munchiesandmunchkins, Author at Munchies and Munchkins

Degustabox Giveaway

April 13, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 14 Comments

A few days ago I posted a review of the March Degustabox you can read it here – there is also a pretty amazing slow cooked lasagne recipe on there too.

Degustabox is a monthly foodie delivery service. You receive a selection of food and drink products from both new and stablished brands for £12.99 per month with no fixed contract.

The goodies I received:

I was thrilled with my first box and as its my blogs birthday weekend I thought it would be nice to share the love and give a box away to one of my lovely readers.

Plus it’s super simple to enter via the rafflecopter entry form below so what more could you ask for.

In case you don’t win here is discount code for you to use for £3 off your next box: W4BMD

I’ve read some great reviews from my fellow bloggers so why not check out what they think too:

Michelle from Thou shall not covet is a fan of the milkshakes.

Whilst Bex from I Always Believed In Futures loved the Nachos.

Chantelle tried the February box here and loved the Goody Good stuff sweeties.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let’s Start At The Very Beginning – Sous Vide

April 13, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

I had a very exciting parcel last week.

So what is a Sous Vide Supreme?

The sous vide technique has been the secret of great chefs worldwide for decades. The award-winning SousVide Supreme is an amazing all-in-one sous vide water oven designed to bring the sous vide culinary technique into home kitchens and restaurants at an affordable price. The sous vide (pronounced “soo-veed”) technique involves cooking food in vacuum-sealed pouches submerged in a water bath held at a precisely-controlled temperature. This foolproof method eliminates guesswork and lets anyone cook foods with incomparable taste and texture: steak perfectly cooked edge-to-edge, vibrant vegetables, juicy tender chicken breasts, and ribs with the meat literally falling off the bone. All at the push of a button!

Sounds good yes?

Over the next few months I’m going to be sharing my journey with the Sous Vide with you. I will post recipes, ideas, tips and any successes and failures I may have.

Having never used this before I started at the very beginning with basics such as chicken, vegetables and eggs coming up in my first recipe post.

Let me know if you have any ideas for dishes I can create or any questions you have about the Sous Vide technique and in turn I will try to share my experiences as fully as possibly with you.

Recipes that will be coming up soon include:

Perfectly Plain Chicken
A Really Eggy Egg
Brown Sugar and Mustard Gammon

And lots more.

* I received a Sous Vide Supreme Kit free of charge for the purpose of a review and to share recipes with you via my blog.

Bednest – A Review And Giveaway

April 11, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 16 Comments

It’s funny how one product can make those first few hazy months of being a parent so much easier. This time around I’ve discovered a few. Products such as Ewan the dream sheep, Cozio Swaddling Muslins and an old favourite – the Gro Swaddle. They have all made parts of being a parent to a newborn slightly easier.

My biggest and best discovery…by far has been the Bednest.

If you follow me on Twitter you will have heard me rave about it a lot. It really is an amazing product.

Babies don’t sleep all that great when they first arrive. It’s not surprising really. For nine (long) months they have been tucked up cosily in the mothers womb. Feeling her heartbeat, knowing her warmth. Then suddenly they are born and we pop them in a basket a few feet (which seems like a mile to them) away from the people they need and want most. Crazy. They wake crying, needing comfort or food. Mum (or dad) gets out of bed picks them up feeds them, cuddles them and pops them back into their basket. They settle a little then the pattern repeats.

Getting up and down through the night is a pain. I remember doing this constantly with Izzy. I had a sore back and I was just irritable all day long.

The Bednest has literally transformed our nighttimes.

From day one, we have swaddled and then placed Chloe in her nest right next to our bed. She is so close it feels as though she is in our bed with us but we have none of the worries that co sleeping would have brought us. I mean co sleeping is great, I love the idea of it but I’m the type of person who would lie awake all night worrying about whether I was going to roll onto my baby. If it works for you that’s great but this works for us.

Maybe we are lucky and have a good sleeper this time around but I definitely feel the Bednest helps. Being so close to us she can be comforted by a light touch without having to comfort feed for hours on end. When she wakes in the morning she can see us lying next to her and that first smile is a true joy. I don’t get out of bed to feed, I just prop myself up with my feeding cushion ( Theraline – another brilliant discovery) and she goes straight back to sleep in her nest when we are done.

