Florette Salad Recipe Time

I was contacted last week by the lovely people at Florette asking if I could create a recipe for them which incorporates one of their delicious products. They are a company which specialises in salad products, they are incredibly fresh and they pride themselves on this. So here is my recipe below!

Every bite on every leaf in every bag we produce matters to us. Which is why we invest so much in quality control. It takes tough love to produce freshness you can count on, time and time again. We’re proud that our bags have a long shelf-life. And that people trust us for our superior quality, natural taste and longer lasting freshness.

You Will Need

1) Two Portabello Mushrooms

2) A Bag of Florette Mixed Leaf Salad

3) Tesco Frozen Roasting Veg

4) Quorn Gammon Steak

5) Sesame Oil

Step By Step

1) Peel the mushrooms and place them in the oven at 200C for 20-30 minutes.

2) Cook the roasting veg as directed on the bag.

3) Cook gammon steak as directed on the bag.

4) Once everything is cooked, add a teaspoon of sesame oil to the frying pan with a few handfuls of mixed leaves.

5) Chop gammon steak into tiny pieces and add them to the pan so that they soak up the flavour of the oil.

6) Then, stuff the mushrooms with salad leaves, gammon, and then add the roasting veg to the top.

And Voila! Done! Now I know that this isn't the most complicated of recipes or quite worthy of a Michelin star but you know what, it is quick, easy and rather delicious, so I am proud of my little endeavour! Tell me what you think of it in the comments.

For more recipes from the wonderful people of Florette, click here! 

http://www.florettesalad.co.uk/recipe-category/baby-kale/

VegFestUk Competition and Metcalfes Chocolate Crackle Popcorn Review

Before I write my review I thought that I would share this competition with you all! I have two sets of tickets to give away for the VegFestUk event that is to be held on the weekend of 23rd May in Bristol. 

This festival takes place on May 23rd 24th 25th at the Amphitheatre in Bristol city centre. It traditionally features a vegan food fayre during daytime, and headline music in the evenings, and has attracted 20,000 – 25,000 visitors in the past 2 years.

This year's headliners are:

- Boney M ft. Maizie Williams, Gwen Dickey's Rose Royce, Abba Gold on Friday May 23rd
- Peter Hook and the Light, Ruts D.C., Goldblade on Saturday May 24th
- Zion Train, Black Roots on Sunday May 25th

Full admission info and advance tickets for the evening part of the show are at www.bristol.vegfest.co.uk/ticket-information

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I love popcorn, I truly do. It has to be one of my favourite snacks because it can be sweet, savoury or a bit of both! I decided to try the Chocolate Crackle flavour of the Metcalfes range. The bag contains only 230 calories which although much higher than the other flavours but it is a larger bag, plus it contains chocolate too which is always a nice addition to practically anything.

The coating on the popcorn is a little uneven so the flavour was a bit hit and miss which was sad because when you got a hit of the chocolate toffee flavour it was simply divine!

Overall I am a little on the fence because despite it being tasty It is rather filling so makes a really good afternoon snack that doesn't leave you wanting more. But I must say that the price is rather off putting at £1.50 a bag it is quite pricey, especially when there are other brands that are just as nice if not better in bigger bags for less.

Calories - 230

Rating - 6.5/10

Vegan - No

Buy Again - Maybe 

Options Hot Chocolate and Quaker Oats

One of my absolute favourite breakfast treats is hot chocolate and porridge, in my opinion it is the perfect winter warmer, so I decided to sample the indulgent varieties of the Options range. Options are a diet hot chocolate brand that offer quite a wide range of products, today I decided to sample the chocolate cherry flavour and overall it is pretty good, it actually reminded me a bit of the Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt from Ben & Jerrys.
Unfortunately there was quite an artificial taste to it which I found to be a tad disappointing but then again considering that it is a diet drink with reduced calories I think that it was rather optimistic of me to hope for it to be rich and creamy tasting. So when I consider it on a diet drink level then it is quite good, it is sweet, chocolatey and fruity and makes a lovely addition to my breakfast of porridge.

Rating - 5.5/10
Buy Again - Maybe
Calories - 60

Now I shall review the porridge for you as I have been absolutely rubbish I not posted for a week (loads of school work at the moment urghh)
Now when my mum came home with this new porridge I was rather excited as I absolutely love porridge with its warm and comforting stodgy-ness!
It was the 'Heaps of Fruit' variety of the Quaker Oats. I think that it is the first of its kind to actually have large chunks of fruit in it and as a fruit lover I really enjoyed that.

Rating - 6/10
Buy Again - Possibly
Calories - 133

Innocent Tom Yum Noodle Pot

Whilst mooching around Tesco hunting for something for my dinner, I noticed that Innocent had launched a brand new range of noodle pots, they all appear to be Asian themed as far as I can tell what with the takeaway style packaging (which I think is really creative and eye catching!). Due to them being new they were only £2.90 on an introductory offer, which isn't too bad when you would pay around £3.00 for a sandwich.
Today for my lunch I decided to sample the Tom Yum flavour which is described as 'Rice noodles with red peppers in a fragrant hot and sour sauce'. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy which worked very well against the soft rice noodles. I really enjoyed both the noodle and vegetable element but the sauce was just too spicy for me. I know, I know, Tom Yum is supposed to be spicy, it is even mentioned in the description! But I naively thought that it was just an exaggeration made by Innocent to draw more customers in, I was very very wrong... 
On initial tasting I found that the sauce added a lovely warmth with tomato undertones, but this quickly escalated into an unpleasant burning that prevented me from being able to taste any of the other flavours. That being said anybody who enjoys a little bit of spice would probably love this product but it just isn't for me with my ever so delicate palate haha!
However, I have not been put off trying more products from this new range as I look forward to trying the much milder sounding Japanese Ramen flavour!

Vegan - Yes
Calories - 239
Buy Again - I Doubt It
Price - £3.90
Score - 5

Taifun Pizza Tofu

I have tried several flavours in the Taifun range and I think that this is by far my favourite.
The flavour that is most potent is the tomato - oregano which is absolutely delicious! It reminded me of the base sauce of an expensive and authentic Italian pizza, far from the cheap, sugar laden sauces that make up many generic shop bought pizzas.
For people who are expecting the entire pizza experience will probably be a little disappointed as it is totally devoid of any cheese flavour -which in my opinion is brilliant as I absolutely hate cheese! - but if you are looking for a tasty and healthy alternative to pizza then this is perfect.
It is a little more expensive than other vegetarian brands such as Quorn or Linda MaCartney but I honestly cannot deny the quality and uniqueness of this product. The only complaint that I have about it is that it was a little salty, but this didn't really detract from the overall delicious flavour.

Vegan - Yes
Calories - 163 per fillet
Buy Again - Definitely
Price - £2.79
Score - 8.5