Iceland Christmas in July #PowerofFrozen

Last week, on one of the hottest days of the year, I got up at an unearthly hour to travel to London for one of the hotly anticipated summer events of the year - Christmas in July. If you've never been to a Christmas in July event it's where brands get to showcase their up and coming products aimed at the Christmas market.

The brand that I made this epically hot journey to see was, ironically, Iceland.

Last November I attended a pre Christmas event at the Iceland HQ and their food was amazing, so I was excited to see what they had on offer for this Christmas. Iceland's chef Neil Nugent was on hand to prepare some delicious food and served me up a delicious breakfast.

This wasn't like my usual breakfast, especially as I rarely eat fish, but I must say that Neil Nugent does prepare the best smoked salmon. This beetroot smoked salmon was served with a touch of lemon mayo, alongside Nacho Chicken and a cute pot of Crab Mac & Cheese. I'm so impressed with the quality & taste of Iceland fish & seafood that I am seriously considering popping my sushi cherry and trying one of their Luxury Sushi Platters this Christmas. 

It's difficult to know where to start with the food as there was so much on offer, from gifts, decorations and pet treats to cheese platters, nibbles, roasts and desserts. There is everything you could possibly need this Christmas to feed your guests throughout the Christmas period, as well as wrappings, lights and advent calendars - I absolutely *need* the wine advent calendar to see me through my usual 'wet December'! 

I'm definitely going to need a third freezer this Christmas for sure! There's way too much to show you here, so here are a few of my favourites that I'll be looking out for later in the year.

Not forgetting the award winning Mince Pies

You can find a few more products on my Instagram feed - scroll to the left to see them all.

Do you have a favourite that you'll be looking out for this Christmas?

a commissioned post for Iceland Foods

Family Meals : Paprika Chicken with Chorizo & Olives

I've mentioned before on this blog that I cook the majority of our family meals from scratch, and on most nights of the week. We rarely eat out, and only have takeaways very occasionally, and if we do it's only usually from the local chippy.

We also have very little food waste in this house, which I put down to meal planning (albeit a bit haphazardly at the moment), cooking from scratch, and always using up any leftovers by making them into another meal, freezing them, or eating for lunch the following day.

I also encourage our family to eat our evening meals together as much as possible. It's not always easy with two teenagers though, especially at this time of the year when they're out with their friends for the majority of the evening, so it's often only three of us at the dinner table. At least 3 or 4 times a week we do all manage to sit down together though, and some of our favourite meals involve a large panful of food in the centre of the table with breads, salads and vegetables on the side for everyone to help themselves to.

This article about the benefits of family meals is a very interesting read, and should encourage all families to try and eat together as much as possible. 

• 10 Benefits of Family Meals

This Paprika Chicken dish is one of the many dishes that I enjoy cooking, as I know everyone will enjoy it, and it takes a minimal amount of effort to make. As the majority of the ingredients used are from Iceland's cook from frozen range it means that you can always have a supply of ingredients in the freezer ready to whip up a meal at any time, without the worry that anything is going to go off.

The dish could be served with salad and bread or roast potatoes and steamed vegetables, but I chose to serve it with a large pot of ratatouille (which is always delicious the following day on a jacket potato or pasta), bread rolls (who knew you could buy frozen ready baked bread rolls), and Iceland steamed rice.

Ratatouille is also a great way to use up vegetables from the bottom of the fridge, such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes, as well as carrots, leeks, butternut squash and cabbage. Just like a 'fridge bottom' soup or curry, almost any veg can go into a ratatouille, but using the Iceland Mediterranean Vegetables as a base gives it a great flavour, as well as saving valuable time by not having any chopping to do.

Paprika Chicken with Chorizo & Olives by Helen Jessup on Scribd

This is quite simply one of the easiest, tastiest, cook from [almost] scratch, no chopping, no waste, family meals that you could ever wish to make. That's the #PowerofFrozen!

a commissioned post for Iceland Foods #PowerofFrozen

6 Tasty Family Meals Using Your Leftover Roasts

According to the government agency WRAP, UK households waste around £700 worth of food per family every year. I know that my family doesn't waste anywhere near this figure, so that means that there are other families out there that waste our share too - over £100 of all the food they buy each month goes in the bin. 

