Move over hot dog, introducing the Chickfurter

I’ve been buying sausages from the local butcher this year, as I can take my own container to avoid any packaging, but I have previously purchased HECK sausages from the supermarket. Both the boys enjoy sausages. So when I heard that HECK were launching a new product, the Chickfurter, I was interested in the concept. Son1 is quite a hotdog fan, but it is a treat that he doesn’t often get the opportunity to try. Meanwhile son2 does not like hot dogs.

So I received two free packs of HECK Chickfurters to review. How would these go down with the boys?

First the nutritional side. They are gluten free like all the rest of the HECK range and contain 97% British chicken. Apparently the HECK Chickfurter is the only frankfurter on the market currently made of chicken breast, rather than mechanically reclaimed meat. That sounds good. I was also pleased to note that they had 9 days until the use by date, which is pretty impressive for a refrigerated product. Plus they are suitable for home freezing.

Each 320g pack contains 4 large chickfurters. I’m used to the method of cooking hot dogs in water, but the packet said to pan-fry for best results or to grill. So I opted to pan-fry them, serving them in traditional long rolls with ketchup and optional fried onion.

Son1 loved them and wanted two which at 72g each was a huge meat hit. I certainly couldn’t have eaten a second in one sitting. But son2 lived upto expectation and did not like them. He was in the minority though as the rest of us enjoyed them. I loved that smoky flavour.

And now to discuss the packaging. I knew that I would be compromising my ideal by receiving a packaged product but what type of packaging? It was a plastic tray covered with film in a cardboard sleeve. And at least the tray was not black plastic, as sorting equipment cannot detect the colour black. So all recyclable apart from the film, which could be eco-bricked, but it would be preferable to swap the tray and film to a more sustainable material. For instance when I buy frozen vegetarian sausages, those are just sold in cardboard.

Also by receiving the product via post, there was a lot of additional packaging in order to keep the product chilled during transit. So I would recommend purchasing in-store rather than online, although currently, the chickfurter has only been launched in Morrisons.

Do take a look at the HECK website to see the rest of their range. I was particularly interested to see they make a wide range of vegan sausages too. I was unaware of these previously. I’ve been eating meat-free more regularly recently and often adapt a sausage recipe to be veggie sausages for me, whilst the rest of the family have butchers sausages.

And I’d love to hear your recipe ideas for chickfurters.

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

Organic Cacao Butter Buttons recipes plus giveaway

Cocoa butter (also known as cacao butter) is well known in skincare for its moisturising properties but did you know that it can also be used in the kitchen. I didn’t so I was intrigued when I saw it listed as one of the products that Indigo Herbs were looking for bloggers to review.

Once I realised that it is a raw by-product in the cocoa Industry which can be used to make my own sugar-free chocolate, I immediately applied. I’ve always loved chocolate and I have tried to convince myself that it is good for me, due to the iron content, as I easily get anaemic. However over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to reduce my processed sugar intake, but chocolate is one of the areas I’ve particularly failed to reduce. Nearly every visit to my local Co-op, I still come back with a bar, patting myself on the back because it is fair-trade and wrapped in foil and paper, ignoring the high sugar content.

So I was very pleased to receive a 500g packet of Indigo Herbs Organic Cacao Butter Buttons free to review.

Cacao has been harvested from the bean for centuries and dates back at least to the days of the Mayan, Inca and Aztec cultures. It has many health benefits. Cacao is the highest wholefood source of the mineral magnesium, an important mineral for heart health, which is rather lacking in most modern diets. It is also a valuable source of iron and an extremely antioxidant-rich superfood. Plus raw cacao is a great mood enhancer due to the abundance of feel good phytonutrients it contains.

The packet states that these organic buttons are 100% vegan, a natural source of healthy fats and an excellent source of essential fatty acids. On opening the packet, the aroma was absolutely divine, like a rich dark chocolate. And here is a birds-eye view into the packet. You can see that they look very similar in appearance to white chocolate chips, but that is where the similarity ends as these buttons are sugar-free. They are smooth to the touch, and melt easily over hot water.

I currently have lots of apples and blackberries to put to good use, so I decided to come up with a recipe using these.

Apple and Blackberry Traybake

Ingredients (makes 16 slices)

100g cacao butter buttons
300g cooking apples
100g blackberries
250g almond flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
25g date sugar
200ml oat milk

Method

Preheat fan oven to 160 degrees C.
Line a 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
Boil a saucepan of water and then turn off.
Melt the cacao butter buttons in a bowl placed in the pan of hot water.
Meanwhile peel, core and dice the apples.
Stir the almond flour, baking powder and date sugar into the melted cacao butter.
Mix in the oat milk.
Stir in the blackberries and chopped apples.
Spoon the mixture into the baking tin.
Cook on middle shelf of oven for about 40 minutes, (until a skewer comes out clean).
Cool on cooling rack.
Cut into 16 pieces.
Serve and enjoy.

