Review: Anna Jones Riverford Vegetarian Recipe Box

 

I have previously reviewed a Riverford Recipe Box and very much enjoyed it, and so when I was approached to sample a Vegetarian limited edition Guest Recipe Box created by Guest Chef Anna Jones I was excited to get cooking with it.

Anna Jones is a protege from Jamie Oliver's "fifteen" restaurant and is unique amongst chefs in that she believes that vegetables should be the main ingredient of a dish (always refreshing for a Vegetarian to hear). Anna works as a stylist and food writer in London and has worked with some of the best-loved food brands, cooks and chefs of our time, including Antonio Carluccio, Mary Berry and Yotam Ottolenghi. The recipes created by Anna are inspiring, and simple for anyone who is looking to get dinner on the table without a fuss or having to compromise on variety and depth of flavours.

We were sent a box of fresh ingredients which contained everything we needed to make three meals for two. The recipes included in with our box were:

1. Beetroot Curry with spiked cottage cheese
2. Warm Kale, Tomato and Coconut salad with quinoa 
3. Sweet Potato and Puy Lentil Pie

As always, the huge benefit of ordering a Riverford box is that as well as receiving a box full of delicious organic produce, all of the extra ingredients are pre-weighed out into small containers, so that there is no extra shopping, weighing out ingredients, or throwing away excess food.

Each Recipe and Box comes equipped with a recipe box to tell you what to cook and what ingredients to use. I found that the recipe sheets fitted the timings given on the recipe perfectly and the quantities were also really good on them, so very accurate recipe sheets.

We made the Warm Kale Salad first, which took around thirty minutes to make. This was a fantastic recipe. I loved the saltiness of the Kale mixed with the juicy sweet tomatoes - a perfect flavour combination and the Quinoa also added some texture to the dish. The meal was very filling and I loved the concept of a warm salad.

Next we tried the Beetroot Curry which took about an hour to make. I have to say that although I very much liked the taste of this dish, grating all of the Beetroot left me with completely red stained hands, so perhaps a small pair of disposable gloves would help as it was rather messy to grate it all. Due to this, this was my least enjoyable recipe to make, although I did enjoy the taste and the cottage cheese mixed with the herbs and the lemon juice was a highlight of this dish.

The last dish we cooked was the Sweet Potato and Puy Lentil Pie. I don't tend to use lentils too much in cooking which is odd for a vegetarian but I always think they need to pre-soak. The puy lentils I used could be used straight away and once cooked offered just the perfect texture of a pie filling. I also loved the idea of making the pie with sweet potato instead of regular potato. This dish was by far my favourite and is perfect for those Autumn and Winter Nights rapidly approaching.

I really enjoyed making the recipes and thought that the end products were absolutely delicious. These recipes are a great way of cooking something creative and a little "outside the box" whilst also packing your diet full of veg and not compromising on flavour.

Anna Jones boxes are available for delivery 12th October to the 6th November and are priced at £33.95

Disclosure: Product offered in consideration for review.

Two Chicks Whole Egg: Review and Recipe

We love baking cakes in our house, although I will readily admit that I am not as good a baker as I am cook, so I am all for taking shortcuts whenever possible!

Whenever I make a cake I am typically either 1) being interrupted by two small people desperate to help or 2) running really short of time and so shortcuts or quick cheats are often really helpful to me.

I was approached to sample Two Chicks Whole Egg, a time saver which enables you use ready mixed fresh egg straight from the carton. Each carton contains ten free range whole eggs and all you have to do is pour. Two Chicks Whole Egg also saves you time, mess and ease having to crack the eggs and get them all sorted.

Two Chicks eggs are free range, pausterised, high in protein and have no preservatives. The egg keeps for up to two days after opening and is really convenient. We don't always have fresh eggs available, so this is a handy thing to keep in the fridge and it can also be frozen into smaller portions

As well as making cakes, there are lots of things that you can do with Two Chick whole egg. You could make and Omelette, Quiche or Frittata, or add it to bread, cakes or even a protein shake perhaps!

We were sent the ingredients to make a Victoria Sponge filled with Passion Fruit Cream using Two Chicks Whole Egg. The method given was simple to follow and I was very impressed using the product within the cake. It made the batter really creamy and looked really great. There was no mucking about with the egg, trying to fish the shell out of the bowl or getting mucky fingers like can happen when using egg from the shell. The cake was quick and simple to make and using the Two Chicks Egg made it a much easier recipe.

The cake was also delicious. You wouldn't have known that Two Chicks whole egg had been used over a freshly laid egg. I think that this product is a great idea and I would definitely recommend trying again as I think this would save lots of time and hassle in the kitchen and would make life easier.

Two Chicks Whole Egg is available from Waitrose. Ocado, Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons and retails at £3.00

 

Product Offered in consideration for Review

Review: Sage No Mess Waffle Maker

During the week our breakfast routine typically consists of grab what you can and go, so at the Weekend we often love to sit down as a family and enjoy breakfast or brunch together. During this time we typically eat the food we don't have time to enjoy in the week such as pastries, a cooked breakfast or Waffles!

I usually buy our waffles ready made, however recently we were approached to review the Sage "No Mess" Waffle Maker by Heston Blumenthal. 

I loved the sound of a "no mess" waffle maker and so was interested to find out how it all worked. The Sage No Mess Waffle Maker has a unique moat which captures all of the mess that typically occurs as the waffle batter doubles in size. Once cooked, you can just cut off the extra, and eat or discard it. There are seven darkness settings depending on how well done you like your waffles. It also has a non -stick finish which releases the waffles easily.

We found the Waffle Maker very simple to use. It comes boxed with an instruction manual and recipe book which gives you examples of the different kinds of waffles you can make including Classic, Belgian-Style, Chocolate and Buttermilk. We decided to keep things simple and go for the classic waffle at first.

After we had made the batter mix as per the recipes book, we tried out the machine. The machine pre-heats and then lights up and makes an audible sound once hot enough. We then spread 125 mls of batter evenly over the waffle plate and closed the lid. The light switches off whilst cooking and then switches back on and another beep sounds once cooked. You can get about 8 waffles from the batter mixture.

You can see a demonstration of the Sage No Mess Waffle Maker in the video below.

I was really impressed with the No Mess Waffle Maker, it does exactly what it says on the tin. I think that this is a necessary item for any family kitchen as we have found it really handy for making waffles and toasted sandwiches at all times of the day and night! I would definitely recommend it to others.

The Sage No Mess Waffle Maker retails £99.95 and is available from John Lewis, Amazon and Sage Appliances online.

Disclosure: Product sent in consideration for review