For me, it makes sense to meal plan.  It also makes sense to keep excess food such as bread and crumpets in the freezer. We then only take out what we need to use as and when we need it, avoiding any waste. Buying ready sliced frozen vegetables such as peppers, onions and mushrooms, also helps avoid waste, as well as being extremely convenient to use in cooking.

Before I shop (either online or in store) I make a list of 6 main meals that we'll be eating over the coming week, and then buy everything I need that I don't already have in the cupboards. I don't necessarily plan for us to eat a specific meal on a specific day as that often depends on the use by dates, as well as who will actually be at home. With two teenagers in the house, plans for family meals can quickly go out of the window when an offer of 'bowling and Nando's' comes in. This also means that we sometimes have leftovers (hence only 6 meals on the planner). Whilst some families don't like reheating foods later or the following day, this is something that I often do. Meals are plated up, covered over and reheated in the microwave later, or used as a base for another meal the following day - it's easy enough to slice a couple of cooked chicken breasts up, add them to pasta or rice, throw in some veg, and end up with a family meal for five.

I'm currently working with Iceland on a campaign to try and reduce the amount of waste that households produce. You may have seen the ad for their new 'Buy me frozen, Keep me chilled' World Famous range :

The idea is that you buy these delicious pre-cooked dishes frozen, then take them home and either pop them back into your freezer to use at a later date, or keep them in your fridge for up to 7 days, and have them ready to cook whenever you want, without the need to wait for defrosting.

With 7 dishes in the World Famous range, there is something for all tastes. For my family I chose to incorporate the Texan Down n Dirty Beef Brisket, Lamb Shanks in Mint & Rosemary Gravy, and the Mississippi Smoked Pulled Pork into our weekly meal plan in the following ways, to show that with a little imagination leftovers can form the basis of another delicious meal. Each dish served 4 people and was made using half a pack of the World Famous meats, making them an ideal way to use up any leftovers, however small they may be.

You can find photos of the finished dishes over on my Instagram feed, and the full recipe for the Lamb & Feta Pita Pizzas below.

Lamb & Feta No Bake Pitta Pizzas by Helen Jessup on Scribd

What's your favourite way to use leftovers?

What are you doing to avoid food waste?

Do you have any tips to share?

a commissioned post for Iceland Foods #PowerofFrozen

5 Fun Back to School Lunchbox Ideas

There's less than a week left until my kids are back at school, and I've been working with Iceland to create a few lunch ideas to beat the monotony of lunch boxes, and make them more fun.

These are all simple ideas that require little or no cooking, and if your kids are anything like mine, they will love them. The freezer comes in very handy as it's easy to grab a few ingredients that can be cooked straight from frozen to make a quick meal. It's also great when batch cooking as extras can be cooked up and stored in the freezer to grab when time is short, or add straight to a lunchbox, with the added bonus of keeping other lunchbox items chilled. Frozen ingredients such as vegetables, for example, can also save you money as nothing goes to waste - and they are full of more goodness than that past-its-best broccoli lurking at the back of the fridge too!

First up are these chocolate dipped strawberries topped with a few sprinkles. These can be made in just a few minutes and will brighten up any lunch, as well as helping kids get their 5 a day.

Next up are these bbq meatball pops, made using Swedish meatballs, which can be cooked from frozen. 

I always try and keep a pack of puff pastry in as you never know when you're going to need to make an emergency pie or tart, and these twin packs of ready made puff pastry are convenient to keep in the freezer and defrost overnight before using.

BBQ Meatball Pops - makes 9

250g puff pastry

9 Swedish meatballs

bbq sauce

1 egg, beaten

wooden lollipop sticks

• roll the pastry out into a rectangle approx 2-3mm thick
• cut 9 squares from the pastry, approx 8-9cm
• add approx half a teaspoon on bbq sauce to the centre of each square of pastry
• pop a frozen meatball onto the sauce
• hold a wooden lollipop stick on top of the meatball and fold up the sides of the pastry and squeeze together around the stick
• repeat with the remaining meatballs and lay onto a baking sheet
• place in the freezer for 10 minutes whilst the oven preheats to 200C
• brush the parcels with beaten egg and bake for approx 25 minutes, until golden brown

These traffic light sandwiches are fun to make and eat, and you could get the kids involved with choosing fillings, and making the sandwiches. You just need a couple of round cookie cutters and some red, orange and green fillings. I chose strawberries, orange cheese and lettuce. 

