Booja-Booja Dairy Free Chocolate Truffles

Booja-Booja Espresso Chocolate Truffles - The Artist's Collection

Steve's sister was given these truffles from a PR company and she brought them over at Christmas as she didn't want them. Since I've been on my dairy free diet I haven't been eating many cakes, biscuits and sweets. It hasn't been a problem for me as I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, but it was nice to have an alternative to the Green & Black's chocolate that I've been eating. Plus I loved the box and it will be handy to keep my jewellery in it.

I was intrigued to try these truffles as they are dairy free and I didn't think it was possible to make truffles without dairy, as Steve and I made them during our stay at the Aviator Hotel and it was a simple mix of melted chocolate and double cream.

For some reason the ingredients for these espresso truffles aren't listed on the Booja-Booja website so I've copied them from the label on the box:
Chocolate (cocoa solids 55%, cane sugar, emulsifier: soya lecithin, vanilla), Coconut Oil, Water, Coffee 5%, Agave Syrup, Cocoa Powder.

Truffles aren't my favourite chocolates so I'm not an expert, but these were quite nice. I don't think they were as creamy as traditionally made truffles, but they were very close in texture. The chocolate flavour was deep and rich and the espresso provided just the right amount of coffee.

I personally wouldn't buy these for myself as they are very expensive. These truffles came in a beautiful handmade wooden box, so they retail for around £23. A standard box is around £7 which is still a lot of money for 16 chocolates, even if they are handmade.


I thought it would be a good idea to try making a hot chocolate from the truffles and I actually preferred consuming them this way. 

To make one serving:
I heated 200ml of Rice Dream (rice milk) in the microwave for 1 min 45 seconds and then stirred in 2 of the truffles until they melted and then added half a teaspoon of vanilla sugar. This produced a very chocolately hot chocolate and it's a good way for me to eat more calories as I've lost so much weight since going dairy free!
200ml Rice Dream = 94kcal
2 truffles = 122kcal
1/2 teaspoon sugar = 8kcal
Total calories = 224

Making fresh pasta!

The great thing about having a blog that your other half reads is that he/she can really get to know you and what you really enjoy.

Steve must have read my post about how much I enjoyed watching Theo Randall make fresh pasta at the BBC Good Food Show/MasterChef Live London as he bought me a pasta machine for Christmas!

As an extra surprise he’d also requested a signed photograph from Theo Randall with a personal message saying “To Mandy, Good luck with the pasta machine! Best Wishes Theo Randall”.  The signed picture was a great surprise and a lovely touch to my gift – I’m a very lucky girl!

Anyway, enough gushing about my husband-to-be and onto the pasta machine. He bought me the Imperia Italiana Italian Pasta Maker Set from Amazon, plus The Pasta Machine Cookbook: 100 Simple and Successful Home Pasta Making Recipes.

The machine comes with a clamp and detachable handle, a star shaped ravioli tray, small wooden rolling pin and two cutting attachments so you can make ribbon shaped pasta.

On each of the attachments there is a very fine cutter and a wider one. After some research from other sources (the instruction booklet doesn’t really tell you anything about the attachments) I have ascertained the following:

• Spaghetti – the cutter gives rounded strands less than 2mm wide
• Taglioni (referred to as tagliatelle but this is not what I consider tagliatelle) – the cutter gives very narrow flat strands about 2mm wide
• Fettucine – the cutter gives flat ribbons about 6.5mm wide
• Lasagnette – the cutter gives flat ribbons about 12mm wide

The machine is really easy to put together, apart from the clamp can be a bit fiddly, especially if you don’t have a table with a decent overhang to be able to fix it securely. Unfortunately all our tables have an annoying curved edge, so I can’t get the machine to clamp very well and it takes two pairs of hands to roll the pasta whilst holding the machine down. Luckily I had Steve to help me and we had loads of fun making pasta!

I’ve watched Alton Brown’s episode on making fresh pasta and he secures his machine to an ironing board, which is a great idea but the design of the Imperia machine means you can’t do this and I don’t think Steve’s Mum would appreciate me using her ironing board for pasta!

