Author: Scottish Mum

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Review & Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe: Using Tesco Berndes Cookware, From the Tesco Sticker Promotion

We gratefully received a Tesco Berndes Cookware cast iron casserole dish, from the Tesco Kitchen range, with the challenge of creating a meal in one pot.  I’m familiar with one pot cooking by using my slow cooker, but cooking a meal in the oven as a casserole hasn’t been a common occurrence for me.  The only casserole dish I owned, was not quite able to hold a full meal for six people, so my new dish was perfect for the job.

I really like the large handles at either side of the pot, as they make the dish easy to remove from the oven.  I could fit my hands with oven gloves on around the handle.

Don’t forget to put an oven glove back on to lift it again though.  Four of my fingers suffered when I made that rookie home cook mistake.

Berndes 3

The Berndes Casserole dish has received 5 out of 5 in a recent review on independent.ie, beating some big name rivals! Read the review here.  There are three sizes, the 20cm, 24cm and the biggest, which is 29cms.

In-Store Sticker Promotion:

Tesco are running a sticker promotion between 29th September – 25th January 2015 where you can save up to 70% on exclusive Berndes cookware products at Tesco. For every £20 you spend online OR in-store you can collect a sticker, once you’ve collected five stickers you can use these to save up to 70% off professional kitchenware items.

The Berndes range of casserole dishes starts at £119, up to £134.99.  You can save up to 70% off the Berndes cookware range with 10 stickers at Tesco, find out more at bit.ly/1uwNo3f  You can use your stickers up to Sunday, the 11th of January 2015.

Giveaway

I’m also giving one of these fabulous dishes away.  For the giveaway, the colourful 24cm dish is the prize, and it’s a lovely one, worth £120.  Keep an eye out on the blog, as it will be live later today.

Berndes 24 cm Casserole Dish
Berndes 24 cm Casserole Dish

 

Tesco Challenge For Me:

To create a meal in a pot and share the recipe with them.

My Recipe For The Tesco One Pot Challenge:

Easy Chicken Casserole Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Main Dish
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken Stock Pot
  • Boiling Water
  • 50 ml Olive Oil
  • 1200 g Mixed Vegetables I used baby potatoes, leek, carrot, turnip and red onion.
  • 1 Colemans Chicken Casserole Sachet
  • 5 Chicken Breasts Diced
  • 3 heaped teaspoons Cornflour
  • 3 tablespoons Cold Water

Method
 

  1. Set the oven to 220 Degrees C.
  2. Add the olive oil to a shallow frying pan, then sear the chicken to seal the meat. Add the onions and carrots towards the end to lightly fry those.
  3. Add the chicken and vegetables to the casserole dish. Top with the chicken casserole mix and stock pot. Fill the dish to almost three quarters of the level of contents, stir, then cover the dish with a lid, or tin foil.
  4. Reduce the heat of the oven to 180 Degree C and cook for up to 2 hours, or the chicken and vegetables are fully cooked.
  5. If you prefer a thicker gravy, remove the casserole from the dish about ten to twenty minutes before the end of cooking. Mix cornflour with a little water until it is fully dissolved. Add it to the dish and fold into the casserole. Put the casserole back in the oven until the gravy has thickened.
Posted on by — 42 Comments

Top Tips For Using A Soup Maker

What are my top tips for using a soup maker?  Read on to find out.

Tomato Soup 8 Why Should You Use A Soup Maker?

For me, a soup maker was a welcome present from Morphy Richards, which has seen a labour of love grow from early beginnings.

Morphy Richards now have a new machine on the go, which seems to have a sauté base, so I covet that version at the moment.  For now, I will stick with my kettle version of a soup maker.

I imagine that if you are looking for soup maker recipes, that you already own a machine, but if you don’t, there are major differences between the two styles that prevail.

Types of Soup Maker

Kettle / Jug Type

This is like the version that I have.  It resembles a large kettle, but you cannot see the inside of it while the soup cooks.  You do need to use the minimum and maximum settings on the kettle to make sure you have the right amount of ingredients and fluid in your soup maker. My version can also make smoothies, which is a very welcome thing indeed.  The blender attachment is in the top of the kettle, which makes for very easy cleaning.

