very infrastructure of society — jobs, systems, daily life — came tumbling down with the walls, and putting that back together is a massive challenge. Before the earthquake there were already few jobs in the region, and young men were leaving for work abroad at the rate of 1,500 a day.

The long term investment needed to get the Nepalese economy back on its feet is hard to come by. Global Map Aid is a not-for-profit organisation creating socio-economic maps of developing countries, and in the course of their work in Nepal, GMA came across a small business enterprise led by Ramita Maharjan. Her team support one another like a family as they work to rebuild after the earthquake, together operating a small sewing enterprise in Kathmandu. Ramita’s team design and create covers to fit 13” Apple MacBooks, using local hand-woven fabrics in a range of beautiful patterns. 

These laptop covers are available exclusively through peachperfect.co.uk and Ramita, her team

and Global Map Aid receive an amazing 60% of the sale price. Robustly made to a high quality from local weaves of natural yarns, the Maharjan laptop cover perfectly represents the combination of traditional skill and culture with the vision and drive to build a global future - and provide the survivors of the Nepalese earthquake with jobs, community, and hope.

This Father’s Day, why not buy a gift which is elegantly and ethically designed ? - a gift you can feel truly good about giving. Head on over to www.peachperfect.co.uk to see what's on offer.

I am delighted to be able to offer a £35 gift voucher for Peach Perfect for one lucky Madhouse Family Reviews reader. (Orders over £35 get free delivery too.) Just fill in your entries in the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 12/4/16

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 28 days, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray !

You may also like to enter my other giveaways :

Giveaway #545 : Win a fantastic #Beatrix150 Peter Rabbit prize bundle worth over £70 - closing 4/4

Giveaway #546 : Win tickets to Peter Rabbit attractions #Beatrix150 - closing date 4/4

Worry Eaters review

As the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved, but when you're growing up, it can often be hard to know who to turn to. Since time immemorial, children have always had nightmares and been scared of monsters under the bed, but these days, there seem to be so many more things to be worried about. The TV screens are constantly full of news of terrorist attacks and, even if you try to shield your children from the worst of it, it's obvious - and even essential - that they understand the current climate of fear and alertness to danger. We will be flying out to the Canaries in August from Zaventem airport in Brussels, the very airport that was the target of suicide bombers last week. We've flown out of there several times before and it was weird watching the news and seeing places that we'd been that were blown to pieces and covered in wreckage. Sophie was a bit shellshocked when she realised that the Starbucks counter that was one of the targets was where he had got a drink before going on holiday last year and even if Pierre and Juliette haven't openly expressed any concerns, I'm sure they are more aware than they are letting on.

When Pierre was having nightmares a couple of years ago, Juliette stepped in as a fabulous big sister and told him to draw a picture of his nightmare then rip it up, jump up and down on the pieces then put it in the bin and they'd be gone. I was very impressed with this idea, especially when it worked ! As soon I received an email about Worry Eaters, I thought the idea was similar - these cute cuddly friends have big zip up mouths so you can draw or write all your worries then pop them in their mouths for them to gobble up your troubles. As a parent, I love the fact that you can sneak in afterwards and find out exactly what's been bothering your child, if they didn't want to talk about it. Pierre is actually very upfront and tells me what he's written on the papers as he feeds them to his Worry Eater, so it's a great way of opening up the channels of conversation and finding out what is secretly troubling your child.

The toys are very well made with strong seams and a wonderfully soft plush finish. Pierre can't stop cuddling his Worry Eater and loves pulling his inner pocket out so that it looks like he is sticking his tongue out ! The quirky, cheeky monsters are very appealing and Pierre has adopted his Worry Eater, Pat, as his new bedtime friend, although he has told me that when we go on holiday, he will also be using it as a cushion and a handy bag for all his travel essentials in the car and plane !

The Worry Eaters come in different sizes, depending on the size of your anxiety ! The classic 32-40cm plushes have a RRP of £20 but there are also juniors, 22-24cm costing £12.50, and a giant one measuring a whopping 97cm with an equally hefty £200 price tag - that would be great in a school or hospital environment. There's also a brand new collection of stationery and novelty items perfect for primary school-aged boys and girls, including purses (RRP £5.49), pencil cases (RRP £8.49) and bags (RRP £8.99). Worry Eaters are based on Gerd Hahn’s animation, Sorgenfresser.

for more information : http://sorgenfresser.com/en/

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Easter Magic at The Madhouse #Fairytaler

A few weeks ago, I told you how we were delighted to become fairytalers for the Irish Fairy Door Company and explained how our fairy door came to be installed at The Madhouse last year. Here's our cute little door, which has recently been moved into Pierre's room (he originally put it in our room because he was worried that the fairy would wake him up in the middle of the night and scare him when she came through the door !).

 There was much excitement at The Madhouse recently when the postie dropped off a package of Irish Fairy Door Company goodies, and that was even before the kids got home from school ! I admit it, I get as much fun and excitement out of the fairy door as the kids do, but not for the same reasons. I love sparking their imagination by leaving little messages in tiny writing and watching Pierre laying on the floor to shout messages through the door to his fairy friend !

Along with some decorative wall stickers to create a fairy wonderland, a story book and the little Fairy Treats plate that you can see in the top photo (the Easter Bunny doesn't just come for humans, you know !), we received this fabulous fully-working Playtime Set, which includes a swing, a seesaw, a ladder and a bike (which I think may just end up in different places all over the house, when the naughty fairy forgets to put it away when she's finished riding it during the night !). They're all intricately fashioned out of wood and metal and Juliette, who is a big Playmobil fan, immediately asked Pierre if her Playmobil characters could play on it during the daytime when the fairy's not around !

