A New Healthy Life: Balanced Life Cookbook by Christine Robinson – book review, giveaways and freebie

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of A New Healthy Life: Balanced Life Cookbook by Christine Robinson to review. I was very pleased to be asked to review this book, as I love getting inspiration of new ideas for what to cook.

Here is the book blurb.

Start your journey to a healthier and more balanced lifestyle with A New Healthy Life: Balanced Life Cookbook. This comprehensive cookbook provides readers with all the tools they need to create delicious, nutritious meals that are quick and easy to prepare. Inside, you’ll find simple recipes, meal planning tips, kitchen tricks, and snack ideas that are designed to help you develop healthy eating habits, while also providing alternatives for individuals with dietary limitations. With this cookbook, you’ll learn to make flavorful, nutrient-rich meals that will nourish your body and fuel your soul.

The first few chapters of this book are talking about healthy eating. It is a good introduction as far as it goes but in my opinion there are key elements that have been overlooked. For instance, there are several references to healthy fats and unhealthy fats, but I didn’t spot any mention of which fats fall into each of those two categories.

As a number of the recipes include olive oil, it would be useful for the introduction to describe how much more healthy it is to purchase cold-pressed extra virgin oil, preferably in the smallest size bottles, versus regular olive oil.

Also the introduction makes it sound like we should avoid fried dishes, but not so. I consider my diet to be healthy and yes I do fry sometimes, dishes like omelette or stir-fry.

And after that initial viewpoint on frying, I was quite surprised that the author had actually included some fried recipes, but even more so, that both her vegetarian stir-fries listed 1 tbsp vegetable oil in the ingredients. All vegetable oils are unhealthy fats in my opinion. Unfortunately they are in many processed products including mayonnaise, another ingredient included in a few of the recipes, which again, along with the vegetable oil, I wouldn’t have expected to see in a cookbook targetted at healthy eating. And yes before you point it out, I know, I do need to revisit my own blogged recipes, as many were written before I attempted to remove all seed oils from my diet.

Thankfully her other fried recipes used olive oil which along with other fruit oils is a healthy fat, but even so, did the frittata, tomato and basil soup, turkey chilli and leman garlic shrimp pasta really need as much as 2 tbsp of olive oil. That quantity sounded quite excessive to me and seemed inconsistent with some of her other recipes which did use less. Personally I am careful to wipe just a smear of either animal fat or extra virgin olive oil in the frying pan. That’s all it needs to avoid the food sticking so long as you heat the pan first.

And I couldn’t understand why the zucchini noodles with pesto and grilled chicken required any oil to be added to the grill pan, let alone 2 tbsp. Isn’t the whole point of grilling, that the food is on top of the grill rack, so that any excess fat drips through?

To note some of the recipes could be made even healthier. For instance, I frequently eat overnight oats, but I’ve never needed to add honey or maple syrup which is suggested here, as the fruit is sweet enough.

Illustrations are important to me in a book and it starts well with a photo to accompany every recipe in the breakfast chapter. But from then onwards, the pictures become very intermittent. 2 for lunch and 1 each for the other chapters. What happened?

Some more proof-reading is required as most of the recipe is missing for Roasted Vegetable Pasta, so I can’t tell if it might have an excessive amount of olive oil. But 1/4 cup sounds like it could be a lot. I always get confused by measurements in cups, as I never know which of my different size cups to choose, so I certainly don’t know how many tbsp, a 1/4 cup equates to.

Whilst I’m on the topic of measurements, oven temperatures are only mentioned in Fahrenheit. It would be much more universal to include Celsius and Gas Mark too, as readers will be frustrated if they have to go online to find out the conversion.

It was good to see a chapter included on Gluten-free and Dairy-free recipes, although with only 3 recipes, it did feel rather a token nod. However, some of the recipes in other chapters would also be suitable for these diets.

It would be useful to include a recipe index and how many servings the recipes are for, as they clearly varied from 1 serving upwards. Not essential but an indication of preparation time would be useful too.

So does Healthy Eating mean we can’t have dessert? There was no dessert chapter in this 113 page book. I’m sure there are some healthy desserts.

To summarise, some nice recipes, but otherwise this book could go much further.

A New Healthy Life: Balanced Life Cookbook is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle format.

Christine Robinson is a pen name of Nikk’s Micheal who also writes romantic fiction and you may see Nikk’s website here.

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Of course a key element of reviewing a cookery book is to try making some of the recipes. So my first choice was to make Grilled Chicken with Quinoa Salad. I was keen to give this a go as although I frequently cook chicken, I have never grilled it. What a perfect healthy idea, as any fat will drip through the rack. This was really tasty but I do have some comments to make regarding the recipe.

