Simple cooking with Alana | Eating my Degustabox

I think Simple Cooking could be a series I run on here although it would be pretty much every recipe I put up! As I said a few days ago in my first impressions for the April/May Degustabox, I've still got a couple posts from last month's box and here is one of them!

Muj and I have a ridiculous stash of pastas and sauces in our cupboard but when I received these we couldn't wait to try them out! Of course we had to wait until we were both around at the same time to have it but we got there in the end!

The two Organico products were what I received and we just added mini chicken fillets and some mangetout. Yes you are reading that reduced sticker properly, the mangetout cost 1p! There are still 3 or 4 packets in the freezer along with runner beans that were also 1p. Cheapest veg I've ever bought and it's great having in them in the freezer to chuck in with some meals.

There's not really much to say about this recipe to be honest, brown the chicken, cook the pasta, fling the mangetout in the microwave and add the sauce to the pasta! I told you it was simple cooking ;)

Apart from leaving the mangetout in the fridge too long and it being a bit watery this was a great meal! Definitely filling and it tasted great. Apart from me hating tomatos, the sauce was really nice, I just pushed the big chunks out the way and ate the rest!

And that's it for another simple meal from me. I will no doubt be back soon with another!

Alana x

April/March Degustabox | First Impressions

I know I know, I still have posts to get up from last month's Degustabox! I am slowly getting round to it but I couldn't just let this one sit there without shouting about it! Sit tight for last month's posts but for now here is April/March's. Again, I never know what month to go with, I get the box at the end of the month but use it the following. What do you all think?

The box looks fantastic this month! More snack based than last month but I'm not complaining about that. I love a good snack! If you read yesterday's post though, I will be rationing the 'naughty snacks' and as always sharing them with Muj.

Starting top left and working clockwise we have Crabbie's ginger beer in the flavour Scottish raspberry, nice touch Degustabox! Really looking forward to trying this out as I absolutely love Crabbies! There were some recipes included for trying this out but I will probably just be drinking it from the bottle. I'll keep the recipes though as Muj and I really need to have another cocktail party soon!  (£2.19)

Next up is Mornflake Superfast which I'd never heard of before. It's a breakfast pot that you add cold water to and it 'magically' turns into milk (it's sprinkled with powdered milk, but maaaagic). These sound absolutely fab and I'll definitely be trying them out on days when I've hit the snooze button too many times and need to run to make my bus!  I got the fruit & nut muesli and raisin, honey & almond granola. There's even a wee spoon inside the lid so you don't have to worry about taking one of your own. (£1.20 each)

Item number 3 is from a brand again that I'd never heard of. Keogh's hand cooked crisps in the flavour Atlantic sea salt and irish cider vinegar sound absolutely delicious. In fact, I might just open them up and eat them now while writing this up! They are made in Ireland with natural flavours from local farms and they are gluten free. We all know I don't have an intolerance to gluten but I always love finding foods that everyone can try and I know plenty people that do have an intolerance so being able to show them things like this is always good! (£1)

Over half this box is from brands I've never heard of and Cawston Press is the next. This is a sparkling apple and rhubarb soft drink which I'm a bit dubious about trying as I'm not that keen on rhubarb but of course I'll give it a go! As you can maybe tell from their name, they only use pressed juice not from concentrate, there are no artificial sweetners, no colourings and no preservatives so I'm hoping it's a can of tasty goodness! (£1)

McVitie's Jaffa Cake Mini Rolls have been in my life a long time but the two flavours I received in the box are two that I've never tried; berry burst and tropical. There are 6 in each packet so 12 all together but I'm rationing myself to one every couple of days. Apparently they are 'brrrilliant frozen' so I'll definitely be trying that out! (£1.30 each)

I've seen so many adverts about Dr. Oetker products and I'm always salivating by the end of them so receiving these was an utter delight! It's cooking chocolate as well so hello cereal cakes! One bar is milk and the other is dark (which is my favourite kind of chocolate) so there will be a little bit of variety with the cereal cakes, well as much variety as you can have with cereal cakes! (£1.69 each)

