During our adult working lives we will spend approximately a third of our time at work. That’s a lot of hours to be away from our home comforts and easy accessibility to food. It is important to eat during the day as we have to ‘recharge’ our bodies with energy-giving food. Grabbing a burger from the local fast food joint isn’t going to do our bodies any favours in the long run so many people take their own packed lunch with them to their job, be it sandwiches, salads, homemade healthy smoothies or shop bought goods.
Whatever food you take to work, it’s important that it arrives fresh, secure and undamaged. I can confirm from experience that cheese and ham sandwiches smothered with strawberry yogurt from a cracked pot is as disgusting as it sounds!
Lunch Boxes
Lunch boxes come in all shapes, sizes and colours and we particularly like Bento boxes that are becoming popular. It’s important that lunch boxes are tough, close securely and of a size that suits the bag you most often take to work. Below are some of our favourites.
Many people enjoy the benefits of a slow cooker at home – I know I do – so why not take some of your tasty creations to the office. If you have a microwave at work you can reheat your meals and make everyone at your job envious of your cooking skills when they catch the aroma your food, and if you don’t have any way of reheating your food, a food flask is ideal as it keeps your food hot for a decent length of time.
I would hope that your office has some kind of drink making facilities, but if not you might wish to take your own drinks bottle or flask with you. Flasks are great for hot beverages such as tea or coffee, but they are also excellent for soup which is perfect for warming you up on a cold wintry day, whilst bottles keep your fluids safe and leak-free.
Hopefully some of the products here offer you an idea on how you can make your daily trip to work a little more safer for your lunch, with the added advantage of keeping your fluids warmer or cooler – depending on your needs!
Christmas food isn’t just about roast turkey and mince pies! There are so many different recipes to try so why not make Christmas this year a special one where you can ‘wow’ your guests with a range of magnificent festive food creations!
The Christmas cookbooks below come in various formats including hardback, paperback and Kindle. Click the links to see all the options available to you.
Christmas With Gordon
In Christmas With Gordon, chef Gordon Ramsay gives the reader 75 delicious recipes for all occasions over the festive period, including five Christmas feasts using turkey, goose, beef, ham or sea bass, and along with this you will find accompanying recipes that go perfectly with the main course.
In his typical straight forward way, Gordon also advises the reader on ordering, shopping, preparation and timing. There is a great Party Food chapter, and handy recipes for breakfast, brunch, lunch and supper, as well as tasty treats for those with a sweet-tooth! There is advice on wines and party drinks, cheese and other festive ingredients, making “Christmas With Gordon” a great guide to Christmas eating.
Mary Berry’s Christmas Collection
Mary Berry’s Christmas Collection combines traditional festive dishes with a great selection of new and exciting recipes to add interest to your Christmas feasts.
Within the pages of this Christmas recipe book you will find many excellent meals, and to make your entertaining easier and stress-free, Mary has included some great handy hints. If you’re holding a family Christmas dinner, a Boxing Day crowd or a quiet New Year meal, Mary Berry is here to help! Included in ‘Mary Berry’s Christmas Collection’ is a useful Christmas Day countdown, sample menus, shopping lists and handy tips on preparing for the celebrations and for cleverly using and saving what food is left (if any). This is a must-have recipe book for the festive period.
In Nigella Christmas, Nigella offers a no-nonsense approach and inspirational way to approach your Christmas cooking. By using sensible advice and easy-to-follow recipes, this Christmas recipe book is sure to bring festive joy to your household.
From party food ideas, delicious cake and pudding recipes to the main celebratory meal, Nigella has you covered. Included are sections on cocktails and canapés, soups, salads and sauces, easy dinner ideas and stress-free suppers, traditional Christmas dinners as well as alternatives such as goose, beef, pork or vegetarian, plus Christmas baking and sweet treats and recipes to make Boxing Day special.
With attractive photography, well written recipes and a beautiful design, you will treasure this book and look forward to using it each year. It also makes a fab Christmas present for friends or family.
Delia’s Happy Christmas
It could well be said that Delia’s Happy Christmas is the ultimate guide to Christmas cooking!
In this Christmas recipe book you will find 150 festive recipes including all your favourite traditional dishes and, of course, Delia’s Classic Christmas Cake recipe that has been in print for over 40 years. Naturally there is Delia’s foolproof recipe for a Roast Turkey dinner and all the trimmings and a traditional Christmas Pudding as well as ideas for parties, boxing-day suppers, vegetarian feasts and what to do with leftovers.
Organisation is the key to success so Delia also provides us with helpful menu plans, food shopping lists and her very own special Christmas calendar. If you’re unorganised there is also a chapter named ‘Last-Minute Christmas’ for the unprepared!
Illustrated with glorious full-colour photography, there’s no mistaking that everyone needs Delia at Christmas!
The Hairy Bikers’ 12 Days of Christmas
If you’re looking for a more relaxed Christmas cookbook then take a look at Si and Dave’s offering of The Hairy Bikers’ 12 Days of Christmas. With their unending enthusiasm for great food and everything festive, this is an excellent Christmas recipe book for you to own and enjoy. In this book you will discover many popular festive dishes plus new and inventive Christmas recipes that the guys love to cook for their own family and friends.
The Hairy Bikers offer you some great recipes for the main meal on Christmas Day as well as giving you many tasty dishes for the rest of the festive period. Don’t miss out on their choice of delicious cocktails to tame your in-laws, clever recipes for any leftovers and super snacks to nibble on in front of the telly. Si and Dave even tell you how to make your own Christmas crackers – perfect for keeping the kids distracted for a while. Make ‘The Hairy Bikers’ 12 Days of Christmas’ the handy and tasty companion to your all of your festive celebrations this year.
Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook
Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook is full of classic recipes for the big day and beyond, as well as lots of tasty recipes for parties and exciting ways to make use of leftovers.
Chapters include Meat, The Wonderful World of Potatoes, Vegetarian Mains and Scrumptious Veggie Sides, Cute Edible Gifts and Festive Puddings, so you’re guaranteed to have many delicious festive feasts, without any stress.
You will discover many tasty alternatives to the standard Christmas dinner and in this cookbook there are recipes for pâtés and soups, roast turkey, goose and venison, nut roasts, roast and mashed potatoes, vegetables, gravies, sauces, stuffing, and risotto. For the dessert there is Christmas pudding, trifles, pavlova, chocolate logs, Christmas cake, mince pies, gingerbread, baked camembert, smoked salmon bilinis, hot buttered rum and lots more besides!
The Christmas Chronicles
More than a cookbook, The Christmas Chronicles speaks of the passion that Nigel Slater has for winter. With recipes, decorations, tales and suppers, Nigel expertly guides you through the neccesary preparations for Christmas and the New Year, plus all else you may need to enjoy the winter months.
Directing you from the start of November all the way through to the end of January, this book has chapters on everything from Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to Epiphany. Nigel gives the reader over 100 recipes that are perfect for the winter months, including the festive period. Traditional and loved Christmas classics such as goose and turkey, mincemeat and Christmas cake are here, and you can also find recipes to make the cold months feel warmer and bright flavours to welcome the new year.
Chock full of feasts, folktales, myths and memoir, all told in Nigel’s welcoming style, The Christmas Chronicles is the perfect book for the winter solstice.
In this festive book, Tanya Burr offers the reader her knowledge of everything needed to make the most of Christmas. Besides some classic Christmas recipes such as roast turkey with all the trimmings and baked festive treats, she aims to guide you on how to choose the perfect gift, decorate your home, host a memorable party, and she also offers her own hair and make-up tips.