Anyway, I’d read a few recipes on how to make basic fresh pasta, including the Imperia instruction book, the pasta book Steve bought me, Alton Brown and Jamie Oliver (from his first book The Naked Chef) and they are all different. Some use just flour and eggs, whilst others add water/oil and salt. I decided to go very basic and start with just flour and eggs. I went and bought the special type ‘00’ flour as recommended. It’s quite expensive at £1.45 for 500g from Waitrose, but I bought two bags plus some vanilla pods to make more vanilla sugar as I had a £10 John Lewis gift voucher from my Uncle as a Christmas present (I think most women my age would spend it on clothes and make-up, but I would rather spend it on food!).

Pasta Recipe:

The recipe for pasta is a complete doddle, it’s even easier than pastry! Just use 1 egg for every 100g of flour. So I’ve been using 300g of flour, so that’s 3 eggs, and this makes approx 500g of pasta dough. Of course there are special recipes that use tons of eggs, but I’ll stick with the basics for now.

Making The Dough:

The first time I made the dough, I used a food processor as you just need to whizz up the flour and eggs until it forms big lumps and then you need to knead it by hand for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth, silky and elastic.

The second time I made the dough I did it by hand, as I didn’t want to dirty the food processor for such a simple thing. So I just placed the flour on a board and made a well in the centre, where I put my beaten eggs. I then started to draw the flour in from the sides using a fork, but disaster struck and the wall of my flour volcano collapsed and sent egg running everywhere! (So next time I think I’ll do it in a bowl, but I will still make it by hand as I hate washing up the food processor!). So once you have rescued any escaped egg and you have a semi-soft dough, then you can start using your hands and knead the dough for about 3 minutes or until smooth, silky and elastic.

If your dough isn’t coming together, i.e. there is a lot of dry flour left, then you can add a few drops of water to help bind it together. All flour and eggs are different, so you just need to adjust accordingly.

Whichever method you choose, you will need to wrap your dough well in cling film or in a zip-lock bag and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour (don’t try and cheat by putting the dough in a bowl covered with a plate as the dough WILL dry out – I did this on my first pasta-making attempt!).

Rolling The Pasta:

1. Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into 4 pieces, roughly the size of your fist. Recover the other 3 pieces that you’re not using straight away to prevent them from drying out.
2. On a lightly floured surface, flatten the ball of dough you’re working with until it’s about 0.5cm thick so that you can run it through the pasta machine at its widest setting.
3. Fold the sheet of dough into thirds and then turn it 90° (so an unfolded edge goes into the machine) and run it through the machine again at the widest setting. Repeat this about 5 or 6 times. I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules about how you fold the dough, as from my reading there seems to be more ways than you can fold a napkin! What you’re aiming to do at this stage is work the gluten in the flour by using the machine to knead the dough every time you pass it through. Plus by turning the dough 90° each time, you are creating a nice square shape for when you start rolling the dough thinner.
4. Lightly dust both sides of your ‘kneaded’ sheet of dough with flour and then run it through the machine on a thinner setting. Do not fold the sheet. Then turn the machine onto the next setting and run the dough through again, dusting with flour if you think it needs it.

• If you’re making a stuffed pasta, e.g. ravioli or tortellini, then roll your pasta to the thinnest setting. Stuff the pasta straight away.
• If you’re making other types of pasta like spaghetti or fettuccine, then leave the dough a little bit thicker, dust with flour and leave it to dry for about 5 minutes before attempting to cut into shape.

With some of the first pasta dough we made, we used the taglioni setting and we ate it straight away with roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, peas and a bit of cream cheese thrown in to make a sauce. I just boiled the pasta for 2 minutes and finished cooking it in the sauce. We were surprised how good it tasted and it was all the more satisfying because we’d made the pasta! This style of pasta was a lot like egg noodles and we both said we preferred a wider pasta.

With the rest of the pasta dough I made ravioli stuffed with the rest of the roasted butternut squash, sweet potato and cream cheese. I didn’t use the ravioli tray that came with the machine, I just followed the method that Theo Randall used. (I aim to do a step-by-step write up with photos on how to do this). I then put them in an airtight container and put them in the fridge. I should have let them dry a bit first and put non-stick paper between the layers because they had all stuck together when I went to cook them the next day. Luckily Steve managed to save most of them by using a wet palette knife to tease them apart. He’s such a clever boy.

So we boiled the ravioli for a few minutes until they floated to the top of the water. I did add oil to the water to stop them sticking, but a couple stuck to the bottom of the saucepan, so you need to watch out for that. I was surprised that despite some of the ravioli having holes, hardly any of the filling came out into the water.

