That's Christmas: latentia primitivo puglia 2020

That's Christmas: latentia primitivo puglia 2020: Latentia primitivo puglia 2020 wine is one of the best wines that my wife and I have tasted in recent years. It's a high quality and awa...

That's Christmas: Get Unearthed for Christmas

That's Christmas: Get Unearthed for Christmas: With talk, and a good deal of nonsense to be honest, in the mass media about shortages of foods for Christmas, our minds turned to finding o...

Fitbakes launches UK’s first sugar-free caramel cake after crowdfund campain

“I want to do for cakes what Halo Top did for ice creams”, said Ella Rauen-Prestes, nutritionist and founder of Fitbakes. 

“Cake is ingrained in our culture in the UK. In fact, cake is so important the government considers it to be  a food, so cakes are VAT free.

"However, their are health issues concerning eating cake and I have set out to offer cake lovers a healthier choice.”

Ella launched Fitbakes from her own kitchen in her Cotswolds home.

She had seen a massive market gap for treats that, although indulgent, are higher in protein but don't contain any sugar.

In order to get things moving and to get these healthier treats out to foodies, Ella has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign with Seedrs. This is aimed at helping  Fitbakes launch its next product which will be a first for the UK; a millionaire caramel cake.

Ella proudly proclaimed: “It’s our most indulgent and rich treat so far to date.

“We have worked hard to bring this about. It took a lot of time and effort because it was a real struggle to discover someone who could cook a sugar-free caramel that stood up to the job. 

After a great deal of searching we eventually tracked down a traditional French-based caramel manufacturer in France who were able to develop and make a version of caramel that was entirely sugar free.  

"Fortunately they were able create a caramel  without sugar which is not only delicious delicious but has the correct texture. There's a plus point, although it is without sugar it contain nothing artificial. They are only natural sweeteners."

Later in the year the cakes will be included in the Tesco meal deal offers and will also be found in Co-Op stores and Selfridges.

Ella grew up in Brazil, so she was familiar with finding natural alternatives to sugar. In fact several decades ago her family was using Stevia as a natural sugar alternative, to sugar so sugar free baking is second nature to her. 

To begin with. Ella started selling batches of cakes to friends and at the gym she attended, before  she took the plunge and launched an online shop.

The Fitbakes website was officially launched in February 2017 and a year later she had to hand her resignation in so that she focus on Fitbakes.

Ella went on to say: “The UK has the world's largest baking goods market, valued at a staggering £8bn. Until Fitbakes launched, there wasn’t really a healthy alternative. 

"In fact, we're the only indulgent cake company that is compliant to the new government HFSS policy, meaning that from April 2022, no other brand could advertise or promote in stores.

“Our cakes have 90% less sugar, 60% less calories and 200% more protein than leading cake brands, and have no artificial sweeteners, flavourings or colourings whatsoever. 

“To be listed in major multiple retailers and to be a prominent alternative in the snack and meal deal aisle not only makes business sense but it’s going to be beneficial for people who are seeking out those  healthier but tasty snack options.”

The crowdfunding campaign can be found at https://www.seedrs.com/fitbakes/coming-soon 

You can visit the Fitbakes online cake emporium at https://www.fitbakes.co.uk/

(Editor: As someone who has Type 2 Diabetes I am always keen to learn of tasty products that I can eat without having to worry too much about my blood sugar levels.)

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Now vegans can enjoy Scotch eggs

Yes, it's true! Now vegans can also enjoy Scotch eggs.

Because the very inventive chefs at Squeaky Bean have developed and introduced a new 100% vegan Scotch egg, which is available exclusively through Tesco supermarkets.

We have tried them and there's yummy golden breadcrumbs that coat a delicious non-meat sausage meat with a delicious egg-flavoured centre.

There's seasoned wheat and pea protein and it features Crackd, a fantastic new vegan product.

It's certainly the nearest thing to a meat Scotch egg that we have found and they go nicely with a salad or as a part of a buffet or a picnic.

But that's not all! They have also introduced a fantastic Tomato, Red Pepper and Veta Tart. Made with baby plum tomatoes, red peppers and a vegan feta-style cheese and spinach, encompassed in a delicious shortcrust pastry.

Actually, you could pass this as homemade it is so good.

Or what about their Creamy Coronation Tart? Featuring Squeaky Bean's justifiably famed Chicken Style Pieces, served with a creamy, oat-based filling, in that awesome shortcrust pastry. Seasoned with cumin, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek and cayenne pepper, it's equally as awesome.

Not a fan of savoury tarts? Why not try their Chargrilled Memphis Style BBQ Mini Fillets. They are marinated in a tasty Memphis-style BBQ seasoning. Not only are they tasty, they are also healthy as they are high in protein, low in saturated fat and are made from wheat and pea protein.

