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A Christmas Gift Guide For Foodies

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1.Degustabox– a monthly subscription box of food and drink goodies delivered to your door. I’ve reviewed a number of the boxes this year and think a subscription would make an ideal gift. Fancy saving yourself £3.00? Use code K53V4
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2. Westons Mulled Cider – although it’s not actually a food item I think you would struggle to find many people who don’t like this delicious, spiced mulled cider from Westons. Encased in a festive box with a easy to use tap, it’s also ideal for parties.

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3. Alassala Argan Oil and Amlou Paste – Argan oil perfect for use in cooking or to drizzle over salads and Amlou paste ( a combination of toasted ground almonds and high quality Argan oil) great to top Melba toasts and crackers.

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4. Cheeky Monkeys Cream Chargers – everybody loves a new gadget and if you know someone who fancies themselves as the next Heston Blumenthal why not pick up a molecular gastronomy kit?

5. Pandora Bell – the most incredible sweet treats from honey nougat to real fruit jellies and salted butter caramels. All handmade and available to order online.

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6. Potash Farm Honey With Cobnuts – this Kentish honey combined with cobnuts would be fabulous in a gourmet hamper or just on its own as a little gift for someone who appreciates good food.

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7. Foods of Athenry: Do you buy for anyone with a food intolerance or allergy? If so The Foods Of Athenry are the company for you. They cater for dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, wheat free, vegan and vegetarian as well as gluten free. Their products taste great whether you need to avoid certain products or not. I especially like their cookie shots!

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8. Mulled Wine Spices – I’ve been incredibly impressed by two suppliers of these this year.

Firstly Green Saffron who sell an amazing tub of powder which contains everything you need to add to a bottle of red for a superb mulled wine.

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Then we have a kit from JustIngredients
which contains cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, star anise, dried orange slices, cloves and a vanilla pod. It’s ever so slightly more complicated than the powered version but it’s got a wow factor which totally won over my family last weekend. It also looks very authentic in a pan which would be nice for parties – I actually made mine in a slow cooker and left on the warm setting.

9.LovePopcorn:
Gourmet popcorn in a variety of flavours such as fiery salsa, cocoa crisp and sweet vanilla.

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10. The Jelly Bean Factory:: With a multitude of flavours, colours and festive fun you can’t go wrong with some jelly beans in a foodies stocking. I always buy a tube of gourmet beans for my OH’s stocking.
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11. Raisthorpe Manor: Amazing drinks from an award winning beverage producer. I love their raspberry gin.

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12. Hotel Chocolat Salted Caramel & Pecan spread: A salted caramel lovers dream. Perfect spread on cakes or even toast. I especially like to heat it up and dip strawberries in it. Yum!
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13.BBC Good Food Show Tickets:
I can’t imagine any food lover who wouldn’t enjoy a visit to this dazzling array of food and drink stalls. I loved every minute of my last visit.

14. Starbucks Metallic Bead Tumbler This snazzy tumbler would make a great gift for anyone who likes to look stylish while keeping their coffee hot.
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15. Or maybe something a little cuter? What about this Moose Mug also from Starbucks?
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Now are you buying for someone special and fancy splashing out a little more, these next three recommendations may appeal if so:

Sous Vide Supreme Demi: You will know from reading this blog just how much I love my Sous Vide Supreme and now there is a new compact version. It’s one of my favourite ever kitchen gadgets and I can’t recommend it enough. A foodie dream.
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Cookery Courses At Brompton Cookery School – Brompton Cookery School which is run by celebrity chef Marcus Bean is the perfect setting for a cookery course. I was lucky enough to spend a day here learning how to create lovely bread as part of my role with the BBC Good Food Show and we decided to book into the adjoining B&B and the whole experience was amazing ( even with two poorly children in tow) I love the sound of the perfect pastry course.

