Take A Box Of Eggs Cookbook Giveaway

Take a box of eggs is the latest in the Dairy Cookbook series and supported by A collection of recipe videos created by ex-Atomic Kitten and Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon and Claridges' Mark Sargean, Liz and Mark are not directly linked to the book itself other than British Lion's eggs have provided the books as prizes. This is a great recipe cook book - it's ring binding make it easy to flip through and there are little QR barcodes on each to scan with your smartphone for a shopping list! - really handy! Especially for Meal Planning!

The book made me think of new simple meal ideas - such as adding a poached egg to potato cakes and bacon, quiche and omelette ideas to introducing me to completely new foods I haven't heard of like Timbales. Not to mention oodles of cake and cookies and ice creams! Yum!

The introduction pages are really informative, they explain different ways of farming (in a paragraph) what the egg codes mean and what the British lion mark stands for and nutritional value of eggs - all condensed onto two pages.

This book is great from novice (how to boil an egg) to eggsperts (soufflés!).

My two small people like flicking through the pictures (great photos throughout!) and picking what they'd like!

Recipes are broken down into simple steps and some include a "cooks tip" at the bottom too.

Pizza Omelette Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvVt8ko1iVQ

Press release:

New research shows time-strapped home cooks are more likely to cook a quick meal from scratch than pop a ready meal in the microwave, so it’s cracking news that two rising culinary stars are launching a new recipe collection of egg-based main meals in minutes! The speedy dishes will feature on a new website - eggrecipes.co.uk/mainmealsinminutes- alongside a series of step-by-step videos presented by Mark and Liz. The celebs give their best omelette-making tips and show just how easy it is to rustle up meals in minutes using eggs.

British Lions eggs have given us an egg based recipe book to give away.

The latest in the Dairy Cookbook series, Take a box of eggs features more than 100 recipes ranging from the basics of boiling, poaching and frying, through everyday staples such as Tortilla and Quiche Lorraine, to the more adventurous Goat’s Cheese Soufflés and Eggs Andalusia, as well as a range of classic desserts including ice creams, trifles and meringues.

by ex-Atomic Kitten and Celebrity Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon and Claridges' Mark Sargeant.

The competition.

To enter the competition, please leave a comment below telling me one of your favourite egg dishes, don't forget to include a way for me to contact you if you are the winner, such as twitter id or email please.

The prize will be sent directly to the winner from the company supplying the prize.

Open to the UK only please.

Competition will close on Monday 8th April 2013 at 12noon.

One winner will be selected using random.org to win 1 copy of "take a box of eggs" from entries on Emma in Bromley, and one winner will be selected from entries on Meal Planning Mummy also to win 1 copy of the book. please reply with your details within 7days of winning or another winner will be selected.

Bonus entries:

•Leave a comment on another of my blog posts (not other comps)

•Tweet a link to the comp including @beachpebble

•Like "Meal Planning Mummy" Facebook page

•Pin this comp on pinterest

•Google + this post

•Follow me on GFC

•Follow my sister blog "Emma in Bromley"

Please leave a separate comment below for each of your bonus entries so I can count them (max 1 for each method).

Emma x
Meal Planning Mummy

*Review and competition also published on "Emma in Bromley"

Simple lamb leg steak for kids

I started off doing baby led weaning (blw) for both my children and it went really well but then my 3 year old became ridiculously fussy and with trying to prepare 4 different meals to suit everyone - with hubby eating several hours after the kids and with a scarily messy kitchen (seriously, I wouldn't eat food prepared in a kitchen that looked like this if it wasn't my own dirt!) and an endless tiresome list of things to do ... I got a bit kitchen lazy.

I'm not sure how it got that way to be honest, but I suddenly realised that far to often I was feeding the kids "bung it in the oven" things - usually a chicken teddy/dinosaur/dipper etc with a pile of chips and a token pea or two on the side.

This isn't what I want to feed them so I'm trying to go back to blw basics. I'm Organic all the way! (well, as much as budget allows and shops stock!)

Tonight they have organic lamb!

I've done a very plain and simple lamb leg steak (I've made one steak between the two of them)

I've accompanied this with a few french fries and rocket leaves with spring onion.

Pre heat the oven and grill.

Pop two handfuls of frozen oven french fries (we like the McCain ones) onto a baking tray and gracefully place in the oven.

Plain and simple, just grill the lamb leg steak. Nothing added to it. I did 10mims on one side and then turned it over and did 10 more mins on the other side.

Whilst that's cooking, wash some rocket leaves and arrange on the plates.

Chop up a spring onion - I peel off the outer layer and chop the white to light green part into discs with scissors (see, I'm not a classically trained chef or anything!). Artistically arrange on the plates.

Once cooked, slice the lamb and remove any fatty or rubbery or boney or gross looking bits and place on the plates along with the chips and allow to cool - the lamb needs a few mins to "rest" anyway.

Half way through eating, there was a request from my youngest for cheese so we also had a few cubes of cheddar too!

Although it goes against the usual blw advice, my 19month old is happier with the meat chopped into a few small pieces at a time that she can pop some on a folk herself whilst leaving a larger bit for exploring!