Blender Type

These versions tend to be slightly more expensive.  They can often sauté onions and vegetables, but with the kettle versions catching up, that benefit will soon be wiped out.

These usually resemble a traditional counter top blender, with the blending tool in the bottom of the glass.  They are said to be more difficult to clean, but I cannot vouch for that.  You really would have to find out for yourself.

Considerations For Buying A Soup Maker

Decide what SIZE of soup maker you will need.  My version makes soup from 1.3 – 1.6 litres.  If you are only making soup for one person, you might be fine with a small quantity soup maker, or simply freeze what you have made for another day.

Different SETTINGS do made a difference.  I wanted the option to have both smooth and chunky soup from my soup maker.  The smoothie function was an added bonus.  It isn’t obvious when you look at some versions, but reading more deeply into functions and settings, you might find the one you are coveting cannot do one or the other.

If you want ease of CLEANING, then you have no option but to read through the reviews of people who have owned soup makers.  I have only suffered from one burnt bottom of the pan, and that was my own fault, as I forgot to stir the ingredients with the fluid before I popped on the lid.   It is worth nothing though, that even though the bottom did burn, just a little….a ten minute soak with hot soapy water, and it scrubbed off no problem.

Soup Maker Tips and Tricks

  • Prepare as much of your ingredients as possible in advance. Considering that most of my recipes are simply chop and plop, it’s quite easy to do.
  • Use boiling water for your stock, or liquid addition. I find that if I use it cold from the tap that the vegetables may not be fully cooked when the soup is ready.  Starting with hot stock, gives it a great chance to add more flavour and taste.
  • If you plan to use anything frozen, make sure the ingredients are fully thawed first.
  • Make sure all meat that goes into the soup maker is pre-cooked. Soup makers do not have long enough settings to cook your meat.
  • Chop your ingredients into small pieces, especially potatoes, carrots and turnip. This allows the vegetables to fully cook in the short soup maker cycle.
  • Ensure the lid is fully closed or sealed.
  • Do NOT open the lid during cooking. If you do you may find yourself splattered with very hot liquid.
  • Some soup makers have a strong pulse setting. I’ve seen many people recommend holding down the lid, to avoid soup being pushed up and out of the blender.  I do not have this problem with my version, but remember to check out the possibilities of your own.
  • Follow your manufacturers minimum and maximum guidelines. My jug has these clearly marked on the inside of my machine.
  • Do not submerge your soup maker fully in water to clean.  Follow your instructions to the letter, or you may short out your machine.
  • Follow your manufacturers instructions for cooking, cleaning and maintenance.

SAFETY WHEN USING A SOUP MAKER

  1. NEVER fill your soup maker past its manufacturers recommendation or outside the minimum and maximum fill levels.
  2. Do NOT immerse any parts of your soup maker fully in water.
  3. Keep soup makers and kettles away from the edges of counters, especially if you have children, to avoid them being dragged over the edge.
  4. Do not be tempted to open the lid during cooking. The soup maker contents may explode over you.
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Review: Nairn’s Astro Bites

Thank you to Nairn’s for sending us some of their Astro Bites to review.

Nairn's Astro Bites 2

Astro bites are bite sized oaty biscuits, made with wholegrain oats, fruit pieces, and with less sugar than the average children’s biscuit.

They come in little mini bags, that make perfect sized lunchbag treats.

The shapes are in the form of friendly From the friendly Astrod, Captain Astro, Rocket Blaster, U.F.Oat, Starlight Saver and Planet Starbix.  Inside each box, there is one sticker from a set of six space-tastic Astro Bites stickers.

Eldest was the most vocal, who said they could do with a little more berry blast flavour, as the oaty taste is the strongest flavour.  He says that when you taste the berry blast flavour, that it is ‘fine.’  Saying that, he is on for eating six packets so far, so I think he likes them well enough!!!