Oh and did I mention the whole place is pretty as a picture?
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Tefal Cook4Me Multicooker:

This über multi tasking machine has 50 pre set recipes, it is a pressure cooker, rice cooker, reheater and steamer. It looks a bit like a spaceship and is really useful to both novice and experienced cooks.
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*Some of the products listed were gifted to me for review purposes.

Slow Cooker Mulled Wine

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Making mulled wine in my slow cooker has become a bit of a fad of mine!

I was sent some mulled wine spices/kits a little while ago and I used them and loved them a few times but now I do it from scratch and it may work out slightly more expensive but it’s oh so good.

Slow Cooker Mulled Wine

You will need:

1 bottle of good quality red wine
2 cinnamon sticks
2-3 Dried or fresh orange slices ( preferably dried )
2 star anise
1 vanilla pod
1/2 a nutmeg grated
The juice of 4 clementines or 2 oranges
150 grams of brown sugar
3-4 cloves

Turn your slow cooker on high and add your wine, brown sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, the orange slices, star anise, 1 vanilla pod ( halved and split open ), the cloves and the clementine juice. Cook on high for one hour then reduce to low setting stir well and add the second cinnamon stick and grate in 1/2 a nutmeg. Leave on low for a further 2 hours then switch onto the warm setting and use as and when required.

This is the best mulled wine you will ever taste!

It’s ideal for parties or just lazy Christmas evenings.

Ideal served with one of my cranberry mince pies ( recipe to follow ):

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Making The Ultimate Roast Potatoes

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Christmas is officially coming. It’s December tomorrow so I won’t take any more of you shouting at me to be quiet about it any longer.

Ok so nobody really moaned too much but I’m actually really excited about Christmas and now that it’s pretty much the festive month I can talk about it to my hearts content.

Today I made a Christmas dinner as part of a collaboration with a brand where I will be writing about my festive meal and recipe ideas which should be up in the next few days but I had to write this post tonight about these potatoes because they are so good that I need to write about them. Now.

I’ve made countless amounts of roast potatoes over the years and they have been for the most part pretty good but today I perfected my crispy/fluffy ratio and they were wow inducing.

I mean just look at them:

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I can’t imagine I will be able to top them as they were that good so here is how I made them and what I used:

Firstly never underestimate the importance of the type of potatoes that you use. I use Maris Pipers for roasts as they work so well.

You will need:

8 medium – large Maris Piper Potatoes
2 tablespoons of cornflour
100ml of Lurpak Cooks Ingredients Cooking Liquid ( you could also use a high quality olive oil or for indulgence goose fat )
Sea salt

Preheat your oven to about gas mark 6.
Peel your potatoes and chop into 4-5 chunks per potato then place in a large pan of salted boiling water and parboil for about 5 minutes. In the last minute or so place your Lurpak into a roasting tray in your oven so that the fat is hot and bubbling. Now drain your potatoes well and put them back in the saucepan and roughly toss them about to make the edges a bit crumbly. Sprinkle over the cornflour and roll the pan about to get an even coverage. Now remove your roasting tray ( carefully) and place your potatoes in the hot fat in one layer.
Put into the oven for 15 minutes then turn your potatoes, repeat this twice more until they are looking golden and crispy and then cook for another 10-15 minutes. You will know when they are done to your satisfaction but maybe as the chef you should try one..just in case ;-).

Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately.

* I was sent some goodies from Lurpak to cook with.

Christmas Gifts For Him…

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From stocking fillers to indulgent gifts and secret Santa gifts we all have men in our lives to keep happy at Christmas.

I’ve pulled together a few products which I think would make great gifts for men:

First up Secret Santa Gifts:

I’m part of a few Secret Santas, from work to family and circles of friends and it can be really awkward to buy on a limited budget for people who you may not know that well.

Hotel Chocolat Christmas Jumper: If you have to limit yourself to £5.00 this is an ideal gift. Most people enjoy chocolate and this novelty gift is a twist on the Christmas jumper craze that’s hitting the UK. Super cute and tastes incredible.
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Smellies:

Now these may not be ideal for work colleagues ( a little too personal perhaps) but it’s a great gift for family members.