I am dreading the day she gets too big for it.

That’s what I think of the Bednest, here is a bit of info about the brand:

THE ULTIMATE SLEEP EXPERIENCE

The Bednest was created from a partnership between babycare experts and world-leading designers with the aim of making a significant difference to those important first few months.

Unlike Moses baskets or other bedside cribs that just stand by your bed, Bednest extends your bed to create a safe and separate sleep zone for your baby. It enables intimate easy access for caring and feeding and promotes bonding and attachment, the cornerstones of future parent and baby relationships. You can bring your little one into bed for comfort and feeding and return them to their cosy Bednest to sleep without having to get out of your bed. Being able to provide so much care from your bed is particularly beneficial after a caesarean birth. Half of all babies can suffer from symptoms of reflux.  The tilting stand, which adjusts simply and safely, may help alleviate the symptoms of reflux and colic without the need for wedges or pillows in the crib.

Now for the best part. Well the second best part. You can rent this as well as buying it.

Yours for six months for one low fixed price of £99. You can extend by a month if needed for no extra cost.
Every rental is supplied with a brand new mattress and side panels. The crib is thoroughly checked and cleaned before being dispatched. For an extra £20 the Bednest is couriered to your door and then collected when you have finished with it.
Or you can collect it from, and return it to, the Essex warehouse as a no- cost option.

A bargain yes? If you plan on having more babies you can buy it for £299 and use it over and over again.

Visit the Bednest site for lots more info and advice. You can also tweet them @bednest – they are incredibly friendly and always reply.

Now for the actual best part. I have a Bednest rental to give away on the blog. Just enter the easy peasy rafflecopter giveaway below and make sure you read the terms and conditions. Good Luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Birthday To Me. Well The Blog.

April 11, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

It’s our birthday..wooohooo. By our, I mean Munchies and Munchkins. Two years old today and what an amazing journey it has been so far.

We have met some fabulous people and attended events where we have had so much fun.

I’ve shared huge news and family milestones with you and hundreds of recipes.

We’ve talked about Food. Family. Festivals. Holidays. Babies. Pregnancy. Breastfeeding and more.

I’ve had support from an online community of people which I feel lucky to be a part of.

I look forward to another year of blogging firsts.

Three celebratory blog competitions coming up on the blog throughout the day. Good luck and thanks so much for reading, commenting and sharing my posts,

A Family of Four.. And No More.

April 10, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Over the past four years a lot has happened. Massively important, life changing moments such as moving in with my OH. Finding out I was pregnant on Izzy ( big shock ) Giving birth to Izzy. Watching her grow, walk, talk. Deciding to try for another baby. Finding out I was pregnant with Chloe. Giving birth to her. Watching her start to grow. Loving, living, crying, laughing.

We have also made some pretty huge decisions. Decisions which affect us and our family.

Our biggest decision is to say no more. No more babies.

My last pregnancy was one very long, very hard bundle of stress, illness, anger, frustration and sadness.

Of course it ended with our beautiful daughter and we are so incredibly happy with our girls.

I know I can’t do it again.

Pregnancy is hard, for nearly every person I know. It’s rare that someone tells me that their pregnancy was stress free. Carrying another life literally within your body is rarely easy but whilst I could never tell you that I enjoyed pregnancy as that would be a lie there is something magical about it all.

Of seeing that test turn positive after many negatives.

Of heavy breasts and shiny hair.

Of feeling a bond with someone whose face you haven’t seen yet.

Of feeling a kick for the very first time.

Or a somersault.

Hearing the heartbeat, that familiar wowwowowwow.

Seeing your baby move in a scan with your heart in your mouth and an overfull bladder.

Thinking of names.

Picking out clothes.

Seeing your body grow in the most marvellous of ways.

Of giving birth, as awful as it was – that moment when they are just there.

That first look.

The first time they latch on to feed.

The hours watching them sleep.

The hours you need to sleep and they need to feed.

Of adorable outfits and little white hats.

Of swaddling and rocking and very first baths.

So whilst I know in every essence of my being that I can’t do it again. To myself. To my family. It was just too much.

I will admit that my heart aches a little to know that I won’t feel that again.

I don’t dwell on it for long.

My life is miraculous. As all lives are. I have two priceless children to always hold in my heart. I have many, many firsts to experience with them and one day a long time in the future I will hold their babies in my arms.