Firstly I feel it is insufficient to just state to cook the quinoa according to package procedure. Playing devil’s advocate here, but I buy my quinoa loose, plastic-free, so I have no package instructions. And in fact this seems to be in line with the author’s budgetting tips of purchasing in bulk.

I would expect the recipe to detail how to cook the quinoa. Since the ingredients state 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of chicken broth, my assumption would be that you cook the quinoa in that quantity of broth, but I did some research online and it did seem like 2 cups of liquid might be insufficient. I started with that quantity, but had to top it up a couple of times as all the liquid was absorbed before the quinoa was cooked. I ended up using between 3-4 cups of liquid.

And secondly the recipe does not specify whether the quinoa should be cooled before combining with the other salad ingredients. I made the assumption to let it cool first.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of A New Healthy Life: Balanced Life Cookbook to one lucky winner. Open worldwide.

For those of you, who also enjoy the romance genre, please note that all giveaway entrants who sign up to Nikk’s Micheal newsletter via the Rafflecopter will also receive a freebie – an eBook version of her romantic fiction tale “Love in the City”.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear your suggestions for healthy eating?

Finally if you’re quick, Nikk’s Micheal is running another giveaway herself to win a box set of The Love Chronicles books. Closes 11 August.

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The Leipfold Files by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Leipfold Files by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Join a young James Leipfold as he discovers his knack for uncovering the truth and takes the early steps towards forming his detective agency, Leipfold Investigations…

Leipfold’s journey will take him from the deserts of Kuwait to the inside of Reading Jail and have him investigating everything from missing gnomes to drunken Santas and crooked optometrists. Along the way, he befriends a rookie cop named Jack Cholmondeley, helps a widowed army wife find closure, and falls in love with a motorbike he calls Camilla.

This collection brings together 24 James Leipfold short stories, including three shorts that take place between Driven and The Tower Hill Terror. It’s a must for all fans of the Leipfold series and any serious reader of quirky detective novels and cozy mysteries.

This is the third book in the Leipfold Mysteries series but unlike the previous two titles, this time it is a collection of short stories. You don’t need to have read the earlier books, but for me, I found it particularly good how it helps put additional context round the main characters who I already know and love.

The tales are sequential and we start way back, long before James Leipfold became a private investigator, when he was aged 14 and this is when he first meets Jack Cholmondeley, a young police constable well before he advanced up the ranks to inspector. Cholmondeley is already trying in vain to encourage Leipfold to a career in the police, something that had been touched upon in the earlier books.

The second story is from his time in the army, when he served in Kuwait and again it helps give depth to his character. The short stories also cleverly inter-relate as the third one pulls on minor characters from both the first two tales and this is the start of a pattern as the same thing happens again on plenty of further occasions too.

Several of the stories are set during a spell he spent in prison. Another continuing theme of some tales help to flesh out the aspects of his back-story which lead to him giving up alcohol. And of course we get to the point of when he set up as a private investigator. Plus how he got his motor-bike Camilla.

The last three stories take place between the first and second titles in the series, Driven and The Tower Hill Terror.

The Leipfold Files is available on Amazon in paperback, hardback and kindle formats. A great book, particularly to develop the back story between Leipfold and Cholmondeley.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of The Leipfold Files to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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Looking after my family’s well-being with Vegums (plus giveaway)

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free. All opinions are my own.

I was recently invited to become a Mumbasador for Vegums vitamin and mineral supplements. Naturally I said yes, as I know how important the health of our families is to us all. So I received some free samples of their Sugar-Free A-Z Multivitamin gummies to test out myself, enough for 1 adult and 2 younger children for a month.

The packaging is certainly different to anything I’ve seen for vitamins before. I’ve been searching the shop shelves since pre-lockdown unsuccessfully for any sold in plastic-free packaging and here lo and behold, these are exactly that. First plus point. The outer tube is cardboard and inside each, I found either 1 or 2 bags of the vitamins along with a nifty storage tin. I’m assuming you only get the tin once, at the start of a subscription, but I’m sure Vegums can clarify that point. The inner bags are made from compostable and biodegradable cellulose, which can go straight in your compost bin.

Why 1 or 2 packets? Because each packet contains approximately 30 gummies, which is enough for a child aged 3-12 for a month. However the recommended dose for older children and adults is 2 a day, which means 2 packets required. But please note, they are not to be given to children aged under 3.

As I opened the tamper-proof seal on the tube, I immediately noticed the message that Vegums will plant a tree with moretrees.eco for every review. Second plus point.