Wilkinson Sword Grooming Sets
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Lynx gift sets:

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Rubiks The Void Puzzle:

If the men in your family are anything like mine then a competitive game or puzzle will please them and this new twist on the Rubiks Cube is pretty cool.

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Stocking Fillers:

Salted Caramels from Pandora Bell – if only so I can steal a few!

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Choc Chip Cookies from The Foods Of Athenry
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Jelly Beans from The Jelly Bean Factory:

A festive box of snow Jelly Beans would be lovely in a stocking. I’ve given a box or tube of jelly beans to Andrew every year since we met.
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How about a little boozy treat?

A hot whiskey would be great on the cold winter nights and Morrison Bowmore have produced a luxury Single Malt Scotch Whisky:

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Or something different with Licor 43 a premium Spanish liqueur with hints of caramel and vanilla:

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Do you feel like there’s nothing that your man really needs or like us do you have very little storage space left? Well why not get him a weekend break or tickets to see a comedian or show? The best present I’ve bought for Andrew was a week in Portugal to depart the week after Christmas for him to surf. Over the years he has also had tickets to see Billy Connolly, The Mighty Boosh and hotel stays. The bonus for this is that ( for show tickets at least) you could even buy it as late as Christmas Eve and simply print out the ticket confirmation.

* Certain items within this guide have been gifted.

The Power Of 3….Ingredients

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When I was asked to create a recipe for the Intellicig website using just three ingredients I was immediately up for the challenge. I am a lover of simple recipes and often try as hard as I can to minimise the amount of ingredients I use. I often see a recipe for something which looks amazing but has so many ( often obscure) ingredients that it just puts me off.

That is why some of my favourite things to make have just three ingredients:

My favourite toastie: bread, bananas and peanut butter

My favourite hot chocolate: milk, choc chips and marshmallow fluff

My favourite meat dish: ribs, smoked paprika and brown sugar.

Intellicig Ecopure liquid contains just 3 ingredients, one of which is water! I’ve never been a smoker but I have seen a family member struggle year after year attempting to quit and I would love him to try some of these new alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

Today I’m sharing a recipe with you for an incredible side dish to have with your Christmas dinner which of course has just three ingredients:

Santa’s Sprouts:

You will need:

200g of fresh sprouts, quartered

2 inch chunk of chorizo, cubed

1 large handful of vac packed chestnuts, diced

and a knob of butter,tbsp of olive oil and seasoning but I’m not counting those as ingredients 🙂

Warm your butter and oil together in a frying pan and add your chorizo and sauté until golden brown, now add your sprouts and cook until softened ( about 8-10 minutes) then add your chestnuts and cook all together for a further 4 minutes.

It can also be made with bacon as you can see below:
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If you fancy something more indulgent and with a kick I’ve also made this adding 50ml of double cream and a tsp of chilli flakes but that would be more than 3 ingredients 😉

Serve immediately 🙂

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This recipe could also be made in a very hot oven instead of on the hob – have you ever tasted roasted sprouts? They are more than a little bit good!

* I was compensated for the cost of my ingredients to partake in this challenge.

Slow Cooker Marshmallow Hot Chocolate

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If you are on a diet or trying to curb your indulgent side until Christmas arrives then you may want to look away now because I have a recipe which is as easy as it is amazing.

Simple. 3 ingredients. Using a slow cooker.

I apologise in advance because you are going to want to make this again and again.

I know some of you slow cooker phobes may say but why? You could do this in a saucepan or even the microwave in a lot less time but to me time is the beauty of this recipe.

I can imagine putting this in my slow cooker on Christmas Eve afternoon to be ready in time to watch a festive film.

