New finds for June: Cawston Press, Our Little Secret and Beech's Fine Chocolates

Some more exciting vegetarian products have graced our table this month and so here is a round-up of the products we received and what we thought of them.

Cawston Press
Having sampled Cawston Press Juice recently, I was excited to receive some new offerings from Cawston Press' lightly sparkling drinks range. A "grown-up" take on the humble soft drink, these new flavours are fantastic drunk just as they are, or mixed with your favourite choice of tipple.

Each canned drink is made from a blend of pressed fruit juices mixed with sparkling water and without any colourings, preservatives or artificial sweeteners. I was sent some of the new flavours in the range include Ginger Beer and Elderflower Lemonade.

Ginger Beer - a dry twist on the classic, with fiery root ginger and pressed apple juice.

Elderflower Lemonade - a wonderfully light blend of fragrant elderflower and pressed apple juice

I tried both products and was impressed with the intense flavours. Having said that, both flavours were so light and smooth and went down really well in a glass with some ice. It seems that they are the perfect beverage for summer, especially to pack in a picnic basket!!

The Elderflower Lemonade stood out to me as a clear winner. I could imagine sitting drinking this on a warm summer day and a cool summer evening. Look out for them on the shelves of Waitrose, Ocado and other supermarkets.

Our Little Secret 
Our Little Secret is a unique brand inspired by world flavours including Indian, Oriental and Mediterranean dishes. The brand aims to bring expertly prepared cuisine to the table in a convenient and easy way. Having scoured the globe for the tastiest ingredients, the Our Little Secret range includes nineteen individual products that are divided into meal kits, authentic cook-in sauces and single portion pots of rice.

We were sent an Our Little Secret Makhani sauce and a Tikka Lababdar sauce. We love Indian food in our family so we were excited to try them out. I am also constantly short of time during the week and so this sauce was a great "quick fix" for me to get meals prepared. I prepared the tikka sauce with some quorn chicken style pieces, and served it with some rice. It went down a treat and the kids enjoyed the smooth flavour that the tikka had. I served the peshwari sauce with some vegetables and served it with naan bread for hubby and I one evening. We both also enjoyed the sauce and would definitely look out for it in the supermarket.

Our Little Secret Sauces are available to buy in Morrisons Supermarkets and Makro Cash and Carry stores.


Beechs Fine Chocolate 
An approach to ask me to review any kind of chocolate is rarely turned down, especially when the chocolate in question is suitable for vegetarians and surprisingly also vegans - a rare find in the market these days.

Enter Beech’s Fine Chocolates, who have been producing quality traditional British Chocolates in Preston, Lancashire since 1920. All of Beech’s products are made using the finest ingredients and only natural colours and flavours.

I was sent a whole host of different flavours including Beech's Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate and Anglesey Sea Salt Milk Chocolate flavours which are all suitable for vegetarians.

I also received Dark Chocolate, Lime and Chilli Dark Chocolate, and Ginger Dark Chocolate which are all suitable for vegans.

When the chocolate bars arrived, I loved the look of the packaging. The chocolate looks a little extra special and I could imagine bringing it out and serving to friends.

Having sampled all of the flavours, I can honestly say that all of them were delicious. However, there were some clear winners which stood out, including the more interesting flavour combinations of Anglesey Sea Salt, the Ginger, and the Chilli and Lime dark chocolate, which we all agreed was really delicious and our clear favourite.

Beech's Fine Chocolate is perfect to enjoy as it is, but you can also cook with it. The thins are great for popping on top of cakes or cupcakes, the dark bar can be grated and used in sweet or even savoury cooking.

Beech's Fine Chocolates are available to buy online on their website.

How to eat Vegetarian in Southern California

Some of you may know we recently visited California to see family and having visited many times, I know how hard it can be to eat out for a vegetarian as everything there is mainly geared up for meat and fish eaters and they really do look at you as if you have two heads if you say you don't eat meat - even though California has a wide variety of food from so many different cultures and heritages. Today I just wanted to give you a sample of the delicious food we sampled during our visit to prove that vegetarians can eat well in California!

We flew American Airlines to LAX from London. Plane food can be notoriously dodgy, especially for vegetarians and so and I was pleasantly surprised to find they had a vegetarian pasta on offer both ways as one of the choices. I had ordered a veggie meal which basically consisted of stewed vegetables, but I quickly swapped it for the pasta which was delicious. A vegetarian panini was offered as a snack shortly before we landed in LAX and granola with blueberry yoghurt was served on the leg back to London shortly before landing in London. 

We stayed in Orange County, about 40 miles south of LA. The first morning, we ate at our hotel - Hotel Irvine, which I would definitely recommend if you are in the area. The food was amazing. A light buffet breakfast was on offer (coffee, juice, yoghurt, pastries) and then you could order from the menu too which was not too expensive. We ordered egg rancheros for breakfast which was absolutely delicious. The concept of being able to eat something that a fried breakfast was a little lost on the kids, but we thoroughly enjoyed the change!

