Violife 100% vegan cheese review

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Over the past few years our family has adopted more of a plant-based and vegan diet. Thanks to an ever-expanding range of vegetarian, plant-based and vegan products available on the market today, eating well for our health and for the benefit of the planet is easier than ever.

Being a cheese lover, switching from dairy cheese to vegan cheese has been the most difficult change to my eating habits. 

Much to my delight Violife has a range of tasty vegan cheese that has helped satisfy my cheese cravings. Over the past few days the family and I have been taste testing a range of Violife 100% vegan cheeses.

The Violife vegan cheese we have been tasting are Epic Mature Cheddar Flavoured Vegan Block, Original Flavour Vegan Grated Cheese, Original Flavour Vegan Cheese Slices, Smokey Cheddar Flavoured Vegan Cheese Slices and Le Rond Camembert Flavour Vegan Cheese.

Discover Gold with Flora.

Flora has launched a delicious new product for people who love their food.  Gold from Flora is an irresistible blend of butter and flora with a rich, creamy taste that everyone in the family will love.

Not only does Gold from Flora taste great it is also easy and versatile, making it a natural winner at any time of the day and convenient for every family meal as it can be used straight from the fridge to make delicious, lovingly-prepared meals.  Gold from Flora is great for spreading on toast, as well as being perfect for melting over vegetables and making sandwiches extra tasty.

Cupid cakes - Tate & Lyle recipe.

These adorable pop-in-the-mouth cupid cakes will undoubtedly set hearts aflutter.

*  Makes:  18

*  Prep time:  1½ hours

*  Cooking time:  10 minutes

Lyle’s Golden Christmas Puddings.

These sparkling gilded Christmas puddings make a dramatic and opulent ending to the festive meal.  Edible gold flakes can be found in cake decorating shops.

Makes: 6                             

Prep time:  50 minutes

Soaking time:  3-4 hours

Cooking time: 1¼ hours

Ingredients - 

for the Christmas puddings

*  50g (2oz) golden sultanas

*  75g (3oz) currants

*  75g (3oz) raisins

*  60g (2½oz) dried apricots, finely chopped

*  60g (2½oz) dried mango, very finely chopped

*  50g (2oz) mixed peel

*  40g (1½oz) flaked almonds, roughly chopped

*  60ml (2½floz) brandy or orange liqueur

*  1 tsp vanilla extract

*  125g (4½oz) unsalted butter, softened

*  40g (1½oz) Lyle’s Golden Syrup

*  40g (1½oz) Lyle’s Black Treacle

*  95g (3½oz) Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Light Muscovado Cane Sugar

*  2 large eggs, beaten

*  75g (3oz) plain flour

*  150g (5oz) fresh white breadcrumbs

for the brandy butter

*  125g (4½oz) unsalted butter, softened

*  95g (3½oz) Lyle’s Golden Syrup

*  2 tbsp brandy or orange liqueur

to serve

*  6 tbsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup

*  edible 23 carat gold flakes or dust

*  few sprigs holly

*  You will also need 6 x 125ml (4½floz) greased pudding basins.

Method - 

*  Combine all the dried fruits and nuts in a mixing bowl, add the brandy or liqueur and the vanilla.  Mix well, cover and leave to soak for 3-4 hours or overnight.

*  Beat the butter, Lyle’s Golden Syrup and treacle and the Tate & Lyle sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer for 5-8 minutes until light and creamy.  Add the eggs little by little, beating well after each addition.

*  Sift the flour over the fruit mixture and stir well to ensure all the fruit is coated in flour.  Add to the creamed mixture along with the breadcrumbs and stir well to combine.

*  Preheat the oven to 170°C/Fan150°C, 325°F, gas 3.

*  Divide the mixture between the pudding basins and smooth the tops.  Place in a deep baking dish and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the tin.  Cover with a sheet of buttered parchment paper and then some foil.

*  Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1¼ hours or until firm when lightly pressed in the middle.

*  Make the brandy butter by creaming the butter and Lyle’s Golden Syrup together until very soft.  Gradually beat in the brandy or liqueur.  Spoon into a serving bowl.

*  Remove the puddings and leave for 5 minutes before turning out onto warm plates.

*  Gently heat the Lyle’s Golden Syrup in a small pan until hot then brush all over the puddings.  Sprinkle with gold flakes, decorate with holly and serve with the brandy butter.

