Hot Chocolate and Comfort Foods

As autumn becomes winter, a walk on a cold bright day is a real treat.  I'm treating you to a few photographs from my weekend walk as well as some ideas for to warm you up when you get home,


A nice bowl of porridge will do the trick and this Hot and Steamy Porridge from Nature's Path hits the spot.  It's organic and gluten free and comes in three different flavours: original; maple syrup and Spiced Apple.  Add milk or water and either cook on the hob or 70 seconds in the microwave and enjoy a very tasty bowl of porridge. The porridge has a lovely texture and the flavoured sachets don't taste in any way artificial, we enjoyed them all, however the portions are quite small (hubby said he would need two!) but ideal for a healthy snack.



Chilly water, running fast after all the rain we had recently.  Brrr, that does make me feel cold, the ground was muddy and wet too and if I hadn't had my walking boots on my feet might have got cold and wet.
A lovely cup of hot chocolate to warm me right down to the toes! Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate comes as pure chocolate beads, it melts easily and tastes of real chocolate, because that's what it is.  A packet of Hans Sloane Drinking Chocolate would be a perfect stocking filler or treat yourself to a Hans Sloane Cocoa Pod, a chocolate shell full of drinking chocolate beans, watch the video below to see how much fun it is to make hot chocolate this way.



It's even more fun if you add some mini marshmallows and candy canes to dress up your hot chocolate.


Maybe you would prefer a nice cup of tea.  I've reviewed Tea Vivre teas before (All the tea from China) they are very high quality teas sent direct from China. This time I was invited to an Oolong tasting and have the following teas to tell you about:
Anxi Monkey King (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

• Grown and produced in Anxi, Fujian
• Hand made into small, rolled up, jade colored leaves.
• Pale yellow-green colored tea when brewed
• Delightfully fresh floral taste and aroma

Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea (Flavored)

• Grown and produced in Alishan, Nantou, Taiwan
• Evenly and tightly rolled tea leaves
• Pale yellow-gold tea liquor
• Strong milk fragrance

Taiwan Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea
There is a baked flavor when brewed Monkey Picked Oolong tea, which was ever named Maliumie in China. It is come from Li Mountain, Taizhong, Taiwan, which belongs to the top 10 of Taiwan teas.

Labels: Carolyn Caldicott, China, chocolate, Comfort, Drinking Chocolate, Frances Lincoln, Hans Sloane, Hot Chocolate, Nature's Path, Oolong, review, tea, Tea Vivre

posted by Janice @ 20:36 7 Comments

Drinks and Snacks on my 'Spring' Kitchen Table

Spring has definitely sprung now, after a beautiful sunny Easter weekend in Scotland, there can be now doubt about that.  I'm afraid I don't have any lovely outdoors photos for you, although I did spend a couple of hours in the sun on Saturday, shifting logs for our neighbours before heading back inside for more painting duties.


As you can see work continues around my Kitchen Table, in the background you can see the old laths awaiting a new coat of plaster.  The worktops are protected by sheets of cardboard and there is much painting going on.  What you need in these circumstances are some tasty snacks to keep you going.

First up are the Nice and Nobbly Organic, Gluten Free, Granola Bars from Nature's Path.  They come in two flavours - Trail Mix and Dark Choc Chip - and are a great alternative to the often taste-less and bland gluten-free products on the market.  They are very tasty, hold together well and I would definitely buy them.  9/10

Not many people can resist Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate and now they have combined their delicious creamy chocolate with two different biscuits, the semi-sweet LU biscuit and the savoury Ritz Cracker.
I preferred the LU biscuits and my husband preferred the Ritz Crackers.  What I liked about them was the way you were able to break the pack up into four individual biscuits, great for sharing. Cadbury Dairy Milk LU and Cadbury Dairy Milk Ritz are available in 35g bars, each with four mini segments (RRP £0.58) and in three bar multipacks (RRP £1.49). 8/10

Something different now,  from Vita Coco, currently Britain's biggest coconut water brand.
7/10

I hope you've enjoyed reading about the products I've been reviewing on my kitchen table, back soon with more recipes and reviews. 

I received samples of the products , I was not paid for these reviews and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Cadbury Chocolate, Cawston Press, Coco Cafe, fruit juice, Granola Bars, LU, Nature's Path, On my Kitchen Table, review, Ritz, Vita Coco

posted by Janice @ 20:15 18 Comments

Poached Apricots with Honeysuckle Syrup and Gluten Free Granola

I was rather disappointed in a punnet of apricots that I bought, they were rather hard and tasteless, so I poached them in a little water and sugar, creating a luscious pan of soft sweet fruit.

I received some Nature's Path, Gluten Free, Nice and Nobbly Granola.  It's a really tasty cereal to eat for breakfast or to use, as I did, in this dessert.  I used the Pumpkin Seeds, almonds, raisins and cinnamon granola and layered up the poached apricots, granola, and Greek Yogurt, finishing with a sprinkle of granola and some Honeysuckle Syrup (see below)






You may remember that I reviewed The Foragers Kitchen  by Fiona Bird, back in May.  I was enthusiastic about the book at the time and was eagerly anticipating the different seasons.  One of the foraged ingredients that really intrigued me was Honeysuckle.  I had not idea you could do anything with Honeysuckle although I've always love the smell of it and it grows in abundance in the hedges up the lanes to our farm.  This year with the warm weather, it has been particularly prolific.

Honeysuckle Flowers

Honeysuckle Syrup
Makes 1 small bottle

What to forage and find:
2 large handfuls of honeysuckle (12-15 blossoms)
Scant 1 1/2 cups (350ml) boiling water (50ml will evaporate or soak into the blossom)
1 cup (200g) superfine (caster) sugar

What to do:
1. Allow the honeysuckle blossom to steep in the water for as long as possible (at least 8 hours)
2. Strain the blossom liquid well, and squeeze the blossom to ensue that you have as much liquid as possible.
3. Put the blossom water into a saucepan, and add the sugar.
4. Dissolve the sugar over low heat, then boil rapidly to reduce and thicken the syrup to about 3/4 cup (175ml)


I've been asked what Honeysuckle syrup tastes like, it tastes a little like honey and a bit like the flowers smell, it's a lovely sweet floral flavour.  I did wonder if it was just the sugar, but I also made some Elderflower syrup (more of that in a future post) and it tastes completely different.

Fiona suggests that you drizzle this syrup over ice cream.  If you keep one or two small plastic bottles of the in the freezer you can glaze your Christmas ham in wild summer blossom.

The Forager's Kitchen is published by CICO Books
RRP £16.99
Popular online book store £10.87

Thanks to Fiona Bird and Mark at Cico Books for allowing me to publish this recipe.
I received the Nature's Path Gluten Free Granola for review, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: apricots, Cico Books, Fiona Bird, gluten free, Granola, greek yogurt, Honeysuckle, Nature's Path, syrup, The Forager's Kitchen

posted by Janice @ 22:27 11 Comments