We then drained the ravioli and then fried them in butter until golden brown. We didn’t have any sage, so just finished them off with some freshly cracked black pepper. Here’s the finished result:

I have to say that they tasted really delicious. The flavour of the filling was able to stand out because the ravioli wasn’t drowned in a sauce. So here’s a rough recipe for the filling:

Peel and chop into 1cm cubes a medium butternut squash and a large sweet potato. Put them into a large bowl and toss with about 1 tsp of cumin seeds, chili powder and dried thyme, some salt and pepper and enough oil to coat. Roast on a baking sheet for about 30 minutes at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C turning occasionally. When the roasted vegetables are cool mash them up a bit with a fork and mix in a tub of soft cream cheese (I always use the value stuff) and then it’s ready to use.

I made about 15 raviolis and the rest of the filling I used to make tortellini (with another batch of dough), which I have put into the freezer. I laid them out on a tray so that they weren’t touching each other and froze them for about 3 hours until they were rock hard before putting them into a freezer bag.

Here are my frozen tortellinis, ready to be cooked. They look absolutely fine on this side….

….but turning them over reveals how they’ve cracked. When I cooked them they all split and some of the filling came out, but we still ate them and they were nice. I think I should have let them dry first before freezing them, as perhaps the fierce cold was a bit of a shock to them. So next time I will air dry for about 1 hour, then put them in the fridge until they’re cold and then put them in the freezer.

With the rest of the second batch of dough we made spaghetti, which I left spread out on a board to dry and I have stored in an airtight box. I cooked the spaghetti for 3 minutes and then finished off the cooking in a Bolognese sauce I’d made. The spaghetti was nice, but it was almost exactly the same as the taglioni and not really like the dried spaghetti that we’re accustomed to. We think this is because normal spaghetti is extruded through a machine, whereas this was made from a flat sheet of pasta.

It’s been a lot of fun making pasta so far and there is still loads of learn and try out, so I don’t think it will be a gadget that is lost at the back of the cupboard never to be seen again. The Imperia machine is very well made and I would recommend it if you really enjoy cooking as much as I do!

Faringdon 10 Piece Piping Bag Set

 

I decided to buy a Piping Bag Set, not only for icing cakes, but also to pipe out choux pastry for when I finally get around to making profiteroles and éclairs.

 

I chose the Faringdon 10 Piece Piping Set because it was reasonably cheap at only £5.87 from Amazon (it has now gone up to £5.99 plus P&P and only available from 3rd party sellers). I didn’t intend to do much fancy piping work to begin with, so I thought this would be a good basic set to get me going.

 

In the set you get 8 different plastic nozzles, 1 bag and 1 coupler. There is a fairly good variety of different sized and shaped nozzles, so it is easy to find one fit for your purpose:

• 6 8-pointed star nozzles (ranging from 10-20mm)
• 1 writing nozzle (4mm)
• 1 plain nozzle (13mm)

 

Unfortunately the packaging does not give any information about the nozzles, so if you’re looking for a specific sized star-shaped nozzle then you will have to get the measuring tape out! It would have been useful if the nozzles were numbered to a referenced list on the packaging.

 

It is easy to put together and I found the coupler fitted very well to the nozzle so there were no leaks. The nozzles are pretty well made and the edges of the openings are cleanly cut, so the icing can flow smoothly.

 

The bag is smooth on the inside so your icing slides easily through, but it has a nice texture to the outside so you can get a good grip.

 

The nozzles were easy to clean, especially the larger ones. The bag is slightly more difficult to clean properly, especially if you are using a heavily butter based icing, as it is difficult to remove the grease. I think I will buy some disposable icing bags for those situations. I did find that cleaning the bag after using it for cream cheese frosting was much easier.

 

Overall I think this is a good purchase for the price I paid for it. You can also buy the nozzles without the bag, which is good if you’re adverse to the hassle of washing up! I would recommend this set for beginners or for those who don’t want to do anything too fancy like leaves or petals as the set is very basic. I have to say that the nozzles are pretty big and chunky and if I was going to do more detailed icing then I would choose a different set of nozzles.

UPDATE:

I used the piping bag to pipe out biscuit dough for my Melting Moments Biscuits and the nozzle and coupler fell out of the bag! The bag couldn’t cope with the dough, which I don’t think was that stiff, and it stretched so much that it couldn’t hold onto the nozzle and coupler. So now it doesn’t fit so I’ve had to throw the bag away. I can still use the nozzles with disposable bags I think!