You will need:

6 cups of whole milk ( 1.5 litres )
1.5 cups of chocolate chips – I used a combination of dark and milk
4 tablespoons of toasted marshmallow creme/marshmallow fluff or whole marshmallows ( I used toasted marshmallow creme from Solo )

Pour your milk into the slow cooker and cook on low for 2 hours. Then add your chocolate and marshmallow and leave to melt for 10 minutes. Now carefully blend your ingredients together, I used a whisk for this and it made the liquid lovely and frothy. When smooth and all chocolate is combined serve.

*You could top with an extra teaspoon of marshmallow fluff or some whipped cream but it’s pretty indulgent as it is!

Enjoy:-)

There are a number of ways you could adapt or experiment with this recipe by adding chocolate orange segments instead of choc chips or adding a tablespoon of ground peppermint canes for a minty Christmassy twist. Tell me if you discover anything delicious!

BBC Good Food Show Winter Part 1

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This is a rather hurriedly put together brief recap of today at the BBC Good Food Show. I will post a more in depth review later in the week with some better photos but for now this is a quick look at what I loved today and what you should most certainly check out if you are heading there this weekend.

Let’s start at the beginning of my day in a very well stocked press room. I hadn’t had breakfast and I made a rather delicious starter choice of Twinings redbush and one ( or two) of Baru dark chocolate covered marshmallows with salted caramel. Oh my. I could happily have sat there and eaten them all.day.long.

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I did of course have to move on and here are a few of the stalls/products that I loved and that you NEED to visit. I will add more info about the companies to my full review later this weekend:

Pictured below: Ardens UK, Pips Sauces, BC confectioners, Tarte and Berry, For Heavens Stake and The Garlic Farm.

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Pictured below: Delicious Alchemy, QCumber, Spicentice, Doble & Bignall, Curry Dave and Fifth Dimension Chocolates.

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There are lots more that I loved but I need to upload those from my real camera so if I saw you and chatted and said I loved your product then I did honestly but my brain is a fuddle..and it’s 11.30pm and I’m sleeeepy.

A very quick mention to a few more that I loved:

Farrington Oils – amazing rapeseed oil.
Bonbonniere Chocs – most amazing truffles.
Williams Handbaked – seriously good oaty biscuits
Swifts Bakery – epic breads.
Raisthorpe Manor – awesome raspberry gin

Also head to the Supertheatre for amazing chef demos, the Lurpak, Hotpoint, Kenwood and Sous Vide Tools stands for general food and gadget love.

Follow the hashtags #GFSBLOGGERS for lots more recommendations and the #GFSWINTER for offers and show news. If you still haven’t bought a ticket you can use code BL15 for 15% off all weekend and I will leave you with this last pic of me with a very lovely pair of gentlemen who I would love to spend an evening of food and drinks at the pub with:

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Stocking Fillers.. For me.

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Maybe you are past the age when you can be satisfied with a few chocolate coins and a tangerine but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have a stocking. I know that opening up Christmas stockings as a family all squished up in our big bed is one of my favourite things and I always insist that Andrew gets me some stocking fillers – I’m a big kid at heart.

Here are my favourite stocking gift ideas for women:

Proper Chocolate for grown ups:

With lots of options around for really good chocolate these days you are a bit spoilt for choice but here are some of my faves:

Hotel Chocolat – how about some of their salted caramels for pure indulgence or perhaps a pot of their salted caramel and pecan spread…mmmmmm.

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Potash Farm: Single origin chocolate with cobnuts for something a little different. In dark or milk .. Dark for me please.

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Butlers Chocolates: Totally gorgeous and very festive looking boxed and bagged chocs. I love the Marc De Champagne Truffles:

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If you aren’t a chocolate lover what about a sweet novelty treat like this Travel cup filled with jelly beans from The Jellybean Factory ?

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Or even some gourmet popcorn from Love Popcorn

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You can never go wrong with a little boozy treat and how about something you don’t normally buy:

Licor43 – this slightly nutty and sweet liqueur is perfect added to hot chocolates or just alone.

