[Ad- gifted product] When it comes to new foods, we tend to try whatever we can get our hands onto. Crisps are a pretty popular thing to snack on, however, we tend to purchase more of the vegetable crisps and baked crisps from our local shop. When Nim’s announced their Christmas share bags – three different varieties of Christmas themed vegetable crisps, we were very excited to try them!
[Ad- gifted product] When it comes to pre-made spice mix, I don’t tend to have a whole lot in my cupboard, opting for my own spice mixes, based on my own tastes. With that in mind, when Schwartz reached out, looking for some coverage of their seasoning mix, I wanted to try them out and see if they were good. Schwartz seasoning mix comes in a variety of different flavors, but the Beef Casserole and Seasonal Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon were my two of choice. I felt that these two could make a balanced meal, once you make up a bit of mash!
Beef Casserole with a slight twist
The beef casserole was pretty simple! The packet of Schwartz seasoning mix had a simplistic, idiot proof recipe on the back, guaranteed to work even if you don’t cook often at all. The amount of ingredients needed were also small in number and included mainly pantry staples. With one onion, two carrots, some olive oil, water and 450 grams of beef, I was ready to take on the casserole. The recipe came in three steps, cutting up your veggies via slicing carrots and chopping the onion. Then heating up your oil, adding in all of the vegetables and meat, cooking it off, before adding in the seasoning mix after you’ve added water to it. From there, you just need to pop the dish into a pre-heated oven.
[Ad- gifted product] Frozen seems to have taken the world by storm. What with the amount of songs being sung, Olaf being mentioned left and right, and the number of children trying to get their parents to bring them to the cinema, it only made sense that loads of new Frozen II products started coming out to compliment the movie; jewellery, stuffed animals, Paintoos and more! The eldest child went off to Frozen II first with a group of her friends, which left the youngest talking about how she wanted to go for ages.
Finally, we decided to take her along. To make things more special, we had some Disney Frozen II Face Paintoos ‘painted’ onto her face for the viewing. The Paintoos come with five different designs on their own sheets, an instructions book, as well as a sponge and a bunch of wipes that are made to take the Paintoos off when the child is done. We had expected these to work more like face paint as we had never had Paintoos before, but they are essentially a large, fake tattoo that can be placed over your child’s face.
[Ad- gifted products] When it comes to decorating the inside of our home with art, we have been trying to get more personalised and meaningful pieces up. Photograph collages have been a big one for us, but when we saw the personalised prints by Created by Magic, they were so stunning and sophisticated, there was no way we couldn’t partner up with them! They basically take an image that you have taken and can make it into a beautiful sketch or add names to some already beautiful works of art, to make them personal to you.
[Ad- gifted product] Single use plastic items are something everyone is cutting back on, especially with the removal of plastic straws from various fast food places. With the amount of plastic that is attempting to break down around the world, for those of us that grab something to eat while out, not using a plastic fork, knife, and spoon is a simple change that can make a big difference over time. The Mahogany Cutlery Set, a fork, knife and spoon made out of mahogany wood is a perfect item to throw into your bag and take around with you.
These can simply be rinsed off, or stored in a container that you can easily clean, allowing you to easily access some cutlery that you can use and take home to wash. As someone who does go out often and sometimes eats food with plastic cutlery, especially at events, it made a lot of sense for me to start carrying these – instead of grabbing the plastic cutlery, it’s easy to dig them out of my bag and use them in place of it. When I am at events or conventions, it’s a really lovely option.