Waitrose Archives - Munchies and Munchkins

Christmas Drinks Guide

December 12, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

Most of us have a drink or two at Christmas time, whether it be at the works Christmas Do or around the dinner table. We don’t tend to drink that much at home but at Christmas and New Years we like to try different drinks or make cocktails etc.

Here are a few of the different drinks we will be enjoying this festive season:

A Pretty Pink Prosecco – I use Villa Vincenta Prosecco NV from Waitrose to make this drink along with raspberry or strawberry sirop from The Preservation Society and it’s just incredible. You could garnish with a strawberry or raspberry to make it look even more appetising.

Salted Caramel Hot chocolate – I use the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from Gu along with Tesco Salted Caramel Liqueur for THE best hot chocolate. Served of course with piles of cream and chocolate shavings. YUM.

After Eight Cocktail – I use Baileys or any supermarket Irish Cream to make this cocktail and add some whole milk, chocolate milkshake powder and peppermint flavouring. You could garnish it with an actual After Eight on the side of the glass or a candy cane.

As well as cocktails and hot chocolate we need wine for the table and to have with cheese and crackers. I’ve got all my wine needs covered with this Festive Box from Waitrose

And the Bin series from Lindemans

After dinner we may indulge in a glass of Cockburns Port:

And we always, always have mulled wine and of course Bucks Fizz! What drinks do you always enjoy over the festive period?

* Some of the products mentioned have been gifted.

Crushed Fruit Pouch Review

October 4, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

We have recently been sampling some fruit pouches from Crushed.

Crushed UK is the brainchild of two mums:

This is what they have to say:

“As busy working mums, our families are always on the go. Juggling a busy lifestyle with being healthy, is a
challenge many of us face. Loved in Europe for many years, our 100% fruit pouches are designed to make life easier, healthier and happier. Each pouch delivers one of your five a day. No mess, no spoon, just 100% fruity goodness. Perfect fruit ready 24/7.
Don’t slow down when you’re having fun. Simply grab one of our fast fruit snacks, and take it wherever your adventures lead you.”

What did we think?

Well firstly Izzy loved them. She has always enjoyed fruit pouches but a lot of the ones in the shops are geared towards babies and this is clear in the packaging. These are more for older children and adults and she liked that they were for bigger girls.

Her favourite was the apple and strawberry.

Myself and Andrew have enjoyed them as part of daily green smoothies and it definitely adds a bit of sweetness and some extra fruit to an otherwise spinachy concoction. We also put a pouch in with some homemade banana muffins which was very successful!

Ideal for lunch boxes, smoothies or just for snacks we highly recommend them. They have a 12 month shelf life too so if you see them on offer snap them up.

You can find Crushed pouches in Waitrose both online and in store as well as WHSmith travel.

*We were sent a selection of pouches to try for the purpose of the review.

Eating Organically With Waitrose

September 30, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Over the last week we have made some small changes to our shopping and our diet by using organic ingredients in at least one meal a day as part of Organic September. We did a big organic shop at Waitrose and I planned out some meals. Of course things rarely go to plan and I was feeling rather unwell for a few days of the week and so I changed things up a little with our meals taking full advantage of my slow cooker, sous vide machine and my Tefal cook4me because did I mention my oven broke? Nightmare.

We made incredible garlic mushrooms – luckily my hob still works:

A super tasty sweet potato and sausage casserole:

And the most tender gammon cooked sous vide style in organic Wyldwood cider:

We also made several dishes out of a slow cooker whole organic chicken, which was plump and provided lots of meat for roast chicken sandwiches, a curry and a mini roast.

I have to say we have really enjoyed going organic, maybe we won’t be making a full change of everything BUT I am going to go organic where I can and where my budget allows.

And ahem did you know that all Green & Blacks chocolate is organic? Definitely worth making that change don’t you think?

Take a look at the Waitrose Organic Shop and have a look at the massive selection of organic products they have to offer.

Celebrating Organic September With Waitrose

September 22, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 4 Comments

Did you know September is organic month? No.. Neither did I. I buy organic products occasionally but I don’t specifically look for them. Waitrose have invited me to replace one meal a day for 7 days with organic foods and write about how we feel about it afterwards.

Never one to shy away from a food challenge I set off to my nearest Waitrose in hunt of some organic goodies. Now I expected my shop to be a lot more expensive than normal and not to get too much for my money BUT I may have been slightly wrong. I’m going to share what we managed to make with the shopping items we purchased along with some store cupboard staples.

Since today is day 1 I will just give you a little overview of what we bought and what I plan to make this week.

Our shopping trolley which came to approximately £60 included:

Eggs
Bread
Milk
Butter
Buttery spread
Cheese
Chocolate pudding pots
Greek Yoghurt
Mushrooms
Sweet potatoes
Potatoes
Carrots
Rocket
Tomatoes
Butternut squash
A large chicken
Meatballs
Sausages
Apples
Bananas
Ham
Fruit pouches – for Chloe
Pear juice cartons for Izzy
Baby porridge
Shortbread
Fruit compote
Chocolate
Cider

All organic – yes even the cider ( Wyldwood organic cider) and the chocolate ( Green&Blacks ).