Since both the boys are now 12+, we decided that it would be mainly son2 and me testing these out, so that we could continue over an extended period, although son1 got to try too on the first day. Note that they do need to be taken with a main meal.

We all liked the fruity raspberry flavour and son2 particularly appreciated the texture. So much nicer particularly for a child compared to the traditional tablet or capsule format. However it did give me a little difficulty with chewing, but this is because I was diagnosed with TMJ disfunction earlier this year, which has been gradually worsening. I’m in the minority of the population there, so not something that should concern the brand too much. Also the teddy bear shape is a very clever touch to make them even more appealing to younger children.

The packets detail the nutritional information, so the adult daily dose of 2 gummies gives 50% of the NRV (Nutrient Reference Value) for Vitamin A and Zinc, plus 100% or higher for Vitamins K1, B6, B12, C, D3, Biotin, Folic Acid and Niacin. They are also sugar-free, gluten-free, palm oil free and vegan. And drumroll …. they are carbon negative! Third and best plus point.

When I looked at the Vegums website, I saw that their Sugar-Free A-Z Multivitamin gummies are one of a range. They also do another multivitamin (strawberry flavour containing sugar) plus a “Fish-Free” Omega 3 (orange flavour) and an Iron supplement (blackberry flavour). I haven’t worked out yet if you can take all of these every day in parallel.

All the products can be purchased either as a one-off or on a monthly subscription with a 20% saving. As I’d had such a positive favourable reaction from son2, I’ve gone ahead and set up a subscription. I’ve opted for their Complete set, so that he can boost his Omega-3 and iron intake too. The tins and cardboard tubes are both free optional extras, so that answers my question from earlier.

I’m hoping that the third product in the Complete set is indeed the Sugar-Free A-Z Multivitamin since son2 has already given that the thumbs-up. But the website is unclear as it says that variety is included but then talks about strawberry and shows an image of the original. Something that the brand need to tidy up to make clear and consistent.

The shopping experience was easy and I was pleased with the pricing and free postage. It may be a stretch for some with all the recent increases in cost of living. But I really applaud Vegums recent campaign last month to give every primary school child a free month’s supply . That is amazing from a small business. I wish we could see some of the big brands being equally generous to those who could do with a helping hand.

And I was amazed how quickly my order arrived. Although bizarrely I’m still getting emails saying I’ve left something in my basket which I haven’t. Placed the order late on Thursday evening and delivered Saturday lunchtime in a compact slim box this time. Seeing this made me think that the large cardboard tubes are superfluous really in my opinion, although can understand that some people may prefer to store them in the tubes rather than the tins. You’ll see from the photo that we did indeed receive the “green” bag of strawberry flavour original multivitamins this time.

A quick update to the post before I publish it, to say we like all of these too. Just got to decide which of the two multivitamin options to continue with going forwards.

I’ve already talked about the eco-credentials of the packaging, but I was pleased to read on their website that Vegums only use natural ethical sustainably sourced ingredients.

Plus I have an offer to pass on to my readers – 20% off Vegums with discount code: MUMJD20.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition, courtesy of Vegums to give away a month’s supply of their A-Z multivitamins to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter

Another great fact I read on the Vegums website is that Vitamin D absorption is greater from gummies. And lets face it, we need all the help we can get on that front, particularly as we head towards winter.

I’d love to hear your top tips regarding supplements and/or healthy eating.

Finally do remember that supplements are not a substitute for a balanced varied diet.

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The Tower Hill Terror by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Tower Hill Terror by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Unorthodox PI James Leipfold and his technophile assistant Maile O’Hara are back with a brand new case…
The Tower Hill Terror is on the loose, a serial killer with a grisly M.O., and Maile and Leipfold must work fast to take him down before another body is found. But while the duo are chasing clues on social networking sites and the police are waiting for forensics, the Terror sends a message to the journalists at the Tribune. A message written in blood.
Can Leipfold, Maile and Cholmondeley catch the killer before it’s too late? Or will the Tower Hill Terror claim one final, familiar victim?

This is the second book in the Leipfold Mysteries series and I was looking forward to reading it, having eventually got hooked into book one Driven. You may see my review of that title here.

The story begins with Private Investigator James Leipfold and assistant Maile O’Hara following up on a suspect Jayne Lipton from the previous book, but too late, she has been mutilated and killed.

James has already taken on some new cases, but he soon gets embroiled into investigating Jayne’s death following a request from his old friend Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley.