Do ahead -

You can make the puddings and the brandy butter 1 month ahead and freeze them in a lidded container.  Alternatively, make both 3 days ahead and store in the fridge.  To reheat, place the pudding basins in a shallow saucepan half-filled with boiling water, cover with foil and steam for about 20 minutes or until hot.  Or microwave for 1-2 minutes until hot.

*  I have not received anything for sharing this recipe *

Smiley spiral apple tarts - Ella's Kitchen recipe

Who knew apple tarts could taste this good? Little ones will love to get involved using pastry cutters and decorating the tarts with apple slices.

Jo Pratt recipes for quick and tasty meals.

As a mum I always try to make sure that my family have fresh and healthy meals and that Bug gets his 5 a day, but juggling a busy life can sometimes make creating fresh, healthy and tasty family meals hard work. 

In an attempt to be a little more like a kitchen goddess for my family and create deliciously healthy family meals in spite of a busy life I am always keen to learn about quick and easy family recipes and kitchen gadgets to make life a little easier.

Realising that it can be hard work to create fresh, healthy and tasty family meals especially when juggling a busy life, Panasonic have produced new Premium Combi Ovens that help you save time cooking thanks to their ‘turbo cook’ feature, making it a lot easier to create fresh, healthy and tasty family meals quickly and easily.

To showcase how easy it is to create delicious meals using their Premium Combi Ovens and highlight the oven’s useful features, Panasonic have teamed up with TV chef Jo Pratt to share some quick and easy to make family recipes.  Using the new Panasonic combination microwave oven Jo Pratt created two tasty dishes completely from scratch.

Easter baking with bug.

With Easter landing on the same weekend as Bug’s 2nd birthday it has been the perfect excuse for me to get in the kitchen with Bug and bake some tasty treats for us all to enjoy to get in the Easter spirit and being the celebrations for Bug’s big day……not that I need much of an excuse to indulge myself with some scrumptious treats.

When I think of Easter and food many recipes, meals and treats spring to mind.  Gorgeous lamb dinners, Hot Cross Buns, Simnel Cake, Egg Nests with mini eggs, Easter themed biscuits and cupcakes, to name but a few.

I have fond memories of my mum cooking up a storm in the kitchen when I was young especially during Easter when the kitchen would be filled with delicious aromas of all the gorgeous food she cooked and baked.  Not only did my sister and I get to enjoy her wonderful food but we also helped mum, assisting her in the kitchen, especially enjoying decorating her masterful creations of cakes and sweet treats.  Our favourite ‘job’ was to decorate her mouth-watering cupcakes, getting a little messy as we embellished each cupcake.  Even though my cookery skills do not come close to my mum’s talent at cooking I hope to achieve the same fun and enjoyment in the kitchen with Bug that my mum did with my sister and I. 

Decorating cupcakes (Project 365 - 83/365).

Recreating Revolting Recipes

When I was a child I loved Roald Dahl; I would get lost in his books for hours on end, getting caught up in the magic of his stories.  I read all of his books, reading them again and again.  I still have a lot of my old, extremely well read Roald Dahl books and have started reading a few of the battered looking but much loved books to Bug as I want to pass on my love of reading and the magical stories that Roald Dahl weaved in his magnificent books.  As well as enjoying the splendid stories that Roald Dahl wrote I also loved the vivid illustrations that complemented the stories which were created by the legendary illustrator Quentin Blake.

When I heard that for Roald Dahl Day 2012 they were celebrating 30 gloriumptious years of the loveable, swizzfiggling Big Friendly Giant (otherwise known as The BFG) I started reading The BFG to little man enjoying once again the story of The BFG and how he catches, creates and makes dreams come true.

Win The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook

Following my reviews and competitions in connection with Quirk Books of the books ‘Stuff Every Dad Should Know’ and ‘The Art of Roughhousing’, Quirk Books have offered another book, ‘The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook’, as a competition prize on my blog.

The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook is a book from food blogger and cookie dough addict Lindsay Landis.  She is the author of the popular food blog Love and Olive Oil, where she shares about her culinary adventures, flavoursome recipes and her love of food.

Win A Beautiful Range Cooker With Iconic Kitchen Brand Rangemaster

When I was younger my grandparents had a farm and in the farmhouse was a beautiful Range Cooker.  It was the heart of the kitchen.  I have fond memories of seeing my mum and my Mamgu (Grandmother in Welsh) stood by the Range Cooker making delicious food.  As well as feeding the family, using the range cooker they made tasty food to feed the hungry workers who had been working hard all day on the farm.