This was very tasty and shows how cacao butter can be used in a non-chocolate recipe. However the texture was rather soft, so it would probably have been better to serve this as a pudding rather than as cake. I’ve deliberately kept the recipe vegan and gluten-free, but you could easily adapt it.

And of course, I wanted to try my hand at making my own homemade chocolates. Having been tempted to taste one of the buttons straight from the packet, I knew I was going to have to sweeten the cacao somewhat, but to keep it reasonably healthy, I wanted to add as little of the date syrup as possible, so I gradually added 5g at a time, until discovering that 20g was optimal.

Homemade Chocolates

Ingredients

50g cacao butter buttons
35g cacao powder
20g date syrup

Method

Boil a saucepan of water and then turn off.
Melt the cacao butter buttons in a bowl placed in the pan of hot water.
Mix in the cacao powder.
Stir in the date syrup.
Spoon the mixture into moulds.
Place moulds in fridge for an hour.
Gently press chocolates out of moulds.
Serve and enjoy.

Wow. Thumbs up. These yummy treats both tasted and looked amazing. A nice slightly bitter dark chocolate flavour. I shall definitely be making these on a regular basis. I used moulds which I had repurposed from advent calendars and Easter, but you could alternatively make a bar.

A 500g packet of Indigo Herbs Organic Cacao Butter Buttons currently retails at £12.99 and is also available in 250g or 1kg sizes. They have a long shelf life being dated best before December 2020, although mine will be long gone before then. Unfortunately there is no mention of the cacao being fairtrade. Perhaps that is something that could be looked into.

I also want to talk about the packaging. Regular followers of my blog will know that I began this year with the aim of reducing my household waste, in particular plastic. I’ve gradually broadened this to think of the whole carbon footprint in terms of my purchases and trying to buy more organic and more local products with low food miles. So the buttons get a big tick for being organic. I know the cocoa bean doesn’t grow in the UK, so can’t do much about the fact of the cacao coming from Peru. Just got to accept that. It is the same with other products that I intend to continue purchasing like bananas. One of the things I plan to look into going forwards is how I personally can offset my carbon footprint of these products having been flown halfway across the world for my consumption, with a view to contributing to some environmental projects.

So back to the packaging. Unfortunately there is no mention on the packet of how to dispose of it, which is information I would like to see all food packaging display. I think it looks like either a plastic or a mixed material, probably not easily recycled. It seems reasonably robust, so I will probably be able to repurpose it temporarily as a freezer bag. But what about after that? How about selling them in glass jars instead, or even better loose though refill stores.

I couldn’t actually work out where my nearest stockist is as there seems to be a glitch with that page. Every store on the map seems to currently be listed with a Bristol address.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a 500g pack of cacao buttons courtesy of Indigo Herbs to one lucky winner. Think of all the tempting treats you could make with this.

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

And you may see my other giveaways here.

Right I’m off to browse the Indigo Herbs website to see what other products they sell. It is thanks to them that I previously discovered my love of chia seeds, something that I now use almost daily. You may check out my chia seed review here.

I’d love to hear your recipes using cacao.

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

Free From Fellows sweets review and giveaway

For the last few years, I have become more aware of how bad sugar can be for us. It is known to be one of the worst foods for a variety of common diseases like arthritis, cancer and autism. I enjoy sweet treats far too much to eliminate them, but I do try my best now to reduce my sugar intake. I’m now buying less refined sugar and opting to purchase the likes of date sugar or coconut sugar instead. I’ve made a few little changes like always having fruit with my porridge instead of sugar and sometimes opting for something like a cheese scone or slice of fruit bread rather than cake.

Now although I feel like I personally am gradually winning the battle against sugar, it is a different story when it comes to my youngest son. He is such a fussy eater and so skinny compared to his brother, but he does have a sweet tooth. So we do have sweet treats in the store cupboard for him to help himself to, as I don’t aways have time to bake and sometimes he rejects my lower sugar baking anyhow. And one thing he has always been partial to is the likes of Haribo.

So I was delighted when Free From Fellows contacted me, asking if I would like to review their sweet range. They sent me 9 free packs of their sweets along with a Utopia preserving jar. I used this to make a very retro look sweets jar. It looked just like a mini version of what I fondly remember being stocked at the sweet shop when I was a child. I particularly have fond memories of counting out chocolate mice from such a jar.