All of the above products can be eaten directly from the packet or heated up.

They all cost £3.00 each.

We heartily recommend these and other Squeaky Bean foods. 

Charlie Bigham meals. Home cooked by Charlie

 

Charlie Bigham and his dedicated staff have been providing home cooked quality foods for 25 years.

No matter what meal you have from Charlie Bigham, you will know that it is a great meal that is fit for your family or for you, if you are dining alone. (They have meals suitable for two or one.)

The ingredients are properly and carefully sourced and are always of superior quality. For example if a Charlie Bigham meal calls for chicken breast you can be certain that what will be in the meal will be a real piece of chicken breast, cooked to perfection. 

And if it calls for pieces of beef then they'll be pieces of real beef of the same quality that you would expect from your best local butcher. Even better, maybe? After all, Charlie and his team do have a quarter century of finding and buying the best ingredients that are available.

And the meals are always served in the appropriate cookware. Real pottery ramakins, for example are things that you will come to expect from Charlie Bigham.

Charlie's proud, and very justified claim is: "Prepared with pride in my kitchen, cooked in yours."

What meals are available?

Steak and ale pies (a favourite of mine) steak and blue cheese (my wife's favourite) fish pies, chicken and mushroom pies, chicken ham and leak pies and cottage pie and shepherd's pie.

At least seven delicious curries (Thai was a firm favourite, I have to say)  world grain recipes, fantastic vegetarian options, some traditional meal choices (though with Charlie these come with a "wow!" factor)  and there are some stunning pasta options. 

There is also a scrumptious range of deserts, cherry bakewell, chocolate fondant, sticky toffee pudding, sticky ginger pudding, bread and butter pudding and lemon drizzle pudding.

As you'd expect Charlie and his team are careful when they source their ingredients, so they look out for things like the Red Tractor scheme and the like so you don't have to.

Where can you obtain Charlie Bigham's range? Check with your supermarket as they are widely available. At present you will find them at Asda, Booths, Budgens, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. (Incidentally, we have changed which supermarket we order our shopping from to one of the above who do stock Charlie Bigham's meals!)

If you are a buyer at a food retailer that doesn't stock Charlie Bigham's delicious foods, I really think you need to get in touch with them.

To learn more about their range, or check out job opportunities with them and the like, visit them at https://www.bighams.com/.

  

Skippy Peanut Butter. Now with chocolate chips

 I love peanut butter, especially Skippy (crunchy or smooth, depends on the mood I am in) and I also love chocolate.

So you will be able to imagine my pleasure and happiness when I learned recently that the peanut butter experts at Skippy had decided to have a bash at gilding the lily, i.e., attempting to perfect on perfection by introducing a new product to their range, Extra Smooth Skippy Choc Chip Swirl Peanut Butter.

I already expected to like this new addition to the Skippy range of products, but I wasn't perhaps quite prepared as to how much I would like it.

It's utterly delicious. I have to confess that I like to have Skippy Peanut Butter with chocolate spread that I add myself, but it can be a bit hit-and-miss as too much chocolate spread can overpower the more delicate taste of the peanut butter.

But this is not the case with Extra Smooth Skippy Choc Chip Swirl Peanut Butter. There is 10% chocolate drops and whilst you might think that's not much, it is the correct amount to provide a good balance between the delicate taste of the peanut butter and the sharp, yet sweet tang of the chocolate drops.

I can heartily recommend this product to anyone who likes peanut butter.

Also, please check out their recipes including Skippy Smooth Peanut Butter with Chocolate Pieces, which you will find at peanutbutter.uk.com.

It costs £2.65 for a 340g jar. And will be on our next Morrison's delivery order. Along with some non-chocolate Skippy Peanut Butter for my wife as she has an allergy to chocolate.

Mummy Meagz and her original Rocky Road

 

Have you heard of Mummy Meagz and her Original Rocky Road?

These are some utterly out of this world chocolate treats that you really must try.

What flavours are available?

Original Rocky Road

Sea Salt & Cinder Toffee Rocky Road

Orange Rocky Road

Minty Rocky Road

Mummy Meagz Orange Choccie Bar

The flavours and the textures of these bars is out of this world. They actually look and taste as if a confectioner has made them for you in your own kitchen. 

This is sort of what has happened, but they were actually made for you in the kitchen of the confectioner and chef, Meagan Boyle who, with her daughter Willow Boyle, launched Blondes Coffee Shop in the village of Cottingham, East Yorkshire, back in 2003.

When I had to opportunity to taste these bars I was feeling a bit low. COVID 19 will do that to a person!

