Search Results for: actifry

Tefal Actifry – The Slimmer’s Secret

May 16, 2017 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 3 Comments

Last month I attended an event hosted by Tefal and Frankie Essex ( of TOWIE fame ). The event was to unveil the new Actifry Smart XL and their Slimmer’s Secret campaign.

Now you will probably know that I am a fan of the Actifry, I have a number of recipes on the blog already that you can check out here. I am also working on some new ones coming up for you very shortly. Including these pretty special Fondant Potatoes:

Why do I love the Actifry so much?

I was sent an Actifry to try out about 3 years ago for a review on the blog, I get sent lots of gadgets and some I use a lot and others not so much. This is probably the product I use more than any other I have been given. When my oven broke down last year I used the Actifry for everything, from meat to potatoes to veggies and even frittata. It can be used for pretty much anything that an oven can be used for. It was also a great help when I was trying to lose weight last year as it meant I could cook all of my favourite foods such as fried chicken and super crispy chips with a fraction of the fat and calories. I hit my goal weigh some time ago but I continue to use the Actifry as it is so convenient and waist friendly. I received the new Smart XL version last week ( my mum is the lucky recipient of my older version ). What is the difference you may ask? Well..this is a bit cool. The new Smart XL has bluetooth connectivity. This means:

*Automatic transfer of cooking parameters from your application to your ActiFry
*Step by step cooking instructions.
*Live monitoring of the cooking process on the app.
*Control of the cooking process from a distance.

I am planning to try out this feature on the weekend so I will keep you posted on that!

The event itself was really good fun, we were split into pairs to create dishes for us all to enjoy at lunch. I was with the lovely Julie from Julie’s Family Kitchen and we were set the task of making a Chicken Tikka Masala which was something I hadn’t considered making in the Actifry. It worked so well and in just 25 minutes which is pretty amazing. We had an incredibly sumptuous lunch with various dishes made in the Actifry such as chips, chicken, salmon and frittata alongside some wonderful salads.

Do you have an Actifry? What do you like to cook in it?

I was invited to this event and compensated for my time, I have received a product for review.

Rosemary & Honey Actifry Carrots

March 13, 2017 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

I have never been a big fan of carrots. As a child my mother would get really frustrated by it and the only ones I would ever eat willingly were tinned baby carrots – they were preserved in salt water so much of the carrot flavour had disappeared. As an adult I have always eaten them if they are on my plate but out of choice I would only eat them raw dipped in hummus. When I was pregnant on Chloe I had some weird food cravings, but the main ones were apples ( but only super crunchy ones ) and carrots. Carrots served in any way at all. I ate them with so many of my meals that I’m surprised I didn’t turn a little orange. After she was born those cravings went away but I still tend to cook them more often but I only really enjoy them if I make them a little special so I like them roasted in spices or raw with a nice dip still. This recipe came about because I was having a week or two of heavily using my Actifry due to my oven breaking down and I realised I had a bag of carrots about to go to to waste.

This is ( typically of me ) a very simple recipe and prep is minimal.

Rosemary & Honey Carrots

You will need:

2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut into batons
2 tbsp of runny honey
1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh rosemary
Generous pinch sea salt and black pepper

Melt your honey for 30 seconds in the microwave to get an easy consistency for mixing. Place your carrots and herbs in a bowl,pour over the honey and using your hands mix it all together – yes you will get sticky but it’s the best way to get an even coverage. Sprinkle over your salt and pepper. Place in the Actifry and cook for approximately 15 – 20 minutes depending on how you want them cooked.

These were so popular in my house that they were all gone in about 5 minutes!

Actifry Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes

January 31, 2017 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

Yes..another Actifry recipe for you. Aren’t you lucky? I remember when I first had my Actifry that I thought you just used it to cook healthier versions of your favourite fast foods such as chips but I have since realised you can cook pretty much anything in it. I’ve used it to cook sausages , garlic dough balls, veggies and last week my crispy chicken thighs. My latest creation are these flavourful Actifry Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes.

Parmentier is a fancy word for cubed potatoes typically cooked in butter and/or herbs. I like fancy words when it comes to food!

You could use a little oil instead of butter if you prefer and there is no reason why you can’t switch out the butter for a dairy free/vegan alternative. Don’t scrimp on the garlic though! Feel free to play about with adding additional herbs and spices. Paprika works especially well.

Garlic Butter Parmentier Potatoes

You will need:

3 large/baking potatoes

2 tbsp salted butter

1 tbsp garlic puree or 3 garlic cloves finely minced

1/tsp cracked black pepper

1 pinch Organic Cayenne Pepper Powder

Cube your potatoes, you can peel them if you wish but I don’t. Melt your butter and stir in your garlic and pepper. Add your potatoes and butter mixture to the actifry and stir together so the potatoes are coated. Set the Actifry for 15 minutes. At this point check and if they are not quite crispy enough cook for another 5 minutes. It can often depend on the type of potato you use as to how quickly they will cook. Serve immediately.