They’re made with whole grain oats, are high in fibre and are made from a wheat free recipe.  All good stuff.

I don’t know how they do it, but from the bag I opened, I managed to get one of each of the friendly shapes.  That seriously impressed me.  I know, I’m easily pleased.

 

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Soup Maker Recipe: Beetroot and Orange Soup Recipe

I’ve struggled for a while to get a beetroot soup that I can cope with.  This beetroot and orange soup seems to be my ideal soup for this vegetable.

For me, it needs the addition of the citrus to be palatable.  Everyone else is different.  I also left out the salt and pepper in my version, but feel free to add it to yours.  I had to experiment with beetroot, as the first versions I made came out orange.  I suspect it was more to do with the variety of beetroot and where it was grown than anything else.

The kids preferred a little cream mixed into theirs at the serving stage, so it’s all good for turning this into a cream of beetroot soup, quite easily.

Soup Maker: Beetroot and Orange Soup Recipe

5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 600 g Cooked Beetroot Quartered
  • 100 g Red Onions Chopped
  • 100 g Carrots Chopped
  • 1 Stock Pot Vegetable or Chicken
  • 800 ml Boiled Water
  • 200 g Orange Juice
  • PinchSalt
  • PinchPepper

Method
 

  1. Simply add all the ingredients to the pot, apart from the orange juice.
  2. Select the smooth setting.
  3. When the soup is ready, stir in the orange juice before serving.
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Review: Chocolat Chocolat Handmade Bars Of Chocolate

A big thank you to Chocolat Chocolat for sending us some handmade bars of chocolate to try out.

Chocolat Chocolat has been in Cambridge since 1999, when they opened their shop, selling a range of luxury chocolates.  The chocolate is handmade sheet chocolate, made with the finest Belgian chocolate.  The sheets are sprinkled with fabulous flavour combinations, that have something for everyone.

Custom Bars of Chocolate

I was given the triple create your own custom bar to try.

We choose our chocolate from a list of:

  • Dark (70%
  • Dark (55%)
  • Milk (34%)
  • Caramel (34%)
  • White (28%)

There are lots of toppings to choose from, and too many for me to list here, but you can pick up to three for each bar of chocolate.

Chocolat Chocolat Bars

I chose

  • Milk Chocolate with Pistachio and Hazlenut Praline Topping & Scottish Mum in writing.
  • Milk Chocolate with Fudge Balls and Fudge Pieces.
  • White Chocolate with Raspberry Pieces and Popping Candy.

My bars were handmade by Lisa, so thank you Lisa.

The milk chocolate is lovely.  I’ve not tried the white chocolate, but I’m sure it will be just as nice.

The bars make for great Christmas Presents, and that’s exactly where two of our bars are going to go.   I know someone who will absolutely love the raspberry pieces and popping candy.

Chocolate Bouquets

Looking around their website, I found chocolate bouquets.  These look really nice for a gift too.

chocolate bouquet

They’re made from chocolate sheets which are thinner than regular chocolate, so they melt in the mouth, to release delicious flavours.

Sprinkled on top, are combinations such as Fruit & Nut, Orange Peel, Coffee Beans, Freeze Dried Raspberries, or Strawberries, and even Caramel, Praline and Sea Salt.

Chocolate Making Courses

The company also run an introduction to chocolate course for those of you who live close enough to Cambridge to attend.   Don’t these look fabulous?

choccourses

For £60, you can learn how to make chocolates for yourselves.  It’s the perfect course for the novice who dreams of a future career making chocolate.   The courses run to around 2.5 – 3 hours each.

 

 

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Review: Chop Sizzle Wow Cookbook

The Chop Sizzle Wow Cookbook was released in October this year.  I received a copy of this highly pictoral cookbook, which has 50 quick and easy Italian recipes from The Silver Spoon.

Each recipe is illustrated step by step, in hand drawn style, which will appeal to young cooks as well as those of us who are winding our way up the table of 1 – 100.

