Reviews | Scottish Mum

Posted on November 26, 2014March 13, 2021 by Scottish Mum — 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.

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.

Berndes 20 cm Casserole Dish

Berndes 24 cm Casserole Dish

Berndes 29cm Casserole Dish

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.

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

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

Instructions

Set the oven to 220 Degrees C.
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.
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.
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.
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 November 18, 2014September 5, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Review: Nairn’s Astro Bites

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

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 November 13, 2014September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — 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.

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.

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?

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 November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 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.

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

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 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.

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!

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 October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 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 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.

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.

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.

Posted on October 19, 2014October 19, 2014 by Scottish Mum — 7 Comments

Review: The 2015 Beano Annual – Have You Read The Beano Recently?

It’s that time of year again folks. Yes, I am mentioning the C Word. Christmas that is.

Some will groan at the thought, but I’m pretty well organised this year. I have to be, with three kids and two adults with dementia to sort out.

Thanks to the lovely folks at Beano, who’ve sent us this year’s version. I’ve read it, and it’s been quickly squirreled away as a present for Xmas morning.

I don’t know if it’s a Scottish thing, or if it’s a while island of Britain thing, but growing up, my friends and I all received the Beano at Christmas.

Xmas morning wouldn’t be the same, without Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids and Roger the Dodger. They get up to the things that the rest of us in real life can’t.

Two of my kids have caught my bug, as they often take their yearly annuals to the dinner table, to keep them busy. Smartphones are not allowed during the Xmas meal here, so reading is a good second best for my boys.

The Beano have launched an event this year, which will see the Beano characters setting up home at the London St Pancras International Station.

They’ll be there for thirteen weeks, beginning this month, and let visitors and travellers step into the world of the Beano. It’s nice to see a traditionally British Annual race back up the charts, so feel free to join in the hashtag on Twitter #BackTheBeano.

This year’s annual, The Beano Annual, 2015, is available for £7.99 from Hatchards St Pancras, WH Smith’s, Waterstones, supermarkets, Argos, Amazon, and all good bookshops. You can’t miss it.

With a cheeky visit online, I spotted it at ASDA for £4, so keep an eye out for the offers.

Posted on October 12, 2014January 14, 2017 by Scottish Mum — 1 Comment

Review: Veronica’s Snacks – Veggie and Gluten Free

Thank you to the people from Veronica’s Snacks for sending us some lovely crisps to try. These weren’t what I was expecting if I’m honest. I thought we would be getting some maize type snacks that kids have a bag of and then go on to eat two or three more packets, as they’re still hungry.

Veronica’s Snacks is the brainchild of Veronical Kenneally, a mother of three, who likes to feed her children healthy snacks, but whose kids like snacks, just the same way as everyone else does.

Any version of crisps, that still taste like crisps is going to be a winner for me, as crisps are one of my not so secret passions in life. These are also gluten-free, so give more options to food restricted families.

What we received to try.

Baked Veggie Crisps – Roast Tomato and Spanish Paprika
Baked Potato Crisps – Sour Cream, Herb & Onions
Baked Potato Crisps – Barbeque
Crunchy Creatures – Cheese

I have to admit, that my favourite was the Roast Tomato and Spanish Paprika, while the kids preferred the cheese crunchy creatures.

They’re baked and not fried, with less fat and salt than most regular crisps. Our packs didn’t last for long, but I’m more comfortable with trying then when I see them in the shops. In the past, when I’ve tried veggie crisps, I didn’t like them, but I did like these.

Posted on October 1, 2014September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Review: Chad Valley Toys

We were recently sent some Chad Valley Toys to review as part of their #100daysofplay which started this summer, and encouraged parents up and down the country to share fun playtime ideas on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We’re a wee bit late to the party, but better late than never.

Christmas is coming up fast, and there are always good reasons to check out good toys for our kids. I’d like to see 100 days of play increased to 365 days, as every child should have a day of play, every day, so I’ll be interested to see where the future of the campaign lies. You can see how the summer one shaped up on the Chad Valley social media platforms.

The current campaign is “Time to Play.”

Play is great and it helps stimulate our children’s imaginations.

Chad Valley says:

Experts have proven that just 15 minutes open play a day can make an enormous difference to the development of your child; sparking curiosity and originality. With over 300 toys to choose from – everything from brilliant infant and pre-school toys for babies and toddlers, to fun packed toys for boys and girls, there’s lots of fun for every child! We’ve also developed free stories and play ideas, to help inspire you and your little ones.

Chad Valley on Facebook
Chad Valley on Twitter

Middler is really a wee toot in a big body, so we go through a fair amount of toys that are built for the hands of little ones. Some brands can hold their own and others struggle with big hands which play with toys that are made for little ones.

The sheer size of the package was enough to send middler into cloud nine. There was no way to make him wait after school, so it was eagerly opened.

His eyes popped when he saw the fire engine. That’s understandable as he is vehicle daft, and particularly diggers, tractors, fire engines and police cars. This was the perfect toy for him. Unfortunately, the space hopper was just too small for us, so it has gone to a good home, with a lovely wee girl who will enjoy it immensely for her birthday in a couple of weeks.

The fire engine has had some tlc almost daily since our package arrived, which is always nice to see.

Thank you very much Chad Valley, and my sincerest apologies for such a late response from the Scottish Mum House.