Written as a countdown to Christmas Day and the New Year, this book has over 50 delightful recipes and inspiring craft projects. ‘Tanya’s Christmas’ is a celebration of the season that makes a wonderful gift – or simply buy it for yourself!
Gizzi’s Season’s Eatings: Feasts & Celebrations from Halloween to Happy New Year
Nobody enjoys a gathering more than Gizzi Erksine, and in Gizzi’s Season’s Eatings, her winter book offering, she shows you how to create tasty, crowd-pleasing food for your family and friends. Whatever the occasion, you will find something to make for the ones you love.
With chapters including Halloween, Bonfire Night, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, you will find recipes for Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and New Year’s brunch. For Halloween she creates a frightful feast and for Guy Fawkes night you’ll love to make her sausage casserole. Other recipes include Boxing Day turkey mole enchiladas, Thanksgiving clambake and dense chocolate Christmas cake.
New York Christmas: Recipes and Stories
Written by authors Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup, New York Christmas is a combination of recipes and stories. In it you can live the dream of a White Christmas in New York where coloured lights decorate the buildings, Jingle Bells rings out from every street corner and festive cuisine tempts you to indulge.
If you’ve ever dreamed of strolling down a wintry Fifth Avenue, ice-skating around the Christmas tree in front of the Rockerfeller Center, or enjoying a delicious slice of pumpkin pie in a bustling New York cafe, you will love this book. Inside you will discover 50 uniquely American recipes from Maple Glazed Ham and Savoury Bagels to Blueberry Brownies and an unforgettable Cheesecake, all interwoven with a collection of lovely Christmas stories from the Big Apple. You will also be thrilled to find three special Christmas-themed tales that are so well-known in the US that they have now become part of popular Christmas folklore in the USA.
Scandinavian Christmas
In Scandinavia the whole of Christmastime, from the first Sunday in Advent to New Year’s Day, is celebrated by festivals – both traditional contemporary – and you will discover all the pleasure of it in Scandinavian Christmas by Trine Hahnemann. Bakers will love to hear that the first week of December is baking week when enough baked goods have to be made to last the whole Christmas period. From brunches, cocktail and tea parties, to lunches and dinners, the Scandinavians cook a mixture of traditional and modern recipes. Duck and pork are most common on Christmas Eve, whilst fish, ham and seasonal vegetables are served on Christmas Day. Sweets, biscuits, puddings and other tasty foods are plentiful – all accompanied by gluwein and fruity cocktails.
This lovely book, complete with beautiful photography, contains 70 Christmas recipes as well as tips on how to decorate your homes and celebrate Christmas the Scandinavian way.
Good Food: 101 Christmas Dishes
Full of inspirational ideas, excellent menus and superb recipes, the Good Food: 101 Christmas Dishes cookbook will find festive foodies jumping for joy as the discover everything they need to make Christmas magical.
This Christmas recipe book is split into six sections: Edible Gifts, Christmas Cakes and Other Bakes, Party Drinks and Nibbles, The Christmas Feast and all the Trimmings, Entertaining Starters and Centrepieces, and Festive Finales. The recipes are varied, and most are simple and quick and could be made by anyone. Each recipe is accompanied by its own picture which is essential for any good cookbook.
From canapés to Christmas cake, the BBC Good Food Magazine will guide you on every step of journey through Christmas cooking with mouthwatering, simple recipes that won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours on end.
Please note: Unfortunately Nespresso no longer produce the Inissia Coffee Machine but we’ve been so impressed with its performance in the 5 years we’ve had it that we decided to keep this Editor’s Choice article live as a testament to the quality of this coffee maker.
In 2015, I purchased a Nespresso Inissia Coffee Machine for my girlfriend as a Valentines Day gift. It is now 5 years since we got the Inissia and I am confident that I can give an honest and unbiased review of this KRUPS capsule coffee machine.
Firstly, why did I choose a Nespresso Capsule Coffee Machine?
We are not coffee connoisseurs by any means, however we do like a decent coffee, but I felt that a bean-to-cup or manual espresso coffee machine was both too expensive and too much trouble for us. I looked at many types of capsule coffee machines and felt that the Tassimo and Dolce Gusto designed machines were too restrictive in their functioning. The capability of being able to use as much or as little water as I wanted with the Nespresso designed coffee machines was an important factor for me. I like the fact that I don’t need to use milk pods to create certain drinks, and most importantly, there are many compatible capsules available for the Nespresso machines, which does not seem to be the case with the other two.
The Inissia Coffee Machine
I ordered a Nespresso Inissia coffee machine in Ruby Red, and despite having no other items of red in our kitchen, it looks great! I feel that it has a small foot print and it is not obtrusive at all. This was a concern of mine at the purchasing stage, but my fears were unfounded. It fits perfectly against a wall and it is easy to use in situ.
The cable length is adequate and the cleanable parts come apart and refit easily. The capsule container holds 11 used capsules and the drip tray performs perfectly. The drip tray can be folded up to accommodate glasses, mugs or cups taller than 90mm, up to a maximum height of 138mm.
This coffee machine has some useful features such as energy saving mode, water volume programming and descaling mode.
What’s great is that this coffee machine is very easy to use!
1. Add water to the detachable water jug at the rear of the machine.
2. Turn on the machine and wait about 30 seconds.
3. Lift up the handle and place your coffee capsule in the machine.
4. Close down the handle and place a cup or glass underneath the spout.
5. Press the espresso or lungo button depending on the size of coffee you want.
6. Wait for the machine to pour your coffee.
7. If you want more water, simply press the button again to turn on the flow. Press once more to stop the flow.
8. Enjoy your coffee!
“How is the coffee?”, I hear you ask. Well, this really all depends on the quality of the coffee capsule that you are using, but when it comes to the mechanics of the coffee machine, it’s very good indeed. The 19 bar pressure pump creates an excellent crema on your drink every time and there is very little wastage.
As I mentioned at the start of this Nespresso Inissia review we have had this coffee machine for well over 5 years, and I am very pleased to say that we have never had any problems at all. It makes us coffee every day and still looks as good as new. I wipe it down with a damp cloth from time to time and the capsule catcher and drip tray get cleaned weekly. It is very easy to clean and use, however the instruction booklet supplied is hard to understand when you need to read it!
The instruction booklet has been designed to cater for twelve languages therefore it uses diagrams to explain how to use all the features of this coffee machine. Unfortunately these diagrams are difficult to decipher so I was forced to search online for instructions when I wanted to descale the coffee machine. Fortunately Nespresso have a comprehensive YouTube channel and it was easy to find the answers to my questions there.
We purchased our coffee machine from Amazon. It arrived safely and well packed in its stylish Nespresso box that included, as a gift, 40 original Nespresso coffee capsules. The coffee pods supplied with our coffee machine were 10 of each of Ristretto, Arpeggio, Roma and Decaffeinato Intenso coffee capsules.
When the Nespresso Capsule Coffee Machines first arrived on the scene, the only place you could buy coffee pods was via the Nespresso website or in their Nespresso Coffee Boutiques. Now, however, there are many coffee capsule options available to the Nespresso Coffee Machine owner. Many supermarkets have their own brand of Nespresso compatible coffee pods, and nowadays you can find many manufacturers of compatible pods that can be purchased on the high street or on online.
The coffee capsules from Nespresso and other brands come in many flavours, strengths and intensities. Some are suitable for ristretto or espresso sized coffees, whilst others are more suited to larger coffees such as a lungo or a tall cappuccino (as my partner takes her coffee).
A word of warning! Not all compatible coffee capsules are as well made as others. We find that some compatible pods are not a good fit, whilst others do not pierce correctly on their end, meaning that the coffee would take ages to filter through. In these cases we have to press open their pre-cut holes before placing them in the coffee machine.