Sticking with the chocolate theme, Lindt is my absolute favourite chocolate brand ever! It's so indulgent, so delicious, just amazing! There were three in the box so I've given one to Muj, sharing is caring and all that. The other two will be put away in the 'treat' cupboard and I will not eat them both in one sitting. If I start to think about it, I'll send a tweet out and you all have to shout at me! (80p each)

Second last product and again I've never heard of them! Clearspring are an authentic and organic fine foods company that have been going since 1993 and it's all Japanese foods. Apart from shop bought sushi, I haven't tried any Japanese foods so I'll definitely be looking more into this company! I was sent two sachets of miso soup which I've been told is delicious and I've actually been meaning to try it so this is perfect timing. (£1.29 each)

Last product and again, from a company I've never heard of Go Splash. Funnily enough though I have a post coming up in a few days on the exact same product just a different company! Now I have some variety. This is a blackcurrant sugar free water flavouring. You simply pour yourself a glass of water or buy a bottle if you're out and about, squirt some of this go splash into it and hey presto you have juice! (£2.45)

So this month's box is rather good I'd say, what do you think? 15 items this month totalling a cost of £20 which is fab considering it's only £12.99 a month for a Degustabox and that's including postage, however, I have a nifty wee code that will get you £3 off so free delivery and you only pay £9.99 for your box! Just enter the code "IV399" when prompted and you're welcome!

What is your favourite item out of this month's box? I don't think I can actually choose one!

As always you can find out more about Degustabox on their website, Twitter and Facebook. 

Alana x

Moma! Porridge | Eating my Degustabox

Remember these wee pots from last months Degustabox? Well a couple of weeks ago, Muj and I were both up at breakfast time so we decided to try them out. It's very rare we are both up at the same time and even rarer if it's still breakfast time. Muj has four jobs and now that I've started mine, our hours are all over the place and unless we are both off at the same time, we don't get to see each other all that much.

I've probably mentioned before but I struggle with breakfast. If it's still really early I can't face eating anything but if I leave it too late it's time for lunch! I'm always on the hunt for breakfast foods so if you have a suggestion that isn't toast or cereal, I'm all ears!

The pots were so easy to make up, boil the kettle and fill to the line. Just like a Pot Noodle but you probably won't feel as guilty after eating these! I stuck with the original flavour and Muj tried the cranberry and raisin one. Despite trying some orange infused raisins from Graze I'm still very anti-raisin!

As you can see Muj put just a little bit too much water in hers and miraculously I put in just enough! We were both in a bit of a hurry the morning we tried these so we couldn't sit down and enjoy them properly but they were delicious! I managed to eat about 2/3 of mine but just couldn't finish the rest. I certainly felt the benefits though, I had so much more energy and it filled me up until lunchtime! Now that the days are longer and the weather is better however, I don't really want to eat hot porridge in the morning, to me it's an autumn/winter brekkie so I probably won't be rushing out to buy these again but once the darker colder days swing around I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them.

Have you tried Moma? Will you try it now?

Alana x

Maille Culinary Challenge | Chicken noodles with kale and soy vinaigrette

I know what you're thinking, me and the word culinary don't really go together now do they? But as I've said, this year I want to start cooking more so when I saw the email about this in my inbox I thought bugger it, I'll give it a go! This is my first recipe with one of the two items I was sent out.

Seeing as I'm a total noob when it comes to cooking and I'm still rather terrified of the kitchen, I went with something really simple that I knew I could do without cocking up! I present to you my chicken, noodles and kale with Maille's soy vinaigrette with toasted sesame seeds. Bit of a mouthful!

I love the way the vinaigrette looks in the bottle, everything all layered and I kind of didn't want to use it and ruin it but I'm sure it'll settle down again and go back to looking pretty! I was sent a rather large bottle and only used a small portion so there's plenty left for future recipes!

The ingredients for this recipe are very simple (surprise surprise). All I used was a half packet of mini chicken fillets from Tesco, a packet of egg noodles again from Tesco, a bag of kale and the Maille vinaigrette.