Posted on September 25, 2014December 8, 2017 by Scottish Mum — 2 Comments

Review: New Whole Hog Roast Hire in Aberdeen (Spit Roasted) Yum

If you’ve read my blog for any time, you’ll know who my favourite butcher is. Andrew Gordon has a traditional butcher shop in Aberdeen, and runs an online butcher shop at the Fresh Food Guru website.

One of his specialities is with piedmontese beef. It’s a beef that is leaner than chicken, and is proving very popular with people who are looking for a healthier meat option choice.

New Hog Roast Hire Catering

He had diversified into taking whole hog roast system hire bookings for events, whether they are for weddings, corporate functions, hotel specialities, or even just the good old garden barbie.

His team will arrive at your venue and do all the cooking on the hog spit roast system. The meat cooked this way is tender, succulent and divine.

I’m not a great fan of crackling, so I would always leave that out of my own hog in a bun choice, but for those who love it, I’m told that it is second to none.

Menu

Large Fresh Brioche Buns.
Candied Crisp Crackling.
Whole Roasted Outdoor Reared Pig.
Thick Apple Sauce.
Traditional Sage & Onion Stuffing.
Fresh Coleslaw.
Chef in Full Whites/Blacks, Chef’s Assistant.

The whole hog is roasted on a spit roast machine and carved just for the guests, by his own staff. The whole package is controlled carefully and adheres to strict food and hygiene regulations.

All I can say, is good luck to Andrew and his team in their new venture with their yummy food.

Posted on September 15, 2014September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — Leave a comment

Review: Caravan/Motorhome Essentials On The Trip To France, from Olpro

Thanks to OlPro for giving us some of their chemicals to test.

As some of you know, we visited the South of France on a whim this year. The weather in the North of France was dismal so we just kept on driving. That’s the beauty of taking your home on your back, so to speak. The weather there was glorious, but to get there and home again, we ended up having to do two overnight stops on French Aire’s.

There are all sorts of stories about how unsafe they are, and yes, there is the possibility for things to go wrong, as things can go wrong anywhere. If you find yourself in the same boat as us, with nowhere in driving distance, pick your Aire well.

Avoid ones next to large Cities and choose one that also has an overnight petrol station, with regular visitors. We tend to look for one with lots of other overnighters, so we have safety in number for a few hours kip. The preferred option would be to find a municipal campsite, but they close quite early and fill up much quicker than literature suggests, so book ahead if you can.

We’ve owned caravans for years, and at the moment, we own a motorhome, though that may well change in the future with family illness, but for now, we still enjoy its comforts when we can.

The one thing we all need on this kind of journey is a loo. French Aires’s do have toilets, but the kids often found them tricky to navigate, and to be honest, there’s no way I’m dragging myself from a comfy bed in the middle of the night to take a child to the loo, no matter how desperate they are. I don’t understand people who have vans, but never use the loo as it’s easily enough cleaned and maintained with the right help.

To prolong the life of our favourite little home from home, chemicals are a necessary fact to keep us all healthy. We need toilet chemicals if we use our toilets, cleaning chemicals, and yes, even things to stop the inside of the vans becoming damp over winter. The picture above, is the toilet cassette from our van. Chemicals and water go in the top, and it’s emptied into a toilet or chemical waste point when it’s full. The chemicals do a great job of breaking down the waste and toilet roll, so that there’s no smell inside the van, no matter what gets dumped into it. Yes, it has benefited from vomity upchucks with ill children on occasion.

The flush water also needs chemicals, but it usually has to be two different chemicals. This year, we used the Olpro Bottom and Top Plus. That meant we only had to carry one bottle for the job. We used the same chemicals for the flush water as we did to put into the toilet. Any reduction in weight when you’re travelling in a van is a welcome thing.

We kept going with it for the duration of our holiday and didn’t need to get anything else to use, so we were pleased with the results. It’s Formaldehyde free and environmentally friendly so can be used on all Caravan & Camping & Caravan club sites and even on inland water ways. It’s high strength kills all bacteria in both the top and bottom tank and breaks down waste quickly. It also protects the moving parts within the toilet and ensures the bowl remains clear and free from bacteria.

We’ve also been sent a few other things that have come in handy. It seems we can get away with four chemicals in total for the van.

While we’ve not had the chance to try the Winter Long or the Sanidry Tray yet, they’ll come in handy for winterising the van at the end of this year’s season in October.

We used the Fresh and Clear to flush through the system before we left for France, and used it again when we came back, to make sure the pipes were clean as a whistle. The Inside and Out is pretty good. I decanted some into a smaller container to take with us, but it did the job well. I tended to use wet wipes to clean the toilet before, but this did the job nicely.

The chemicals can be used on caravans, boats, motorhomes and cars too, so there are lots of jobs they can work for.

On the way down through France, the boys stopped at the Millau Bridge. Apparently it’s the highest and longest suspension bridge in the world, but that was not on my radar until we’d passed it, so our picture is pretty boring.

The kids loved the weather, so I’d love to go back. Hopefully more organised and knowing where we’re going before we leave home. That’s one of my daredevils sitting on the top of that rock on the left.

Posted on August 28, 2014September 4, 2024 by Scottish Mum — 3 Comments

Category: Reviews