The Vampire Diaries – teen horror never looked so good

31 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

You’re dead, dude. Get over it! – Damon

It’s Halloween, so what better time to sit watching the entire first series of teen horror series, The Vampire Diaries.

The premise is this. Small town girl, Elena Gilbert is busy trying to get over the death of her parents and has recently returned to high school when it comes to the attention of two vampire brothers that she bears a striking resemblance to their old vampire flame, Katherine Pierce – last seen in 1864.

So, first the good brother (well, the one trying to stay off the red stuff) Stefan, and then the not-so-good brother Damon hot foot it back to the town to gaze upon her, but with differing motives.

I won’t say too much more as it would spoil the show, but suffice to say there’s plenty of sibling rivalry, high school angst, romance and blood.

It’s a sexy series, aimed, I suspect at a market a little younger and with more mainstream tastes than my own, but it’s good fun, and I may or may not be on the hunt for series box sets 1-3. Y’know, just to pass the time.

Disclosure: we were sent The Vampire Diaries Series 1 free of charge on DVD for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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The Great Granny Gang (book review)

30 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

But not everyone who wear a hoodie is a baddie are they, mummy? – JD, 4

We have mixed feelings about The Great Granny Gang. It’s very well written and illustrated, no doubt about it. And that’s no surprise, given that it’s written by the frankly legendary Judith Kerr, author of such classics as Mog the Forgetful Cat and The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

It’s the story behind it that we’re less sure of. In some ways, it’s great as it shows that the older generations are capable, energetic and self-sufficient. But at the same time, it paints a rather dark picture of young people in the form of a criminal gang of hoodies.

The way they’re dealt with is a little questionable too. In their pursuit of justice, the grannies chase the hoodies with weapons including hatchets and a pneumatic drill! Yes, it’s funny and compared to many of Roald Dahl’s books, it’s a teddy bear’s picnic but JD’s at an age now where he likes to look into things and searches for the message behind them, so I’m not sure this book is quite right for him.

Ignore the dodgy social message and it’s a fun tale with gorgeous, pencil-drawn pictures that will transport you back to your own childhood.

The Great Granny Gang is available in hardback from HarperCollins for £12.99. Have you read it? What did you think?

Disclosure: we were sent The Great Granny Gang free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Spookily good monster crispy cakes (recipe)

29 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

I seeeeee you – JD, 4

We have three Halloween traditions in our household. We have a party (because it almost coincides with JD’s birthday), we carve pumpkins (JD draws a pattern on and Mark cuts it out) and we make monster cakes that peer right back at you.

Here’s how to make 12 of the little lookers…

Ingredients

  • 200g marshmallows
  • 30g butter
  • 120g rice crispies
  • 2 tsp green natural food colouring
  • 12 white chocolate Lindor (white chocolate truffles)
  • A pack of icing pens (including black, green and red)

Instructions

  1. Prepare the eyes first by drawing a black circle with icing onto the top of each ball
  2. Next draw round the black circle twice with the green pen
  3. Using a very slightly wet finger (I keep a pot of warm water by me as I work) pat the icing down to smooth it
  4. Finally, using the red pen, draw in some spooky detail from the middle outwards
  5. Set them aside
  6. In a saucepan, gently melt the butter, then add in the marshmallows, stirring continuously with a large metal spoon until completely melted
  7. Keeping the pan over a very low heat, stir in the rice crispies and mix until completely coated
  8. Now add the colouring but try to stop mixing before the colour has distributed completely evenly – it gives a spookier effect
  9. Take off the heat
  10. Line a muffin tray with fairy cake cases and when the mixure is just cool enough to handle, spoon it into the cases – you may have to use your hands as it gets sticky very quickly
  11. Wash any mix off your hands and leaving them slightly damp, push down the mixture in each case so that it’s packed firmly – you may have to rinse your hands a few times as you go
  12. Before they set, push an eye into the centre of each cake so that it’s set in by a couple of milimetres
  13. Allow to set completely, then lift out of the tray and there you have it – 12 crispy little monsters!
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Vegetarian scotch eggs (with help from Andy Bates)

28 October, 2012 By 5 Comments

They look just right! – JD, 4

These lovely eggs may look like their meaty cousin, the scotch egg but no, the surrounding meat is in fact a spicy blend of beans and peas.

Following on from his successful show on Food Network (Sky 262, Freeview 48 and freesat 403),  TV chef Andy Bates is back with his first cookbook, Modern Twists on Classic Dishes which is out 31st October and packed full of his own take on simple, hearty British recipes.

We gave his veggie scotch eggs a go. This recipe makes four.