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Maybe try a different wine? Both Lindemans and Waitrose Cellar have some fantastic options whatever your taste may be. I love the Bin 45 reds From Lindemans:

or the Prosecco from Waitrose Cellar

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I’ve recently tried Raspberry Gin and Damson port from Raisthorpe Manor and they would make delicious additions to a stocking…and these miniatures are the perfect size too.
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Something bath or smellies related is normally in my stocking and it’s a firm tradition. You could give some pretty little sets from Sanctuary, Champneys, Vaseline or Lynx depending on your budget:

I’m a bit obsessed with the Sanctuary bath relaxer and the 2 day moisture shower oil so either of those in my stocking will make me a happy girl.

I like the lip balm gift set tins from Vaseline. I always, always, always have a tin of Vaseline in my bag and so I love having a set of them in my stocking.

Did you know Lynx did female deodorants and gift sets? I didn’t. They could make a great little gift for older teens or for women of all ages as they smell really good!

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You could also add a little notebook set or desk caddy – I LOVE stationery and so do most of my friends. I think it goes back to school days when you just weren’t cool if you didn’t have a fountain pen or a multi coloured pencil. Life Canvas have a lovely range.

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I’m sure I’ll think of more over the next few weeks but for now I hope that gives you all some ideas on stocking fillers for the women in your life.

* Some of the products included in this guide have been gifted to me for review purposes.

Boba 4G Review

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I’m a big fan of babywearing. For lots of reasons. I think it’s beneficial to both you and your child, for the comfort, bonding and relationship with them. I think it’s beneficial to you for when you have a clingy, whiny baby and let’s face it all babies have days ( weeks, months) like this but you still need to get things done. It’s great for when you are heading out for the day but you know a buggy would just get in the way. Or for an older child who is adamantly wanting to walk but after 15 minutes tires their little legs.

We started off when Chloe was just a few days old using a wonderful stretchy Boba Wrap which I purchased on Amazon so I was thrilled when we were offered a Boba 4G to review from Slumber Roo when Chloe had just begun to outgrow the wrap.

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Just a few of the places/activities I’ve used mine at/for:

Festivals -I cannot tell you just how much we loved using this at festivals this summer. It made our days and especially nights so much easier. We used it for both Chloe and Isabelle and love how easy it was to adjust and the way it’s comfortable on both myself and Andrew for both front and back carry.
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Shopping – I hate taking the buggy when we go shopping but Chloe gets fed up in the trolley so the carrier is ideal for this. I also find it much easier when I’m trawling charity shops or food fayres.

Baking – I managed to make both Izzy and Chloe’s birthday cakes this year while carrying Chloe and they turned out pretty well.

Cleaning – sometimes the only way I get any cleaning done is to strap Chloe in, she will quite happily snooze while I hoover and dust.

Pacing – you know those nights when your baby won’t go down and your arms ache so much from holding them and pacing your lounge floor? Well a carrier doesn’t solve problems but it definitely makes life easier.

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Great features include:

A removable sleeping hood
Infant support
Smartphone pocket
Breastfeeding buckle

And lots more.

The Boba 4G rrp is £99 which to some may seem expensive but when I consider how much we have already used this for both of our children and how much more time we will get out of it I think the cost per use is very low.

You can find out more about Boba and other baby/toddler carriers on the Slumber Roo website.

* we were gifted this carrier for the purpose of a review.

Siblings – November

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There’s been a shift between these two again and they are suddenly thick as thieves. I see Izzy going in for sneaky cuddles and kisses and the way Chloe just exclaims Where’s Izzy about a hundred times a day. It’s love, pure and simple. Sure they drive each other crazy. Chloe in particular can be SO annoying ( Izzys words) when she knocks over her big sisters towers but if Chloe is upset or looks at all sad Izzy is there in a heartbeat checking on her.

While I can get away with it I’ve sneakily put them in the same outfits just for the cute factor:

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Awwww.

I also had to include this pic because of the look on Chloe’s face and Izzys ringlets which are stupidly pretty.

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