The police get sent an anonymous grisly package. And then Maile discovers another similar killing via social media, Abu Adewali, before the police are even aware. Is there a link between the two murders? Is it a serial killer? Another grisly parcel, this time to the press, with a message hinting at yet another victim. How many more? Suspects! Alibis! Missing Persons! Links in the Chain!

James’s old school methods along with Maile’s technical wizardry make for a great combination. Plus the comparison between their techniques and those of the police.

However I did feel it was a bit of a loose end to have a suspect from the previous book murdered by an unrelated killer. That just seemed to muddy the water in wondering if the two cases were linked.

The Tower Hill Terror is available on Amazon in paperback and kindle formats. A great twist on the murder mystery genre.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of The Tower Hill Terror to one lucky winner. Open worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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Driven by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Driven by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Meet private detective James Leipfold, computer whizzkid Maile O’Hara and good-natured cop Jack Cholmondeley in the first book of the Leipfold series. A car strikes in the middle of the night and a young actress lies dead in the road. The police force thinks it’s an accident, but Maile and Leipfold aren’t so sure. Putting their differences aside, and brought together by a shared love of crosswords and busting bad guys, Maile and Leipfold investigate. But not all is as it seems, as they soon find out to their peril…

The story starts by introducing us to Donna Thompson but by the end of chapter 1, she is dead, killed in a hit and run. Then chapter 2 feels slow with random snapshots as we meet private investigator James Leipfold, play director Tom Townsend and computer whizz Maile O’Hara. Chapter 3 was equally slow, this time meeting Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley, Sergeant Gary Mogford, Constable Groves and informing Donna’s next of kin, her mother Eleanor, who hasn’t seen Donna in years.

Then with the highlight of chapter 4 initially seeming to be skint Leipfold advertising for an intern and reading the newspaper, which mentions the hit and run, I was about ready to give up on this book. It was just way too slow, however I persevered. Leipfold decides to visit the scene where he bumps into Cholmondely who he knows from way back. From his investigative methods, I started to get the feeling that Leipfold may be the one who can find the mystery driver rather than the police, as he quickly finds a house nearby with CCTV. And by the end of the chapter, we have linked in another of the main characters, Maile is waiting outside Leipfold’s office. She wants to be his intern.

As things start to hot up, I’m glad I kept going with this book, but I would suggest to the author that he needs to hook the reader in sooner. The CCTV appears to indicate that the car has no driver. How can this be? Is the driver hiding out of view? Is the vehicle being controlled remotely? Could it be pre-meditated murder rather than an accidental hit and run?

So in true whodunnit style, potential suspects start to stack up for the crime. And so do alibis.

I loved the way Leipfold shares little clues to the police, then relying on them to do the necessary graft.

Driven is available on Amazon in paperback, audiobook and kindle formats. A modern detective mystery to get you thinking whodunnit. It is the first book in a series, so I’m looking forward to reading more and hoping that now we have been introduced to the sleuths, that the next title will unfold faster.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of Driven to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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Grow Your Own Micro-Greens on the Window-Sill

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free. All opinions are my own.

I do love the idea of subscription boxes, particularly the element of surprise as to what will be in the next box. There is such a wide selection of themes that there is sure to be something for everyone. Recently I came across a new one – Silly Greens – the grow-your-own micro sized greens club and knew instantly that I just had to try this eco-friendly idea. So I was delighted to be selected to review one of their boxes for free. Plus when you page down, you’ll find details of a giveaway.

I’ve been dabbling with growing my own vegetables in the garden for a few years now, but had never thought of micro greens, even though they are so tasty. But I can remember one of my first introductions to growing plants as a young child was cress ‘heads’ in empty egg shells on the window sill. Sounds like time to return to my roots if you’ll pardon the pun.

Micro greens are ideal, as anyone can grow them indoors on their window sill all year round, even if you have no outdoor space. So the Silly Greens box fits easily through your letterbox and they have already got you started by sowing the seeds before sending it to you. Bet you’re wondering how that works, via the mail service, and possibly arriving upside down on your door mat. Well the seeds are not sown in soil, but on an Agar mat, which is an organic plant based jelly made from seaweed, which on the whole stickily keeps the seeds in place. No herbicides or pesticides involved and peat-free too. It doesn’t specifically say, but I believe this comes under the umbrella of hydroponic growing methods. Although I have to say the density of mine did vary somewhat across the trays, so I do wonder if they had moved a bit in transit. Since they had already germinated and sprouted, I wasn’t sure whether I should attempt to spread them out a bit, so I decided best to not touch. However the bunching didn’t seem to matter, apart from maybe the aesthetics of my photos.