Ingredients

  • 4 large free range eggs
  • 400g can chickpeas
  • 400g can red kidney beans
  • 400g can white cannellini beans
  • 1 tbsp fresh coriander (we left this out)
  • 1 tsp fresh, finely chopped ginger
  • 1 tsp fresh, finely chopped chilli
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 125g plain flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 free range eggs, beaten
  • 1tbsp milk
  • 400g white breadcrumbs
  • Vegetable oil, for deep frying

Instructions

1. Place the eggs, still in their shells, in a pan of boiling water, simmer for 6 minutes. Drain and cool the eggs under cold running water, then peel

2. For the filling, drain the canned beans and chickpeas, and rinse thoroughly in cold water. Mash them together, creating a coarse mix. Add the coriander, ginger, chilli and seasoning and mix

3. Divide into four 100g portions and flatten each out on a piece of clingfilm, into ovals about 12.5cm long and 7.5cm at its widest point.

4. Place each egg onto bean mix oval, then pick the cling film square up by its corners, and use it to wrap the mix around each egg. Make sure the coating is smooth and completely covers the egg.

5. Prepare a crumbing station by adding flour to a wide bowl. In another bowl, combine the beaten eggs with milk. Put the breadcrumbs on a large plate.

6. Roll each one first in the flour, then in the beaten egg, making sure it is completely coated. Then roll in the breadcrumbs to completely cover. Repeat the process excluding flour to double-coat. (we didn’t double coat as I like quite a thin coating)

7. Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 180⁰C. Carefully place each Scotch egg into the hot oil and deep-fry for 7-8 minutes until golden and crisp

8. Carefully remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper

9. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving

They really are lovely, so I hope you give it a go. My thanks to Food Network for giving me permission to reproduce the recipe here.

And if you’re suitably impressed with Andy’s recipe skills, I’d also recommend checking out his new series, American Street Feasts which is currently airing weekdays at 12.30pm and 6.30pm on Food Network.

Disclosure: we were sent a copy of Modern Twists on Classic Dishes free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

Viva Veg!
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Comfort and style: Seasalt lambswool blankets

27 October, 2012 By 4 Comments

Can we just snuggle up on the sofa and watch a film today? – a poorly JD, 4

Look at this gorgeous bit of loveliness. No, no, not the ten little piggies although yep, totally cute. No, look at the blanket she’s wrapped up in. How pretty is that?!

Just in time for winter (and just in time to comfort a poorly Miss J and JD), we received this lambswool Falmouth Bay blanket from Seasalt and it’s gorgeous. It’s soft and generously sized – perfect for a picnic or just snuggling on the sofa.

We opted for ‘Stripy Garden Fennel’ as I think the muted colours are just lovely, but it’s also available in ‘Timeless Parchment’, ‘Rollover Big Camelia’ and ‘Topsy Loom Mackerel’ priced at £75 each.

The blankets are designed at Seasalt’s base in the Southwest (where they have 13 shops in total) and manufactured in Turkey. They have a fine, tailor-made quality that sets them apart from other brands.

If the mood takes you, go and have a look at the Seasalt website. It’s full of cosy, stylish clothing and home textiles that I would happily order by the van load (if my wallet could handle it).

Disclosure: we were sent a Seasalt blanket free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Can eco-friendly products clean up without cleaning you out?

26 October, 2012 By 3 Comments

Small steps for a better world

Do you use eco-friendly products around the home? If not, I’m guessing it comes down to two things: efficacy (there’s no point buying a product that doesn’t work ) and price (sadly, the economic climate means fewer and fewer of us are in a position to pay a premium for environmentally friendly / ethical goods).

With those thoughts in mind, I accepted an offer to review some new items from Ecover’s new range.

We were sent:

  • Oven and Hob Cleaner (500ml) £3.79
  • Non-bio Laundry Gel (630ml) £4.99 or approx. 28p per wash
  • Antibacterial Wipes £2.19 for 40 wipes
  • Festive Cookies Washing Up Liquid (500ml) £1.85

So cost-wise, the Ecover products compare pretty favourable with non-eco alternatives, but also have the following benefits:

  • 100% renewable, reusable and recyclable packaging
  • Made from sustainable plant-based and mineral ingredients
  • Low toxicity with fewer unwanted residues, they biodegrade quickly and therefore have less impact on aquatic life
  • 200-250 miles from London, so not too bad for transportation miles

But of course a key question is: do they work? Yes, they do.

The laundry gel left our clothes as clean and fresh smelling as the non-bio supermarket brand we usually use and no one else noticed the difference. Of course, if your clothes have been soaked in tomato sauce and the like, the laundry gel won’t get the stains out on its own, but few liquids have that power.

The anti-bacterial wipes are very wet, which means they’re really quite effective at cleaning surfaces like Miss J’s highchair tray with its slightly caked on breakfast remnants, although I did need to dry the surface off with a clean cloth afterwards. They smell lovely as they’re scented with pomegranate and lime and they’re fully biodegradable.

The washing up liquid works fine. I’m used to concentrated washing up liquids these days, so I got through more than I usually would squirt for squirt, but the results were good and again it smells lovely as it’s scented for the festive season with a sweet, spicy kick.

