Schwartz 2in1 Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken & Crispy Roast Potatoes

Roast chicken is our family favourite, and I have fond memories of my Mum cooking the roast chicken (either placed on a big tray of sea salt or sitting on a glass jar or a beer can, does anyone remember that 1980s trend of roasting the chicken?). It has to have the crispy skin, of course, and succulent moist meat, and what could be possibly better than a side dish of the crispy roast potatoes to go with it? Schwartz has produced a 2in1 Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken mix which combines the classic flavours and makes the cooking job that little bit easier.

 As I tend to have a couple of packets of Schwartz potato wedge mixes in the kitchen in case we fancy a quick dinner, I knew I could trust Schwartz when it comes to potato dishes. You might have read my review of Schwartz 2in1 Mediterranean Chicken Pasta (Dinnertime with Schwartz), which I wasn't impressed with, and I was hoping that the 2nd packet of 2in1 (which I received for testing and reviewing) would restore my faith in Schwartz.

 2in1 Garlic & Thyme Roast Chicken + Crispy Roast Potatoes packet follows the same principle: you get two different mixes for two different stages of cooking the dish.
It is very easy to follow the instructions, and even the beginner chef could make this dinner with a minimum of effort. The only thing I added is the quartered lemon in the cavity.
What do you need to do? Place the chicken in the roasting tray and score the breasts and legs.
In a small bowl mix the roast chicken seasoning with the oil and brush all over the chicken. Place it in the oven, covered with the foil (this will keep the chicken moist and prevent from drying). For the last 45 minutes the chicken is cooked without the foil, so that the skin gets all nice and crispy.
The potatoes are parboiled and cooked in a separate roasting dish, sprinkled with the potato seasoning.

 Now what did we think of it? The chicken seasoning was very flavourful, and as I mentioned before, has the classic ingredients in it. The chicken was exactly as it should be, crispy on the outside and moist under the skin. I loved the idea of semolina added to the potato coating (very Nigella Lawson, isn't it? who among the other celebrity chefs suggested sprinkling the semolina on the parboiled potatoes before roasting them for that perfect crispiness).
All in all, it is a very decent mix. Would I use it again? Yes. I might add a bit more rosemary to the potatoes, as I really love the flavour of rosemary, but that is my personal taste.

This post is an entry for BritMums "What's for Dinner Tonight" (link removed as expired) sponsored by Schwartz.
Find out more about the new 2in1 mixes here.

The perfect picnic giveaway (c/d 22 July 2013)

This weekend the outdoor parties and picnics are in full swing. What do you like to add to your picnic spread to make it perfect?
Bottlegreen cordials add a summer scent and flavour to any drink. And who can resist a bowlful of Burts potato chips. If you enjoy these products, here is your chance to win a lovely selection of Bottlegreen and Burts chips products.
Bottlegreen and Burts potato chips have kindly offered a prize for one of my lucky blog readers.

The prize on offer includes:
2 bottles of Bottlegreen presse
a bottle of Bottlegreen elderflower cordial
and 4 packs of 150g potato chips (the chips might vary from the photo below, but they will be Burts potato chips).

If you would like to win this prize, please fill in the Rafflecopter form.
T&Cs:
Only the first step is mandatory: all you need is answer the question by leaving a comment.

All the other steps are optional, you don't have to do them all. All it takes to win is just one entry.
Only one entry per person is allowed (however, you can tweet daily to increase your chances).
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflcopter picks the winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested. I will contact the winner, if they do not reply within a week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 22 July 2013 at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cornetto o'clock and feeding the piggies at Cogges

The summer has finally arrived. It is such a hot day today. Nobody fancied going to the swimming pool today, instead we decided to visit Cogges (it's our third visit in the last month).

It is +27C today, and what a better excuse one needs to have a Cornetto? Well, the guys had their Cornettos and I chose a Solero, and lovely it was indeed, I can't remember when it was the last time I had eaten a Solero.

Visitors to the farm are encouraged to buy small pots of food to feed the animals, and the pigs are always the grateful recipients of the fruity bonanza. And they look darn cute too. Eddie keeps talking about them all the week. For some reason he says "Let's go to see the pigs and animals", as if pigs are a completely different species, not animals but humans.

Aren't they adorable?