The box has a label to warn that it contains perishable products, plus indicates which is the correct way up, so all I had to do on arrival was tear off the lid. There was a very useful booklet inside – The Green Touch, full of useful tips and facts along with a bit more information on the card about the varities included. So I discovered that it was recommended to keep the card covering them until their height pushes it off, that they don’t need the light initially. I also had to be careful with not much watering, as I do find with all gardening that I’m prone to either over or under watering. However Agar is a bonus in that regard, as it keeps the seeds hydrated without needing to be sprayed and the cover helps to maintain the humidity. I just passed that tip onto my Dad as he has been left in charge of making sure some carrot seeds that my niece planted on a sheet of damp kitchen roll don’t dry out whilst they are away on holiday.

Silly Greens have a wide range of micro greens listed on their website, but my box contained the following three crops – radish, rocket and turnip. Initially I knew which was which, due to the labelling on the card but I have to admit I got into a muddle, when I carried the individual trays to the sink for watering. I’m sure they didn’t realise how spot on their name choice would be in this regard, but apologies if I seem silly and green, talking about the  wrong crop now. The box was marked with the date of sowing, so you can easily keep track of progress. I decided it was time to start harvesting on day 10 as I think the ‘radish’ was starting to get a bit leggy. I cut all the ‘radish’ but only some of the other two, allowing them to continue to grow for longer.

Now hopefully you will appreciate some inspiration of how to serve these nutritious healthy sprouting seeds. Apart from a quick taste-test, my first harvest went in a salad I was making to take for my lunch at work. I don’t follow a particular recipe when making salad, but I usually do some prep in advance, for instance roasting some veggies in the oven, whilst cooking dinner. So this particular salad contained the following other ingredients along with the micro-greens.
Roasted sweet potato, parsnip and onion
Very slightly steamed broccoli (only because I prefer it that way to raw)
Shredded iceberg lettuce and red cabbage
Carrot, cucucmber and tomato
Several genererous spoonfuls of natural yoghurt

I harvested some more of the ‘rocket’ and ‘turnip’ micro-greens on day 14, this time to garnish a soup I was making. Who would like to guess the flavour from the image? I’ll tell you at the bottom of this blog post. The booklet indicates that most micro-greens are at their best at 3-4 inches tall. At this point, mine are probably still between 2-3 inches in height.

Once the crop is over, the Agar jelly and roots can go in either home compost or food waste. All other packaging is recyclable at home, plus the plastic trays can be washed and repurposed. However I decided to try and see if any seeds were still yet to germinate by popping them outside in a planter.

So each box of 3 greens currently costs £5 including postage and you can set up a subscription on a 1, 2, 4 or 6 weekly basis, depending how frequently you want your greens. It is very flexible too as you may pause or reschedule your delivery. That is such a bargain in my opinion and of course so fresh, as farmed micro-greens typically have such a short shelf life in comparison. Excellent value for money, sustainable and environmentally friendly too. Ideal as a gift too.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition, courtesy of Silly Greens to give away a 6 month subscription of micro green boxes to one lucky winner. For clarity, this will be on a monthly basis, so the prize is 6 boxes in total.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Now let me tell you the flavour of my soup. It is nettle and the microgreens certainly gave a delicious tasty boost to both my salad and soup. Tell me in the comments if you guessed the soup flavour correctly. Here is the link to my recipe.

I’d love to hear what are your favourite micro greens?

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AD Coconut scrubbers plus giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of a product I was sent for free. It is classified as an AD due to containing affiliate links. If you click on any NeerSol link in this post and purchase a product, I may earn affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own.

Regular followers of my blog may remember that I introduced you to NeerSol last year who had come up with the fantastic idea of eco cleaning tablets that the consumer then dissolves in water, thus reducing the carbon footprint of shipping the solvent. And when you page down, you’ll find details for a giveaway.

But first let me update you on news from NeerSol. They had great support for their crowdfunder and now have some additional lines to their range. And they have sent one of these to me free to test out, which is a pack of two coconut scrub pads.

Plus they currently have a 50% off sale on all stock until 17 March using coupon code FLEX50.

These are made from 100% natural compostable coconut fibre (also known as coir fiber to some of you reading in other parts of the world), so no microplastics that could be released into the environment. Great to see another good use being made of the outside of a food product, avoiding waste, like when I previously blogged about cocoa husk tea. Brilliant zerowaste idea.

