Three Quick Lunches with Cherry Tree Farm

When it comes to food, we would all love to eat fresh, healthy, home cooked meals, but too many of us struggle to find the time for it. Home cooking from scratch doesn’t have to be time consuming. It also doesn’t have to be at a master chef level to be enjoyable. You can create a nice meal with virtually no skills and in a very short period of time. All you need is a spoonful of willingness, a smidgeon of time and a dash of imagination.

Cherry Tree Farm offered to send me a selection of their products, so I can come up with some quick and easy meal options using theirs 100% British, cooked and ready to eat meats. For this moment there is a choice of 7 lovely poultry products to pick from:

• American Fried Chicken
• Roast Chicken
• Roast Chicken Chunks
• Tikka Chicken Chunks
• Hickory Smoked Turkey
• Roast Turkey
• Turkey Ham

There are a lot of dishes ready cooked meats can be used for. Today, I would love to share with you my best three lunch options. They are all quick and extremely easy to prepare; and of course taste delicious.

The Humble Sandwich

Difficulty level: extremely easy

Skills required: none

Ready in: 2 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 x good quality soft white roll
• 2 x slice of Cherry Tree Farm British Roast Turkey
• Real butter

Some might say that this sandwich is a boring option… me… I love a good sandwich. Just like with any dish, it is all about the ingredients. If you have fresh, good quality ingredients, you don’t really have to do a lot more to it… let the food speak for itself.

A simple meat sandwich made with a good quality roll or bread, spread with some real butter and of course a tasty slice of meat can be extremely satisfying. And the best part is… you do not need to have any cooking skills to make it. Even if you are not so handy with a sharp knife you can prepare it… just tear your roll apart… see, no knife skills needed.

Finger Food Platter

Difficulty level: easy

Skills required: chopping with a sharp knife

Ready in: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pack Cherry Tree Farm Roast Chicken Chunks
• 25g cheese
• 1 tomato
• ¼ cucumber
• Slice of bread

As long as you can use the knife, you can make it. Preparation time will depend on your cutting / chopping speed but I would judge that five minutes would be more than enough time even for the most careful chopper out there.

Food platters can look lovely and are therefore very inviting. They are especially fun f you have some company joining you for lunch. Use toothpicks to move food over if you like clean hands…or feel free to dig in with your fingers… after all it is a finger food.

Chicken and Rice Salad

Difficulty level: easy

Skills required: chopping with a sharp knife, cooking rice

Ready in: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pack Cherry Tree Farm British Roast Chicken
• 25g cheese
• 2 gherkins
• ½ tin of sweetcorn
• 50g cooked rice
• 2tbsp mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Now, we have reached a “level 3” lunch recipe – cutting and cooking skills required. Actually, this isn’t necessary true. If you don’t know how to cook rice or want to save some time, cheat a little and use a packed, almost ready to eat rice, which you just microwave for 2-3 minutes.

Anyways, all you have to do in order to create this lovely light salad is to chop all the other ingredients, mix them well with a good spoonful of mayonnaise and flavour to taste.

I actually cut the cheese with a knife, but you might prefer the grated option. The main difference is in the taste – cheese cut into cubes will give you less but bigger chunks, meaning once you bite into it, you will taste mainly cheese; the grated option on the other hand will give you more cheese all over your salad making in general your salad taste slightly more cheesy 😉

If you have the time and are feeling brave – add some chopped boiled egg into it or a small tin of garden peas.

I like this type of salad mainly because it is rice based; it is perfect for packed lunches and keeping in the fridge for when you can’t be bothered to make anything, it will serve you well as self standing meal.

So, there you have it… my three quick and easy lunches.

Now, it is your turn… what’s your quick and easy favourite lunch idea?

My 15 minutes of fame!

Two weeks ago I ventured all the way up to Bradford for my 15 minutes of fame.

After winning #crispsarnie competition hosted by Seabrook Crisps my recipe was put on a giant billboard in Bradford, the home of Seabrook.

I was invited to take part in a photo shot next to “my billboard”. It was an amazing experience! Seeing my name on this giant advert was really something special.

I was met by two lovely PR ladies and the photographer arrived shortly after. It was an extremely windy and at times wet day, so not ideal but hey ho…It was such a rush anyway.

I love photography, but usually only when I am behind the camera. It was quite weird modelling for someone who had a full brief of pictures that needed taking. It wasn’t easy and I felt like a fool at times but it was an incredible experience and I am so happy I decided to do it. The photographer was extremely nice and helpful and despite stress and poor weather I really had a lot of fun doing it. I did however gain an incredible respect for models; I have no idea how you can do it all day long girls.

“Everyone is supposed to have 15 minutes of fame in their life – I would have never thought that it would be a crisp sarnie that would put me and my creation on a billboard for all to see! It was great fun coming up with my recipe and I’m delighted it will be going in to a recipe book to inspire others.” – that was my quote which is now being published by different news outlets including my local Bedfordshire News 🙂

And yes, there is an e-book with recipes. If you want you can download it here.

When I started blogging I had no idea that it would bring me such joy and so many amazing and unique experiences. It is truly the best hobby (just after competitions)…

Talking about competition, I have a small giveaway for you.

The lovely people at Seabrook Crisps have agreed to ship one box of their finest lattice crisps to one of you lucky people.