The original coffee capsules from Nespresso are made of metal. They are an exact fit for the coffee machine and work perfectly. They are also recyclable which is good news, however they can only be recycled at official Nespresso recycling points, which is a pain. I like to recycle as much as possible and Nespresso actively encourage its users to recycle the used pods but unfortunately there is no recycling point near me.
After trying out many different brands of coffee pods we feel that the Nespresso coffee capsules probably have the best flavour but other brands are now very close in quality and taste. We are often trying other brands of compatible capsules, so having a capsule coffee machine allows its owner to enjoy many flavour taste tests, which can be a lot of fun!
A note about decaffeinated coffee capsules
Recently, friends of ours purchased a Nespresso Capsule Coffee Machine after enjoying a coffee with us one day. One of our friends should not consume too much caffeine on the orders of his doctor, but he has found it very difficult to find a compatible decaffeinated capsule with any intensity of flavour, despite the fact that there are many decaffeinated coffee pods available to buy. He often describes them as weak and flavourless. It would seem that manufacturers think that people that drink decaffeinated coffee must like weak coffee, and this simply isn’t the case. I have recommended the official Nespresso Decaffeinato Intenso coffee capsules to him, which I personally found to have lots of flavour. Although they are more expensive to buy, they might just give him the intense coffee flavour he desires!
The Different Inissia Models (KRUPS, Magimix, Siemens and De’Longhi) and Colour Options
During my research into buying a Nespresso Inissia coffee machine I discovered that there were different manufacturer options and many colours available to me. After a little more reading it seems that the differences between a KRUPS, Magimix or De’Longhi Nespresso coffee machine are aesthetic only. They are all produced in the same factory on the same production line, so really your choice boils down to which colour you prefer.
When I purchased our Inissia coffee machine there were a large range of colour options available to me, including Black, White, Green, Canary, Blue Sky, Pacific Blue, Blueberry Blue, Grey, Summer Sun, Vanilla Cream, and Ruby Red.
That being said, I preferred to purchase a coffee machine with the KRUPS brand name rather than Magimix. For us, this decision worked in our favour because the vibrant Ruby Red coloured coffee machine that we wanted is a KRUPS branded product.
Check the Deals
You can get some excellent deals when purchasing your Nespresso Inissia coffee machine. Some sellers may include an Aeroccino, whilst others will offer a selection of coffee pods for you to try for free. Do your research as there are many sellers offering Nespresso Coffee Machines on Amazon UK and it’s worth looking around.
Our Rating and Final Thoughts
As you have probably discovered by reading this article, my girlfriend and I are very happy with our purchase of the Nespresso Inissia Capsule Coffee Machine by KRUPS. We’ve found it to be robust, reliable, attractive and easy to clean. What’s more, it has made great coffee day in, day out for over 60 months without fault. We think it’s a 9 out of 10 stars.
It loses one star for the following reasons, but these ‘bad points’ are minimal:
1. In my opinion, the instruction booklet is poorly designed, but this is easily remedied by seeking answers to your questions on the Nespresso website or on their YouTube channel.
2. Compatible coffee capsules can be hit and miss sometimes, but this is in no way the fault of Nespresso or of their excellent coffee machine.
3. It’s not exactly quiet whilst using, but when the machine is pumping out 19 bars of pressure you’re going to have some noise!
This is a product that I would happily recommend to people. It is very affordable and the coffee pods (especially the compatibles) are good value. I paid about £65.00 when I purchased ours and it has proved to be an excellent investment!
If you are looking for a good value coffee machine that can make great coffee to your own required taste then Kitchen & Cook Shop highly recommend the Nespresso Inissia coffee machine, it’s just a shame that it’s not made anymore.
In early 2015, we purchased from Amazon a new small serrated kitchen knife to replace an aging serrated knife that could no longer cut through fruit or vegetables very well. After doing some research and reading a number of reviews I finally plumped for the Kuhn Rikon Serrated Kitchen Knife, Model no. 22742.
The reviews on Amazon looked positive so I went ahead and ordered it, and spent a couple of days waiting in anticipation of getting a sharp knife to improve my time in the kitchen. Surely enough it arrived promptly and I quickly got to work trying out my new kitchen tool. It’s always fun testing out new kitchen gear, especially when you’ve spent your hard earned cash on it. On that note, I must point out that all reviews on Kitchen & Cook Shop are completely impartial. We do not receive goods to test from product manufacturers unlike some other websites, so you can be sure that our words are always genuine and honest because we’ve purchased the products ourselves!
Anyway, I digress… Let’s continue with the review shall we. The packaging was easy to access but also protective, which is always good, but I did notice that the plastic handle already had some very light surface marks on it. I assume these light scratches are from the manufacturing process, but I was a little disappointed to see them. The Kuhn Rikon 22742 serrated knife comes with a sheath to protect the blade, and your flesh whilst it is in storage too. It needs it to. This blade is very sharp.
The blade looks great in dark grey as it is coated in a non-stick material and I like the weight of the knife in my hand, however the knife is a little shorter than the one it replaced and I was disappointed in my choice of size. I think that perhaps I should have bought a longer bladed serrated knife.
Upon testing the knife I was immediately impressed at its sharpness. The Japanese Steel blade is very sharp but both I and my girlfriend find that the blade is too flexible. It tends to wander to the right for us when cutting apples and other tough fruits and vegetables. The Kuhn Rikon Colari serrated paring knife is excellent at cutting very thin slices and I enjoy cutting some very fine potato chips. I think that the non-stick coating really performs well. It is also very good at cutting meats and other edibles.
The serrations on this knife are a lot coarser than those on my existing knife and I personally find them a little too coarse. It has a slight tendency to tear the skins of ripe tomatoes and softer fruits. There is also another problem with this knife, and I feel that it is quite a major problem. In fact, it is such a big problem for me that it deters me from using this knife as much as I would wish to.
In our opinion, the biggest problem with this kitchen knife is the handle. It is made of a smooth plastic which, when wet, is so slippery that one cannot keep a firm grip on the direction of the cut you are attempting to make. I have come close to cutting myself more than once as I find the knife twisting in my damp fingers. I do not have this problem with wooden or metal handled knives. Even knives with plastic handles that have a rough texture are fine, so I can only assume that it is either the smooth finish or the shape of this handle that makes it so dangerous.
Technical information
Overall Length: 198mm
Useable Blade Length: 90mm
Handle Length: 97mm
Blade Material: Steel
Handle Material: Plastic
Weight: Approx. 59g
Manufactured In: China
Final thoughts and rating
Unfortunately this kitchen knife is let down by some of its main features. We like the non-stick blade and the sharpness of it. The price is very favourable, but the aggressively coarse serrations, the tendency for the blade to wander whilst cutting and its slippery handle mean that Kitchen & Cook Shop can only give this kitchen knife a score of 3 out of 5.
I cannot find this knife on either the Kuhn Rikon website or on Amazon.co.uk anymore so I assume that it has been replaced with a newer knife of similar specs. There is a large choice of Kuhn Rikon products including knives on Amazon UK now and there is a knife that looks similar to this model which now has what looks like a rough textured handle so perhaps they have addressed the slippery handle issue. I hope so because I really want to like this serrated knife but I cannot.
Thanks for reading. I hope that this user review has helped!
According to Wikipedia, Chowder is a seafood or vegetable stew, often served with milk or cream and mostly eaten with saltine crackers, so really I’m not sure if I should call this recipe a chowder as it does contain meat.