Now I first wanted to try these eco-friendly scouring pads with a NeerSol cleaning product, but of course I only got the glass cleaning tablets previously. And with the best will in the world, you don’t really want to scrub your windows or mirrors. You need a soft cloth for that job, in order to avoid smears. So thinking outside the box, I decided that instead of using washing-up liquid for cleaning my ceramic bakeware, I would use the glass cleaner, as I still had spare tablets left.

Look at the state of these bakeware dishes after I cooked a savoury bread and butter pudding and braised red cabbage. Plenty of baked on, burnt and greasy bits. These would definitely put the coconut scrubber through its paces. However I found it worked even just scrubbing gently. A perfect plastic-free result.

The packaging indicates that these are suitable for your utensils, bath and kitchen surfaces. Plus another good idea it suggests, is as a foot scrub. I haven’t tested it out on foot or body as I only have the 2 pads so far, one I’ve used for the kitchen and the other in the bathroom. But I can certainly give them the thumbs up on dishes, pans, work-tops, bath and tiles. I haven’t had them long enough to say, but these should last for months and then you can compost them.

I was also pleased to see minimal packaging. Just a small recyclable card wrapper keeping the 2 scrub pads together, so sustainable, biodegradable and plastic-free entirely.

These coconut scrub pads are sold in packs of either 2 or 4 at a great value budget-friendly price of £2 for 2 or £3 for 4 scrubbers. Definitely a great choice to purchase in my opinion for effectiveness, value for money and environmentally friendly.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition, courtesy of Neersol to giveaway an All-purpose Solo Kit that contains one spray bottle, and 4 refill tablets which will last for 4-6 months to one lucky winner. The spray bottle will last for life!

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’ll try and get round to posting the recipe for the savoury bread and butter pudding on the blog but if it helps, I adapted it from my apple version. And you may take a look at my braised red cabbage recipe, although since I already had the oven on for the bread and butter pudding, I also braised the cabbage in the oven rather than cooking it on the hob. I try to be more energy efficient in that regard.

I’d love to hear what eco-friendly swaps you have made.

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Veo, the sustainable marketplace

Disclosure.  This post is a review of products I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Sustainability is the number one word for me when it comes to shopping these days, but in general it does tend to take a lot more time and effort researching what to buy where, so I was very pleased to hear about Veo World. They have taken out the hard work by liaising with reputable ethical independent brands to bring quality products to the online sustainable Veo Marketplace. I was even more delighted to be selected as a brand ambassador for Veo and to have the opportunity to tell you all about them.

Broadly speaking, the Veo Marketplace encompasses fashion, beauty, food and homeware. They have put together curated selections of these categories of products, in order to showcase some of the brands they collaborate with. I have received their curated selection of food and drink products free to review and promote.

The contents of my box were as follows:-

75g Cocoa Husk Tea from The Cocoa Concept
Adrift 20cl botanical non-alcoholic spirit from Pentire Drinks
Three 30g packets of Gnawbles snacks from Creative Nature
32g Rich Chocolate Protein Powder from Bodyhero
35g Minty Mylk Chocolate bar from Mr Popple’s Chocolate

All carefully packed in a cardboard box with paper shreddings and then in a home compostable mailing bag.

Cocoa Husk tea is a very clever sustainable innovative idea to make tea using the outer shell of the cocoa bean, a by-product when harvesting the cocoa beans, which would otherwise go to waste. We found this tea very refreshing and loved its chocolatey flavour and smell. What a win-win of an idea in developing this product. And after use, the cocoa husk can be added to your compost or garden soil. This is the shortest dated product with a best before date of 30/9/21, which is plenty of time.

The tea packet itself is labelled as oxo-degradable, with a rubbish disposal image alongside. I had to look up this terminology and effectively it is a greenwashing term, as although it should degrade within a couple of years, it will only degrade into micro plastics which will then be around for 100s of years, so I assume that will be why it shows the rubbish disposal image. Perhaps Veo will be able to give the brand a nudge as regards their packaging. Such a great sustainable product deserves not to have their credentials dulled by greenwashing. It would be better to just say dispose in rubbish, although hopefully the brand is investigating other packaging alternatives, which can still keep the tea fresh.

Adrift is a distilled coastal botanical non-alcoholic drink from Cornwall. Now I don’t really know much about spirits, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, so I was hoping that either the bottle or the marketplace would give me some guidance on how to serve, but unfortunately not. I guess they are assuming that their customers would all know what to do, so I went with my instinct and measured out 20ml of Adrift, added some ice and topped my glass up with lemonade. But maybe that was the wrong choice of mixer, as certainly lemon was the dominant flavour although I could detect hints of something else pleasant. I subsequently read that lemon juice was one of the ingredients.