This time we went all around the enclosed sheep pastures and saw the Manor farm from afar. I also observed the plants' progress in the kitchen garden and the orchard with great interest. A fab place. If I were in charge of the educational bodies in the area, I would make it obligatory to take the nursery and primary school kids to Cogges to see how the vegetables and fruit grow. Not everyone has a luxury of a garden and/or an allotment, and too many kids have no clue where the food comes from.

We had a quick round through the house to check what's cooking today. I love, love, love that stove in the kitchen. Last week we sampled some gorgeous Welsh cakes, and the lady making them offered me a printed recipe. I made a batch of apple Welsh cakes on Friday, and they proved to be very tasty (a separate post will follow with the recipe).

As it happened, today the ladies in the kitchen were offering a slice of a courgette cake to the visitors, and it looked very pretty. Alas, we were too full of ice cream and drinks to even consider having a cake. Maybe next time.

If my guys were not running like mad to the play area, I would have loved to spend more time in the orchard, admiring the flowers and vegetables. This part of the Manor farm is always so peaceful and serene.

But No, to the pay area we all ran. The zip wire was calling, and the slides and the swings. As the day was getting hotter by the minute, the parents with tired red-faced children were leaving for the cafe area to hide from the sun. And I begged my guys that it was time to go home.

I'm a true snow maiden, I don't like the heat and feel like a dozy fly on the window in the hot weather. When we came home, I quickly whizzed a batch of milkshakes (milk, strawberry jam and vanilla ice cream) to cool down a bit.
And now I am relaxing with a glass of Pimm's.

Ozeri Green Earth Pan (review)

This week I have been testing The Green Earth Pan by Ozeri. I am always cautious when it comes to "non-stick" frying pans, as I have found in the past that the so called non-stick pans would be perfectly sticky despite all the promises. So did my new pan deliver its promise?

Products details:

• "Utilizes GREBLON ceramic - an ultra-safe ceramic coating from Germany which is 100% PTFE and PFOA free (no heavy metals or chemicals).
• Innovative textured pan surface delivers unprecedented non-stick performance without releasing harmful fumes or toxins at high temperatures.
• Features a scratch-resistant 100 percent ceramic coating that is super easy to clean.
• Made out of durable heavy-gauge pure aluminum with no heavy metals or harmful chemicals.
• Boasts a comfortable heat resistant silicon coated handle, and a magnetized induction stove safe base for rapid heat transfer."

What did I think of this product?
First of all, I was really impressed at how little of oil you need. In fact, any excessive addition of oil is not recommended so as not to cause the residue's build-up. I used a little spray of oil for cooking a variety of dishes, and it had perfect results every time. As you can see from the photos below and above, I tried different meals: vegetable stir-fry, chicken with asparagus and beans, veal cutlets in the orange sauce and even Welsh cakes (and more). And as you can see from my 10 seconds-long video, the fried eggs just slide off the pan into the plate (and I did have my good share of the fried eggs stuck to the pans in the past, including those which claim to be non-sticking).
It is very easy to clean with hot soapy water.
I've been testing a smaller size pan (20cm) but you could find bigger Green Earth pans on amazon.
I love the idea that it is environmentally-friendly.
I would mark it as 10/10, I could not find any fault with it.

Disclosure: I received the pan for the purposes of testing and reviewing, all opinions are mine.

Go botanical: mango salad with edible flowers

"Mama, you are not going to eat that?! That's flowers!" Going botanical in cooking is one of the recent trends (or more likely, the one that has gone back in fashion). And while I often use the rose petals in cooking (as well as primroses in spring), I was thrilled to discover that Abel & Cole sell the edible flowers. This recipe for Mango salad with edible flowers is easy to make, very pretty to look at and tastes great.

Mango salad with edible flowers
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango
1 carrot, grated
a handful of red currants
several flowers of calendula, marigold and nasturtium
2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp honey + more for drizzling over
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Grate the carrot and mix with the calendula petals (3 flowers). Add the olive oil, lemon juice and honey, mix well. Slice the mango and arrange the slices on a plate. Put the carrot mix in the middle, top up with a few mango slices. Scatter the red currants and more flowers. Drizzle good dark honey over the salad.
It was amazingly good. Really, really tasty, I must say I didn't expect that I would like it so much.
Calendula, marigold and nasturtium petals are so vibrant and add a fun healthy note to any salad.
Marigold petals have a rather peppery note, and I can imagine they would work beautifully in savoury salads, with rocket, pears and blue cheese.