I made this for my 19month old and 3year old. My 19month old ate a fair amount of everything whilst my fussy 3 year old ate 1 rocket leaf and two chips :-/ (I wonder how he is so happy and healthy sometimes! - it really is baffling!)

I'll be redoing the whole thing again with the second lamb leg steak later on (without the cheese) for hubby! - such a shame he isn't home from work or hungry to eat at 5-6pm with the kids!

Everything except for the chips was organic - I fully recommend eating organic as much as you can.

Emma x
Meal planning mummy

Zappar and Asda bring to life the classic Easter Egg Hunt

Zappar and Asda bring to life the classic Easter Egg Hunt

Zappar, the leaders in Augmented Reality (AR) - enabled products and entertainment experiences, has teamed up with Asda supermarket for the UK’s first-ever augmented reality enabled Easter Egg Hunt. Asda shoppers will be delighted to set off on an in-store Easter Egg Hunt, guided by an augmented reality Easter Bunny powered by Zappar. The fun will be taking place from 10am – 4.30pm on Saturday 23rd March.

Specially designed Easter Egg point of sale will be hidden around almost 400 Asda stores across the UK for children and adults to discover. When zapped using the Asda app, each egg will transform into virtual 3D Easter Eggs revealing an Easter Bunny hidden inside that will display a secret letter. The letters will form a password that once completed, will entitle the successful treasure hunters to a free gift!

Shoppers will only need to download the free Asda app onto a smartphone or tablet and then get zapping in Asda stores across the country. The fun starts when the Easter Bunny will leap out of his hole from a floor mat and tell kids and their parents all about this magical hunt. It will also be possible to pose with the AR Easter Bunny to take photos and video to share with friends!

For those without a smartphone there will be Events staff on hand with iPads so everyone can enjoy the fun.

And the magic of this augmented reality Easter Egg Hunt does not end in store! Participants will be able to take home a face mask from stores that when zapped, replaces the wearer’s head with that of the Easter Bunny.

This exclusive experience has been made all the more possible with the recent installation of Wi-Fi in all Asda stores.

Max Dawes, Head of Partner Relations at Zappar, said: “Our specialism at Zappar is in creating AR-enabled products and entertainment experiences! Everyone loves an Easter Egg Hunt; it is definitely one of the highlights of the holiday in many children’s minds. To be able to provide a sprinkle of Zappar magic dust to the in-store experience and create the first ever augmented reality Easer egg hunt in partnership with Asda on such a grand scale is just fantastic.”

Steph Hughes, Head of Events Marketing at Asda added, “The AR Easter Egg Hunt is a great way to get across the Asda personality and another example of how Asda stores are a destination for mums and kids. We are really exciting to be embracing this new technology and incorporating it into the Asda app. Hopefully everyone enjoys meeting the Easter Bunny!”

Kate Cuthbertson, Head of Mobile Innovation at Asda added, “More than two million Asda mums have already downloaded our mobile grocery app to do their online shopping with, saving them stacks of time which they can then spend with their families. We are now looking at how the app can come to life inside our stores so we can help make the shopping experience more fun and enjoyable for them and their families. Free WiFi in all our stores opens up all sorts of exciting opportunities, including the use of augmented reality (AR). Our Easter Egg hunt is a fun way to promote the Asda mobile app to even more of our customers, demonstrating how easy it is to use, while wowing them some amazing new AR technology.”

Zappar for iPhone, iPod and iPad:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zappar/id429885268?mt=8

For Android:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.zappar.Zappar

The Easter Egg Hunt is taking place in a selected number of Asda branches.

Emma

Meal Planning Mummy x

The can of pop and box of cake mix thing!

So, I'm addicted to pinterest!

I keep seeing recipes for cakes and brownies popping up all the time that claim, all you need is a box of Betty Crocker cake or brownie mix and a can of coca cola!

At first I though "no, these must be spam!" but then I noticed more and more pins - mostly American bloggers doing this!

I was in my local co-op this week and Betty Crocker kits were on offer so I though "what the heck!" I wanna see if this really does work or not!

So all the blog posts I read, simply said to mix a full can and a full box together (contents of said packaging!)

I did this and at first it really didn't look like anything but then after a little bit of wooden spoon mixing it actually did look like cake batter!

I used the mix in a mini cupcake maker which I pre- greased. (I always forget to use it, so was pleased it was having a whirl for once!)

Within 10mins I had what looked like perfect little mini cupcakes - they were springy and perfectly rounded and smelled like ... chocolate cake! Skewer came out clean so I knew they had cooked through!

I was really surprised!

When I tried to free one from the pan, however, disaster struck! Each and every cake was stuck fast and part ripped trying to free them! Even though this is a non stick machine and I'd greased each hole - I guess as the mix doesn't have any fat it just sticks!

Would have been ok in paper cases maybe?

Even though technically the cake mix had worked - I did have what looked and smelled like cake - I have to say - it did not work because....

... They tasted disgusting!!!!

Even my chocoholic (even more than me!) kids didn't like them!


Emma the Meal Planning Mummy xx