I lie here watching my girls together, happy, healthy and blessed to have each other.

How lucky we are.

Delivery Day – Degustabox Review and Recipe – Slow Cooked Lasagne

April 7, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

I was quite excited to be given the chance to review this food parcel delivery service from Degustabox. A parcel of unknown food products arriving on my doorstep each month – YES please. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I deliberately didn’t look at other reviews as I wanted a surprise.

Well I was more than happy with my first box. It arrives well packaged and by a courier who lets you know approximately what time of day it will arrive – which I love.

The box..

Inside the box..

Contents..

So what did we get:

Shaken Udder Milkshakes In Strawberry,banana and Choc. A new breed especially for kids.. Perhaps so but there’s a reason why there is no pic of the strawberry one and that’s because it lasted little more than a few mins of the box being opened and ahem it wasn’t drunk by Izzy. We already liked Shaken Udder goodies having sampled their wares at Camp Bestial several times but this was the first time I’d tried these ones. Delicious and the other two flavours which were consumed by Izzy were enjoyed very much! There were also two vouchers for free Milkshakes included in the box 🙂

Schwartz Flavour Shots in Spanish Paella and Italian Tagliatelle. It was great seeing Schwartz products in the box as they are so reliable for great tasting products. I’m yet to try the paella but the tagliatelle is superb.

Drink me Chai I must be the only person in the world that hasn’t yet tried tried a chai latte but I’m really looking forward to sampling these. I especially love that its 99% caffeine free as I don’t have much caffeine anymore. We received a 250g tub of chai latte and a sachet of the earl grey.

Moma Porridge Pots In Cranberry And Raisin and Plain – No Added Sugar varieties.
I’m keeping these for our first camping trip of the year as I think they will make ideal breakfasts as they only need hot water to mix them up. Izzy loves porridge so a great way to keep her healthy eating habits up on hols.

Tyrrell’s Proper Popcorn In sweet n salty flavour. I love anything sweet and salty especially snacks such as popcorn. These are really tasty and it was nice to try a new brand out as I’d seen these before but never tried. This is what is great about the Degustabox – trying out new products you may not have otherwise.

Organico Italian Durum Wheat Pasta 500g bag of brown penne. I like different types of pasta and I tend to use wholemeal pasta when I make a pesto pasta salad so I will let you know what I think when I make that.

Mexican Dave’s Nachos Cheese Flavour. These are really good Nachos. We initially planned on making a tortilla dish in the oven with them but ended up munching them dipped in sour cream whilst enjoying a film. Yum.

Organico Tomato and Basil Sauce Another Organico product which we have already used and loved. This is a product you can feel good about feeding to your family. Straightforward natural ingredients including tomatoes, olive oil and basil with no nasty colourings or preservatives. I’ve used this in my recipe for slow cooked lasagne below.

Degustabox costs £12.99 per month including delivery and you do not have to sign up for a set amount of time which is great. You can get £3.00 off your next box by using this discount code: W4BMD

I will also be running a competition to win a box later this week to coincide with my blog birthday celebrations.

Slow Cooker Lasagne

You will need:

1 jar of Organico Tomato and Basil sauce
1/2 carton of chopped toms( I used one with added onions and basil)
1 pack of beef mince
75g of Lardons or diced bacon
Garlic paste (just a large squirt will do)
1 small red pepper diced
1 chunk of courgette diced
1 stick of celery diced
Dried herbs ( I used Schwartz perfect shake pasta blend)
Lasagne sheets

For the white sauce:
Milk 1.5pts
50g plain flour
50g butter
100g grated Cheese ( I used cheddar)

To top:
1/4 tub of creme fraiche
I large tomato
Few basil leave
Parmesan or hard cheese
Black
Brown your mince and bacon before adding your diced courgette, peppers, garlic paste, dried herbs and celery.

Lightly sauté for a few mins before adding your Organico sauce and chopped tomatoes and stir through, leave to simmer. Make up your white sauce – melt butter in a sauce pan, beat in your flour and then whisk in your milk and simmer until thickened, season with salt and pepper and mix in about 50g of cheese.
Turn off the heat on your pans and put your first layer of bolognese sauce into the slow cooker and turn on to high. Add a layer of lasagne sheets and then white sauce ( sprinkle with some remaining cheese) and continue until you run out.