The Gnawbles were a big hit with all the family although we had different choices as to which of them was our favourite flavour out of Super Salted Caramel, Cheeky Choc HazelNot or Creamy Mylk Chocolate. These have a light crunchy cereal middle covered in chocolate. They are vegan, gluten free, no palm oil and nut free, yes even the HazelNot. According to the marketplace, there is also a fourth flavour called Brilliant Orange Cacao which sounds like it should be just as yummy. Surprisingly the packaging type varies across flavours with Creamy Mylk in 1 PET, whilst the other two are in 5 (polypropylene). Some of the supermarkets are now starting to take these soft plastics for recycling.

Now I don’t possess a shaker so I did the best I could at mixing the chocolate Bodyhero powder, and I must have made a reasonable attempt, as son1 who had requested this particular drink whilst the adults focussed on the tea and spirits, gave it the thumbs up. And he did let us all have a taste too. This product is vegan with the main ingredient being pea protein. The packet indicates it is also suitable for blending into smoothies or adding to good fats for a keto diet. This is another soft plastic packet, this time 4 LDPE. And I see that there is a Bodyhero shaker for sale on the marketplace for which they plant one tree per order. Another plus point.

The Minty Mylk bar of Mr Popple’s Chocolate also got a very positive taste reaction from all of us. Its credentials are equally impressive with the packet indicating that it is organic, vegan, raw, no refined sugars, no palm oil, gluten free, soya free, ethically traded and sustainably grown, along with home compostable packaging. Plenty of other flavours in the range but you will have to be quick for this one as it is a limited edition.

These are just a small sample of the selection of products available from the Veo marketplace. I certainly recommend Veo for the breadth of ecofriendly brands they have partnered with. Do have a browse around to see the full range. I’m off to check out their sustainable underwear next.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition, courtesy of Veo to giveaway a similar selection of products to one lucky winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear your favourite product on the Veo marketplace or your suggestions of other sustainable additions you would like to see there. My two favourites from those I received are the Mr Popple’s chocolate and the Cocoa Husk tea.

UPDATE 3/8/21
I now have an offer to pass on to my readers – £10 off your first order at Veo using the code: YABM10. This is valid for the first 10 people to use only.

How Green Reco Laundry Detergent Sheets?

Disclosure.  This post is a review of  a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Early last year I was introduced to Reco toothtabs, which I’ve been purchasing on subscription since reviewing them as they are the best plastic-free toothpaste that I’ve tried to date.

When you browse round the Reco webshop, you will see they also sell a good range of eco-friendly products from other trusted brands. But they are now about to launch their second own product and they sent me a trial pack to test out in advance for free. And no it is not a dental item this time. May I present …..

….. Reco Laundry Detergent Strips

I certainly haven’t seen or heard of anything remotely similar, so was only too happy to put these to the test.

First the packaging is cardboard and according to their website, it has already been recycled. You can either recycle or compost this. Plus it easily fits through the letterbox. No plastic bottle or capsule. Did you know that it is estimated that only about 9% of all plastic waste has ever been recycled!

Moving onto the information displayed on the packaging or website, I immediately felt confused when I read the composition. A lot of chemical sounding words plus warnings of skin irritation. This didn’t sound as eco as I hoped, although the website does say safe for the environment – OECD 301B certified biodegradable. More jargon that I don’t understand. Hopefully when they launch they can make this side of things clearer for the consumer.

My personal wishlist in this regard for an eco laundry product would be to see clear bullet points along the following lines.

Natural Ingredients
No chemicals
Cruelty free

So I would be very interested to hear which of these it ticks. I totally get its plus points over a liquid detergent as regards plastic and carbon cost. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate now and ask what are its plus points over a powder detergent, besides less cardboard? I hope its not a case of greenwashing!

The product itself comes in lightweight perforated sheets of two strips which are simple to split. The instructions indicate that one strip will be sufficient unless you live in a hard water area and your washing load is heavily soiled, in which case two strips are recommended. I have soft water here.

The directions tell you to put the strip in the back of the washing machine drum before loading your laundry. It has a strong pleasant fragrance before use and I found my laundry to have a hint of this after they had dried on the line. As regards effectiveness, it was great on general soiling like food stains but didn’t really impact long-term stains like armpits at 40 degrees, which it is fair to say is on a par with most products. And it dissolved perfectly. In fact the website indicates that they dissolve instantly in cold or hot water.

I couldn’t see any mention of whether they expected you to use them in conjunction with fabric conditioner or not. However this is a product I stopped using a couple of years ago, and in my opinion the Reco laundry sheets worked fine without the use of fabric conditioner.