However, I was lucky as it hadn't (thankfully!) taken away my sense of taste or smell. These bars are awesome and I believe they actually helped me get through the irritation of being under a total lockdown, not even able to go out on our usual 10k steps walks, my wife and I.

Crunchy and delicious biscuit pieces, perfectly tasty and soft vegan mallows and covered with some absolutely delicious Belgian chocolate and with some fruit, too, with some of the bars.

In the past I have had some Rocky Road bars that were a bit too rocky and a bit too road-like if you know what I mean, but these bars are smooth and utterly, utterly delicious.

They are 100% vegan friendly. I am not a vegan, but now I know that Holland and Barrett stock these wonderful treats, I know where I'll be going when my lockdown is over. My nearest Holland and Barrett branch!

To learn more (or to buy direct from Mummy Meagz) please visit them at https://mummymeagz.com/

And they produce a whole lot more, including the decadent Chuckie Egg, Sunnycomb Bars and seasonal treats.

The Engineer Shiraz Tempranillo from McGuigan

 

The Engineer Shiraz Tempranillo 2019 is a new wine from the McGuigan family of Australia.

They combine Tempranillo grapes and what they describe as "luscious blue and black berries from the Shiraz."

OK, so how does this 13% red wine work?

The scent is heavenly. Yes, I know wine experts call it the bouquet, but I am not a wine expert, but I do know what I like. And I like this wine very much indeed!

What is it like? It's a bold and strong wine, but the taste is exquisite and gentle on the palate.

There are tannin notes and definitely an underpinning of fresh hedgerow fruits, with a good fruity finish.

It pairs very well with a wide range of foods. We happened to try it with a roast chicken dinner and it worked remarkably well, together.

It's available in a range of stores, the Co-Op sell it at £10 a bottle, but I have seen reports of two quid being knocked off the price at the Co-op.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this wine and we will be visiting our local Co-Op store to buy some more bottles of this really rather super wine.

You can learn more about McGuiguan's at https://www.mcguiganwines.co.uk/ or https://www.mcguiganwines.com.au/.

McGuigan Zero

Founded by Brian McGuigan, McGuigan's is a leading name in the Australian wine industry. 

In recent years their experts have worked on a range of alcohol free wines. 

One of these is McGuigan Zero, an alcohol free Chardonnay style wine.

It's an attractive wine with peachy notes, plus a hint of honey and melon on the finish.

It's very similar to McGuigan's Chardonnay. Is there something missing, without the alcohol? It would be wrong of me to say that there wasn't. There's the unmistakeable "tang" of the alcohol that is missing, but that's all that is missing. Many wine companies that make alcohol free wine seem to remove more than the alcohol, I.E., there's some of the taste that has gone missing, too.

But this is most certainly not the situation with McGuigan's Zero Chardonnay, as it is just a full of flavour as the other McGuigan wines. 

It will cost about £7.00 and is worth every penny.

Not drinking alcohol for reasons of health or religion or in order to stay sober for driving or for work reasons? Then McGuigan's alcohol free wines are ideal.  

Heineken 0.0. It's Dutch lager but kinder

Curses! Here I am with my regular winter bronchitis. It's bronchial asthma, so my old Doctor told me many years ago.

Dosing up with antibiotics to help cure a parasitic infection that always occurs I read the paperwork that came with it (hint: always read them!) and I noticed to my dismay that alcohol is not allowed to be consumed with these particular antibiotics.

But then I remembered that I actually had a four pack of some Heineken 0.0, which has no alcohol in it. So what better time to run a taste test?

What's it like? Colour-wise it's not distinguishable from other Heineken lagers and the scent on it is of a nicely hopped and nicely yeasted Dutch lager.

What does it taste like? It's got a reasonable mouthfeel to it. You can certainly taste the hops the malted barley. 

What difference does carefully removing the alcohol make to the flavour? I'd like to say no difference, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate, because I find that alcohol does add a little extra bite to the experience of consuming alcoholic drinks.

But! Having said that, if you are not able to drink alcohol, due to an allergy or religious reasons (for example) are on medications that preclude the consumption of alcohol or you have decided to get yourself fit, then Heineken 0.0 is an excellent option. It's available in bottles, in cans and on draught too, in some of our more enlightened establishments. 

What's my final opinion of Heineken 0.0? I like it and I'll definitely get some more on my next trip to the shops, at least as soon as my antibiotics have finished!

PS Do you run a pub or other establishment that sells beers, etc? If you want to sell Heineken 0.0 on draught you can get Heineken's funky bar top Blade dispenser by visiting https://www.heineken.co.uk/alcohol-free-beer-is-now-widely-available-on-draught/