So I wouldn’t recommend buying this set now!

Magic Non-Stick Liner from Lakeland

Since I bake a lot, I thought I’d invest in a roll of Magic Non-Stick Liner, as it’s reusable and I thought it would save money in the long run. I bought the larger pack (30cm x 100cm) which costs £8.87, which is actually really good value when you consider an 8 metre roll of disposable non-stick paper costs over a £1.

The Magic Non-Stick Liner will apparently withstand 5 years or more of constant use, so I think it’s money well spent. Plus it’s better for the environment as I won’t be throwing away lots of the disposable non-stick paper.

But does it actually work? Well I used it to bake some macaroons and they didn’t stick at all, even when they were only half cooked. It was also an absolute dream to clean with just a sponge, although you can put it in the dishwasher.

I’m really glad I bought it and I can highly recommend it to anyone who bakes a lot, as once you’ve cut out all the different shapes for your cake tins, it will save you lots of time and frustration (I don’t know about you, but having to cut out circles of greaseproof paper every time drives me mad!). So I just need to spend an afternoon with some scissors cutting out shapes and I’ll be set for the next 5 years!

Vanilla Ice Cream – using a Philips Delizia Ice Cream Maker

This is going to be an ice cream recipe and an ice cream machine review blog post!

For Sunday Lunch dessert I made French Apple Tarts, but I wanted to serve them with some nice ice cream. Steve’s Mum got a Philips Delizia Ice Cream Maker last year, but I’m the only one that has used it since she got it! I think it’s a very good machine for the price, so I thought I’d better give it another outing in the kitchen.

It’s from Lakeland and I’ve just read on their website some people are having problems with their disc leaking. Steve’s sister has the same machine and she had problems with her disc too, in that it wouldn’t freeze properly. I think she got a replacement quite easily though.

Well we’ve not had any problems with our machine, touch wood. It’s a nice compact machine, that is really easy to put together and easy to clean. At Tante Marie I used a Magimix Gelato Ice Cream Maker and it was a nightmare to clean, plus it was about 4 times the price!

There are 3 main components to the Philips machine:

1. The bowl
2. The lid (contains the motor) plus mixing paddle
3. The freezing disc

You keep the freezing disc wrapped in a plastic bag in the freezer. When you’ve made your ice cream mixture, then you unwrap the disc and place it into the bowl. Then you attach the mixing paddle onto the lid and then lock the lid into place on the bowl. Then you switch the machine on before pouring your ice cream mixture in through the hole in the lid. After about 30 minutes you have wonderfully churned ice cream that you can eat straight from the machine, or you can decant it into a container and chuck it in the freezer.

So using it is pretty straightforward and you don’t need to spend ages reading the well explained instructions. Cleaning the bowl, the freezing disc and the paddle is very easy in some hot soapy warm. Obviously you can’t do the same for the lid as it contains the motor, but this part doesn’t really get dirty if you’re careful when pouring in your ice cream mixture (use a jug). My only issue regarding cleaning, is the bowl is not made from one piece of plastic and there is a part at the bottom which traps water. I only really noticed it when I was packing it away and loads of water started dripping out. I have tried shaking it out but there is still some that remains, so I’ve stuck it next to the radiator to try and dry it out!

Overall, it is a good machine for the money as it is around £50, whereas a Magimix one will cost at least £200 and the results are just the same in my opinion. The quality of your ice cream will depend on the ingredients that you use. Steve’s sister makes her ice cream without eggs and it isn’t as good as when you make a proper custard based ice cream because there isn’t the necessary fat to stabilise it. The texture is therefore not as creamy and crystals form when it has been in the freezer.

So here is my recipe for ice cream:

• Makes: 1 pint
• You will need: a large bowl, a saucepan, a measuring jug

Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• 250ml milk (semi-skimmed is fine)
• 250ml double cream
• 100g white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and foamy.
2. Pour the milk into the saucepan and place over a medium heat and scald the milk (this means to bring it nearly to a boil, until you can see bubbles around the edge of the pan and little wisps of steam) stirring to prevent a skin forming.
3. Pour the milk onto the egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves (if you’re a bit worried about scrambling the eggs, temper the mixture first).
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently until the custard thickens, stirring constantly. It is ready when it coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool (you can speed this up by placing in a bath of iced water).
5. When the mixture is cold, stir in the cream and vanilla extract, then it is ready to put into your ice cream machine. If you’re not using the mixture straight away, cover it with cling film to prevent a skin from forming.