Chop Sizzle One SM

The chapters are broken down into:

  • Appetizers.
  • Pasta
  • Mains
  • Desserts
  • Baking

We like the pasta dishes the best, as my kids would live on pasta, day in, day out.  I make so many soups, that the change was quite nice for them.  We’re planning the Raspberry Semifreddo as one to try over the Christmas holidays.

Some of the recipes are a little involved, so may well need some adult help, and plenty supervision with the heat aspect, but it is fun to attempt.  Any reason to get kids active in the kitchen is a good one.

The illustrations by Brazilian illustrator and artist Adriano Rampazzo – a recent graduate of London’s Central St Martin’s art college.  I do think this would make a fabulous Christmas present.

It’s available directly from Phaidon for £12.95

Chop Sizzle Wow 2

 

 

 

Posted on by — 75 Comments

Giveaway: Win A Set of 4 Gemstone Animals – Ends 10th December 2015

Museum Selection was founded in 2002.  They work with museums and galleries, to offer a collection of home accessories, gifts and cards, with purchases of these items helping the museums.

Taking inspiration from country house interiors and gardens, museum collections and our great cathedrals, their aim is to bring together distinctive and unusual home accessories, jewellery, clothing and gifts celebrating over a thousand years of history, art and design.

The Giveaway

These gemstone animals, sold by Museum Collection, retailing at £37.99 are lovely, and would make a fabulous gift.

They are semi-precious gemstone animals echoing the carved hardstone ‘objets virtu’ created in Russia at the end of the 19th century.

Each animal is 1.5″ tall, and handmade from natural stones.  Each one will be unique.

The animals are:

Bear

Polished green aventurine with black and white jasper fish.

Dalmatian

Polished black and cream Dalmatian jasper.

Cat

Polished tiger’s eye.

Fish

Polished red jasper.

Gemstone Animals

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules

– Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.

– 1 Winner will win one Set of 4 Gemstone Animals from Museum Selection.

– The prize will be sent to you from museumselection.co.uk, and posted from within the UK.

– The Scottish Mum Blog is not responsible for your prize and cannot be held liable in any way for non delivery or non receipt at your end.

– Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, a new winner will be drawn.

– The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.

– Scottish Mum Blog or Museum Selection reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.

– Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.

– Closes 10th December at midnight.

Posted on by — 133 Comments

Review & Giveaway: Wallace Tartan Blanket Rug from #BuyAKilt.com

Up for a giveaway, is a lovely Wallace Tartan Blanket Rug from buyakilt.com.

They were lovely enough to send us one to review, which is going to my youngest child, who has the odd habit of playing x-box in his bedroom, with his window wide open, then complaining of being too cold.  The blanket is thick and cosy, which will keep his shoulders toasty warm.

Wallace Tartan Blanket Rug:

Wallace Tartan Blanket Rug

The pure wool tartan blanket measures approximately 5ft x 6ft (152.4cm x 182.9cm)

It makes an ideal throw for a bed or sofa, or even as a picnic rug.

Features:

  • Measures approximately 5ft by 6ft (some tartans may vary)
  • Made from 100% pure new wool to the highest quality
  • Fringed ends
  • Heavyweight and durable

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules

  • Open to UK Mainland Entrants only.
  • 1 Winner will win one Wallace Tartan Blanket Rug.
  • The prize will be sent to you from buyakilt.com, and posted from within the UK.
  • The Scottish Mum Blog is not responsible for your prize and cannot be held liable in any way for non delivery or non receipt at your end.
  • Winners will be notified within 3 days of giveaway end. If the winner does not respond within 7 days, a new winner will be drawn.
  • The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter random generator.
  • Scottish Mum Blog or buyakilt.com reserves the right to amend, add or withdraw this giveaway at any time.
  • Each entry method entitles you to one entry into the draw.
  • Closes 10th December at midnight.
Posted on by — 3 Comments

Loyalty and Fairness For All #HelloRBS

Loyalty and fairness are words that we hear bandied around our family a lot.

Most readers know that my three boys are adopted.  They have many birth brothers and sisters who live in other adoptive and foster families.  Being able to cope with that, and treat everyone fairly is quite a tricky body of water to navigate, even for us adults.