So to summarise, an effective laundry product which is definitely more environmentally friendly than a liquid detergent or capsule, but I would like more clarity on the rest of its eco-credentials. In the meantime I’ll be sticking to using horse chestnuts or soap nuts for my laundry.

And if you can’t wait until the product launches to give it a try, how about seeing if you get lucky in their giveaway to win a year’s supply of Reco Laundry Detergent Strips worth £100!

I’d love to hear what is your favourite product from Reco or your suggestions for additions to the range. And don’t forget to check out the Reco blog too, where I see they are on the same wavelength as me, when it comes to cleaning with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.

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Foul Play is afoot After Dark – review and giveaway

Disclosure. This post is a review of a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

There seems to have been a trend in my recent posts of what we’ve been doing for entertainment during lockdown, so games have been interspersed amongst my many book reviews. We’ve also been digging the jigsaws out of the cupboard, but they are more of a long term project that we just do a few pieces at a time. This is the especially the case with the 2000 piece one we’re working on at the moment, which is very difficult with lots of sky, water and rock.

But today I’m sticking with the game theme, as we have received another game free to review. This time it is Foul Play, The Manor House Murder Mystery Card Game from After Dark. Now regular followers of my blog will know that I love to read a good murder mystery story, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how much I enjoy seeing a murder mystery on stage or being involved in a murder mystery game. Whether it is solving or actually being the murderer, which I’ve done twice. The first occasion was at a party but the second time, one of the amdram groups that I used to belong to, had been booked as the entertainment for a murder mystery night. Yes people actually paid to try and guess and if I recall, none of them worked out that I was indeed the culprit. And guess how many versions of Cluedo we have here, not one, not two, not three but four. We have the original version, Super Cluedo, Harry Potter and Doctor Who versions.

Murder Mystery events are the bread and butter business for After Dark and of course the pandemic has kept actors out of work for the time being, although they do hope to be back performing soon. But they extended their business model to come up with the Foul Play card game.

Dispatch was super speedy and I was very pleased to see how small the box was, just the size of a pack of playing cards. The boys have so many games that rattle around in big empty boxes, that we are almost running out of shelf space. But as the cards fitted so snugly in their box, I really didn’t see the need for the plastic around the cards inside. Hopefully they will reconsider that.

This is a game for 2-5 players and is suitable for age 8+. It is set in Edwardian England and the Lord of the Manor is dead. You have to work out which suspect killed him. There are two versions of the game, one where you play as Good Cop and the other as Bad Cop.

We tried the Good Cop version first, where you need to uncover the three pieces of evidence to track down the killer. My youngest got really into the swing of things by having several magnifying glasses as props and writing his suspicions and clues in a notebook. Although other players along with the fish seemed to be his prime suspects rather than those on the cards. The fish being the Red Herring of course! And his detective bear joined in the fun too.

However props and notebooks are just window dressing for extra fun. All that is needed is the Foul Play deck of cards. But beware of other players stealing your cards, as I became a target. The boys kindly left me with one card rather than eliminating me from the game, so I had to steal a card back in order to have enough cards to revisit the crime scene.

The next day we played again but as Bad Cops this time. With 15 pieces of evidence in play, we found this to be a much faster game, as you’re trying to pin the crime on any suspect. Although Good Cop would have been quicker if my son had realised that watches didn’t have to be worn on wrists, He had the killer card, but swapped it at the crime scene.

Until you have played the game a few times and become more familiar with the suspects, I did initially feel one of the pieces of evidence was slightly unfair. It said the killer is not related to any other suspect. I subsequently discovered that there are some extra downloadable resources on the website, so we could have printed a full list of suspects. And read a handy synopsis on each suspect, although the formatting needs to be improved to prevent text wrapping over other text.

The instructions were very comprehensive. The only things we felt unsure of were whether to shuffle the discard pile before restarting it again as the Evidence Locker, and should both players get to pick a card when swapping on Fair Play or only the player who played the card.

As per all of my game reviews during the pandemic, we didn’t just limit it to playing in out household, we also tried it out over Zoom, which worked fine too. Great for mental health and wellbeing, to be able to involve those that the pandemic has forced into a lonely isolated lifestyle.

Foul Play currently retails at £8.95. Excellent value in my opinion and so much fun. The official case file reference for solving this crime is #foulplaygame and I’m delighted to see that a second game Once Upon A Crime will soon be hitting the shelves. Any suggestions for what other versions you would like to see?

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition, courtesy of After Dark to giveaway a Foul Play card game to one lucky winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear your favourite game or idea for a new game.

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