COOK’S NOTES:

• The custard mixture will taste quite sweet and strongly of vanilla, but remember that once it has been churned and is frozen it won’t taste as sweet/strong.

Grow Vegetables by Alan Buckingham (Book)

Being the novice gardener that I am, I did the sensible thing and joined my local library so that I could have access to all their wonderful gardening books. There is a pretty good selection at my local library and one of the books I borrowed was called 'Allotment Month by Month' by Alan Buckingham. The book was well laid out and brilliantly written. It answered so many of the questions that I struggled to find answers to, such as when is the best time to sow seeds/plant out. The book, as the title suggests, is broken into month by month sections, so you can easily look up what you should be doing over the course of the year.

The book was so good that I did consider buying it, but as I only have a small area on the patio to grow my fruit and vegetables, I thought his book 'Grow Vegetables' would be more suitable for my needs. I also bought it at a bargain price of £7.49 from Premier Seeds Direct on Ebay – I also bought my seeds that I’m going to grow next year from them as they are bloody good value!

Although borrowing from the library is great, it’s nice to always have your own copy of a good book to refer to whenever you need to. Luckily I wasn't disappointed with my purchase!

The book is full of practical information and loads of colour photographs to help guide you.

The book is split into the following sections:

• The Perfect Plot (choosing location, crop rotation etc.)
• Vegetable Grower's Know-how (tools & equipment, choosing pots/containers, choosing soil etc.)
• Cabbages & Leaf Vegetables
• Root & Stem Vegetables
• Peas & Beans
• Salads
• Fruiting Vegetables
• Cucumbers & Squashes
• Perennial Vegetables
• Herbs
• Vegetable Year Planner
• Vegetable Doctor

What I liked about the 'Allotment Month by Month' book was that it told you what to do each month, but that meant that information about each vegetable was spread out in the book and you had to refer to the Index a lot. With this book, each vegetable has a dedicated section and you are given all the information you need, from where to plant, when to plant, how to sow seeds, routine care, harvesting, what can go wrong and recommended varieties.

The Vegetable Year Planner section still gives you the guidance on what to plant or harvest month by month.

I found the Vegetable Doctor section incredibly useful as Alan has included photographs of many of the pests and diseases that you need to look out for. Lots of other books give you a description, but without a photo I am still left scratching my head as to whether my plants have become victims or not!

Everything is clearly explained in this book and it has given me so much more confidence about growing my own vegetables, as I have only been doing it for a year.

I highly recommend this book as I don't feel like I need to buy any others! Unfortunately I had already bought Veg Patch River Cottage Handbook No.4, which is an entertaining read, but it really isn’t a patch on Alan Buckingham’s books.

3 in 1 Hydroponic Soil PH, Moisture & Light Meter Tester

Whilst I was on Ebay looking to buy new vegetable seeds to plant next year, I found this tester which is just what I need to find out if my soil is alkaline or acid and whether I am watering the soil too much.

I bought it from a business seller called eto2buy who operate from Hong Kong. I’ve bought things from Ebay sellers in HK before and they sometimes deliver items faster than sellers in the UK! But what really swayed me was the price: 99p for the item and only £1.99 for postage and packaging! This was dirt cheap compared to so many other sellers on Ebay and other online retailers.

It took 2 weeks to arrive, which isn’t bad, considering the UK is undergoing strike action by Royal Mail. Anyway, I tried the tester out and I’m happy to say that it works. It confirmed what I already knew that the soil that my blueberry plants are in is alkaline. I tried to get some ericaceous soil from B&Q but they only had massive bags, so I’ll have to try the garden centre instead.

The moisture meter is also really useful as I’m never sure if I’m overwatering or not. My tomatoes splitting is a sign that I’m letting them dry out and then giving them too much water which causes them to have a sudden growth spurt.

Even though it didn’t have any instructions in English, it’s so simple to use that instructions weren’t necessary. Just flick the switch to whichever thing you want to test and stick the long prongs into the soil, then clean after use. So I’m really pleased the meter works and that it cost me less than £3!

DEFINITELY BUY!

