Oliver's Kitchen sell cookware that is elegant and simple, easy to clean and use, and which will hopefully encourage the whole family to cook and enjoy food together. They have sent me a bundle to review - and I am genuinely incredibly happy with them, so I'm delighted to say I'll be giving the same away to my readers too! 

Oliver's Kitchen are a family business, and family cooking is their thing. The first thing that struck me was how elegantly attractive their products are, with shiny metal surfaces, black rubber trim and classic style - and all very well designed. 

I was sent the ingredients to recreate a Leek Recipe by the British Leek Growers Association in time for St. David's Day this weekend. This is a rare occasion where a recipe post doesn't feel like work, because Leeks really are one of my all-time favourite vegetables and they are very under-used in the modern day UK.


I particularly like the look of the Leek and Garlic Twist Bread and I was sent everything I'd need to create the recipe. My 11 year old son was chef and I just gave him a little advice (and kneeded the dough, and did the sticky bits, and the oven).

Matador Publishing work with self-published authors. Four of the recently released paperback children's books that they've sent me for review have a common theme looking at, and celebrating, difference, so I've put them all together in one post.

These are all nicely illustrated picture books suitable for reading together with children from a very young age, or for independent readers aged around 5-6+ to tackle alone.

I've worked with HARIBO quite a lot recently, partly because they've brought out a whole range of vegetarian sweets which I can eat too! They asked if I'd be interested in sharing the #HARIBOFestiveFun by making a gingerbread house and decorating it with HARIBO sweets. I replied that I was already planning to, so it couldn't have fallen better really...


Gingerbread houses are synonymous with Christmas, even though there's no law that says you can't eat them year round. Those festive flavours and the spectacle of a gorgeous sweet treat in the middle of the table are just perfect, and ridiculously easy to make. Trust me.

Ahead of Manchester's Festa Italiana, which takes place 26th-28th July, we were all invited to a very special Family Pasta Master Class at Salvi's Mozzarella Bar in the Corn Exchange, with Carmela Serano Hayes of Carmela’s Kitchen.


Italian food is very much family orientated and there is a whole programme of events during Manchester's Festa Italiana especially for families with children. One of the highlights will be the FREE Kids Pasta Master Classes with Carmela, where children can learn first hand just how easy it is to make your own pasta and have a go at creating some different shapes and textures to match with different dishes and sauces.


I'm a firm believer in cooking with children from a young age, so we were all excited about our Pasta Master Class. This was taking place downstairs at Salvi's, a restaurant and deli in the Manchester Corn Exchange.

Back in September we waved 3 of our young people off to uni, 2 of them as Freshers starting their 1st Year. Before she went I had a special 'goodbye tea' with my daughter and last Friday we turned the tables. It was my turn to visit her at Uni and she had to cook for me. I also had a peep in her kitchen cupboards to see if she really is eating healthily...


My daughter had mock exams until late afternoon, so I met her straight afterwards at the Student Union. There's a Co-op food store really close by and we headed over there and picked up the ingredients. It's a gorgeous Co-op with loads of space...


The Co-op are working with MOB Kitchen and you may have seen one of the crew, Ben, in the October issue of Co-op magazine (found in-store). They've put together a collection of recipes that are easy to make, healthy and filling, and so we decided to choose a recipe from the list.

I have 3 young adults off to uni this September and 2 of them are freshers in their first year. It's a scary time for them, but also for me, and I've tried to prepare them all for independence as best I can. This includes making sure they can cook themselves something hearty and filling without breaking the bank or missing out on the nutrition they'll need to stay healthy.


I'm delighted to be working with Co-op Food on a campaign to get students cooking and eating healthy meals. It really is something I'm passionate about and I've even put together all of my family's favourite and most-used recipes, as well as a few others, on my recipes page. I have tried to keep costs down, skill levels easy and nutritional value high. There is rarely a prouder moment than when I discover one of my young people cooking from one of my recipes.


The Co-op meanwhile show their commitment to students by offering a 10% discount at over 2000 stores nationwide with a TOTUM card (previously called NUS Extra). This starts at £12 a year, so you can get your money back very quickly just on Co-op food shopping. That's on top of the regular Co-op member rewards.

Lots of people are diagnosed Gluten-intolerant, but it's very hard to understand what that actually means. It's very easy to 'make' Gluten, and when you do then you will be able to understand why people with Coeliac Disease have trouble digesting it...



EQUIPMENT:
1 cup of flour - strong bread making flour is best.
Water
A bowl.

If you don't have bread flour then use plain flour. I've used plain flour here just to show that it can still be done, but bread flour gives a much better result. If your mix doesn't seem to be working, wait half an hour and come back. It's not failure, it's science!

Today I'm delighted to be taking part in the My Little Sous-Chef Blog Book Tour. I'm the second blog in the tour, check out the list towards the bottom to find the rest. As it's Easter, we took one of the recipes and added a little Easter twist....


My Little Sous-Chef is a brand new cookery book release from Caterina Falqui, Francesca Grassi and Laura Pantaleone. Completely unlike other cookery books, My Little Sous-Chef is actually two books.


One book is for children and the other is for their grown ups. Both books have exactly the same recipes, but one has all the boring stuff like oven temperatures, and the other focuses more on those tasks that children can take charge of.

Oxo have recently added more products to their Good Grips Kitchenware range, including some great Squeeze And Pour Measuring Cups. They have sent me a selection to review, and it seemed a great excuse for a cake. My youngest wanted to help, so I let him take over...