I passed the package on to Juliette and Pierre and left them doing a very good job of being interior designers, deciding what should go where.

They started off by adding the toadstool, flower, butterfly and plant stickers which all adhered perfectly to the painted surface of Pierre's wall, but they should work on wallpaper too. They stand out really well against the pale blue background.

The other sticker sheet contained Easter stickers, as well as Valentine's Day, Halloween and Christmas-themed stickers. I told Pierre that we could give the new Fairy area (or Fairea ?!) an Easter makeover, then swap it over at various points throughout the year, but he has never been a believer in the "less in more" concept and decided that he wanted to put them all up. Well, why not ?!

 Time to add the playground equipment ...

 How's this for a wonderful fairyland for your magical friend to play in? 

Pierre was totally enchanted and excitedly called me in to admire his handiwork, pointing out all the funky new fairy-friendly features.

 He knocked on the door and whispered, "Hey, Fairy, come and visit soon. We've got a big surprise for you and I hope you really love it " ! I'm sure she'll leave a little note in a day or two to say how much fun she's been having while he's asleep or at school !

But there was still one more surprise to leave for her ...

Some white chocolate covered blueberries from Pierre, giggling that he was pretending to be the Easter Bunny. I was secretly giggling too ... I know just how he feels !

Look out for more #Fairytaler posts over the coming months.

for more information : www.theirishfairydoorcompany.com

Product info :

Brand new for 2016 accessory sets RRP £12.99 each (Playtime or Garden)

Wall Art RRP £5.99 each

Fairy Treat plate RRP £4.99

Fairy Force book RRP £5.99

Disclosure : As Fairytalers, we'll be receiving exciting parcels of Irish Fairy Door Company goodies to share with you.

Madhouse recipe : Cranberry & Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

I usually make a big lemon drizzle cake but as I was short on time this morning, I decided to try them as individual cupcakes and it worked just as well. Using lemon curd and lemon juice means that they're bursting with tangy tartness.

Cranberry & Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

ingredients :

175g butter

175g sugar

1 pot of fruity yogurt (I used apricot but anything goes)

2 heaped tablespoons lemon curd

3 eggs

a good squirt of lemon juice 

200g self-raising flour

a good handful of dried cranberries

a cup of icing sugar

a good squirt of lemon juice

Put the oven on to preheat at 180°.

 

Cream together the butter and sugar. Get those muscles going !

Add the yogurt, eggs, lemon curd and lemon juice. Give it all a mix but don't worry if it looks lumpy.

Grease some silicon mufin tins and scatter some dried cranberries in the bottom of each mould.

Beat the flour into the cake mix.

Pour the cake mix into the moulds.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning them out.

Mix the icing sugar with just enough lemon juice to create a runny icing. Drizzle over the top of the cakes and leave to set.

Sunday weigh-in : A nice surprise

This week has been another hectic one - luckily things should calm down a bit next week and then it's a fortnight off, phew ! - so I've been eating lots of rubbish. Chocolates in the staff room, frozen pizza when I got in late from work, very greasy meat at the canteen, ... On top of that, there has been no time for getting out walking or running at all as my half days off were taken up with inset days and meetings. I almost skipped weighing in today because I didn't want to know what the scales were going to say, but in the end, I decided to face the music and I'm glad I did - it's a 700g loss ! Goodness knows how I managed that but I'll take it, thank you very much ! 

Positives of the week

- I've been eating a fair bit of convenience food this week but did balance it out with soup and haven't been snacking, which probably helps. I've been eating breakfasts too, which could be a good thing and have also started taking water in to work to drink throughout the day - I'll have to keep it going and see it has a positive effect.

- The badges are back on the move - from 50lb to go/11lb lost/5kg lost to 48lb to go/13lb lost/6kg lost. That's more like it :)

Current targets 

Last week's target :  It's another manic week so just cut myself some slack and try to avoid a gain. (DONE with bells on !)

This week's targets : Take some me-time, whether that be sitting on the settee with the kids watching a film or getting out for a run - I need to regroup ! Plan ahead with the slow cooker to avoid freezer diving when I get in late from work.

Short-term targets : 

(1) get back into the 80's
(2) get my "lbs lost" back into double figures
(3)  get my "weight to lose" badge down into the 40's
 (4)  get back to 87kg, my pre-holiday weight   
(5) get my "kg lost" badge back into double figures 
(6) get my "weight loss" badge higher than my "still to go" badge
(7) get back into my (smallest) bright blue jeans comfortably
(8) get back to 77kg - my lowest weight since my pregnancies

Longer-term targets :  Hit my target weight of 70kg.

START WEIGHT :93.7kg (BMI 34.8)

TARGET WEIGHT : 70kg (BMI 26)

WEIGHT LAST WEEK  :  88.6kg 

WEIGHT TODAY :  87.9kg (BMI 32.6)

WEIGHT LOST SO FAR :  5.8kg

STILL TO GO : 17.9kg

CHANGE THIS WEEK : -0.7kg

Feel free to add your weightloss posts to my weekly linkie - it's great to see how everyone else has been getting on and give each other support and encouragement. You can even grab the linkie code and add it to your own blog if you like. :)

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