Seeing red (and a cherry mess)

Red. Back in the eighties (because, yes, I am that old), I was big on red in my kitchen and bought everything in red. Somewhere along the line, it became untrendy and I stopped buying red things for my kitchen.

My current kitchen is white so anything can go with it and it can be a bit dull so over the last few years, bits of red things have been creeping back into my kitchen. I've started buying more red clothes too. Not everything is bright pillar box red - it started with a hand mixer that I won which I chose in Raspberry and then I acquired the stand mixer too (as you do). Then there was the knife block.

Now I have this.

Food not included

This is the chop2pot from a site for people like me, called Red Candy - everything is red or has some red in it. Heaven! I've lusted after something like this for a while - a chopping board that helps you transfer stuff to your pot, pan, or dish without spilling it everywhere. It's brilliant. It's easy to use and importantly for me, dishwasher safe. I think the larger one would be better for families but if like me, you are chopping things as you cook, it shouldn't be an issue. The only thing I haven't liked about it so far is that it got quite a few knife marks on it after a few uses so I will be interested to see how it fares after some hefty use from me. But other than that, I love it and the site - well, I'm going to have to be strong and resist going mad with the credit card. And red overkill is bad - perhaps that is where I went wrong in the eighties!

Really rubbish photo of a yummy dessert - it's nice, honest

Whilst we are on the red theme, Princes sent me some fruit fillings to try. Although it can be seen as a "lazy option", they are handy to have around if you want to make some fast puds. One of the fillings they sent to me was red cherry so I thought I'd make some cherry mess - a version of the traditional Eton mess but made with a can of red cherry filling. It's uber simple although if you want to be a true domestic goddess, you could make some meringues yourself first.

Cherry mess
Serves 4

Ingredients 
About 16 mini meringues (I used a tub of mini meringue shells from Asda)
300ml whipping or double cream
410g tin Princes Red Cherry fruit filling

1. Break up the meringues into a large bowl- don't break them up too small or they won't provide the crunch.

2. In another bowl, whip the cream until it has reached the soft peaks stage.

3. Open the tin of fruit filling and carefully spoon the cherries into the bowl of meringues leaving most of the juices behind in the tin.

4. Fold the cream into the meringue mixture carefully. Then fold all but a couple of tablespoons of the juice from the tin.

5. Finally, drizzle the last couple of tablespoons of the juice on top. Serve, trying not to drool.

The kids thought it wasn't sweet enough but I thought it was fine. If it's not sweet enough for you or you know you have a really sweet tooth, try adding a tablespoon of icing sugar to the cream.

(Red Candy kindly sent me the Chop2PotPlus and Princes some tins of their fruit fillings to try. I have not been paid further for writing this post and all opinions are mine.) 

The breakfast of princes (or princesses...) You could win one too!

I'm a stickler for breakfast. I do not understand how anyone can not eat it - even if you're not feeling hungry, you can still manage a little something, can't you? We tend to give the children cereal these days because they get toast at school at break time (provided I remember to pay the toast money and not walk off and go to Manchester with the envelopes in my pocket, realising just as my train arrives in the station. Ahem.) Cereal is quick and it's cheap, but it doesn't add to their 5 a day, does it?

Princes sent me a lovely breakfast box last week full of lots of tinned fruit and their fruit juices and some other goodies. Of course, why didn't I think of adding tinned fruit for breakfast? It's great because it doesn't go off like the fruit in your fruit  bowl can and it works out cheaper. Using tinned fruit takes me back to my youth so it's kind of nostalgic about it. It turns out my husband loves the pear halves - and as most pears go from rock solid to beyond use in a blink of an eye, they are about the only way you can use pears consistently. The children love fruit juice with their cereal - which can also count as one of their 5 a day. 

When the hamper first arrived, the children were very excited to see what was in it. As always. Monkey, whose reading ability is coming on leaps and bounds, read the tins as "Princess" so I had to tell him the correct name. Hubby later confessed to me that he always used to think they were called that!

You might spot in the hamper something that looks like a watch. It's a heart rate monitor. Princes sent me that as a bit of an experiment to test my heart rate during the morning routine including the school run to see how stressed I got during that time. Now, I am lucky in that my husband works shifts and does the school run for me quite a bit, thus removing the stress of that time on those days but on other days, I fly solo and it can be stressful if one of the children decide they are not playing ball. 

I monitored my heart rate during the school run for four days over the last week. I found that my average heart rate during that time was more than 35% higher than when I'm resting and relaxed - although admittedly, some of that could be explained by walking and general movement, but the shocking thing was how high my heart rate could get. The highest it got to was 214 bpm - shouldn't I be dead? Admittedly, that was the day I was off to London to the MADs almost straight after the school run and at least one point, Monkey had a tantrum. One of my other days was the same morning I was being interviewed on the radio - but I made sure I didn't put my heart monitor on until after the interview! I'll be very interested to see the results for the other mums taking part in the experiment. 

And now, you've got the chance to win a Princes breakfast box too. It won't include the heart rate monitor but it will include a set of six bowls and six tumblers, table placemats, an alarm clock, a colouring book to entertain the kids, a relaxing candle for the mums, money-off coupons and, of course, a range of Princes canned fruit – including grapefruit segments, peach slices, pear halves, fruit cocktail, pineapple chunks and mandarin segments – and Princes pure juices.

To be in with a chance of winning, leave me a comment below and tell me about your most stressful moment on the school run. Please ensure that you're following the blog via RSS (orange jellybean), email (red jellybean), or facebook (the darker blue jellybean!) and that you leave me a valid means of contact  = either email address or twitter ID. 

Terms and conditions

To enter, leave a comment below as specified along with a valid contact email address or Twitter ID, which will be used to contact you if you win and follow this blog via RSS, email, or Facebook.
One entry per person - multiple entries will be discarded.
The prize is a Princes breakfast box.
The competition closes on Friday 14th October at 8pm.
The winner will be drawn at random from all valid entries.
The winner will be contacted that evening and asked to provide a postal address within 48 hours or the winner will be re-drawn. UK entrants only.
There is no cash alternative.

Good luck everyone!

(Princes sent me a breakfast box and a heart rate monitor. I have not received any further compensation and all opinions are my own.)