Ozeri heat resistant double glass coffee cups.

The Ozeri coffee cups are made with  heat-resistant glass with double bottom . Stylishly shaped and light weight the glasses have a double wall which means that when you pour hot drinks in them they do not get too hot to handle. I love serving soup, hot coffee and also warm herbal drinks in them in the winter and in the summer they are perfect for serving, sorbets and ice slushies.

The glasses are not only suitable for hot drinks, they are perfect for serving ice cold drinks too. The double glass means that it stops the glasses from getting too hot or too cold to handle resulting in safe use both for hot and cold drinks.

The strong glasses with stands high freezing temperatures and are also microwave and dishwasher safe.  The glasses come in a set of four with a capacity of 250ml. They retail at £34.09 and are available to order from Amazon.

I was sent a set of the Ozeri glasses to review, all the views and opinions are my own and unbiased.

Master class with World Foods at School of Wok and giveaway

I was recently invited to a master class by world foods at the School of Wok to create some dishes using their sauces.

The WORLDFOODS' Cooking Solutions range are a concentrate of flavours and are extremely versatile in any Asian inspired cooking. They are 100% natural and are created using authentic herbs and spices. All the sauces are free from artificial preservatives, colouring, flavouring, gluten or genetically modified ingredients and are totally suitable for vegetarians, vegans and coeliacs.

The product range is vast and includes:

• Thai Green Curry Paste
• Thai Red Curry Paste
• Thai Yellow Curry Paste
• Thai Basil Curry Paste
• Thai Masaman Curry Paste
• Thai Panang Curry Paste
• Thai Tom Yum Paste
• Indonesian Fried Rice Paste
• Indonesian Sambal Oelek
• Malaysian Rendang Curry Paste
• Singaporean Nyonya Laksa Paste
• North African Harissa Paste
• Thai Chilli Paste
• Thai Tamarind Paste
• Northern Thai Spicy Curry Paste(Hung Le curry)
• Lemon Grass Paste
• Ginger Paste
• Garlic Paste
• Galangal Paste

The sauces are very convenient to use, the flavours are well balanced and all that’s required to create tasty and delicious meals is to add some vegetables, meat or rice.

At the master class we were given a demonstration in how to chop vegetables using a proper Chinese cleaver by Jeremy the chef. We all chopped our vegetables to perfection (or almost) and then headed to the kitchen to prepare our vegetarian feast of  Rendang tacos,  Thai Basil  stir fry, Masaman  baked squash with coconut. The non-vegetarians cooked Panang curry duck breast, Thai basil stir fry, Masaman roast poussin . Jeremy demonstrated the perfect cooking techniques after which we created our dishes ready for dinner.

Dinner was washed down with lovely wine for the drinkers and soft drinks for the teetotallers.

 Finally when we thought we could eat no more we were tempted to sample the amazing Lemon grass drizzle cake which was amazing.The whole experience at school of wok was fun, interactive and the meal was superb. I was really surprised how bottled sauces could taste so authentic and homemade. I would like to thank world foods for inviting me to the cookery master class with the amazing Jeremy and sending me home with a wonderful goody bag of sauces so that I could recreate the meal in my own home.

As always I like my readers to be able to sample all the products that I try out, I am pleased to say that World foods have been really kind and have agreed to send two lucky simplyfood readers a world foods hamper each which will consist of:

• Panang Curry Paste
• Rendang Curry Paste
• Masaman Curry Paste
• Lemongrass Paste
• World foods apron
• Recipe notebook USB (with all the recipes we cooked at School of Wok) as well as printed versions.

How To Enter:

• Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
• Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
• This competition is open to UK residents over the age of 18 only .Please read the rules below .
• Leaving a blog comment is mandatory and failure to do so will void any other entries.
• Closing date - 18th  Dec 2014-12.00 am

How Rafflecopter works:

·        You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box.Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.

·        Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.

·        Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Orange and Apple Breakfast Juice ~Introducing the Optimum 600 Juicer

print recipe

Orange and Apple Juice

by Nayna Kanabar October-23-2014

Refreshing breakfast juice- citrus orange with sweetness of apples.

Ingredients:

• 3 jaffa oranges 
• 1 large carrot
• 2 braeburn apples

Method:

1.  Peel the oranges and cut them into quarters.2. Cut the apples and carrots into quarters.3. Feed the fruit into the Optimum 600 juicer.4. Pour the juice into chilled glasses and garnish with slices of apples.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Juicing time: 5 mins Total time: 10 mins Yield: 3 servings

For the last three months I have really been enjoying the Optimum 9400 blender, it is a fantastic blender that is perfect for smoothies, nut butters, grating, grinding , making hot soups and cold icecreams. I am so much in love with it that, I was over the moon when I had the opportunity to try out the Optimum 600 slow juicer from the Optimum range. I have now stopped buying ready made juices from the supermarket as this juicer is so easy to use and  clean.