Epsom Farmers Market: Corn on the cob, Rabbit and Parmesan Cheese

Today Steve and I went to the Farmers Market in Epsom as I love going to food markets. The market is on the 1st Sunday of every month. It’s quite a small market, with maybe around 20 stalls. The majority of stalls sell meat and you can pick up the more unusual cuts and types of meat that supermarkets don’t have. For example, we bought a whole rabbit for £5, which I’m excited about cooking as I’ve never tried it before. I’m going to make Stifado (Greek stew) as Steve’s sister bought us a seasoning pack on her last holiday to Halkidiki.

There were other stalls selling cheese, fruit and vegetables, bread and cakes, honey, eggs and olives. Most of the stalls had taster samples, so we tried some South African sausages (which were nice) and some bacon (which was not so nice!).

I bought some hard Italian type cheese which is like Parmesan, so hopefully that will be nice as it cost £3.50 for 200g. I’ve just checked the name of the cheese and it’s called Twineham Grange Farmers’ Hand and it’s made by Bookhams Fine Food in Sussex. It was mentioned on the Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain when they visited East Sussex. On the show the makers said they’re not allowed to call it Parmesan, so they called it Farmers’ Hand because if you say it quickly it sounds like Parmesan! But they’re rebranding it now to “Not Just A Pasta Cheese” to encourage people to eat it in various ways. Apparently it’s sweeter and more palatable than real Parmesan, but I will be first trying it in a Spaghetti Carbonara, so we shall see!
Update on the cheese – I’ve tried it in a risotto, cauliflower cheese and dauphinois potatoes and it’s just as good as real Parmesan!

Anyway, I bought a bag of carrots for £1, 3 leeks for £1 and 4 corn on the cobs for £1.

I didn’t get to pick my own corn, so I ended up getting a mixed bag of different shapes and sizes. Two of them weren’t fully grown and the biggest one had deformed looking kernels. There was only one that looked ‘supermarket worthy’, but would it taste any better than the ugly ones?


Well I have to say that they all tasted pretty much the same. They were nice and sweet, probably due to being picked recently. It was quite satisfying removing the husks and silks just before cooking. I placed them in a pan and covered with cold water (I didn’t add salt as this makes the corn tough). I brought the water to the boil, then boiled them for 5 minutes, until it was easy to remove a kernel from the end. Then simply smother with butter and a good grinding of black pepper and enjoy!

The Farmers Market in Epsom is on the First Sunday of every month. Opening hours: Sun 9am-1.30pm

BBQ in the rain!

Here’s Steve doing a superb job of cooking us dinner on our portable BBQ, which we got from Firebox. It’s really cool because it folds really flat and comes in a carrying bag. They don’t sell this model anymore, but they have a new one which looks just as good: Portable BBQ Grill.

We put it on top of the big BBQ so that it was at a perfect height for cooking. There was only 4 of us, so it wasn’t worth cleaning up the big BBQ and the portable one was really good. This is only the second time we’ve used it, the last time was in West Wittering, when it also rained! Maybe it’s jinxed?

Unfortunately it did start to rain, but we persevered and just got the brolly out and then the rain stopped and we had a lovely meal outside in the Breeze House.

Meeting Ken Hom!

Yesterday I went to a Press Event that Steve’s sister couldn’t attend as she’s on holiday. It was a really cool event as Ken Hom was there doing a cooking demonstration and we all got to taste the food he made, which was amazing! He made 2 dishes: Turkey & Red Pepper, and Prawns & Peas, and he prepared everything himself and even washed up the wok! He wanted to prove that you really can prepare and cook tasty, healthy meals very quickly – he did these 2 dishes in 20 minutes!

He was promoting his new Nutriwok Kit, which includes a non-stick wok, a healthy eating recipe book and DVD. The PR girls from Publicasity were absolutely lovely and really looked after me as they gave me the opportunity to meet Ken Hom and get my recipe book signed! The recipe book looks really good and easy to follow, so I shall be using it quite a lot I think!

I got to see lots of cool new kitchen products/gadgets made by Cole & Mason, Zyliss and Culinaire. I also got a goody bag with a Cole & Mason Salt & Pepper Set (they are definitely the best you can buy!), a Culinare One Touch Power Grater, and a set of Seafood Picks and a Pizza Cutter (very useful for my homemade pizza!) made by Zyliss.

So I’ve got a few things to test out and I’ll let you know if they’re any good or not!

Seeds of Change chocolate

I’ve signed up to something called BzzAgent, which is a website where they send me samples of things to try and when I talk about it then I am creating Bzz!

The latest product they sent me to try is chocolate by Seeds of Change. I was only mildly aware of the company from seeing their sponsorship adverts to Jamie at Home on TV.