Fourth on the list are these interestingly shaped triangular sausage rolls. They're made with frankfurter sausages and only take a few minutes to cook. They can easily be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge until you're ready to bake them. Try experimenting with shapes and see what else you can come up with.

triangular sausage rolls - makes 8

250g puff pastry
8 frankfurter sausages
1 egg, beaten

• roll the pastry out into a rectangle approx 2-3mm thick
• cut a rectangle of pastry wide enough to sit 3 frankfurters on, with space in between
• cut out 3 further pieces, with 2 of them being slightly smaller
• lay 3 frankfurters onto the first piece of pastry, and brush the edges with beaten egg
• lay another piece on top and press down to seal the edges
• brush the top with beaten egg and lay a further 2 frankfurters on top, with one of the smaller pieces of pastry on top of those
• brush beaten egg over the top before laying the final frankfurter on top, and the final piece of pastry on top of that (see image below)
• place in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up, as this makes it easier to slice
• using a sharp knife cut slices approx 1.5cm wide
• brush beaten egg around the edges and return to the freezer for 10 minutes whilst the oven preheats to 200C
• bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned
• cool on a wire rack

The final recipe is for a popular one in this house, and something that Jack is looking forward to taking to school in his lunchbox. He likes to dip them in ketchup so I'll be popping a little pot of sauce in with these. These polka dot fritters are predominantly sweetcorn and dotted with peas. If you're feeling more artistic than me, you could try making faces with additional ingredients.

polka dot fritters - makes 6

40g plain flour

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of garlic granules

5 tbsp semi skimmed milk

125g frozen sweetcorn, thawed

handful of frozen peas, thawed

olive oil for frying

• mix together the flour, cayenne, garlic and milk to a smooth batter
• stir in the sweetcorn
• heat the oil in a frying pan
• spoon some of the corn batter into the pan and allow to spread
• scatter a few peas into the batter
• cook over a medium heat for a few minutes each side, until cooked through and lightly browned 

What will you be putting in your kids lunch boxes this term?

Check out these great lunchbox ideas from other bloggers also taking part in the #PowerOfFrozen challenge :

Hijacked by Twins - Rice Salad 

Foodie Quine - Cheesy Sweetcorn Muffins
Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - Lunchbox Ideas

This post has been commissioned by Iceland #PowerofFrozen

Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

The summer holidays are coming to a close, with just two weeks left here before the new term starts. A couple of weeks ago I shared a simple recipe for Sweet & Salty Marshmallow Squares, which is one of many recipes on this blog that's fun and easy to do with the kids. Cooking is a great way to keep the kids entertained for a few hours, especially during the school holidays when parents may run out of ways to keep the kids occupied.

Iceland have challenged me to take a look around one of their stores and choose some ingredients that can be put together to make a delicious dish, that's easy to prepare with the kids. If your kids are older they might even like to make this one on their own, leaving you to get on with some jobs (or put your feet up and wait for the finished dish!)

The bank holiday is coming up and these will make a delicious alternative to a regular ice cream, especially if it's a hot weekend!

I was delighted to find Millies Cookie dough amongst the frozen desserts in Iceland, and even more delighted to see that they can be popped into the oven without having to get my hands or any utensils dirty. It couldn't be easier to enjoy freshly baked cookies.

Another hack for making these ice cream sandwiches is in the preparation of the ice cream. A 500ml round tub of ice cream is the perfect diameter to fit into these cookies once they're baked, and can be sliced whilst still in the tub, which saves lots of mess, but it was a VERY hot day when I made these and, as you can see, they melted VERY quickly.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches - makes 3

box of Millies Triple Choc cookie dough

500ml tub of Ice cream (I used Oreo)

sprinkles

• bake the cookies as per the directions on the box
• as soon as you take the cookies out of the oven flatten them with a fork
• leave to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely
• using a sharp knife cut three 1-2cm slices of ice cream in the cardboard container 
• remove the cardboard from around the edge of the ice cream and sandwich between two cookies
• roll in sprinkles or sugar strands
• eat immediately or return to the freezer until ready to eat

Now the only thing left to decide is which flavour to choose next? Milk chocolate, white chocolate or triple chocolate?

This post has been commissioned by Iceland #PowerofFrozen