The original recipe was called a Creamy Vegetable Chowder but I have adapted and altered the dish to my own tastes, including adding the lovely Spanish cured sausage, chorizo. I guess that you could add any meat to this dish if that is your desire!
Now, I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of stews however I do like chunky soups, especially when it’s chilly outside, and this dish is similar to a thick soup. It is bold, warming and very tasty. It’s probably pretty good for you too as it contains lots of vegetables.
I make this chowder recipe whenever I have an excess of ‘stock’, usually the remaining liquid from cooking chicken in our slow cooker. Sometimes this liquid is used to make gravy, but I often keep some aside to make this lovely stew recipe.
Enough with the talk, on with the recipe!
Potato and Chorizo Chowder Recipe
As with all my recipes, you do not need to be too exact with the ingredients quantities or the directions. Cooking is about enjoyment and experimenting and I never take it too seriously!
Ingredients
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
30ml olive oil (approx.) or 3 tablespoons butter/margarine
1 onion, finely diced
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
chorizo, diced (approx 250ml)
250ml chopped celery
250ml chopped red or green pepper
500ml sliced carrots
2 teaspoons of salt
ground black pepper
750ml chicken broth
500ml milk
half teaspoon parsley (fresh or dried)
60ml cold water
60ml cornstarch
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Grated cheese (optional)
Directions
Heat up the olive oil (or melt the butter/margarine) in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender.
Add the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the chorizo and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the carrots and celery and cook for 10 minutes or until they become a little tender. Add the chopped peppers, potatoes and chicken stock and add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.
Add the milk and parsley and heat until just boiling.
In a separate bowl, stir the cornstarch into the cold water. Once it has completely dissolved, add it to the chowder. Stir for a minute and then serve in bowls with grated cheese sprinkled on top and a chunk of crusty roll on the side.
We often serve our potato and chorizo chowder with boiled rice because we’re greedy like that!
Picture the scene if you will. It is 10.30 am on a March Monday morning, and I am sitting out in the garden catching the warmth of the sun’s rays and enjoying a ristretto made with our new coffee machine, when I suddenly realise that I have completely forgotten to prepare a dish for tonight’s evening meal. Okay, that may not be a problem for some, but I know that I am perilously forgetful and I had no idea what food we had in the house.
We had just finished a very busy weekend and shopping had not been on our list of things to do so the fridge was looking rather empty, but as fortune had it we had bought some chicken breasts the previous Friday that would be perfect if only I knew what to do with them. I found so many recipe choices online, but knowing that our kitchen cupboards were also terribly bare I needed a dish that required few other ingredients. To the rescue came realhousemoms.com with a wonderfully simple slow cooker recipe for honey garlic chicken that needed just 5 simple, common ingredients, so into the kitchen I headed, after finishing my coffee of course!
I’m a huge fan of my slow cooker despite its age and appearance and I tend to use it at least once a week. I find almost all meat cuts cook to perfection in it and with this recipe my girlfriend remarked that it was almost as if the meat was being marinated as it cooked, which is most probably the case.
I adapted the recipe from Real Housemoms a little to suit my tastes, but my full gratitude goes to Aubrey Cota for sharing the recipe in the first place. Being European, I don’t use cup sizes so I adjusted (and lowered a little) the quantities. I also added a couple of other ingredients, as is my want!
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
Pinch of paprika
A few mixed herbs
Dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
Dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Instructions
Place the chicken breasts aside for a moment and mix together all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. A whisk works well.
Spoon a little of the mix onto the bottom of the slow cooker crock pot and spread around. Place the chicken breasts on top of the thin layer of paste mix.
Poor the remaining mixture over the chicken, ensuring that all of the chicken is covered with the delicious goo!
Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for approx. 3 to 4 hours or until chicken is done. I used a combination of ‘auto’ and low settings and it took about 6 hours.
We served our honey garlic chicken with a risotto made by my partner. She makes it so well and it tasted lovely.
This is definitely a recipe to make again and again, especially as it uses so few ingredients. It’s simple and flavoursome cooking – try it yourself today!
In our household I do more of the cooking than my partner, but the honest truth is that she is the better cook, however there are some dishes that I can cook pretty well. I don’t attribute this to skill though. It’s more due to the fact that I’ve practised lots and lots, and learned from my many mistakes!
One of the recipes that I have got down to a ‘t’ now is my Slow Cooker Pork dish. On a Sunday morning, I’ll prepare the pork, place it in the slow cooker and let it gently cook until late afternoon. It gives the two of us a tasty Sunday evening meal and two to three meals during the week, so it is not only easy to make, but practical for our busy lifestyles and very good value.
Below is my slow cooker pork recipe. It’s so simple and tasty so if you have a slow cooker give it a try!
Honey and Mustard Slow Cooker Pork
Ingredients
Pork joint
Clear honey
Wholegrain mustard
Pasata
Worcestershire sauce
Soy sauce
Mixed herbs
Pimenton/paprika
Ground black pepper
Method
First things first, do you have a slow cooker? If not, get yourself one. They’re awesome! If you only have a tiny kitchen and are looking for a small slow cooker, read our 1.5 litre Slow Cooker comparison review article for some great choices.
Next, buy a nice pork joint. I’m calculating the following ingredients and timings on a pork joint weighing approx. 1000 grams. Unpack it and wash it under cold running water. Place on a clean plate and pat dry with kitchen roll. If there is some fat on the top of the joint, lightly score it in a pretty criss-cross pattern like a TV chef might do.
In a bowl, add 2 dessert spoons of honey, 1 dessert spoon of wholegrain mustard, 1 dessert spoon of pasata, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a splash of soy sauce, a sprinkle of mixed herbs, a shake of pimenton/paprika and a few grinds of black pepper. These quantities do not have to be exact. Make it up a little. Add some other ingredients. Have fun!
Mix up these ingredients in the bowl so that it makes a nice sticky liquid and smear a little all over the bottom of the slow cooker pot where the pork will be sitting.
Next, place the pork joint into the slow cooker and pour and smear the ‘marinade’ all over the pork. Make sure that every part of the meat is covered. Some people say that when using a slow cooker one must always add some fluid to the bottom of the pot. I’ve found that this is not required in any dish that I make in our slow cooker. It is a pretty old slow cooker and perhaps I’m not doing it correctly, but I always find that the meat and marinade create more than enough fluid without adding more, therefore I never add any extra fluid. If the instructions that come with your slow cooker note that you must always add liquid then perhaps you had better do as they say.
Lastly, put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for about 7 hours. Feel free to peek inside a couple of times and if possible gently splash the fluid at the bottom over the top of the pork, but it’s not entirely necessary. After 7 hours, remove the pork and place on a plate. Cover and leave to sit for at least 30 minutes to an hour before slicing. Keep the juices from the pot and use it as a very flavoursome stock for gravy. It’s outstandingly good!
Et voilà, as they say in France. Succulent pork which is perfect with roasted vegetables or place it in the fridge and serve cold in sandwiches or with a salad. Whatever takes your fancy!
If you do try this slow cooker pork joint recipe, please let me know how you get on. Did you change the recipe? What experimental additions worked for you? I’d love to know.
Essential reading:
If you’d like some great pork recipes why not look at these three books available on Amazon. They all look excellent!
If you’re anything like me, you’ll find it very difficult to choose gifts for your family and friends, especially at times like Christmas when it is even harder than usual as we have to buy a multitude of presents for many different types of people.
A while ago I discovered that on the Amazon UK website you can view all of the best selling items in each category. This was a massive time saver for me! I now know that what I am buying as a gift is very often a tried and tested product, and not only that, I can get some great ideas for birthday or Christmas gifts, including many products that I may never have thought of if I hadn’t seen the web page.