Linking this up to One Potato, Two Potato hosted by Utterly Scrummy and Family-Friends-Food.

Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs

January 29, 2017 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 9 Comments

I’ve had my Actifry for a few years now and I go through phases of using it a lot and then forgetting about it entirely. My oven broke down a few months ago and it was such a relief to be able to pull the Actifry out and it made me realise there is so much more to it than just healthy fries or chips. My latest creation is Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs, probably one of the simplest yet tastiest recipes I have made in quite a long time. The crispy batter was stupendous and there was a decent amount of crunchy bits to munch on that clearly belonged to the chef…

As with most of my recipes you won’t find a list of ingredients a mile long and it requires minimal prep – I am a pretty lazy chef. If you prefer you could use chicken breasts or wings ( you will need to adjust the cooking time ) thighs however, are in my opinion the tastiest part of the chicken and when cooking with the bone in you retain the moisture and juicy flavour.

Actifry Crispy Chicken Thighs

You will need:

4 skin on chicken thighs

4 tbsp flour

1 egg beaten

1 tbsp oil

Generous pinch of black pepper and sea salt

Remove the paddle/stirrer from the actifry and set aside. Mix your flour and seasoning together in a shallow bowl, put your beaten egg in another shallow bowl alongside. Dip your thighs, one by one into the egg mixture, coat on all sides before rolling in the flour and coating well. Place carefully into the actifry along with the oil and turn it on without the paddle for 10 minutes ( this is to stop all of the batter mixture being removed by the rotating motion ). After 10 minutes replace the paddle and turn it back on for a further 10 -15 minutes, I advise using a temperature probe to check your thighs are fully cooked ( they take longer than breasts ) before removing and eating, depending on the size they may need an extra 5 minutes. You should have delightfully crispy chicken with an abundance of crunchy, battery bits. Particularly good served with a garlic, chilli or lemon mayo.

Find more Actifry recipes here.

Easy ActiFry Spiralized Sweet Potato Fries

April 22, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

I love kitchen gadgets and appliances, so much so I have a whole pantry size cupboard full of them. I have had my ActiFry for quite a while now and we use it at least once a week. At first I only used it to make standard potato chips or wedges which by the way are insanely good. Then I realised you can use it to make a whole host of things. So lately we have used it for sausages, croutons, homemade chicken goujons and most recently garlic dough balls and these spiralled sweet potato fries. Whilst the ActiFry is not the cheapest appliance in my kitchen its one of my most used. We have the Express XL and it can take up to 1.5kg of chips in one go!

This recipe takes no more than 15 mins including prep and cooking time, perfect to make for a (reasonably) healthy light lunch or snack.

Spiralizers are also really handy gadgets – whether its for making courgetti or squash noodles or just for making carrots and other veggies more fun for kids, I recommend getting one! Mine is from OXO, its fairly small but does the job and hardly any space in my cupboard – result!

I should warn you that they are slightly addictive – BUT you can feel good about eating them as they are good for you too!

If you do not have an ActiFry you could also bake these in a hot oven.

You will need:

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tbsp of rapeseed oil
1 tbsp of smoked paprika (or seasoning of your choice)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Using a spiraliser create long noodles from your sweet potatoes, use kitchen towel to remove extra moisture and place in a bowl, add your oil, salt and paprika and rub to distribute. Add to your actifry and set for 10 minutes. Check occasionally, they may need a minute to two less or more. Easy!

Pictured is one serving. You should get 3-4 servings – depending on how hungry you are.

* These products were given to me for review purposes.

Air Fryer Loaded Potatoes

August 9, 2023 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Like most of the UK I’ve been using my air fryer a lot more lately, it is far more cost effective than turning the oven on if you are only cooking one or two items and you don’t have to worry about preheating either. Plus it’s super speedy. The air fryer I use is fairly old now, I was gifted it about 6 or 7 years ago and is a Tefal Actifry XL. It’s still does the job although a small part of me does crave the new fancy dancy ones a bit. But until this one breaks all my air fryer recipes will be based on that model. The actifry has a paddle which does make it one of the best for making things like chips as it moves them about and gets that overall crispy texture, however for recipes such as today’s I remove the paddle so I don’t get a big pile of squished up mash.

I’ve made loaded potatoes in many variations for years. It used to be something you’d always see on pub menus although not so much these days, not sure why to be honest.