For the final later top your white sauce with creme fraiche, grated Parmesan and black pepper then decorate with sliced tomatoes and basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and put your lid on.

Leave for 5-6 hours until golden.

This method would work with your usual lasagne recipe but this one was particularly good. Tomatoey, cheesy, basilly goodness.

It was the nicest lasagne I’d had in a long time and I definitely think slow cooking is my new method. Thanks to Mamaowl blog for the tip 😉

Cooking In The Kitchen..Having Fun – Tortilla Pizza

April 7, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Following on from my recent post for cheats garlic bread using tortilla wraps I thought I would share one or two more recipes or ideas I guess you could call them using wraps.

Izzy is still a big fan of cooking, baking, spreading butter and anything food related so I am totally embracing it and trying to encourage it as much as I can. Today’s experiment with wraps was so much fun for her as I left her have more or less complete control.

For this recipe you will need:

Some tortilla wraps – great for leftover ones that are slightly drying out.
Tomato purée
Cheese – most types will do, we used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.
Toppings – we used basil leaves,chopped olives and tomatoes ( Daddy had jalapeños on his too )
A sprinkle of dried herbs

Put all your different toppings into small bowls of ramekins pre chopped or torn. Squirt some purée onto a wrap and ask your child to spread it around and now give them free reign with the toppings. Try not to interfere.

It helped with us that I made myself a pizza at the same time and Izzy mimicked me a little but older children will get the idea by themselves.

We sprinkled on a little dried herbs ( I helped with this ) and squirted on some garlic oil to finish.
Pop into a hot oven (only adults please) and leave until golden brown around the edges. Slice it up like a normal pizza and serve whilst warm.

This was more of a fun activity for Izzy than something I was desperate to cook but ahh they were so good. Light, crispy and just really, really good.

Jalapeños for Dad 🙂

It’s All About The Zzzz’s – Kiddicare Sleep Diary

April 2, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

You may remember I wrote a little while ago about a sleep diary I was keeping for myself and Chloe as part of a Kiddicare campaign.

Each day I charted mine and Chloe’s nighttime sleep and nap times. I also charted her moods throughout the day as well as mine.

I found something interesting by the end of it. I was having trouble getting Chloe to nap in the evenings and she didn’t want to settle down to actually sleep until 11.30pm. We were all getting worn out, grouchy and myself and A had no time to ourselves as a couple. We have now started putting her to bed earlier, gradually each evening – actual bed. Not napping in our arms or in the lounge which we had been doing and it’s really working. Last night she slept from 9pm till 7.40am … With feeds inbetween of course but immediately back to sleep after each feed – this is a huge improvement on 11.30pm until 8am just 4 weeks ago. I’ve started to see that I need to pick up on her sleep cues and make her nap rather than letting her get more and more overtired.

It’s easy to miss these cues when you also have a toddler to concentrate on but it’s important to do it otherwise it makes your life so much harder and it really affected my moods.

Here are some fab tips from the Kiddicare team starting with pregnancy sleep:

Pregnancy sleep – arrggh. I think I was more tired in pregnancy than I am now due to discomfort or crazy dreams.

And did you know that new mums spend 10 days in the first year just putting baby to sleep..?

Thanks to Kiddicare for running this campaign. I’ve found it really helpful.

For more info and advice check out the Kiddicare Blog

* I received a voucher for taking part in this research.

Cheats Garlic Bread

April 2, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

I’m a garlic lover. I love garlic bread especially but often find it too heavy and it fills me so much that I struggle to eat my meal. Over the last few weeks I’ve been on a frugal kick and I’ve been using up all the odds and ends in my cupboards – like those last few tortilla wraps leftover from Fajita night. Introducing cheats garlic bread…

So I needed garlic bread, didn’t have time to make bread from scratch and no French stick or ciabatta at home so I used some leftover wraps – now this is no great invention. In fact it’s so simple that its barely a recipe but we have had it several times now and we love them.

Cheats Garlic Bread

You will need:

Tortilla wraps
Butter
Garlic paste or diced garlic cloves
Dried parsley

I’ve left out quantities as it depends on how many wraps you have etc etc but you roughly need 1 part garlic to 3 parts butter and the parsley is more to make it look prettier than for flavour so as much or as little as you like.