Below I have chosen some kitchen appliances that are often purchased on Amazon UK or via articles on our own Kitchen & Cook Shop website. Most of these kitchen items are quite affordable as gifts and because they are well known I am sure that the recipient will be happy with your choice of present.
Kitchen blenders are a healthy lifestyle gift
There is no quicker or easier way of getting homemade nutritious food inside you than blending together some fruit or vegetables and making a smoothie, shake or soup. In our lives today we have little time to spare so the quicker it is to make a healthy drink or meal, the better. Below are three blenders that allow you to make nutritious food in no time at all. Perfect for single people, couples or families, these kitchen blenders are affordable, reliable, simple to use and easy to clean!
I love my slow cooker and it gets used almost every week for making stews and soups or for cooking joints of meat. Slow cookers are an efficient and simple way of making a meal that is often nutritious, filling and tasty! Also known as a crock pot in the US, a slow cooker is a great way for busy people to cook meals for themselves or their family. Simply prepare the ingredients, add them to the slow cooker, stir, turn it on and get on with your day. When you return home after doing your duties, your kitchen will smell wonderful and a delicious meal will be waiting for you to serve! The three slow cookers below are best sellers on Amazon UK.
A soup maker is both a time saver and a space saver! Being almost the same size as a kettle, a soupmaker is perfect for those that wish to make chunky or smooth delicious and nutritious soups but have limited space in their kitchen. In my household, we use the hob or slow cooker to make soup, but I can see the many advantages that a soup maker has. The process of making soup in a soup maker (such as the three best sellers shown below) is simple. Just chop up your ingredients, put them into the soup maker, put on the lid and choose the type of soup you want. In 20 or so minutes you’ll have a pot full of delicious soup, made exactly how you want, and without any of the unnecessary additives that shop bought soups tend to be full of nowadays. In many soup makers you can also make smoothies and milkshakes too!
If you have friends or family that are coffee lovers then a coffee machine makes an excellent gift. For the coffee purist, a bean-to-cup coffee machine or a manual espresso coffee machine is probably the best choice, however many people like coffee but want it quickly and without fuss, and in these cases, a capsule coffee machine is perfect! Some of the best selling coffee machines seen below all make excellent coffee and the capsule machines shown here are very affordable and would make an excellent gift. Perhaps you could even treat yourself and purchase a coffee maker so you can have a tasty brew whenever you want without having to pop down to a big chain coffee shop and pay their extortionate prices!
It’s been a while since I wrote the article Gifts for Wine Lovers – Part 1 so I do apologise to you if you are a wine lover and you’ve been waiting for this second installment!
A bottle or case of wine makes an excellent gift for the host when you are invited to dinner, especially if you get the chance to enjoy a glass of the wine you’ve just bought. If you are celebrating, a bottle of sparkling wine such as Cava, Sparkling Prosecco or Champagne is ideal. Maybe you have someone else in the family that might prefer spirits or whisky, in which case take a look at our article Blade Runner and the ‘Cibi’ Double Whisky Glass which might give you some more gift ideas.
Since writing the last post we have discovered more wine gifts so in this article I will introduce you to some of my favourite corkscrews, wine glasses, books about wine, and, of course, bottles of wine.
Quality Corkscrews
There’s little point in giving the wonderful gift of wine if the receiver can’t get at the nectar inside so below I have chosen three well designed corkscrews that make opening a bottle of wine a simple pleasure.
Although I have been known to drink wine in the style of a rustic farmer (i.e. out of a glass tumbler), I always prefer to drink wine out of a well shaped wine glass. Enjoying wine out of the correct glass allows you to see its colour clearly and the wine can also breathe properly to fully produce its bouquet. The wine glasses below are specifically for serving red wine in, but we have many other varieties of glassware available.
For those that are interested in not only drinking wine, but also learning more about where wine is grown, different varieties of grape, and the history of wine, then there are many excellent books about wine available. There are also many books that evaluate and review wine growers, vineyards, wine vintages and bottles of wine that you can might buy from your local off-licence or supermarket.
Possibly the favourite gift a wine lover can receive is a bottle of decent wine! Of course, there are many, many bottles of good wine available online and in local shops, but here I have picked out two wine gift sets that have caught my eye, and a bottle of bubbly for when you are celebrating a birthday or special occasion. Enjoy!
In August 2015, cooks all over the UK were treated to the release of not one, but three, fantastic recipe books! New cook books from Jamie Oliver, The Hairy Bikers and TV Chef Lorraine Pascale hit the shelves and online stores.
All three recipe books are a little different from each other so in this post I’m just going to take a quick look at these three books for your kitchen.
Please note that in this post I will be looking at the hardback printed editions of the books, but you may find that these recipe books are also available in paperback and Kindle format too.
Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver
Let us start with one of the UK’s most loved chefs. Jamie Oliver is one of those TV cooks that always seem to come up with great ideas and recipes, and in his new book he is concentrating on helping you to create healthy and tasty meals at home with a daily calorie limit. The book is split into sections such as breakfasts, lunches and dinners with all the recipes in each division coming in at a specific calorie count. Jamie has designed the book this way to ensuring that if you stick to the recipes and don’t deviate too much with snacking, you should not go over the recommended daily allowance of calories (2000 women/2,500 men).
I think that this is a great idea. I’m sure that it has been done before, but I doubt that it will have been done with Jamie’s flair. Recipes include smoothie pancakes with fruit, yogurt and nuts for breakfast, fish tacos or chili salsa for lunch and griddled steak, vegetables and tabbouleh rice for dinner.
Reviews show that this book is easily as successful as many of his other recipe book offerings.
I do not know who Lorraine Pascale is because I rarely watch television, but she seems to have quite a following. In her new tome she and has created a recipe book with many simple and easy to make dishes that are great for our busy lifestyles; recipes that are also nutritious too.
This cook book includes simple breakfasts, lunches and flavoursome midweek dinners – perfect for our busy lives. Inside you will also find weekend dishes to impress your dinner guest with! Every recipe is well balanced and does not contain processed food, and they are all packed with flavour too – something that Lorraine is well known for.
Reviewers feel that chef Lorraine Pascale has created a gem of a cook book! Words such as “an inspiring book that I cannot wait to get trying out” and “Finally, a chef who cooks real food” are high praise indeed.
Moving away a little from ‘healthy’ food, we arrive at the latest cook book from Si and Dave, better known as The Hairy Bikers. The Hairy Bikers’ Meat Feasts contains a plethora of great meat recipes including family roast dinners, meat pies, spicy dishes and ‘zingy’ salads – sounds great!
It’s not all about meat either. The Hairy Bikers also create some delicious vegetable dishes for you to try at home. Casseroles, roasts, grilled food and more are all included in this cook book. Discover over 120 great recipes for chilli con carne, soups and curries using lamb, beef or pork. This cook book surely is a meat lovers delight!
With over 300 reviews and a comprehensive 5 star rating this book is every bit as entertaining and interesting as their TV programme.
Philips make an excellent range of juicers and almost always there are special deals on Philips Juicers at Amazon.co.uk. These juicer deals often give you savings of between 15% and 60%, meaning that you can save over £100 on occasions!
Philips change their range of juicers every year or two, often improving the juicer to use stronger and more reliable motors. The five shown below are some of our favourite Philips Juicer models currently available at the time of writing (March 2020).
Below is a quick comparison chart which details the major differences between the five models shown above.
All five Philips Juicers have excellent reviews on Amazon.co.uk and elsewhere online and their range offers something for everyone.