I wish I could say the flowers came from my garden, but I didn't plant any calendulas or marigolds this year. This little box of edible flowers is available from Abel & Cole, and don't they look pretty?!

If you can't use them quickly, you can easily dry the marigold and calendula petals and cook with them later. Many years ago, when I hosted a Tudor-themed dress party for my 30th birthday, I baked a cake with the dried calendula petals. This was a recipe from a cook book which contained Elizabethan recipes. I have lost that recipe and cannot remember the name of the book. The cake was lovely. You can also add the dried petals to black tea and make a flavoured tea. I have read you can add them when making tortillas, but I haven't yet tried that, it will be my next project.

Have you ever tried the edible flowers?

I'm also submitting this recipe to Ren Behan's 'Simple & In Season' blog event, you can see the other entries for June.

Tuna and orange salad with croutons

Summer (what summer? I hear you ask) is a perfect time for eating salads. And this is the right time to experiment with the ingredients, changing a few bits here, adding a few new touches there, or even just sticking to the good old classics, if you don't fancy any changes. Tuna salads are very popular, but could get a bit boring. How about jazzing it up a bit? Here is a delicious summery twist on the standard tuna salad with beans - Tuna and orange salad with croutons.

Tuna and orange salad with croutons (serves 2-3)
Ingredients:
185g tin of tuna chunks in spring water, drained
1 orange, skinned and sliced
400g tin of mixed bean salad in water, drained and rinsed
a handful of pea shoots
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
2tbsp Amoy Special Selection soy sauce
1tsp Greek honey
2tbsp olive oil
a handful of Fresh Gourmet sea salt & cracked black pepper croutons

Salad before the croutons are added

Drain the water from both tins (and rinse the beans). In a bowl mix the beans with tuna chunks, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, soy sauce and Greek honey.
Take a deep salad dish and arrange first the pea shoots and orange slices, then the tuna/beans mix. Add the olives. This could be made a couple of hours before serving (keep in the fridge covered with the plastic wrap).
Just before serving add a handful of croutons.

These days I have been testing a selection of Fresh Gourmet croutons (see my post Mango and mozzarella salad). I thought Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Croutons would work well with the tuna salad, and indeed, they added a lovely crunch and flavour.
I love croutons and would happily munch on them through the day. This is a classic flavour that would be perfect for salads and soups. I can imagine a freshly made pea and mint soup with a swirl of soured cream would be great with a scattering of these croutons.

This colourful salad is tasty and full of different textures. Try it!

You can find more about Fresh Gourmet toppings, if you visit Fresh Gourmet UK page.

Discovery Foods giveaway (c/d 10 July 2013)

In conjunction with Discovery Instagram competition (you can read all about it on yesterday's post), one of my lucky blog readers will win a lovely selection of Discovery products.
This is a short-term giveaway, running just for a week, so that the winner has a chance to enter the Instagram competition which was launched yesterday.

This is the hamper kindly offered by Discovery Foods including:
1x Perfect Fajita Kit, 1x Red Jalapenos, 1x Taco Trays, 1x Garlic & Herb soured cream, 1x salsa

We just had Discovery tacos for dinner yesterday, and all you need to add is the minced beef (quickly fried with the sauce), fresh salad and grated cheese (we love to add Tickler). It is so quick and easy, perfect for a week day dinner.
Aren't you licking you lips yet?!

If you would like to win this prize, please fill in the Rafflecopter form.
T&Cs:
Only the first step is mandatory: all you need is answer the question by leaving a comment.

All the other steps are optional, you don't have to do them all. All it takes to win is just one entry.
Only one entry per person is allowed (however, you can tweet daily and do a bonus click entry daily as well to increase your chances).
The giveaway is open to the UK residents only.
Once the Rafflcopter picks the winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested. I will contact the winner, if they do not reply within a week, the prize will be allocated to another person.
The giveaway will close on 10 July 2013 at midnight.

Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Discovery Instagram competition

Do you love Mexican food? Then you must be familiar with the Discovery range of Mexican food. Are you one of the thousands of foodies who love snapping their kitchen creations and take photos of dishes when they go out for dinner?

Then you will love a new competition.

Discovery is launching a brand new Instagram page!  

Today is officially the first day of the Discovery Instagram competition.

What is this competition about?

"To celebrate the launch of the brand new Discovery Foods Instagram page at the beginning of July, we’re encouraging all you food fanatics to get creative in the kitchen. We’re looking for the most creative uses of Mexican food with great images to share with all our fans.