Chop up the chicken, or if you're me and get frustrated with knives not doing what you tell them to, whack out the scissors and get cutting! I used a couple sprays of Fry Light extra virgin olive oil spray, since finding this, I haven't cooked with oil, it's so much simpler and doesn't bog your meals down or make them feel slimy!

Once the chicken was almost cooked I used the whole packet of noodles and turned the heat up a bit to get them cooked. The kale again was a full bag and that just went into the microwave. Once everything was nearly cooked, I used about 3 tablespoons of the soy vinaigrette and added it to the chicken and noodles.

Rather than have a bed of noodles which is what I see most meals with noodles, I decided to use the kale as a base. There was much more of that than noodles! Chicken and noodles on top and hey presto, I was done! It took about 20 mins from prep to cooked

It might not be the most fantastic or technical meal but it did the job and tasted lovely. The vinaigrette wasn't too overpowering although if I were to replicate this recipe again, I might use just a tad more.

What do you all think of my attempt at cooking?!

I'll be posting the second recipe in the next couple days and it will more than likely be just as if not simpler than this. Gotta start somewhere right?!

Alana x

March/April Degusta Box | First Impressions

I never know what month to put these as because I get the box at the end of the month then use it the following month. Anyway, I have returned from my stupidly long hiatus and what better post to officially come back with than Degustabox! 

If you haven't read my previous posts about Degustabox, they are a monthly food box subscription service. Much like Graze boxes but on a larger scale. You receive 10-15 surprise products some of which are brand new to the market, you eat them and if you're like me, you blog about it! Of course you don't have to, but it's nice to share right? For more information you can visit their website here.

So before I jump into what I got I just have to say that Degustabox have actually changed who they send out your boxes with and this has also come with some fancy new packaging inside the box, which I absolutely love! I know right, getting excited about packaging... It's like giant bubblewrap!

And here are the goodies! I love that there is always such a mix of ready to eat foods and what I like to call recipe foods. It's like a gentle nudge every month to remind me to try out some cooking.

 How cute do these wee flavoured milks look?! I'm not the hugest fan of milk so I'm looking forward to trying these out. There were a couple coupons in the box as well to get a free 3 pack and a bottle from their 'adult' range that I'll be putting to good use next time I'm in Tesco!

 As some of you may know, I am awful at having breakfast! I can't have cereal every day as I know I'd get bored far too easily and some days I just can't face eating/cooking anything! I can't stand raisins so I'll be giving the bottom pot to Muj but I'll definitely be giving the plain pot a go! 

 I can't wait to try these two out, all I have to do is add mince and some vegetables and I've got a meal! I've got so many packets of pasta and jars of sauce in the cupboard that I really should use but these products from Organico will be getting used first!

 If you remember the last Degustabox I wrote about, I received some Maggi products that I absolutely loved. Anything to make cooking easier and more Alana friendly! These look like the could fall into the same category. I'm especially looking forward to trying the tagliatelle ones.

 My biggest vice, crispy and savoury snacks! Muj and I have already discussed covering the nachos in cheese and sauce and banging them in the oven so I can see that happening soon. I didn't know Tyrells did popcorn so that'll be a new on for me.

I've never tried any Chai products so I really have no idea what to expect when I try this out. It's chocolate flavour though so that's always a bonus! I love tea and I love lattes so I'm hoping that I'll enjoy them combined, we'll find out!

So overall, I am loving this month's box! I'll only be giving away one thing I don't like which is better than last month's box. Speaking of last months box, I received it when I had fallen out of love with blogging so I didn't write about it, if you're interested in what I got though, I'll gladly do a post about it, just let me know!

Goody Good Stuff | Eating my Degustabox

On Monday after our Degustabox dinner, Muj and I decided to have some Degustabox sweeties as well. These are the Goody Good Stuff Sour Mix & Match and Tropical Fruit. We decided to half each bag then half that between us. I've been having too many greedy piggy moments recently so I'm glad I have a flatmate to split things like this with.

I'm not the hugest fan of sour or fizzy things but every now and then I like them. These were quite nice but I felt the sourness took over the flavour a bit too much for me. I probably wouldn't get these ones again.

 Now these ones, I absolutely loved! So tasty and the flavours were so...flavourful? Not overpoweringly strong but definitely there! I can definitely see me getting these ones again in the future.