The range includes the following six varieties.
Gummy Bears
Cola Bottles
Midget Gems
Rhubarb & Custard
Pear Drops
Lollipops (packet contains cola and strawberry flavours)

Their sweets are sugar free, gelatine free, gluten free and have no artificial colours or flavours. They are also suitable for vegans which is great as so often gummy sweets can contain pork gelatine. Apart from the lollipops packet which was 60g or 5 lollys, the other packets were all 70g each. All the packets were very long-dated to 2020.

However when I looked at the packets, I found they did contain other sweeteners instead of sugar. The 3 gummy varieties contain maltitol syrup and steviol glycosides whilst the lollipops contain isomalt and steviol glycosides, and the other 2 hard sweet varieties contain isomalt and sucralose. This reminded me that I had planned to do some research into sugar substitutes a while ago, but this is still outstanding.

With all the choice of sweets in the jar, the boys took their time choosing which variety to try first. But once they had tried them all, everything got the thumbs up. And I have to say I’m struggling to decide whether cola bottles or rhubarb & custard is my favourite.

Free From Fellows are stocked both in-store and online at Sainsburys, Morrisons, Ocado and Boots plus many smaller health food stores. I was just browsing in a small independent store called Honest To Goodness last week whilst on holiday and spotted all the varieties on the shelf there.

However one thing that was a shame was the packaging. Not only was it plastic packets, but the pear drops, rhubarb & custard and lollipops were all individually packed in plastic again inside the outer plastic packet, so an unnecessary double layer of plastic. How about considering compostable packets like a few brands are starting to move towards? Or since they were keen for me to use a jar, how about selling them in jars in the first place?

One word of caution though. However tasty they are, don’t eat too many at one time. There is a little word of warning on the back of the packet that if eaten in large quantities, the sweets can occasionally give some an upset tummy.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway 12 packs of sweets from Free From Fellows to one lucky winner. That will be 2 packs of each variety. What a sweet treat of a prize.

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

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear about your favourite reduced sugar treats. Or perhaps you have an idea to share for an addition to the Free From Fellows range?

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

Have you heard of Wallaroo?

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

I’m always on the lookout for healthy snacks, particularly as son2 is always ready for a snack on the bus on the way home from school. He would very happily munch on biscuits or crisps, but I do prefer him to have something more healthy. So I was very pleased to be offered the opportunity to review some natural snacks from Wallaroo for free. And I love their unique name. When I googled it, I wondered how I hadn’t spotted the obvious – a wallaroo is a marsupial size in-between the kangaroo and wallaby. I wonder how they came up with that identity for their snacks?

I received one pack of each of the current range as follows:-
Gently dried mango slices
Gently dried pineapple chunks
Toasted organic coconut chips

So firstly the mango. Son2 was very pleased to see this as he already loves mango, whether fresh or dried. And this packet certainly lived upto his expectation. He reluctantly let the rest of us have a small taste. From my point of view, it is great that it is in a portion-controlled size, as son2 has been known to take a 100g pack of dried mango from the store cupboard and quickly scoff the lot.

I’m the only one in our household who loves coconut, so I took this pack as a snack to work with me. It was yummy and very moreish. However I managed to only eat a few at a time, so that it lasted throughout my entire shift. Great result therefore avoiding eating additional snacks. And the coconut is 100% organic.

Similarly, I am the only one in our family who usually eats pineapple, but son1 gave the pineapple flavour a try, seeing as son2 had hogged most of the mango. He was very surprised to find that he did enjoy it, although he said he preferred the mango.

Wallaroo snacks are 100% natural with no added sugar, salt, preservatives or sulphites. They are also vegan, gluten free and non-GM. And the mango and pineapple packs are each equivalent to 1 of your 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables. However I must warn you that the packets mention that they have been packed in a facility which handles nuts, peanuts and sesame.

One feature that I was especially delighted to see is that the packaging is home compostable with no plastic waste. I’ve not come across such a feature before, so full marks to Wallaroo. We’ve all got to do our bit to beat plastic pollution. I’ve popped the empties in my food waste bin, but I can’t stop to watch them biodegrade before I post my review. That could be ages, as the best before dates range between January to March 2019. I just hope, that unlike my food bin liners which are already biodegrading on the roll and splitting, that the packaging really does last until that date for anyone who can hold out that long before munching these tasty snacks.

Wallaroo snacks are available online with a current RRP of £1.45 per 30g pack and are also sold in boxes of 10 for £12.50. I do not know where you can purchase them in-store, although I understand that they are also sold in-store. And certainly their eye-catching packet designs are very attractive. In summary, a great snack in my opinion and I hope they add some more flavours to the range.

