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You know how the US seem to have so many great desserts?  I’m thinking Key Lime Pie and Blueberry Muffins. I’m dreaming of Mississippi Mud Pie and Cherry Cheesecake.  Fox’s biscuits have some great new flavours that combine those American desserts and puddings with some of Fox’s own most popular biscuits.

In our house the Blueberry Muffin Party Rings were a big hit with younger family members and visitors.  The richness of the Mississippi Mud Pie Melts was great with a big mug of tea and coffee.  For mid morning elevensies, the Key Lime Pie Crunch Creams woke me up with a bit of zing.  My absolute favourite though were the Cherry Cheesecake Jam ‘n’ Cream biscuits – simply awesome.

These stateside biscuits are only available for a limited period of time, so stock up quick.

The other week a mysterious parcel arrived.  When a box looks this good, you can’t wait to open it believe me.  Inside I found a box full of goodies from Bahlsen Biscuits.  The idea was to give busy mums valuable ‘me time’.  Inside the box was pretty well all you need to have a relaxing half hour or more.

For me relaxing is all about a cup of tea.  Bahlsen have thought of everything here with some specially selected leaf tea and a infuser to go with it, just in case you don’t have a tea pot, tea strainers and all the other paraphernalia.

What could be better to go with your nice cup of tea than some luxurious biscuits to make yourself feel pampered.  I’m a bit of a Bahlsen Biscuits fan and we often have some in the house.  If they don’t get eaten straight away, they are my biscuit of choice to take round to a friend’s house when I’ve been invited around for a cuppa.  They always go down very well.  My favourite Bahlsen biscuit is the Choco Leibniz Dark Chocolate with its thick coating of high quality dark chocolate.
The pampering didn’t stop there with a pashmina to wrap round me to keep me toasty warm and a good magazine to read.  To keep out those unwanted interruptions there was even a sign to put on the door ‘ Me-Time In Progress’.

 

 

This week I was pleased to accepts Chobani‘s kind invitation for dinner.  Now I’d not heard of Chobani before and I must admit that I was intrigued as to how they were going to incorporate yoghurt into a meal being cooked and presented at a top restaurant.  So I went to Edmunds Restaurant, Brindley Place, Birmingham keen to see how Chobani Meets Fine Dining was going to work in practice.

It was lovely to be greeted so warmly by the Chobani crew and this was backed up by the flawless service provided by the Maitre D’ that I’d last seen at presiding over the dining room of a nearby Michelin starred establishment.  Having a cocktail pressed into your hand is a great way to start the evening and this (like the rest of the meal) features Chobani yoghurt.

As you’d expect in a fine dining establishment of Edmunds’ calibre (which is very high – I’d eaten there before), the table was a sight to behold in its own right.  The menu took my eye as everything on it involved Chobani yoghurt.  For each course there were two or three choices, so providing a comprehensive range of dishes cooked using Chobani.  On top of this during the meal we were treated to some amuse bouches which also featured the yoghurt product.

Between courses we learned the story of Chobani, how it was set up in America in a former Kraft factory and within 5 years it was an enormous business.  Becoming successful so quickly is usually down to having a top quality product and Chobani is no exception.  They take fresh milk and add a special recipe of yoghurt cultures. The yoghurt is then authentically strained and real fruit is added. The result is thick, creamy yoghurt that is packed with protein (twice that of normal yoghurt).  Almost all their products are fat-free too.

Chobani can also be used as a cooking ingredient as a substitute for cream, oil, butter, cream cheese and more.  Many of the dishes we were treated to during the evening used the yoghurt in this way.  Others made use of the fruit yoghurts.

This was my first course of Roasted Breast of Palombe Pigeon. Now I do like pigeon with its gamey taste, in fact this was my second helping of pigeon of the week.  It was really flavoursome (although I did have a little trouble cutting mine) and beetroot is a natural pairing.  The blueberry Chobani dressing provided an extra harmonious note.  Doesn’t it look pretty too?

Main course for me came in the shape of a Fillet of Beef with Lemon Chobani Marinated Herb Potatoes and Chobani Mushroom Sauce.  The fillet was wonderful tender and perfectly cooked to my specification.  The creaminess of the Chobani was the perfect complement to the meat and combined so well with the lemon and mushroomy flavours.

I can never resist a souffle for dessert, can you?  This Chobani Raspberry Souffle came risen and light.  At the table, it was cut and yoghurt was added to add its creaminess to the souffle texture.

Chobani really surprised me with its versatility.  Using yoghurt for cooking is likely to become a much more integral part of my cooking at home.  I really like the sound of using Chobani instead of oil or mayonnaise especially as it is fat free, but it tastes so creamy, you’d never suspect it.

Last week I was invited to go along to M Kitchen’s Cookery Bus which was in Birmingham for a couple of days.  M Kitchen, Morrisons range of convenience foods, has had a revamp and they were out on the road to bring their new dishes to a new audience.

Over recent months Neil Nugent, Morrisons executive chef of product development, and his team have been working to create new dishes for the M Kitchen range. The M Kitchen range was launched two years ago and includes over 450 product lines.

The new dishes the M Kitchen was serving up for the good folk of Birmingham to try came from these ranges:

• Tex Mex
• Italian
• Tastes of Home – British classics
• Takeaway – Chinese and Indian

While I was there I tried out the Chicken Korma from the Takeaway range and the Lamb Ragu with Tagliatelle from the Italian range.

The Chicken Korma was a really stand out dish. I loved the fact that you could clearly pick out what some of the star ingredients were like the rose petals and the slivers of fresh coconut. It was created for Morrisons by Atul Kochhar.  Atul Kochhar has a collection of Indian restaurants including Benares in Mayfair which has a Michelin star.  Atul Kochhar’s dishes can be summed up as modern Indian cuisine with a contemporary British twist.  The Chicken Korma lived up to this.  It was a good-looking, attractive dish with a creamy, flavoursome sauce.  If you’re a korma fan it’s well worth trying this one.

I also tried out M Kitchen’s Lamb Ragu with Tagliatelle.  This was a tasty ragu sauce with a depth of flavour.  The tomato and red wine sauce pulls the dish together and coats the tagliatelle well.  I enjoyed this dish, but it didn’t grab me in quite the same was as the chicken korma.

Whilst I was there I met Richard, one of the M Kitchen’s chefs.  His enthusiasm for his job (developing new dishes for the range) and the concepts behind the range shone through.  He talked about how the dishes are made in small batches rather than enormous vats to maintain that home cooked taste.

Richard also gave a cookery demonstration with some useful tips, like how to cut up onions and other vegetables.  I learnt a little about Italian cookery principles too.  He made a ragu like the one we tried.

I got to take some dishes home with us and my husband tried out the Slow Cooked Beef with Gravy which came with a generous portion of gravy.  I got to sample the Spicy Enchiladas which were very tasty indeed.  Like all ready meals they tend to have fairly small portion sizes, but when they taste good and cost less than a takeaway, you can mix and match from the range to find an easy meal to suit.  I think the range is perfect for that Friday night feeling a bit lazy and wanting an end of week treat sort of mood.

It’s not too late to catch the M Kitchen roadshow in Glasgow at St.Enoch’s Square on 25th and 26th October.