Ok are we ready for the list of everything the Goody Good Stuff range is free from? Here we go - fat free, meat free, dairy free, alcohol free, gluten free, egg free, nut free, soy free, gelatine free. Considering there is no gelatine in these, I was quite surprised at how chewy and for lack of a better word meaty these were. Pleasantly surprised!

I'll definitely be trying out more from this range, they'd be perfect as Sunday night pub quiz treats!

Have you tried any Goody Good Stuff? Let me know below!

Chicken & Quinoa | Eating my Degustabox

Last night my flatmate Mary-Jane (or Muj) and I decided that we were going to make  a decent dinner and we turned to the Degustabox I received (first impressions post here). We decided to use the Maggi SoTender Italian Herbs papyrus paper and Alice & Oscar's Quinola Mothergrain Express Quinoa with some reduced to clear chicken breast. I will forever fly the flag of reduced to clear shopping!

It was all very easy to use which put my mind at rest as I am no Gordon Ramsay, apart from maybe the swearing! One of my resolutions this year was to cook more which hasn't happened all that much but these are great for easing yourself in!

For the chicken all you do is take your portion, lay it on one half of the papyrus paper, fold the other half over and flatten it as much as you can. I had a massive portion so couldn't get it that flat but I gave it a go! Stick them in a frying pan - sidenote Muj and I don't have a frying pan yet so we used a soup pot - 10 minutes on each side and hey presto, done! I think next time we will maybe give it a couple extra minutes on each side as both Muj and I though they were a tiny bit undercooked in the middle and her portion was much smaller than mine! Apart from that though, this was so freaking delicious. It smelled and tasted amazing and will definitely be going in my shopping basket during one of my trips to Asda!

I've not had much experience with quinoa so didn't know what to expect with this. We stuck it in the microwave for 2 minutes and that was it done. My favourite kind of cooking, no cooking! I thought the quinoa was really nice, it didn't have too much taste but I liked the texture and it was definitely filling! Half way through the meal, both Muj and I noticed how full we were getting and very oddly for me, I actually left food on my plate!

To finish off the meal we chucked in some cauliflower and broccoli. Our healthy and filling meal was cooked in 20 minutes and it was bloody delicious! We still have two of the papyrus papers left (I was quite shocked to see you get 4 in a packet!) so we will be having that again very soon

 You can buy Maggi products at Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys, and you can find Alice & Oscar stockists on their website (link here).

9 Bar Original

I started buying 9bars a while back now (lazy blogger) and I need to rediscover them pretty soon as I haven't been the healthiest person recently. I figured if I wrote a wee post about them that it would inspire me to start buying them again on my Sunday shop with Muj.

What 9bar say: 9bar is a delicious way to provide an extra energy boost. It also provides a fantastic, tasty, guilt-free alternative when all you actually want to do is indulge. So why fill up on empty calories when you can get the nutritional boost that provides more sustained satisfaction?

What I say: These bars are freaking delicious! Just the right size, they keep you going in between meals and the carob topping is just enough to get your chocolate fix in. I love that they are gluten and wheat free so even those with intolerances can try them out. All together, the seeds, honey and carob work great together, lovely taste and when you're eating the bar it doesn't go all mulchy in your mouth.

I'm now sat here wishing I had some 9bars in the cupboard! Well my plan must have worked. I better make sure and re-read this post just before I go do my shopping!

You can also get 9bars in peanut, fruity, flax, nutty, organic and pumpkin. I'm up for trying all of them but I can probably guess that I won't like the fruity one. It'll have raisins or dates in it (yuck!) and I'm up for trying new things but I know for a fact I don't like either of those things so I tend to just steer clear.

Have you tried any of the 9bars? If you haven't, will you now? Let me know below!

Celebration haul!

I say haul, I spent less than £20, but thanks to my bargain hunting savvy, it went very far! It's a celebration haul as I'd won some money from a Twitter competition and I've now got a job! Wooo go me! Now I just have to wait for an email telling me my start date, ironically enough, I'll be selling electronic cigarettes. My no smoking should come in handy for that! ;) Now onto the goodies!