Lunch took us to California Pizza Kitchen, where the kids ordered delicious pizzas and I ordered the Caramelised Peach Salad which had cranberries, gorgonzola, toasted pecans and red onions and of course the peaches served on a bed of greens. This dish was one of the food highlights of the trip as it was so delicious and unlike anything I have had in the UK. I am definitely going to try and recreate this salad at home as it was so delicious - although I'm sure the peaches won't be as fresh as they are in the sunshine state!

No trip to the USA would be complete without a visit to Denny's Diner for breakfast. I thought I remembered there being more vegetarian options on the menu, but it seems I was mistaken. There wasn't huge amounts of choice, but I opted for a cheese and tomato omelette which was ok and the hashbrown potatoes which were really yummy! 

Then there is Del Taco! Our family is a huge fan of Mexican food. We virtually ate Mexican at some point every day whilst away. Although Mexican food in the USA I'm sure does not hold a candle to authentic Mexican food from Mexico, it is a million times better than many of the lacklustre chains you find in the UK with disappointing versions of Mexican food. Enter Del Taco. We found a really nice, recently refurbished Del Taco where you could get a reasonably priced meal which was freshly made. Although I forgot to take pictures of the food (the food was so good we ate it before remembering to take pictures!) Our regular order included the 8 layer Veggie Burrito, Spicy Jack Cheese Quesadilla and Fries - which were the best I have tasted in any fast food restaurant. Eldest also loved the bean and cheese Burrito. We love Del Taco for a quick and easy meal. I think it's much nicer than Taco Bell and a great choice for fast food for Vegetarians as others - In and Out, Carls Jr, McDonalds etc don't always have as much vegetarian choice. 

A trip to Newport Beach cannot be forgotten, along with their awesome Balboa Bars - the delicious ice cream bar delicacy native to the bay of Newport - which is literally one of my favourite places in the world. We enjoyed our Balboa Bars as we watched the yachts sail along the harbour and took a ride on the Ferris Wheel. As a big fan of the tv show "The OC" in my late teens/early twenties, it just reminds me of a simpler time when as a single gal I could "hop across the pond" to California anytime I wanted to visit family and chill out at Newport Beach. 

We were lucky enough to enjoy traditional American Hospitality when we went to a Memorial Day BBQ at a local church. It was a bring a dish policy and the offerings were absolutely immense! I have never seen to many different salad and pasta dishes, not to mention the unbelievable cupcakes which the kids soon got stuck into. Funnily enough there were no veggie burgers on offer - it was a meat fest on the BBQ - not room for anything vegetable related! However, I didn't go hungry as there was so much other great food to sample. Our lasting memories of the day though are the kids taking part in a watermelon eating competition. Youngest had a brilliant time and I loved seeing her playing with other children and having fun. 

Another regular stop when we are in SoCal is Jamba Juice. A little "passe" these days for some, a few years ago, a visit to Jamba Juice was "the" thing to do and the queues would often be out of the door. Our regular Jamba Juice had closed down, but we did find another outlet, and enjoyed a delicious juice from Jamba whilst we soaked up the California sun. 

Next stop Rubios - a slightly more upmarket version of Del Taco I guess. Serving "coastal inspired cuisine, Rubios is very fish focused. However, I did manage to find a Veggie Burrito. Nachos and quesadilla, along with some delicious black beans which we found really tasty. 

Youngest has also begged me to mention "which wich" a sandwich shop where she ate from whilst we had Rubios. She loved it as she got to pick a bag and tick what type of sandwich she wanted, what bread and fillings,and then watch the bag go along the line and be filled with her sandwich. I love the idea of this, so I think we will all be visiting next time! 

Last in our mentions is Chilli's, I love the local Chill's in the city where we stayed. It conjures up happy memories of my childhood, and my Dad taking me for Quesadillas whilst we watched Monday night Football. I always remenber the delicious Quesadilla's with cheese and scallions. This visit we went all out and ordered a few different dishes from the menu to share. We opted for the White Spinach Queso, Tostadas with Avocado and Veggies (minus the chicken), a combo dish with Cheese Quesadilla and Veggie Tortilla and Crispy Cheddar Bites, 

As some of the main courses were not specifically vegetarian, I think that Chillis was very accommodating in allowing customers to make their food veggie. I love Chill's as I think they are really vegetarian friendly and we will be back next time we visit! 

Other food highlights included a trip to Panda Express for Chinese and lots of other places. Although California is very meat and fish orientated, I think it's easy to eat Vegetarian if you know where to look and hopefully some of these have inspired you to take a look if you are ever in that part of the world. 

What's your favourite place for vegetarian food in Orange County? Do you have any good tips for me for next time?