Also as a runner, it was nice to read that Wallaroo had sponsored a running event in their local community. Their snacks would be an ideal energy boost after a long run.

And I have an offer to pass on to my readers – 15% off all purchases at Wallaroo with discount code: AUTUMN15

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway one pack of each of the three Wallaroo varieties to one lucky winner. That is 3 packs in total.
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a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear what other flavours you think should be included in the range? Son2 has suggested apricot.

With only one pack of each variety, there wasn’t enough to think about saving any for a recipe. However I would be keen to hear your recipe ideas using any of the flavours.

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Nim’s Kids Fruit and Vegetable Crisps plus giveaway

Regular readers of my blog may remember when I promoted Nim’s crowdfunder campaign last year. Well I am pleased to say that they reached their target and have launched their new kids range. And I was very happy to now receive some free samples of the Nim’s kids range to try.

I received one pack of each of the kids range as follows:-
Apple
Pear
Carrot
Cucumber

The boys shared the packs with me, so that we could do the taste test together. The apple and pear flavours were declared very popular all round. Son1 also enjoyed the carrot crisps, but son2 who is very fussy about what he will try, had already made his mind up that as he doesn’t eat fresh carrot or courgette, that he wouldn’t enjoy these. Meanwhile I enjoyed them all.

And I love that Nim’s Kids Crisps are 100% natural and are air-dried, not fried. Each pack is equivalent to 1 of your 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables. They are fat, gluten and dairy free and are suitable for vegans and coeliac sufferers. They retain fibre and vitamin C. They are made in the UK using British fruit and veg where available.

Plus Nim’s have pledged to donate 1p from the sale of every pack of its kids range to the Hope Children’s Charity.

Nim’s Kids Crisps are a great healthy snack either to send with the boys to school, or to have when I pick them up after school, or just at home.

Nim’s Kids crisps are available online with a current RRP of 75p per pack and are also stocked at some local independent retailers, cafes, garden centres and farm shops.

Meanwhile, as I had courgette crisps going spare, I decided to experiment, by breaking some into smaller pieces and sprinkling them on my salad just before serving. They gave it a lovely crunch boost.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a full set of the kids range of Nim’s Fruit and Vegetable crisps to one lucky winner and a full set of the original range to a second winner. To clarify, there are currently 4 flavours in the kids range and 7 in the original range.
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a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear what other flavours you think should be included in either range? Son2 previously suggested apricot.

Or let me know your recipe ideas using any of the flavours.

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

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Nim’s Fruit and Vegetable Crisps review

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

I have received some free fruit and vegetable crisps from Nim’s to review. I have previously purchased their delicious 100% natural apple crisps, so was looking forward to trying the rest of the range.

I received one pack of each of the current range as follows:-
Melon & Orange
Pear
Pineapple
Apple
Pineapple & Kiwi
Tomato & Cucumber
Beetroot & Parsnip
Peppers & Courgettes

Unlike my other half who was only willing to try flavours where he liked the corresponding fresh fruit or vegetable, the boys joined me in a full taste test. They were pleasantly surprised to find they enjoyed some flavours that they weren’t expecting to, including pineapple which came in at position number two, only surpassed by apple. I’m the only person in our house who eats fresh pineapple. The boys even remove it from pizza. So great to know that I can now buy them packets of Nim’s Pineapple Crisps.

And I love that Nim’s Fruit Crisps are 100% natural and are air-dried, not fried. Each pack is equivalent to 1 of your 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables. They are fat, gluten and dairy free and are suitable for vegans and coeliac sufferers. They are made in the UK using British fruit and veg where available.

Nim’s Fruit Crisps are a great healthy snack either to send with the boys to school, or to have when I pick them up after school, or just at home.

Nim’s Fruit crisps are available online with a current RRP of £1.25 per pack and are also stocked at some local independent retailers, cafes, garden centres and farm shops. I’ll certainly be keeping my eye out for a few more flavours now.

And Nim’s are hoping to launch their kids range soon with a little help from us. They have a crowdfunder campaign which looks a lot better than the ones I watched on The Apprentice last week. There are some great rewards on there for you. But be quick, the campaign closes on 13th December. And please share the campaign with your friends.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a full set of the current range of Nim’s Fruit and Vegetable crisps to one lucky winner. That is eight packs in total.
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a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear what flavours you think should be included in the new kids’ range? Son2 has suggested apricot. And I would suggest that they focus more on fruit rather than vegetables, as our taste test revealed that the vegetable flavours were too strong for son2’s palate, although son1 was happy with them.

We were too busy munching to think about saving any for a recipe. However I would be keen to hear your recipe ideas using any of the flavours.

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