Foodie goodies first! The Fabulous Bakin' Boys flapjacks were a steal at 49p for 5! I do love flapjack and it would probably be cheaper to make my own, I'll need to give it a go one day! From Holland & Barrett's Neal's Yard Wholefoods range, I got popping corn and thai chilli rice crackers. It was actually buy one get one half price so instead of it costing me £5.30, it was only £3.98! I'm really looking forward to trying the popping corn, means I can take my own with me to the cinema and it won't be covered in sugar!

Beauty goodies next! The wipes were £1 for 3 packets in Savers, not expecting them to be miracle wipes but as long as they can cleanse my face and leave it feeling fresh and hydrated I'm happy. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'll be keeping a packet in my bag, never know when you'll need them! Nail brush was 49p from Bodycare, it was a spur of the moment buy, I saw them and realised I didn't have one! The floss was £1 from Savers again, 200 metres of it! Again, it might not be the best of the best but as long as it does the job it's supposed to, I have no issue! The lipstick was 99p from Bodycare and I'll do a wee separate post about this with swatches etc.

The Carmex was from Savers and cost me £1.49, I was quite surprised as usually when I see it, it's £3 upwards! I'll need to remember to visit Savers again when this runs out (that's if I don't lose it before it runs out!). The pure eye roll on was from Savers again and was only £1! I've seen these roll ons before and really wanted to try them. Can't complain at a pound! I'll do a follow up post about this in a couple weeks.

Now the last beauty item, hair lightener (£3.99 from Bodycare). If you follow me on twitter or instagram, you'll already have seen the outcome but for those who haven't...

I'm now blondey blonde! It's still quite yellow but I've got a blonde dye to tone it out and silver conditioner (I'll post about that in a couple weeks as well) I need to get another box of lightener as there are still some brown bits to get rid of. Looking forward to my future as a blonde.

Now onto the last lot of goodies, miscellaneous items.

I hit The Works again, remember my last visit? I should really stop going in there! This time I got a memo block, I hate hate the LOL on it but I needed a memo block and it was only 74p. The Hello Kitty pen was actually from Rymans and only cost 99p, it's got 10 different colours and I ruddy well love it! Anyways, back to my Works books. Louis showed me this Catwoman book and I fell in love with it! 49p as well, the RRP is in $ but it says $18.95 Bargain and a half! The Accidental Vegetarian by Simon Rimmer, looking forward to reading this. 25p with an RRP of £12.99 and the last item is Jumbo to Jockey, as you can see from the picture, I couldn't quite get the sticker off the 'O' so it looks like it's called Jumb to Jockey. After reading the blurb on this, I couldn't not get it

And so we have come to end of my haul. Quite a lot of stuff wouldn't you agree? What have you bought yourself recently?

Inner Defence; Pro-biotic Ninjas!

 

As you all know by now, I love the reduced to clear section in Asda when Muj and I go food shopping on a Sunday. On our last visit, I picked up these. 29p just for having some battered packaging! I don't buy probiotic yogurt/drinks all that often, it does tend to be when they are reduced. 

You're probably wondering about the title, pro-biotic ninjas? For some reasons, I always think of pro-biotic as having little I don't know, nano people that fix up all your insides when you drink them. I have a strange imagination!

The last time I got them was quite a few weeks back and it was Actimel. I'll be honest, I didn't notice that much of a difference after drinking them. I had the tiniest smidge more energy but that could have been down to cleaner eating. Who knows!

 

What I do know is these drinks are delicious and a great way to add 84 calories to my breakfast. I'm quite bad sometimes for not having enough breakfast so if these help me on the way then I'm game!

They taste really good so I don't have to force myself to drink them (for some reason I'm thinking about 'meal replacement shakes' here, that's a rant for another day!) Again I'm not noticing a huge difference from drinking them, I'm assuming most of the work goes on inside the body though.

 

I would consider buying these again, as I said earlier they are great for bulking out my breakfast cals and maybe if I drank them for long enough I'd feel/see benefits.

Do you drink pro-biotic drinks, have you had any side effects, benefits etc?