They are an organic company and they donate 1% of sales to the research and promotion of biodiversity and sustainable organic practices. I think this is great as I do think it’s important to take care of our planet and also the people that work to produce the goods.

I was given 2 flavours to try:

• Milk Chocolate Apricot & Cashew
• Dark Chocolate Orange & Fig

Although I prefer dark chocolate, I tried the Apricot & Cashew milk chocolate one first. My initial thoughts were that it tastes just like Cadbury’s fruit and nut! I couldn’t really tell that it had apricots in it (and not raisins) or really differentiate that it contained cashew nuts rather than a bog standard peanut. However, it is a very nice chocolate and I would definitely buy this again. The minimum amount of cocoa solids in this bar is 35% which I think it good for milk chocolate, as I find Cadbury’s to be too sweet.

The Orange & Fig dark chocolate one was a bit disappointing to be honest. As I unwrapped the bar I did get the unmistakable aroma of delicious dark chocolate, as it contains 59% cocoa solids, which is a nice amount for dark chocolate as I find the 70% bars too bitter. However, I couldn’t really taste the orange and this isn’t that surprising considering the bar only contains 0.1% orange oil! Also, I’m not a fan of figs anyway, so I didn’t like all the fig pieces and the crunchy texture that you get from the seeds. All those bits got stuck in my teeth and they made what would have been a nice bar of dark chocolate a bit annoying to eat. I would definitely buy a plain bar of dark chocolate like this from Seeds of Change if they made it! But the other flavours on offer are:

• Dark Chocolate Hazelnut & Walnut
• Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa

Apparently larger branches of Waitrose and Sainsbury's will stock this chocolate, but I’m not sure when it will be on sale, as I went into Waitrose yesterday and they didn’t have any. Plus I’m not sure how much it costs, but I would be willing to pay more for this brand as they are working to help the environment.

Silicone Baking Mat & Rolling Pin

My Mum was kind enough to buy me this set from QVC and it’s brilliant! The mat is massive and has loads of useful information on it like measurements, weight and temperature conversions.

The best thing is it sticks to the table so that when I’m kneading or rolling dough it doesn’t move about, unlike the pastry board Steve’s Mum uses.

The circles in the middle are great as I can easily see how big to roll out my circle. Because the mat and the rolling pin are silicone I didn’t need to add extra flour to prevent sticking.

It was also a breeze to clean them in soapy water.

You can also put the mat in the oven but I didn’t try that as it’s a bit big!

All in all though, a fantastic addition to my cooking! Thanks Mum! x

Don’t buy from de Cuisine!

I wanted an Adjust-A-Cup like Alton Brown uses, but not many places sell it in the UK. So when I found it on www.decuisine.co.uk I didn’t hesitate to order it as the website looked very professional and trustworthy. However, it turned out that it’s exactly the opposite!

They took the money from my credit card as soon as I’d placed the order, but I didn’t receive my goods. They didn’t respond to numerous emails or the complaints I wrote using their Customer Contact form on their website. I tried calling them but no one picked up the phone.

A quick search on Google and I found a website www.plebble.com which had loads of reviews from customers that had the same experience as me from shopping with de Cuisine!

I contacted my credit card company and luckily they managed to get my money back for me. It was only £11.74 that de Cuisine had taken from me, but the point is I will be more careful from now on and check websites like Plebble before making a purchase!

Marks & Spencers Cupcakes – worth all the fuss?

This week I’ve been helping Steve’s sister do 3 garden photoshoots and one of the styles was for kids. There was a lovely wire cake stand that we needed to fill with cupcakes, so we got the ones from M&S that they apparently can’t make fast enough due to the huge demand. We tried the Strawberry & Vanilla and the Raspberry & White Chocolate ones.

 

They definitely look impressive with all the icing and the sparkly glitter, but do they taste any good? Well we all thought the sponge was nice, but I think Steve’s Mum makes a nicer sponge cake! The icing was far too thick, but that’s how they make them look so good. The jam in the middle of the cakes is a nice twist, but when eaten with all that icing it’s just too much and quite sickly. The photographer who tried a Raspberry & White Chocolate one also didn’t actually get any white chocolate in his one!

 

They’re £2.99 for a box of 4, which we think is far too expensive for what they are! I think I’m going to buy some edible glitter and have a go at making my own!

 

MUNCH RATING: 1/5