If you fancy trying some of these lovely Yorkshire crisps just follow me on Twitter and RT this tweet:

Follow and RT @AgataPokutycka to win a case of Lovingly Made in Yorkshire @SeabrookCrisps Full T&C at: http://wp.me/p3l2gI-1iW

Follow and RT @AgataPokutycka to win a case of Lovingly Made in Yorkshire @SeabrookCrisps Full T&C at: http://t.co/QBGg5Eo8FP

— Agata @ BarkTime (@AgataPokutycka) October 21, 2014

T&C
1. Open to UK readers only.
2. One obligatory entry per reader – follow me and RT as stated above. Extra RT will count as additional entries.
3. There will be 1 winner in total.
4. Winner will receive 1 x box of Seabrook Lattice Crisps.
5. Winner will be picked at random and informed within 7 working days via Twitter.
6. Winner will have 7 working days to claim the prize, after this time, a new winner will be selected.
7. Closing date is 28-10-2014 at 23:59pm, an entry made after this time will not be counted.

Good Luck!

***

Winner update

Well done to @mike_mellish

Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreamy

My creation on the billboard!

This is truly dreamy!

Challenge set by The Daily Post

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Review – Taste Inc. – #GoodFoodFast

Here at Taste Inc. we want to seriously shake up microwave snacking to deliver an incredible-tasting experience for kids and adults alike. Our range of healthy quick and easy microwave snacks includes subs, microwave burgers, hot dog and baguettes has been developed to taste incredible. Ready in just 90 seconds in the microwave, all Taste Inc. products in the range contain fewer than 500 calories, so what are you waiting for? Open, Heat and Eat. It’s incredibly simple!

Is it all true?

Well, actually it is!

Taste Inc. food actually does taste very good; they are all below 500 calories and take less than 1.5 minutes to cook.

I was sent a few sandwiches so I could try them out. For my selection I received the following:

– Flame Grilled Quarter Pounder

– Chicken & Chorizo Baguette

and

– Whole Breast Sweet & Smokey BBQ Chicken.

This last one was my favourite.

Let’s take a closer look at it.

Taste Inc. sandwiches come in a plastic container, so they are protected against squishing and any deformation. The packaging contains all relevant information about the product inside of it: cooking instructions, serving suggestions, ingredients, nutrition information as well as storage guidelines, allergy advice and use by date.

The Whole Breast Sweet & Smokey BBQ Chicken Sandwich looks awesome on the packaging picture; in reality it looks a bit different 😦

My sandwich came as bun + meat + BBQ sauce. I can understand why there is no lettuce leaves included but I would prefer the pictures to be reflective of the actual product and not what it could possibly look like.

Anyhow… the idea behind this snack is very simple; open, heat and eat. You can have a warm meal in under two minutes. I had my Whole Breast Sweet & Smokey BBQ Chicken with lettuce and tomato. During 70 seconds it took for my bun and meat to heat up I prepared my salad leaves and sliced the tomato. Then it was just a case of putting my bun together and adding the sauce.

Taste wise, I liked it. It was a really tasty little sandwich.

Would I recommend it?

As a quick fix, yes I would recommend it. Priced just below £2 or at £1 if you are lucky enough to hunt one down on a special offer (Morissons stocks them), they represent a good value for money. Quick warm meal within minutes was never easier. I like the fact that they have 7+ days of “shelf life”, which means that you can just have few of them in the fridge… just in case. I don’t see us eating it every day but I can think of the occasions when they would be very helpful.

Things I didn’t like:

The packaging seems to be none-recyclable, which is a huge minus in my eyes.

In general I like the idea of Taste Inc. products. They are priced below most shop bought sandwiches and with just a little effort on your part you can create a warm snack in no time to suit your stomachs desire and with 12 different products to choose from everyone can pick something for themselves that will like… unless you are a vegetarian that is, if I wasn’t such a carnivore I would probably consider that another huge minus…

Do you buy microwavable snacks?

What’s your favourite?

* Products were provided free of charge for review purposes. The opinions expressed in this review are honest and my own .

The Ultimate Crisp Sarnie #crispsarnieweek

I bet we all love crispy things, so what can be better than to join in the celebration of National Crisp Sandwich Week and indulge ourselves with some great tasting Crisp Sarnies.

I like a variety of textures in my food and as much as I really enjoy a crispy taste, sometimes too much “crispy” is just too much, so my recipe idea gives the perfect balance between crisp and soft.

To make my Crispy Sarnie you will need the following ingredients:

• 1 crusty white roll
• 4 slices of good quality ham
• 2 thick slices of a ripe tomato
• 1 pack of Seabrook Crisps
• Few leaves of fresh chopped basil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Butter

Now let’s talk how to put it all together.

First things first – wash your tomato and basil and dry with kitchen roll ready for chopping.

Cut your roll almost in half – ideally you want to cut it about 2/5 from the bottom. The idea is to have a bit bigger “hat” part.

Now, the magic bit – pull out most of the roll from the “hat” part creating a lovely hiding spot for your crisps.

Butter the bottom part.

Add two slices of ham.

Add 2 thick slices of tomato.

Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Add the rough chopped basil.

Now add the remaining two slices of ham. The idea is to cover the moist tomato with something which will prevent the crisps from going soggy if it is not to be eaten immediately. If it is to be eaten immediately this will most likely not happen, but I know from experience that sometimes is it not so easy to get everyone to the table instantly – I hear “Ok, I am coming” and five minutes later the food still sits there unattended. So… to avoid soggy crisps you have to protect them!

Finally add as many large pieces of crisps as you can fit or want on top of you masterpiece.

Now add all those small, broken crisps from the bottom of the packet to the “hat” opening you made earlier.

With a swift and deft movement put the two halves together and enjoy!

As a point of interest, just in case you are wondering why the tomatoes have to be thick sliced, I will explain… They will perfectly balance out the crustiness of the roll and the crispy crisps, creating a truly tasty sandwich.

What’s your favourite combination for a Crisp Sarnie or are you purist and only put crisps in?

* This recipe is my entry into the National Crisp Sarnie Week competition with Seabrook crisps.