REVIEW: Which came first? The chicken, or the egg (sandwich).

When I was asked to review “20 Great Lunchbox Ideas From Leftovers” I did wonder what on earth these meals could be and indeed look like, so I was pleasantly surprised.

My first impression of this e-book was the clear navigation, simple instructions and easy steps to follow. It made this occasional dizzy blonde feel like even I could produce great food from the recipes.

It’s a fabulous idea; a book written by two very inspiring women. One a busy mum who set up MyFamilyClub , and the other, a campaigner who heads up the brilliant
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com and is also the food expert for MyFamilyClub. They also have a great page on Facebook, click here to view.

Now, I’m not the most organised of mums so when I read how easy it was to convert last night’s dinner to today’s always-hungry child’s lunchbox (actually make that husband’s too) I was very keen to read on and take lots of notes.

The layout is very helpful with first a dinner recipe, then lunchbox and then waste-reducing tips including freezing instructions. Did you know you can freeze fresh garlic, me neither. Bake washed potato peelings, season and enjoy? Slice fresh lemons and freeze for drinks instead of ice cubes? Impressive, hey?

I never thought I’d enjoy reading a recipe book, especially an e-book (I like to hold a thick tome, but that’s a different story, boom boom) but like any good book I was hooked from start to finish. In fact, you could say “the butter did it” (sorry).

Bin there. Dung that.

I’m now looking at my freezer in a different light.  For instance, I never thought of buying peppers, onions and mushrooms. Preparing and then freezing. How easy it is to throw something nutritious and tasty together when the main components can be found in the freezer? I do recall my mum ‘blanching’ vegetables and freezing them but those were the days when it was the done thing to boil the life out of broccoli, rather than have the much healthier and palatable ‘al dente’ we all prefer these days.

I found the lunchbox ideas particularly helpful as well as innovative. I seem to be the only parent with a four year old who still won’t deign to eat a sandwich, no matter what lies betwixt the wholegrain goodness. I sometimes find myself having bleary-eyed, head-scratching food dilemmas at 7am, searching my cerebral cortex for another way to make cold pasta interesting. Not anymore, thanks to this book. Next time I do a ‘big shop’ I won’t just be considering dinner-time meals but how these can be converted for lunch box.

And as for our ever-faithful compost bin – well it’s going to take a lot longer to fill now we have this book in our lives!

This cookery book is hugely recommended and makes you think. Doesn’t it?

Well I’m off to make myself a well-deserved gin and tonic, not forgetting the frozen lemon slices. All in the name of research, of course. 

Buy it now for only £1.99:  http://www.myfamilyclub.co.uk/ebook/great-lunchbox-ideas/d/9

Let's be friends!

Someone once said "if you have nothing good to say, say nothing". I agree, to a point. If it's appalling service then one needs to let the server know it's unacceptable. But it should work both ways. I'm a great believer in positive feedback; not only does it make the person on the receiving end feel good but I also get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside too. And at my age that's few and far between!

With the dawn of social networking comes greater brand awareness and customer service contact. No longer do we need to begrudgingly put pen to paper and hastily post to some unidentifiable P.O. box number nor do we wait patiently on the phone whilst Cliff sings 'Wired for Sound' or worst still 'Power to the People'.

Log on to Facebook and you're sure to find your intended modern-day oracle.

One such case occurred for me last week. On our chill-out Monday at home, me and daughter like to bake. Sweet or savoury - as long as my little girl gets to stand at her step in the kitchen and throw, sorry make that sprinkle, a topping or two she's happy.

Upon realising we were eggless off we went to our new sparkly supermarket to grab some eggs and other baking goodies - I always find it oddly pleasurable eyeing up all the pretty bottles and jars of sprinkles and the like. Anyway, Autumn grabbed a box of ready-made cake mix and as time was pushing on I thought what the heck, let's do it. She picked Green's Barbie Vanilla Cupcake Kit; it was clearly the most appealing packaging to a little girl and to this bigger girl as not only do you get the mix but also stickers and activity book. Great to while away the minutes waiting for the oven to do its thing.

Does what it says on the box

The cakes rose. A small triumph in this house I assure you! Autumn had busied herself with the activity book, so it was time for me and my little sous-chef to get decorating. The buttercream was easy to mix and simply by cutting the corner off the packet, as advised, I could pipe to my heart's content. You might be able to see the one cake that I allowed Autumn to pipe (I did try to resist but there's only so much elbowing I can take) - it's hidden at the back. Once decorated I felt compelled to take a photo. I know. I'll photograph almost anything but hey I was impressed. The cakes looked exactly like the image on the packaging. That NEVER happens!

Cut to a few days ago, and what with my love of feedback, as mentioned at the start of this, I found Green's on Facebook (harder than you think). Wrote a little message saying how impressed I was and attached a photo. I didn't expect anything back but just wanted to express my appreciation. The very next day I had a friendly reply and was instructed to email their marketing department as they would like to send me a goodie bag for Autumn.

Frenzied unwrapping ensued

Two days later I receive a large parcel. A full size Barbie doll, post-it notes and cookie cutters. I guess the doll isn't for me. Autumn was beside herself; a new doll with lots of accessories, and safe in the knowledge that Mummy will be hot-footing it back to the supermarket to buy more from Green's selection of home-baking. Click here to go to Green's website.

"Oh, I can't wait until you're older so we can bake together" Barbie might have said

So remember this, "IF IT'S GOOD, TELL THEM." (You can use that, it's mine).