 

Simply create a delicious and beautifully presented Mexican meal using Discovery Food products and share your photo with us via the Instagram page to be in with a chance of winning one of 10 exciting prizes to the value of £25 every week for 4 weeks!"

  

To make sure Discovery find all entries, please can you include the following quote in your photo caption: 

'My #deliciousdiscovery entry for a chance to win £25 Amazon voucher with @Discoveryfoods'

Good luck! 

You can read all the T&Cs in great detail here.

Back at Cogges

Since we visited the Cogges Manor Farm a couple of weeks ago, Eddie hasn't stopped taking about the animals on the farm and the house with the ghost. He cautiously asks me if there is a ghost under his bed, and when I jokingly tell him to go under the bed and check it out, he slowly steps back and tells me: "Silly Mama, there is only dust under the bed".
It was such a lovely warm day yesterday that we decided to pay a visit to Cogges again (you can read about our previous trip here). This time we got a set of seasonal tickets for us (except Eddie who can go free so far).

First the boys wanted to climb on the wooden tractor (I wish we had one like this in our garden).

Then we stopped at the cafe for a cup of tea, coffee, and lush pastries: homemade scone with clotted cream and jam or a strawberry tart. As Eddie wasn't keen on the pastries, I asked him if he wanted some crisps. To which my husband said "Junk food". Eddie piped in with his comment "Mama always gives me junk food". Erm, thank you, Eddie!

It was actually the day of the scarecrow festival, and you could see lots of scarecrows sitting around the yard. We didn't sit down for a painting activity, as my guys were keen to explore and go to the play area.

You can buy some feed for animals at the entrance, and we happily fed the pigs who munched the food we offered to them in a flash. We talked to the ducks, observed the sheep in the enclosed fields around the manor, admired the beautiful garden.
The most memorable thing Eddie is talking about? "We saw the sheep. It pooped".

The play area was very busy, we had to wait in the queue to get on the zip wire. I hope during the summer holidays, maybe during the week, we'll be able to come early and let Sasha ride the zip wire to his heart's content.

Last time we visited, it was raining, while yesterday it was getting hotter and hotter.
Bye for now, Cogges, see you soon!

Mango and mozzarella salad

Last week I bought a box of wonderfully ripe mangoes from Pakistan at the local market. The aroma was amazing, sweet and luscious. I often add the sliced mango to the fruit salad or make a smoothie, but was wondering if I could pair it with the mozzarella, to copy the Insalata Caprese, using the mango instead of the tomatoes. And here is my Mango and mozzarella salad. It is definitely not an Italian recipe, more of a twist on a classic. You can ask, why change the classic recipe which works well? I love the Insalata Caprese, but was surprised how nicely mozzarella and mango go together, and very glad that I tried this combination.

Mango and mozzarella salad
Ingredients:
1 ripe mango
1 mozzarella (125g light mozzarella)
a handful of basil leaves and pea shoots
2tbsp olive oil
a good squeeze of lemon juice
sea salt
Fresh Gourmet basil pesto ciabatta croutons

Slice the mango. Drain the mozzarella and slice it as well. Arrange on a plate, interchanging slices of mango and mozzarella.
Prepare the dressing by whizzing a handful of basil leaves, pea shoots with the olive oil and lemon juice, season well with salt.

Sprinkle the dressing on top of the salad, add the pesto-flavoured ciabatta croutons.

Fresh Gourmet basil pesto ciabatta croutons are made from artisan bread. They were very moreish, after I added them to the salad, I kept eating the croutons straight from the bag. They are deliciously salty and crunchy, the pesto works very well with the ciabatta, combining these two Italian flavours beautifully.
If like me, you enjoy your salads with crunchy bits, I would recommend trying these flavourful croutons.

The number one brand of croutons and toppings in the USA has now launched in the UK, offering busy cooks the crunch, flavour and texture that transforms everyday dishes into memorable meals in minutes.

"Fresh Gourmet is the biggest provider of salad toppings, especially croutons, in the US and have brought their delicious products exclusively to UK Tesco stores to inspire us Brits to become more creative with our salads. The range includes three crunchy crouton flavours – Cheese and Garlic, Basil Pesto and Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper – along with Crispy Onions and is ideal for people who like a salad in the summer but need that added texture to jazz up the dish".

Disclosure: I received a selection of Fresh Gourmet croutons for the purposes of reviewing. All opinions are mine.