Philips Avance Juicer Models
The Philips HR1922/21 Avance Collection Juicer and Philips HR1918/81 Avance Collection Juicer models in the Philips Avance Collection are similar but have different colours, however the HR1918/81 is slightly less powerful but also costs less. The 2.1 litre capacity applies to the pulp container capacity and not the capacity of the juice jug which is 1 litre in both cases.
One of the greatest benefits of all these Philips Juicers, besides the great price, is Philips Quick Rinse mode and the QuickClean technology. The QuickClean technology has been used to make all surfaces simple to wipe clean, even those parts that normally get clogged with pulp, and the Quick Rinse facility promises to clean the juicer in just one minute by flushing clean water through the device. A real time saver!
Juicing Books
To fully enjoy the benefits of juicing, we recommend the following books which contain lots of great recipes and healthy information and advice for juicing or dieting with juices. They are all available on Kindle devices and in traditional print. Make the most of your juicing!
In autumn 2015, there were quite a few new cookbooks released, which is always very interesting to us at Kitchen and Cook Shop. In this short article I’m going to take a quick look at five of the more popular recipe books published and see what kind of exciting dishes there might be for us to cook at home.
Please note that in this post I will be looking at the hardcover printed editions of the books, but you may find that some (or even all) of these recipe books are also available in Kindle format, eBook format or in paperback too.
NOPI: The Cookbook Hardcover by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully
Yotam Ottolenghi is a London-based restaurateur and food writer for The Guardian. He is the owner of the Ottolenghi restaurant delis in London and the highly regarded NOPI restaurant in Soho. This new cookbook contains over 100 of the most popular dishes from the Soho restaurant. It has been developed and written with long-time collaborator and NOPI head chef Ramael Scully. With a Malaysian, Chinese, Indian and Irish heritage, ‘Scully’ brings a distinctive Asian twist to the Ottolenghi kitchen.
The hardback book contains over 350 pages and the recipes within have been adapted so that the home cook can recreate the amazing dishes in their own kitchens. Ottolenghi fans will be familiar with starter dishes such as aubergine with black garlic or roasted squash with sweet tomatoes. Main courses include beef brisket croquettes and Persian love rice.
Chapters include starters and sides, fish, meat and vegetable mains, puddings, brunch, condiments and cocktails so there are plenty of recipes for all occasions. This cookbook sounds great to me, although I am a little concerned about how easy these recipes will be for me to cook at home, because I’m not that proficient in the kitchen!
A Year of Good Eating: The Kitchen Diaries III by Nigel Slater
This huge tome of 560 pages is a completely fresh take on seasonal cooking by respected food writer and presenter, Nigel Slater. In this cookbook, the third installment of Nigel Slater’s classic Kitchen Diaries series, Nigel explores the pleasure of eating well throughout the year.
The stories and recipes in the Diaries are interspersed with short sections of seasonal quick, easy meals and larger dinners. Nigel’s characteristically simple recipes and inspiring writing make his new recipe book a great guide to good eating every day of the year. A Year of Good Eating is also available in Kindle format.
I have read Nigel Slater’s columns in The Observer newspaper before and I find his writing excellent, so I expect this book to be very well received.
My Kind of Food: Recipes I Love to Cook at Home by John Torode
Most of you will know John Torode from mega-popular BBC1 TV shows MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and Junior MasterChef where he is the judge and presenter. He is also the presenter of A-Z of Cooking on BBC2. John is also regular writer for Good Food, Olive, Waitrose Magazine, and Good Housekeeping among other popular magazines.
In this 300+ page book he offers us recipes for his favourite dishes that he cooks at home. Some recipes he learned from family and others are inspired from his many years of experience in restaurant kitchens. Chapters of the book include Brunch and Lunch, Quick Meals, Outside Cooking, and Desserts.
I’ll be honest and admit that I personally don’t like to watch John Torode on the TV. I find him rude to the contestants, however many people love him so I’m sure that this book will fly off the shelves, but personally I won’t be buying it!
Tom’s Table: My Favourite Everyday Recipes by Tom Kerridge
Tom Kerridge is a two Michelin-starred chef who now regularly appears on TV. He was recently called ‘the man of the moment’! I don’t know about that, but I know that I’m interested in Tom Kerridge’s cooking.
The recipes in this book really appeal to me too because I like meals that I can cook with ingredients that are easily available and affordable. In Tom’s Table you will find recipes such as cheddar and ale soup, the ultimate roast chicken, lamb ribs with roasted onions, stuffed green peppers, and home-made ketchups and much more. Perhaps it’s the pub lover in me that appreciates Tom and his passion for food that people like me enjoy eating.
When Christmas comes around, this will be one of the recipe books that I would love to receive as a gift. How about you? Is Tom’s Table a recipe book that you would like to read?
The Uncook Book: The Essential Guide to a Raw Food Lifestyle by Tanya Maher
Tanya Maher is a leading health coach and blogger with a large fan base of people from all over the world. She specialises in creating irresistible raw food recipes which are often on the menu in her two London cafés. In this book, Tanya draws on her years of experience as a raw food nutritionist to bring you recipes covering categories such as basic raw food recipes, fun family favorites and elegant entertaining with living foods.
Her recipes are easy-to-follow and have a modern edge; perfect for those that wish to embrace this healthy way of eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is even a section on delicious superfood cocktails, however I do not know if these cocktails include alcohol or not!
I have a couple of friends that already make raw food dishes, and to be honest, sometimes their menus are rather dull, so perhaps I shall invest in this book as a Christmas gift for them!
I think that these five recipe books all bring something different to the kitchen table – from seasonal British dishes to Asian-inspired menus and lots more in between.
Barbecues and food cooked on the grill is a pleasure that we enjoy every summer, but with such unpredictable weather for the rest of the year, wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy that ‘outdoors’ cooked taste whatever the season? With these electric grill and griddle appliances it is completely possible!
Below are three electric grills with griddle plates that we shall quickly compare for you using feedback from buyers on the UK Amazon website.
All three of these electric grills have RRP of less than £65 and often they can be found for less in the sales making them excellent value. They are excellent for all year round use and perfect for using when camping or in a caravan, campervan or motorhome. Importantly they are all created to cook food healthily, have non-stick surfaces and are easy to clean.
George Foreman Large Variable Temperature Grill & Griddle 23450
Let us start with the most expensive, the George Foreman 23450 Grill and Griddle. George Foreman grills have an excellent reputation and they have produced many different models of various sizes and capabilities. They began the small healthy grill revolution and today continue to manufacture superb products. The George Foreman 23450 Grill and Griddle has a four portion grill and six portion griddle, and both the grill and griddle have their own independent temperature controls which allows you to adjust the temperature of each surface dependent on the type of food you are cooking. This electric grill and griddle is well sized, thus allowing you to cook for 10 people all at once. Imagine that! Of course, George Foreman grills claim to be very healthy and the non-stick surface in this grill means that by not adding any extra oil, you can reduce your fat intake when cooking as up to 42% of the fat from food is removed in the cooking process.
The 23450 model is a replacement for the George Foreman 18603 model. On Amazon.co.uk the George Foreman 23450 Grill and Griddle receives in the most part very good reviews, however some people have had problems with the product failing after just a month or two. The other thing often mentioned is that this new model is slightly smaller than previous and it is not possible to fit as much food on as before.
Quest 35490 Large Teppanyaki Grill
The next product we have chosen is the Quest 35490 Large Teppanyaki Electric Grill. It is the cheapest option here so it does have less features, however it is still a great product. It has no ridged grill area but a big flat griddle for all your cooking needs. Quest expect that you will want to use this Teppanyaki Grill for gathering with your friends and family and they include 8 mini wooden spatulas so everyone can get involved in the cooking! It has an adjustable temperature control and a removable drip tray to make cleaning easier. The Quest 35490 Teppanyaki Grill has a large non-stick cooking surface of 47cm x 26cm and cool touch handles for easy movement of the grill when hot.