The oven and hob cleaner has a mild, inoffensive smell and it’s great to use something that doesn’t reek of strong chemicals. It cleaned our hob perfectly well but we still need something with more punch to get rid of the build up in our heavily used oven.

All in all, with the exception of very heavy duty de-greasing jobs, I see no reason not to go eco.

Disclosure: we were sent four Ecover products free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Very quick red pepper tomato pasta for kids

26 October, 2012 By 2 Comments

Guess the secret ingredient – me

A little while back, Heinz sent us a bottle of ketchup and some other goodies and challenged us to come up with a children friendly recipe.

Here’s one that went down well, feeds four and requires pretty much zero cookery skills.

Ingredients

  • 300g pasta twists
  • 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 red peppers
  • 1 tbsp Heinz Tomato Ketchup

Instructions

  1. Boil the pasta as per the instructions on the packet
  2. De-seed and roughly dice the pepper
  3. Fry in a pan with the oil until soft
  4. Add the tomatoes to the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer until the sauce starts to thicken
  5. Add the ketchup and stir
  6. Mix the pasta with the sauce
  7. Serve!

No, not exactly posh food, but it’s easy and the sweetness of the ketchup makes it popular with kids.

Disclosure: we received some ketchup, a spoon, oven gloves and an apron to help with this challenge. No payment was received and all posts are 100% honest.

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How to get Boden clothing at a discount

25 October, 2012 By 2 Comments

With a quack, quack here and a quack, quack there…

We were sent some frankly gorgeous Boden clothes to review this week from MyVoucherCodes.

First out of the parcel was a gorgeous corn yellow cotton corduroy pinafore dress with duck and flower applique detail and spotty cambric lining. In size 12-18 months, it fits our just-turned-one-year-old beautifully with plenty of room to grow. I was pleased to find it washes well too, and doesn’t crease up much after a ride in the buggy.

We also chose four pointelle long-sleeve tops in a variety of colours: blue rose sprig, soft red, grey marl rose sprig and lavender. The lavender and soft red tops are plain while the grey and blue tops have a delicate printed flower pattern. With plain cuffs and easywear envelope necks, they’re perfect to wear under dresses and feel beautifully soft, even after washing. In fact all the items are great quality, as you’d expect from Boden.

The order was made using MyVoucherCodes’s 10% off Boden and free delivery voucher. This means that while the items would have usually been £62.00 including delivery, with the code discount it was just £52.20. That’s a saving of £9.80 or 15.8% of the original order price.

If you want to use the voucher, you’ve still got time before it expires on Sunday 28th October.

Worth a look?

Disclosure: we were sent the Boden items free of charge for review. No payment was received for this post. All posts are 100% honest.

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Festive cookies: JD tackles Flora Cuisines’s new cookbook

25 October, 2012 By 1 Comment

Will I like them, mummy? – JD, 4

It’s half term here and JD is mostly out of action with a cough and earache. Typical, eh?

Luckily, Flora Cuisine’s new cookbook landed on our mat and in a brighter spell, JD asked to do some baking.

Flicking through the book we found plenty to choose from. One side is called ‘Let’s Get Kids Cooking’ and is made up of simple recipes kids can take the lead with. The other side, ‘Let’s Get Cooking’, offers slightly more difficult family recipes. It turns out the whole lot were submitted by parents and then whittled down by a panel of judges headed up by Jean Christophe Novelli. Pretty near.

We settled on ‘Easy and Yummy Celebration cookies’ but didn’t have all the ingredients to make them exactly as directed in the book, so this is what we did:

Ingredients

  •  85g Flora Cuisine (or 85g butter/margarine)
  •  85g caster sugar
  • 85g soft brown sugar
  •  1 medium egg
  •  175g plain flour
  •  1 tsp baking powder
  •  1 tsp grated orange zest
  •  1 tsp ground ginger
  •  1 tsp ground cinnamon
  •  55g chopped nuts (we used chopped blanched almonds)
  •  25g dried cranberries (we used sultanas)
  •  55g white and milk chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4/180°C/160°C fan/350°F.
  2. In a mixing bowl, beat together the Flora Cuisine, caster sugar, brown sugar and egg until well-mixed.
  3. Fold in flour, baking powder, orange zest, ginger and cinnamon, gently but thoroughly.
  4. Add in the chopped nuts, cranberries / sultanas and chocolate chips and fold together.
  5. Drop separate spoonfuls of the mixture, spaced well apart, onto a greased baking sheet, using more than one baking sheet if necessary.
  6. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 ( minutes until golden-brown.

The result was perfectly tasty – certainly impressive for a biscuit made by a four year old – but perhaps a little eggy for my taste. They tasted great a day or so later when they’d time to go nice and chewy.

If you fancy flicking through the Flora Cuisine Cookbook, you can access the e-version for free via this link.

Disclosure: we were sent a copy of the recipe free-of-charge for review. No payment was received. All posts are 100% honest. Recipe reproduced with kind permission from Flora.

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