I am first and foremost, a lifestyle blogger. But over the past year or so, my fingers have dabbled in a tiny bit of food writing. I’m starting to really enjoy this side of blogging as it means I’m kindly given food samples to try from time to time. Recently, I was sent a food hamper from a well-known company, Abel & Cole in partnership with Simplyhealth who wanted to hear about how I would ‘cook my way to a healthy smile.’
I was surprised to receive not one, but two food packages. I was told all ingredients sent over would be organic – all of which are extremely good for your dental health. The generous parcel consisted of; pork sausages, chicken, cheese, milk, spinach, nuts, potatoes, celery and brazil nuts. As a student, I would have been thrilled to receive a free shop like this one, so I was ever so grateful. The challenge sounded easy enough, so throughout the week I then attempted to cook some quick and easy delicious meals.
Abel & Cole Cheesy Potato Bake
One of the meals I cooked with a little inspiration from good old Pinterest was a ‘Soy sausage and cheesy potato bake’. It was an intensively hearty meal, but boy did it taste great and perfect after a long cold journey home from work. I cooked some onions and mushrooms, and while that was sizzing away I sliced and boiled some potatoes and covered them with the cheese and a dribble of milk. Abel & Cole potatoes are so tender and I cut through them like butter (what is their secret?!) Next, I took to throwing the sausages into a hot pan with oil and drowned them in a soy sauce I received through the post from Yogiyo.
When everything had been cooked, I put all ingredients into a ramekin dish with some chopped celery and cooked on 200°C heat for 30 minutes. It came out piping hot and I grated some Glastonbury cheese on top. I could’t wait to dig in. Please note on the images, the food isn’t burnt, it’s melted soy sauce.. mmm! With all meals that I cook on a week night, I try to make enough for lunch the next day, but this recipe was spot on and ever so quick to throw together that we ended up eating all of it in one sitting… oops!
Abel & Cole Chicken With Roasted Vegetables
This chicken dish I cooked the day after was by far my favourite recipe. I used the two legs of chicken from the parcel and covered them in a few teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. I then sliced up a few peppers and onions and coated them in oil. This took just 10 minutes to prepare and was unbelievably tasty. Who knew roasted veg and chicken could be a winning dish? There’s no doubt I’ll be cooking this again soon.
Josh was out playing football on the night, so he came home to a warm supper, bonus girlfriend points to me! There was silence for a few minutes while we ate, it must’ve tasted that good. I made sure to place the chicken and veg on a bed of spinach as part of the beautiful presentation. For the final dish, I perhaps cheated a tiny bit by making a cake. But seeing as I wanted to use up the apples and nuts, I looked through my cook books for general ideas. I came across an ‘apple and walnut’ cake but substituted some of the ingredients for my own. For this dessert, I used:
- 3 eggs, 2 cups of flower, 1 cup of sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt, 5 peeled apples, 1 cup of walnuts.
I placed all ingredients in a pyrex bowl and whisked together to form a mixture. Preheat the oven to 190* and cook for 35 minutes until golden brown. After it had cooled, I tried a segment and it was INCREDIBLE, it was so sweet and moorish. Thanks once again to Simplyheath for setting me this challenge, it’s certainly been a worthwhile experience. Simplyhealth have now released an infographic on ‘six superfoods for your smile’ – why not take a peek? www.simplyhealth.co.uk/sh/pages/healthy-you/six-superfoods-for-your-smile. For more information on healthy food boxes, you can find more information on the Abel & Cole website. They sell both meat, fruit and veg boxes and the quality of the food is excellent. Let me know if you’ve used them before!
That food looks so nice I would probably die on completion, especially after the apple and walnut cake. I am home this week, I beg you to make me some! By some…of course I mean the whole cake.
Hey! Thanks for your lovely words. The cake was so easy to make, i literally just mixed all the ingredients together to form a beautiful, squidgy apple mess. Let me know if you try it out.
Me baking? Imagine. Honestly Pigs will fly before I attempt such things!
Cor, I’ll be trying that soy sausage and potato bake! Looks amazing!! The chicken sounds fab too – I love one pot dishes because I don’t like washing up …
http://www.sophieetc.com
Please do – it tasted like heaven had arrived in my mouth. Gooey, cheesy and soytastic! xxx
All of this food looks so delicious! Emma, you’ve made me really hungry!
Hayley-Eszti | http://www.hayleyeszti.com
Haha Hayley you’re so cute. These dishes were so quick to make, perfect for a long day after work! (and so tasty)