As far as we can, we try to include the parents and children who live with other families in our news.  Just this morning, we received an updated picture of one of my boys birth sisters, which winged its way over to us from half way around the world.   From our side, returning the favour will be our next step in the keeping everyone up to date plan.  That’s no mean feat when there are seven other families to include.

For the boys, it’s also keeping the expectations realistic, as well as keeping their loyalty to their birth family, but not alienating their adoptive one at the same time.  It’s hard enough for adults to cope, but for the children, and hopefully, their long-term relationships with each other, it’s necessary.

It’s turning out quite nice really, as if they have some good news to share, they often pick up the phone to a sibling before telling anyone else.

There are occasions where they fall out, of course there are, so we are working to manage those awkward times, but so far, the boys have done a good job of working things out and remaining polite and respectful of each other.   Friends can come and go during our lifetimes, but we hope the boys sibling relationships will remain as good as they are now, where they are fiercely loyal to each other when it comes to those outside the family.

My Family Hands

At the same time, the boys have to stay on good terms with their friends and of course the adoptive families they’ve all grown up in.

We have spells where the kids spend hours on the phone to one or other of their siblings.  Quite often, with them simply on the other end of the phone, while a child in each family goes about their daily business, eats meals, plays computer games etc, and they chat to each other as if they were in the same room.  There are some long spells of silences, and some disjointed conversations, but mostly, they simply comment on what’s going on at home in their own houses, and chat to each other as if they were sitting side by side.

Thank goodness for unlimited minute mobile phone contracts…..and Facetime (when it works, as our Internet connection is often diabolical).  Where money is concerned, any saving is a good one.

Talking about fairness, loyalty and money, brings me to the new Royal Bank of Scotland RBS Hello/Goodbye campaign.  Fairness and loyalty is an image that banks can often struggle to overcome, but I was pleased to see the RBS have decided to reward loyalty and not ignore existing customers.

I think that watching the video says it all.  I hate being treated differently to new customers when I’m looking for new services and I’ll tell other people I know too.  Just being fair at home isn’t enough, businesses need to be fair to all their customers too, just to make us feel special enough to stay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDGm8sy7uU&feature=youtu.be

I’m working with BritMums and RBS on this project and have been compensated. All opinions are my own. 

 

 

Posted on by — 12 Comments

Soup Maker Recipe: Creamy Tomato Soup (Passata Recipe)

This is a wickedly easy way to make a good tomato soup that doesn’t require hours of steaming and peeling tomatoes, or having to sieve your soup by pushing it through a muslin cloth.

You could substitute fresh tomatoes for the tinned ones, and not lose any flavour or taste with the recipe.  Make it how it suits you.

We add cream at the serving stage, which makes it a much more creamy soup.  It is a thick soup, so if you like your soups watery, this isn’t for you.

Some people have commented that this soup with passata burns in their machines.  It’s not happened to me, but if you think it’s a possibility, then it might not be a soup for you.

Lesley Smith

Soup Maker Recipe: Creamy Tomato Soup (Passata Base)

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 21 minutes
Total Time 31 minutes
Servings: 4 -6
Course: Soup
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 l Tomato Passata
  • 2 teaspoons Sugar
  • 400 g Tin Plum Tomatoes
  • 2 Vegetable Stock Cubes
  • 200 ml Whole Milk
  • 2 tablespoons Tomato Puree

Method
 

  1. Add all the ingredients into your soup maker. If you plan to freeze some soup, leave the milk out of the batch, and add it in proportion when you reheat the soup to serve. Freezing soup with cream or milk in it, will cause it to separate or curdle on reheating.
  2. You will look for the smooth setting for this soup, as you want it as pureed as possible. If it isn't smooth enough for your taste, simply choose the smoothie setting on your soup maker if you have one, or use a stick blender to smooth it even more.
  3. Serve Immediately, with Croutons, or Why Not Try a Scone, For Something Different

Notes

This soup may not be suitable for all machines. Some people have commented that this soup with passata might burn in their machines.   A reader commented that Morphy Richards does not recommend passata in their soup makers.