The reviews on Amazon.co.uk for the Quest 35490 Large Teppanyaki Electric Grill are positive overall. Some buyers have complained of machine failure and even dangerous goods, and some say that their product arrived having been already used or in a very bashed box. Generally though, purchasers like this Teppanyaki grill. Many people have used it for parties or camping they say that it’s great!
James Martin by Wahl ZX833 Table Top Grill with Flat Plate
The James Martin ZX833 Table Top Grill with Flat Plate is made by Wahl and has a large cooking surface with both ridged grill and flat griddle areas. It has an adjustable temperature control and easy to clean removable parts, something that the neither of the other grills here have, much to some people’s dismay! This grill and griddle is smaller than the other two compared in this article but I can see it easily cooking enough for 2 to 4 people. Wahl say that James Martin has personally designed and tested this grill and griddle, and included is a book with some of James’ recommended recipes.
Reviewers on Amazon.co.uk are very impressed with the James Martin by Wahl ZX833 Table Top Grill in the most part. The few complainers state that this product does not get hot enough. Perhaps they have faulty items because most people are very happy with their purchase. Quite a few reviewers have compared this to George Foreman grills and are claiming that this is not only much better, but that they would not go back to using a George Foreman electric grill again – high praise indeed! The point that most people make is that this electric grill is easy to clean, and for many this is an important fact. Is it enough to sway you towards buying a James Martin Grill over a George Foreman one?
Grill and Griddle Conclusion
Which of the three grill and griddle machines above would we buy if we looking for this type of product. To be honest, they are all excellent, and all seem to do a great job of healthily cooking a wide range of foods. I think I would probably buy the James Martin ZX833 Table Top Grill. It’s a bit smaller than the other two which suits me and the removable plates for easy cleaning sound great to me, however in all honesty I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these grills!
Freshly ground coffee smells and tastes lovely, and for those of us on a budget or with small kitchens, a compact electric blade coffee grinder is the perfect answer to achieving that freshly ground flavour. Blade coffee grinders are known to be not quite as good for grinding coffee beans as burr coffee grinders, but these items are generally bigger, more expensive and not capable of grinding anything other than coffee beans.
Below are three coffee grinders that we shall quickly compare for you using feedback from buyers on the UK Amazon website and from our own experience.
In our kitchen, we have the Bosch MKM 6003 coffee grinder in black colour. Although this electric coffee grinder costs more than the others shown here, it matches our Bosch kettle, hence the reason I purchased it – and I like the Bosch brand too. I actually use our Bosch grinder solely for grinding the chillies that I have grown in my garden and dried using the excellent Severin Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs Dryer.
I find that this coffee grinder perfectly chops up my chillies to both coarse or fine flakes, all the way up to a fine powder. It can also be used for grinding nuts and other spices and it does the job really well. The Bosch MKM 6003 coffee grinder is easy and safe to use and is available in black or white. It is quite easy to clean, but for obvious reasons it must not be submerged in water. The blade is very sharp so take care when cleaning this coffee grinder. The black colour is very classy, but I feel that the Bosch White Grinder doesn’t look quite so nice. I’m not keen on the green coloured switch, but that’s just a matter of taste.
At the time of writing, the Bosch MKM 6003 coffee grinder has received over 2100 reviews on Amazon.co.uk achieving an excellent 4.5 out of 5 star rating. A few people have experienced some minor quibbles but overall this a quality product made by a dependable manufacturer.
Because I use my Bosch grinder for hot chillies, I dare not use it for coffee, even after cleaning, so I am thinking of purchasing a coffee grinder solely for coffee beans. Two of the best value coffee grinders that have caught my eye are the VonShef Coffee Grinder and the Andrew James Coffee, Nut and Spice Grinder. Both are made by manufacturers we like, are excellent value, compact in size, and would be great for grinding coffee beans and nuts and spices. Let’s take look at these two coffee grinders shall we?
Andrew James Coffee, Nut and Spice Grinder
As with the other coffee grinders compared here, the Andrew James 150W Coffee, Nut and Spice Grinder has sharp stainless steel blades and capacity of about 70 grams. The Bosch has a 75 gram capacity whilst the VonShef coffee grinder falls behind with a 45 gram capacity. Many people that have bought the Andrew James grinder use it for nuts and spices and they are very happy with the results. A 2 year manufacturer’s warranty is included.
Most reviewers of the Andrew James 150W Coffee, Nut and Spice Grinder are happy with their purchase. The overall feeling is that this coffee grinder is a good buy, with its only fault being that it does not always produce an even coffee grind on just one attempt. Two or more whizzes are often required.
VonShef Coffee Grinder
Finally we look at the VonShef Electric Coffee Grinder. This is a very nice looking coffee grinder with a stylish design. Like the Andrew James coffee grinder, it has a 150 watt motor (the Bosch is more powerful than the other two with a 180 watt motor) and it also has stainless steel blades. The VonShef grinder has non-slip feet and an ‘easy-store’ power cord – both of which sound very handy.
In the past VonShef grinder models were prone to failure but it would appear that VonShef has sorted out these problems and quality control has been vastly improved with this VonShef Coffee Grinder, the very latest model. The 2016 model had great reviews and this 2017 grinder is even better. It has had less buyers than the other two electric blade grinders here but current ratings stand at 4.4 out of 5 stars. Well done VonShef!
Coffee Grinder Conclusions
The Andrew James and VonShef grinders both cost less than £17 at the time of writing so I consider both to be great value and both worthy of my hard-earned cash! Those that are happy with the VonShef Electric Coffee Grinder have no complaints, especially at its excellent price, and the Andrew James Coffee, Nut & Spice Grinder has been for sale since 2011 so it has a very solid reputation for reliability.
As I mentioned earlier, I am very happy with my Bosch MKM 6003 Coffee Grinder. It is more powerful that the other two here, but also costs a fair bit more than the VonShef or Andrew James Grinders. Is it worth the extra money? No, I don’t think so, but I have no complaints at all with it!
I hope that this short product comparison helps you if you are looking to purchase an electric blade coffee grinder.
Christmas is a time when families and friends come together and eat and enjoy each others company around the Christmas table, but amidst all the joy we sometimes forget that someone has to cook the meal and then clean up afterwards! Why not give these wonderful people a Christmas gift of a festive apron to keep their clothes clean. It’s sure to put a smile on their face as they sink their hands into a bowl full of washing up!
Are you the kind of person that handles Christmas dinner with ease? No burnt turkeys in your household! Whilst others rush around, you have everything organised and prepared – A true Masterchef. If this sounds like you or someone you know, then we consider you to be a classy cook and deserve a stylish apron to wear on the 25th of December! Makes a perfect Christmas present for the cook in your household. Check out these quality aprons below:
Christmas is a time to spread good cheer to your fellow man (and woman of course) so why not wear a Christmas apron that not only protects your clothes, but also makes you and those around you laugh!
It’s Christmas and you’re bound to pile on a few pounds which may make you feel not quite as sexy as normal, but who cares – show the world that you are still as desirable as ever by donning a cheeky Christmas apron. They can look, but not touch… unless you want them to of course! Also makes a naughty Christmas gift for your loved one.
In our household, the dinner set that we use for daily use is getting very tired looking. I have no idea how old it is, but this particular crockery dinner set was given to my partner by her grandmother, and I’m not even sure if it was brand-new then. My girlfriend is very sentimental and she wants to keep using this dinner set as it reminds her of her grandma that she loved dearly, but it really is looking very worn now.
