Friday Foody Roundup #13

Hello! It's been a while since I've done a Friday Foody Roundup  - the blog post where I share details of food that I've been sent - but here I am with a couple of things I've been trying out recently!

Ragu Pasta Bake Sauces

Back in the summer Ragu sent me an Italian-inspired hamper including all six of their new range of Ragu Pasta Bake sauces along with a few other bits and bobs like ciabatta, pasta and a lovely bowl to cook them in (which sadly the courier decided to smash into smithereens). The sauces include Tomato & Herb, Tomato & Bacon, Cheese & Bacon, Tuna, Spicy Tomato & Pepperoni and Tomato Garlic & Chilli.  I'm a big fan of a pasta bake and the sauces are perfect for when you're a bit short on time - or ingredients. All you need really is the sauce, some pasta and some cheese to go on top (can't have a pasta bake without cheese!). My personal favourite is the Spicy Tomato & Pepperoni and all the family love tucking into a pasta bake, served with a giant helping of garlic bread!  The pasta sauces have an RRP of £1.98 per jar.

Kitchen Nomad

Kitchen Nomad is a subscription service that delivers speciality products from around the world to your door. Last month I was sent their launch box to try, which had a Greek theme - the country changes every month. The idea is to offer people a convenient opportunity to discover world cuisine and cook new recipes in their own kitchen.  Inside the box were authentic Greek products along with recipes. My box contained Dukkah Spice Mix, Vine Leaves in Brine, Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Greek Capers, Kalamata Black Olives, Orzo Pasta, Organic Tomato Sauce, Cassia Bark and Dried Greek Figs. The recipes included Prawn Saganaki (look out for recipe on my blog coming soon), Dolmades, Fig & Walnut Bake, Tart with Olives & Capers and Youvetsi - but obviously these are just suggestions. None of the items are fresh or perishable which I think is good, because this means there's no pressure to use them immediately and you can take your time to think about what you might want to do with them.

You can subscribe through their website on a monthly basis or you can buy a one-off box as a gift and there is also the opportunity to purchase past boxes. I'm very interested in last months Mexican box. Each box contains 7-9 products and the retail value of the products is at least the cost of the box so it's a good value experience, especially for those who like to be pushed out of their comfort zone a little!  All boxes are £22 + a delivery charge of £3.

Border Biscuits

I had a surprise delivery of some biscuits recently. I never mind a surprise delivery of food though, especially ones as yummy as Border Biscuits.  This time they were sharing their new limited edition Chocolate, Peanut & Fudge Cookies. These biscuits came about as part of the Border Biscuits Big Baking Bonanza. A nice lady called Kirsty from Inverness was crowned the winner and these are obviously her winning recipe. I thought they were lovely. I'm not normally a big fan of a peanut in a biscuit but the flavours were good and they were very nice dunked in my tea!  The biscuits are on sale in Tesco now for a limited time.

Dr Oetker

My nice friends at Dr Oetker have sent me a big bundle of baking supplies to see me through the Autumn/Winter season - plenty of goodies to help with Halloween baking and the upcoming Christmas bakefest that is sure to be happening in my kitchen! The package includes lots of icing/food gel pens, marzipan, ready to roll icing, shimmer spray and sprinkles/metallic balls. Keep an eye on my blog next week for a fantastic Dr Oetker giveaway and also a blog post or two where you can see what I've been up to with our goodies.

Sainsbury's Curry Kits

Back in October Sainsbury's very kindly sent me some curry kits to celebrate National Curry Week. The package they sent me included kits for Bombay Potatoes, Rogan Josh, Korma and some poppadoms and mango chutney. I've been a bit busy and haven't got round to using them all yet but I have tried the Korma kit and can report back that it was absolutely delicious.  The curry kits contain all the spices you need to create a delicious curry at home - perfect if you don't normally cook curries and don't want to invest in a whole cupboard full of spice jars! The kits retail at £2.00 and are available in a variety of flavours including Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi, Korma, Rogan Josh and Bombay Potatoes.

That's it for my Friday Foody Roundup this week. I'll be back with another soon! If you're a brand who'd like to have your product featured here, do get in touch.