Even Peter Rabbit loves Organic juice:

Day 1:

A light supper of a ham, brie and rocket sandwich. Using all organic products. It was delicious. The brie and bread were particularly good.. We may also have eaten a Rachel’s Organic chocolate pot which was divine.

Tomorrow morning ( Day 2 ) I plan to make fluffy pancakes using the eggs, milk and buttery spread served with the fruit compote. Yum.

Later in the week I am planning:

Evening meals:

Roast Chicken served with butternut squash and garlic mushrooms.
Sweet potato wedges with glazed sausages
Meatballs in a tomato sauce with homemade pasta

Light lunch:

Omelette served with a rocket and tomato salad

Indulgent supper treat:

Nigellas French Doughnut toast using the milk, bread and eggs and served with caramelised bananas. Yum.

And more…

Look out for an update next week with what we thought of the switch to organic.

Take a look at the Waitrose Organic Shop and have a look at the massive selection of organic products they have to offer.

You can find out more about Organic September on The Soil Association website

My Not So Naked Fruity Cake – A Waitrose Recipe

July 9, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I’ve been thinking about naked cakes for a while. Ever since I read an issue of BBC Good Food magazine and Frances Quinn a finalist from GBBO was showing how to create one. Since then they are everywhere. And they are just up my street. I like icing but it’s definitely not my favourite part of a cake and also. I’m not the worlds best cake decorator which means it takes me AGES to create a fancy looking cake. Anyway I was invited to take part in a campaign with Waitrose and I thought it was a great opportunity to try it out and make it a bit fruity and special.

First of all I went to do my shopping at Waitrose.. Choosing completely the wrong time to go at late on a Sunday afternoon when it was close to shutting but I got everything I needed. I was inspired when I first walked in by the Pimms and strawberry display. I’m a sucker for a Pimms so I had to nab a bottle.. I did then go onto buy LOTS of fruit and veggies so it’s ok.

I always love the wide variety of fruits and veggies sold at Waitrose, lots of varieties and exotic fruits as well as my favourite Pink Lady Apples 🙂 I’m a sucker for their herbs too!

I also HAD to buy their rosemary and seasalt foccacia which is more than a little bit special ..ooh and TWO new plants. Chilli and Greek basil.

To start off my naked cake I made up two batches of lemony victoria sandwich cake.

To make enough for this cake you will need:

450g of SR Flour
450g of caster sugar
8 eggs
450g of butter
4tsp baking powder
1tbsp vanilla
2 lemon zests.

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl or stand mixer:

And blend for 2-3 minutes.

I split it between a 23 inch springform pan and two sandwich cake tins.

Bake for 25 mins or so at gas mark 4 until they spring back when pressed.

Whilst I was waiting for my cakes to bake I made up some Pimms summer tarts.

Now back to my naked cake..

Cakes now baked and cooled I split them in half using an awesome tool I picked up from amazon a while back. I then began the process of layering.

First layer used some leftover strawberry/Pimms mix with some jam follows by silky buttercream. For buttercream I used about 150g of butter to 300g icing sugar and a tbsp of vanilla. The next layer used lemon curd and then repeat:

I decorated using icing sugar, berries and Greek basil.. I’m a bit in love with basil in sweet dishes at the moment. Try it!

And whilst I know there are things I will change next time I do this..bigger layers and smaller layers etc etc I’m quite impressed with my first attempt at a naked or not so naked cake.. I can’t really call it naked when it’s covered in berries and herbs can I?

Heart Healthy Meals This Valentines Day with Waitrose

February 12, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

When Waitrose asked me if I wanted to try out some of their recipes from their Healthy Heart Project I of course said yes!

I really love that at a time of year when we are bombarded with adverts for chocolate and wine Waitrose have shown that you can have delicious, romantic (if you get a babysitter) meals whilst still eating healthy food. Although of course they still sell chocolate and wine – thankfully. Check out the link above to find our more about the Foods of love including things like oats, nuts, pulses, salmon and more.

I chose to make Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry and a Spiced Fruity Crumble I followed the recipes exactly other than to make two substitutions. I swapped the chopped spinach for baby leaf spinach and the forest fruits for mixed summer fruits.

Here is how it went:

Prepping my squash:

Rinsing my chickpeas:

Some of my ingredients:

Simmering:

Even my toddler enjoyed the end result…yep not quite the romantic meal we imagined but the norm right now:

And onto dessert:

Beautiful berries:

Ready for the oven:

Bubbling hot:

We were all thoroughly impressed with the quality of the food. We didn’t miss having meat in the curry and I thought I’d miss having butter in my crumble but it was delicious and the addition of muesli to the topping was just fabulous.

Looking to make another crumble for our Valentines meal on Friday and possibly this recipe as well as enjoy a glass of something pink and sparkly which I nabbed for a bargain £6.99.

Why not check out the Waitrose website for some healthy heart inspiration.

*I was provided with a shopping voucher to purchase my ingredients.

Christmas Drinks Guide

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Crushed Fruit Pouch Review

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Eating Organically With Waitrose

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Celebrating Organic September With Waitrose

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My Not So Naked Fruity Cake – A Waitrose Recipe

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Heart Healthy Meals This Valentines Day with Waitrose

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