There are two types of juicers available a cold press and centrifugal juicer, the differences is that a centrifugal juicer chops up the fruit or vegetable with a flat cutting blade at high speed. The high-speed blade shredder does not penetrate the produce deeply enough to extract precious nutrients of the juices and causes oxidation that destroys enzymes and nutrients with in the juice. It also causes the juice to separate.

 The Optimum 600 is a cold press juicer; the advantage of it is that it works at a slower speed so it’s less noisy. It crushes and presses the fruit, releasing its deep-seated nutrients and enzymes, this result in a richer coloured juice containing large amounts of vitamins and minerals and no oxidation and separation.

There are many other advantages of the Optimum 600:

• Can juice whole fruits and vegetables with no food prep required.
• Slow speed – Only 65rpm.
• Designed to last, high-quality SGS approved parts
• Induction Motor designed to last, 10 Years Comprehensive Warranty
• User friendly
• Easy to clean (Self Cleaning function)
• Low Noise, as low as 40dB
• Ingredient flavour preserved, due to the slow speed of only 65rpm
• More nutrients, vitamins, minerals and enzymes
• Less separation & 35% more juice than centrifugal juicers
• Safety sensor
• CE and SGS approved

Assembling the Optimum 600 Juicer was pretty simple. All the components are marked with a small dot and once you have all the parts in the right order you just need to match the dots for them to fit together. I created a video that shows how to assemble the Optimum 600 Juicer which you can see below.

Juicing in the Optimum 600 Juicer is simple too, I made a simple Orange and apple juice, I did peel the orange and cut the apple into quarters although you could have added the apple whole as the feed tube is fairly wide. You can see the video below showing you how easy it is to create the most delicious juice in the Optimum 600.

The Optimum 600 is available to buy at £329.00, It comes with a 1 MONTH TRIAL - MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (includes return postage costs for UK customers) Currently it is available on special offer only £249 for a limited time .
If you like the sound of this awesome juicer, please orders it through here. 

Mushroom and Fennel Curry

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Mushroom and Fennel Curry

by Nayna Kanabar November -23-2014

Spicy Mushroom and fennel curry with baby tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 240 g /8 oz button mushrooms diced into 1cm pieces
• 1 bulb fennel cleaned and diced into 1cm pieces
• 1 small red onion finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
• 12 baby tomatoes cut into quarters
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon mild  olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 red chilli finely sliced for garnish.

Method:

1. In a  pan add the oil and wait for it to heat up.Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter.2. Add the garlic and onions and saute until onions are translucent.3. Add the mushrooms and fennel and saute for 5 more minutes until both are almost cooked.4. Add the salt, chilli powder, turmeric, tomatoes, coriander powder, cumin powder and toss the vegetables to coat with the spices.5. Cook for another 3-4 minutes after which transfer the curry to a serving bowl and garnish with red chilli slices.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield:serves 4

Submitting to:

In my VEG BOX ~Mushrooms event by citrusspice guest hosted by Mayuris Jikoni

Cantaloupe Melon Sorbet ~Secret Recipe challenge 17th November 2014

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it.

This month I was assigned The Texan New Yorker that is written by Julie who describes herself as " A myopic, finicky eater with no food conscience, who transformed into a grown-up who loves cooking, food, adventurous eating, and cares deeply about where food comes from."  I looked through Julies blog and found some lovely recipes but finally I settled for the cantaloupe melon sorbet as I had an over ripe cantaloupe melon sitting in the fruit basket screaming at me to use it!!

The sorbet was refreshing and simply delicious, the only changes I made were that I added a forlorn ripe peach that was staring at me from the fruit basket and omitted the wine since I don't drink.

print recipe

Cantaloupe Melon Sorbet

by Nayna Kanabar November-17-2014

Refreshingly sweet and fragrant Cantaloupe Melon Sorbet.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cantaloupe Melon
• 1 large ripe peach
• 1/2 cup sugar or honey to taste
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• Peach slices for garnish

Method:

1. Cut the melon in half and remove the seeds, cut the melon rind off and cut the melon into cubes.2. Cut the peach in half and remove the stone and cut it into quarters. 3. Add the melon, peach, lime juice and sugar to the Optimum 9400 blender and blend for 1 minute.4. Pour the mixture into a plastic tupperware and place it in the freezer for three hours, after which take it out of the freezer and rake it with a fork and return it to the freezer to keep overnight.5. To serve remove the sorbet from the freezer and leave it at room temperature for 2-3 minutes after which rake it with a fork again..6. Scoop the sorbet into serving cups and garnish with peach slices.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Freezing time: overnight  Yield: 8 servings

I made my Peach Sorbet in the Optimum 9400 blender. It is very versatile and it will blend, purée, grate, chop, make ice cream, hot soups, nut butters and nut milk.

To read about the Optimum 9400 check my review post here. The blender is currently on a special offer at £329.00 with a thirty day money back guarantee with free postage if not satisfied. You can also get an extra two years warranty if you order through this site You can order yours here. To get the extra warranty please quote brand ambassador discount in special instructions on the order form.