You can add any ingredient to this really, bits of leftover veg or meat, the ends of cheeses from a cheese board but I kept it simple for this air fryer test with grated cheese, chopped ham and spring onion. You don’t really need to measure amounts for this as it will depend on the size of your potatoes as to how much you will need to add of each ingredient. Also add seasoning such as sea salt, black pepper, maybe a dash of herbs and a big lump of butter.

Air Fryer Loaded Potatoes

You will need:

Baked potatoes ( I tend to cook a batch at a time and use the leftovers for loaded potatoes)

Grated cheese – mature cheddar is what I used but anything will work.

Chopped veg

Chopped meat

Butter

Seasoning

Start by cutting your cooked potatoes in half lengthways and scooping out the flesh. Put into a large bowl with some butter and seasoning and mash well, stir through your veg and meat and half your cheese.

Put the mixture back into the potato skins and top with the remaining cheese then pop in your air fryer.

For my actifry there is only one temp setting so I just set it for 15 mins and moved them around slightly after 10. Follow your air fryer instructions but it will probably take around 15 mins. They are ready when crispy on the outside and golden brown on top.

Easy Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets

August 4, 2023 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Over the last year we have used our air fryer more and more, mainly for the cost benefits due to the rising cost of energy but also because if you are only cooking a small amount of food it is so much quicker than preheating my oven. Recently we have been loving these easy air fryer chicken nuggets.

I have made these a few times recently for the girls and they are just so easy and the girls love them. Chloe in particular would eat chicken nuggets for every meal if she could so I tend to make nuggets once a week to have in wraps or alongside homemade chips.

All you need for this recipe (in fact you can hardly call it a recipe more of a how to) is chunks of raw chicken, thighs or breasts will do but thighs do take longer to cook, some ready salted crisps, an egg or two and a drizzle of oil.

Easy Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets

You will need:

Chicken chopped into bite sized chunks

1-2 eggs beaten well with seasoning

A large bag of ready salted crisps crushed to smithereens

Around a tbsp of oil

Put a little oil in your air fryer and turn on for 2 mins. While the oil is warming dip each chicken chunk into the egg and then the crisps making sure to coat evenly. Place into the preheated air fryer and cook for around 15 mins depending on your air fryer. I use the Tefal Actifry so for this recipe I remove the paddle so they don’t lose their crunchy coating. I give them a little shake about halfway though. And that’s it easy as that.

We tend to serve these with wraps and salad or will homemade chips and peas. Always a winning recipe in our house.

Air Fryer Honey Butter Carrots

December 22, 2022 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

Well it’s been a while since I posted anything close to a recipe. These Air Fryer Honey Butter carrots were so easy and tasty I had to share. I’ve been very unwell the last two years more so in the last six months and one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with is the brain fog and accompanying problems that causes. I cannot write the long flowing blog posts that I used to find so easy and the words I want to use just often aren’t there. Blogging was always a form of therapy for me and I’ve decided that as part of my effort to get better and improve not just my physical but mental health I will try writing again. Each post may take a while to write but hopefully at some point it will become natural again.

This is less of a recipe and more of a how to but at this time of year when time saving and energy saving is something we all need to consider that it’s worth sharing with you.

Air Fryers have surged in popularity lately, mainly due to the fact that they are a lot cheaper to run for most dishes than a traditional oven. I’ve had an air fryer for maybe 6 years and I’ve raved about it plenty in that time. The one I use is a Tefal Actifry and it’s had some heavy usage and so far it’s still going strong. I have been intrigued by some of the newer models but I’m sticking to this until it gives in! It doesn’t have dual drawers or fancy controls but it does the job. I use it for anything and everything, yes it’s good for chips but but that’s just scratching the surface of what it can do.

These honey butter carrots I make most years during the winter season but normally I roast them in the oven. This year I have made them several times in the air fryer for convenience and budget reasons. They are delicious, less crisp than when roasted but deliciously sticky and full of flavour.

Honey Butter Carrots

I’m not going to give you exact measurements here, as I said it’s a how to not an exact recipe.

Ingredients:

Carrots

Runny honey

Salted butter

Garlic granules

Salt and pepper

Method:

Peel and chop carrots in strips/wedges like this:

Pop butter, honey, garlic granules, salt and pepper into your air fryer and turn on to melt and combine for 2 minutes.

Add your carrots and cook for a further 25 minutes until they look like this. Depending on your air fryer they may need more or less time. Just check every 3-4 minutes towards the end.

And voila they are done. Easy peasy..and absolutely lush.

Air Fryer Recipes You Need In Your Life

August 8, 2017 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 6 Comments

I use my air fryer a lot. It is such a convenient gadget and probably one of my most used. This collection of air fryer recipes should give you some inspiration if you are new to the air fryer world or even if you are just bored and looking for new ideas

Maple Roasted Chickpeas from Fab Food 4 All