Preheat your oven to gas mark 5.

Chop up your tortillas as you would a pizza and lay on a wire rack or baking tray. Melt your butter and garlic together by blasting in microwave for about 20secs. Add in your parsley and stir. Using a pastry brush give each slice a good coating of the garlicky butter and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown – keep a close eye as there is a fine line between golden and burnt!

Serve immediately for ultimate butteriness but they are also good cooler when they crisp up a little more.

They are salty, butter, garlicky and crisp. Perfectly light and a delicious accompaniment to lots of meals. A little addictive too some may say.

Back To Basics Part 1

April 1, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

I’m on a bit of a budgeting kick at the moment what with being on maternity leave and all so I’m trying out different supermarkets, using vouchers where I can and generally being a little more careful with my shopping.

I had a £15 off voucher for Sainsburys online delivery service so I decided to do my big monthly shop there this month and buy as many products as possible from their basic range:

The price of these products is cheaper by far than the branded options or the standard Sainsburys line and I was curious as to just how good they would be.

So in the first of two posts I will give you some feedback on what I think about the basic range.

Starting with the most important of course..

Biscuits

Since having Chloe I have a bit of thing for biscuits. I have re-established my relationship with tea ( decaf, milk and no sugar) and I do like to dunk a biscuit or two just after a feed. I can tell you now that these custard creams are the best I’ve tried. So far anyway. The bourbons are also pretty damn good and I haven’t opened the others yet. You get a variety pack containing 4 individually wrapped packs of biscuits (custard creams, bourbons,nice and shortcake) for £1 so 25p per pack which is just a bit of a bargain.

Whole Chicken

The chicken was fine, it wasn’t amazing and next time I would work harder at making the meat taste better. Either by slow cooking or basting regularly while roasting or soaking in a marinade overnight. It does taste fine but it wasn’t great which I kind of expected. It was only £2.86 and fed four of us plus leftovers for a sandwich for the OH the next day so how much do you expect for that price?

Pork Shoulder

I used my pork shoulder to make pulled pork – it was lovely. This involves rubbing in a mix of mustards, herbs and sugars and leaving overnight before cooking slowly for 8 hours. Not much difference to the more expensive piece that I normally buy.

Just prior to roasting:

Crisps

I bought a multipack of onion rings, cheese puffs and salt&vinegars sticks to take out on day trips/picnics etc for Izzy and us. These aren’t my crisps of choice – I’m more of a kettle chip fan but Izzy loved them and they aren’t bad at all for the price. My OH is partial to the onion rings.

Condiments

We bought mustard and salad cream. The mustard is great and we really like it. The salad cream isn’t brilliant as its slightly bitter compared to my usual brand but its absolutely fine and I would have no problems buying it again.

Breakfast Muffins & Scotch Pancakes

Both of these disappeared in days and were enjoyed by all of us. Plain, simple and just what you need the products to be.

Juice

The OJ is fine, didn’t notice any difference to my usual brand.

Tortilla chips

Perfectly decent tortilla chips. Lightly salted, delicious with dips and great smothered in passata and cheese in the oven.

Cornflakes

I bought these initially to make cornflake cakes with Izzy as my OH is quite fussy with cereal but he opened them before I had a chance to say and he’s enjoyed them – so much so that there are none left to make cakes 😉

Fabric conditioner

I was particularly impressed with the fabric conditioner – it only comes in one scent which is the only flaw as I do like a variety but in all other ways I was happy and felt it worked well. It didn’t aggravate my daughters sensitive skin at all either which can happen with cheap brands occasionally.

So far, so good. I look forward to telling you more about the rest of my shop next month.

* This is not a paid post and these items were paid for in full by myself.

Degustabox Giveaway

Like this:

Let’s Start At The Very Beginning – Sous Vide

Like this:

Bednest – A Review And Giveaway

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Happy Birthday To Me. Well The Blog.

Like this:

A Family of Four.. And No More.

Like this:

Delivery Day – Degustabox Review and Recipe – Slow Cooked Lasagne

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Cooking In The Kitchen..Having Fun – Tortilla Pizza

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It’s All About The Zzzz’s – Kiddicare Sleep Diary

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Cheats Garlic Bread

Cheats Garlic Bread

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Back To Basics Part 1

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Cheats Garlic Bread

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