The first item we used is the 2.8l Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (£13). Lightweight, yet a good size with a really impressive rubber base, it holds position really well while you are whisking and stirring. A lovely shaped bowl and your mix comes out easily

I was VERY excited when I was asked if I wanted to take a look at a NUTRI NINJA kitchen blender, even more so when it arrived and it was the NINJA Complete Kitchen System with NUTRI NINJA (with Auto IQ). At 1500w and with a swathe of accessories, it is capable of so much more than your average blender.


The system arrives in a huge box containing all of the parts in smaller boxes. It's like Christmas. The metal blades are incredibly sharp, and arrive the same way as they store, safely inside the pitcher, cup and bowl.

Mister Chef are a brand new company selling kitchen equipment in the UK. Their range is varied and very modern. They specialise in silicone bakeware and some of the more gadgety equipment for kitchen, baking and sugarcraft. They recently sent us a bundle of products to take a look...


The first product that caught my eye was a little gadget that I didn't recognise at all! Looking like a little single axle car, with whirling blades inside. Luckily it was listed as a Garlic Chopper.

We've reviewed Num Noms before, children's scented collectible toys that are designed to look like Cupcakes and Ice Creams, and we thought it would be a fun idea to try and recreate them for real. I think we may have cracked it...


Num Noms all have a particular smell, and there are tons of different flavours (my review of the Num Noms Cupcake Party Pack). We actually bought several flavours of ice cream to try and recreate them, some were more successful than others!

The full title of today's cookery book review is Let's Cook Spanish, A Family Cookbook: Vamos a Cocinar Espanol, Recetas Para Toda la Familia by Gabriella Llamas. I think the title is a pretty good description. This is a book of Spanish recipes ideal for cooking with your children.


This is a  hardbacked cookbook which is written in English and Spanish, with introductions for the children in the family, and the grown ups. It takes the stance that cooking should be a fun, participatory event. I can't disagree with that. It also introduces Spanish into the English pages of the text, and my boys liked trying to pronounce the foreign words.

Over Easter Wilko sent me and my children a gorgeous bundle of goodies from their baking range to have a play with. Annoyingly people in my house were ill, so my plans for Easter cooking were a little delayed. We're all back on track and so I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen with help from my 2 young assistants...


Wilko's sent us some truly gorgeous equipment to help with our baking. The Mason Cash ceramic Mixing Bowl (£15) and Measuring Jug (£10) are absolutely gorgeous, I've taken a very possessive stance over them.

It pains me to hear clanking metal on ceramics, so I'm pleased to say Wilko's also sent us some plastic pig tools (£1 each), plus a Beech Wooden Rolling Pin (£3.50), a 9 inch spring form cake tin, silicone whisk (£1.25), heart cookie cutters and a mini kitchen scale (£2.50).

This Autumn Persil Washing Up Liquid have launched a new on-pack collector points campaign called 'Cook With The Kids'. Every bottle of Persil washing up liquid has a code which can be redeemed online for points. The points can then be exchanged for all kinds of Cook With The Kids goodies including aprons, silicone whisks and cupcake cases, and more.


You can also exchange points for money off Haven Holidays, and each time you redeem a code, you are entered into a draw to win a £250 supermarket voucher!

I love baking with my children and have many blog posts labelled 'cooking with kids'. My Food Page  lists the recipes I post and almost all are designed to be simple and serve as a collection for my own teenagers (should they decide they're bored of instant noodles). I believe that we all eat, so we should all have an idea of how to feed ourselves. I include my family in cooking as often as possible.

I'm delighted today to tell you about another affiliation, this time with EasiYo. Originally developed in New Zealand the EasiYo makes it simplicity itself to make your own yogurt at home. It takes around 5 minutes mixing and preparation, a few hours wait for the yoghurt to set, and there you have it. Delicious and fresh yogurt ready for the fridge or table....


I was intrigued by EasiYo. I have never made my own yoghurt at home, although I always fancied it.  My kids love yoghurt, and I knew we'd have no shortage of taste-testers, so I really looked forward to the delivery.

Kids Cook French, or 'Les Enfants Cuisinent A La Francaise', is the latest release we've been sent from Quarry Books. Written by Claudine Pepin and illustrated by her father Jacques Pepin (himself a TV personality and world-famous chef), this 96 page book contains 30 French inspired recipes which you can cook together with your children.


Although this book was originally released in the US, unlike some others we've reviewed, the recipes don't contain a list of unusual ingredients, and it is very UK friendly. Measurements are mainly in both metric and imperial units. Each page is repeated in both English and French, making this an excellent tool for learning without even realising....

Noodle kids is a brand new cookery book out this February. Written by Jonathan Sawyer and published by Quarry Books, it features 50 recipes to cook with your children from all around the world. Noodle Kids is different at first glance because it really puts the children in charge and lets them lead the cooking. I like that.



The Sawyer children are almost as much a part of this book as their Dad, and although Noodle Kids has 50 recipes, it's actually just as useful for the suggestions and examples of how to get children interested in joining in - choosing ingredients, getting their hands dirty, and losing any fear and nerves about food and cooking.

I've been vegetarian now for 30 years (sheesh). In the olden days ('when all this were fields') being a vegetarian really was about ripping out a cooking page from the Sunday newspaper supplement and spending 4 hours making a nut roast that tasted of cardboard and peanut with surprise lumps of raw carrot. There were very few companies catering for vegetarians, and the only way to access those products for me was a trip to the health food shop. It's nice to see though that at least one of those early companies still remains among the big money-backed multinationals.


Goodlife have been making vegetarian foods now for 25 years. Their aim is to make vegetarian foods that are so full of flavour and interest that you don't need to add anything extra. They champion the vegetable, and that is why you'll find Red Sky Tomato And Basil Sausages with Creamy Mozarella, and Picador Parsnip And Sweet Carrot Nut Burgers with Crunchy Cashews among their frozen product range.