The plates are scratched and there are a few small chips. I think that originally this dinner set must have been a 30 piece dinner set but all that remains now are 5 dinner plates, 3 side plates, 4 bowls, 3 teacups and 3 saucers. I think you would agree that we are desperately in need of new a dinner set for daily use.
Recently I noticed a great looking dinner set that claims to be chip and break resistant which would be perfect for our kitchen. It is the Corelle Vitrelle Glass 12-Piece Dinner Set which has an RRP of between £57.99 and £90.99 (depending on the pattern) but can sometimes be found for less in the sales.
When I originally wrote this article in 2015, this 12 piece dinner set was available in six different styles. Over the last few years different designs have been and gone. The sets shown below are those available at the time of writing however here you can view all Corelle dinner sets on Amazon UK.
Some of the features of these great dinner sets include:
Durability – Chip, break, stain and scratch resistant
Versatile – Microwave, dishwasher and oven safe
Usability – Thin and lightweight dinnerware that is easy to handle
Practical – Compact and stackable so it can be efficiently stored in the cupboard
A 12 piece dinner set includes 4 x 26cm dinner plates, 4 x 22cm luncheon plates, and 4 x 18oz cereal bowls.
I think a Corelle dinner set would be brilliant for every day use in our home, now all I have to do now is persuade my girlfriend to pack away her old sentimental dinner set, which may easier said than done!
Reviews of Corelle 12-Piece Chip and Break Resistant Dinner Sets
The reviews given about Corelle 12 piece dinner sets on Amazon.co.uk are very favourable. Most reviews mention that the crockery feels very light in weight, but is tough enough to withstand almost everything, except perhaps for the UK postal system! A few purchasers say that the plates are thinner than standard ceramic plates and this makes for easy loading and unloading of the dishwasher, and their lightness makes lifting up to high cupboards a breeze.
A small negative point made by a few people is that these 12 piece crockery sets are fine for everyday use, but would probably not be first choice for a dinner party, however, with this is mind, it must be noted that most of the buyers like the shiny surface and think that the dinner sets looks good. One mentions the word ‘minimalistic’ whilst another says that her dinner set ‘oozes quality’ which is okay in my book.
With a wide range of styles and colours to choose from, we reckon that these 12 Piece Corelle Vitrelle Dinner Sets are an excellent purchase.
In our household we have a vegetable peeler that has clearly seen better days! It is uncomfortable to use, isn’t very sharp anymore and looks tatty and worn out. It’s obvious that we need to purchase a new peeler sooner rather than later so I have been doing a little research on Amazon.co.uk. Below are the two peelers that I find most a-peel-ing (did you see what I did there?).
OXO is a manufacturer of kitchen utensils, office supplies, and housewares based in New York City. They are committed to making everyday objects easy and comfortable to use, and judging by user reviews of OXO Good Grips Peelers they are surpassing themselves!
Our current peeler is of the swivel type. I have tried using the Y peeler variety but I found it a little more difficult to use, although I am sure that over time I would find it just as easy to use. OXO peelers have an excellent reputation for being comfortable to hold and use, and the large handles of both the OXO Good Grips Y Peeler and the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler mean that holding the vegetable peeler is safe and easy. Many comments from reviewers mention that the OXO peelers are great for those with arthritis or similar problems. The oversize handle absorbs strain from hands and wrist and it is also grippy, even when wet.
OXO have really studied peelers and looked at all ways of improving them. They seem to have taken it upon themselves to ‘re-design’ the humble peeler so that it is the best it can possibly be. The blades are stainless steel and are very sharp, the peelers have potato eye removers and both of these highly rated peelers are dishwasher-safe. What more could you ask for? Oh yes, the price is excellent too; both cost less than £10 each. They probably aren’t the cheapest vegetable peelers available, but you are certainly paying for a quality peeler that is sure to stay sharp and last for years, unlike my current vegetable peeler!
Just to let you know, we purchased the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler not long after first writing this article and it has performed flawlessly for the last 5 years. It is still sharp and looks as good as the day we bought it. I am very impressed and happy with this purchase!
Essential Reading
If you are like me, you probably get a little bored with plain old boiled veggies with your meals, so perhaps it’s time we took a look at some books for great ideas on how to put some interest back into cooking with vegetables. These books about vegetables come in either hardback or paperback and may also be available on Kindle devices.
Please note: This article was first written in October 2014 and since then the design of this Microwave Rice Cooker has changed, however the excellent results still remain the same. Pictures shown below are of the most recent design.
It’s not very often that something you purchase completely changes the way that you do something. It might be a car or a golf club or a mobile phone, but for me it was a simple, plastic microwave rice cooker! I purchased the Kitchen Craft Microwave Rice Cooker almost 10 years ago and I haven’t looked back since. What is even more amazing is that this rice cooker usually costs less than £12.00 – Bargain!
I had always struggled with making good rice on the stove. It almost always boiled over and the end result was usually a burnt pan, messy stove top and sticky rice! I used to hate planning meals with rice as I knew that there was always lots of cleaning up to do afterwards.
One day, that all changed. I met a colleague’s wife who happened to be Chinese and she let me in on a little secret. The first thing she did when she moved to the UK was to buy a microwave rice cooker. I was shocked – but also very intrigued… If it’s good enough for her, it must be good enough for me.
I did some research on Amazon, found the Kitchen Craft Microwave Rice Cooker and took the plunge. A few days later my rice cooker arrived and after a quick clean I made my first pot of rice following the instructions. It was very good indeed – not perfect – but better than anything I had made in the previous years on the stove.
After a few tweaks to the instructions, I now produce excellent rice every time. In fact, this microwave rice cooker is so easy to use that I will happily make rice for lunch or dinner. I even look forward to it! It is simple to use, easy to clean and has proved to be very durable. Our rice cooker has been in weekly use for ten or so years and it still works as good as new. It is the only way I will ever cook rice now.
Here are my personal tips for using this Rice Cooker:
2 measuring pots of rice to 3.5 measuring pots of BOILING water. Boiling water turned this good microwave rice cooker into an exceptional rice cooker!
Stir a little oil into the rice before adding the water
Cook for 6 minutes (full power), take out, stir, then cook for another 5 to 6 minutes (full power). All done.
Place the rice cooker on a plate in the microwave because if you get the quantities wrong it will bubble over.
Optional: Try crumbling in a stock cube, or add herbs/spices for extra flavour.
All in all, this is an excellent kitchen rice cooker and highly recommended by us at Kitchen & Cook Shop.
Kitchen Craft Microwave 1.5 L Rice Cooker Reviews
All of the words above are my own, and as you can tell, I love my rice cooker and would not be without it. Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself that just one person’s opinion is not enough, and I agree with you. It’s good to get a range of opinions and thoughts before buying any kitchen product, be it a vegetable peeler or a food mixer, so with that in mind I thought that I would let you know about a couple of things. Firstly, the Kitchen Craft Microwave 1.5 L Rice Cooker is the most reviewed microwave rice cooker on Amazon.co.uk with over 1,600 reviews. It also has a star rating of 4.3 out of 5, which I think is excellent.
Of course, there are always going to be some negative reviews. I would agree with these people that the instructions are poor and that it is prone to leakage, but once you have the technique correct, you’ll never make bad rice again. Other negatives include people saying that brown rice does not cook very well and that it is too small for a family of four or more.
The majority of reviews are positive with the most common plus points being the quality of the product, the great results of perfect rice and the fact that you can also throw in some other ingredients and create a ‘one pot wonder’. Get yours today!
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