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Review. The Adventurer: The Curse Of The Midas Box

We received a pre-release copy of The Adventurer: The Curse Of The Midas Box DVD.

Adventurer 1

Now, this was a rip roaring feast of a film that had my boys glued to the TV.  It’s got all the good stuff that keeps the slightly older children entertained.  We thought it was brilliant, especially for boys, or fans of goodies, badies and the fights along the way.

I don’t want to spoil this for those who haven’t seen it, so I’ll keep this fairly brief.  Along the way, we come into contact with ancient mysteries, powerful evil and a hero quest through steam powered wonders and sinister magic.

As the steam age takes hold in Victorian London, seventeen year old Mariah Mundi’s life is turned upside down when his parents vanish and his younger brother is kidnapped. After an encounter with a charismatic stranger, Mundi follows a trail of clues to the majestic Prince Regent Hotel where he discovers a hidden realm of child-stealing monsters, deadly secrets and a long lost artefact with the potential to grant limitless power at a devastating supernatural cost. With the fate of his world and his family at stake, Mundi will risk everything to unravel the Curse of the Midas Box!

sam

There are stars in here that will keep you watching.  They loved Sam Neill in the Jurassic Park movies, and the kids knew exactly who he was.  Ioan Gruffudd is always a good draw and Michael Sheen just kept them rooting for more.  Also starring Aneurin Barnard as Mariah Mundi, Lena Headey and Keeley Hawes.

Although this is a PG, it does keep adults interested.  The story is quite good, though I suspect it would be lost on really young children.

I really liked this, so I can see us watching it again.  The boys have had it on about four times now, and that’s always a good sign.

We’ve been very lucky this week.   It’s released on the 27th October at all good supermarkets, stores and online.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

The Snow Queen & Downloadable Activity Sheet

We received the new Snow Queen DVD, to watch during the holidays.

I was due to look after a friends wee girls, who are 7 and 9, while she went into hospital for the day.  The Snow Queen filled up a chunk of the afternoon nicely, and they were still talking about it when I took them home.  I’m trying to persuade my boys to watch it, but I suspect that will happen one day when Sky is on the blink due to our high trees that blot out the signal when they sway too much in the wind.

For anyone who was a fan of Frozen, this is going to be another secret treat.

The Snow Queen, released from Signature Entertainment is in Vue Cinemas from today, with Blu-ray, DVD and digital release following on Nov 3rd 14.

the=snow-queen-3

The Snow Queen is based on the magical fairy-tale by Hans Christian Anderson, and follows the story of little orphan girl Gerda, who must defeat the evil Snow Queen who has taken over the kingdom and kidnapped Gerda’s brother, Kai.

the-snow-queen-pic-2

Accompanied by her pet ferret, Luta, and Orm the troll, Gerda embarks on a perilous journey across the icy wonderland, facing swashbuckling pirates and treacherous trolls, in a race against time to defeat the wicked Snow Queen, save Kai and bring warmth back to the hearts of people across the land.

It’s full of fantastic, lovable characters, and timed perfectly for the excitement that begins to build for children at this time of year.  Christmas is closing in fast.

It’s certainly a slightly darker version than I was expecting, but nothing that would worry me for children to watch.  Gerda and Kai were popular with the kids, as they were done well.  There are some really funny bits that pop up along the way, which were nicely done, but some parts could be a little scary, so if you’re planning to watch with very little ones, I’d be tempted to watch it first.

It’s thrilling and for children, it certainly keeps them on the edge of their seats.  The two girls here, moved closer to the TV, making sure to blot out the world around them.

Snow Queen 1 

If you really enjoy this film, which I think most people will, for the pure escapism, then the adventure continues from December the 12th, was The Snow Queen: Magic Of The Ice Mirror comes back, just in time for the perfect pre-Christmas treat, or stocking filler.

There’s a Snow Queen activity sheet attached.  Simply click on the image to enlarge it, and save it to your desktop.

Snow-Queen-Activity-Sheet