My favourite beetroot soup, vegetarian borscht

October 2011

Here is one of my very favourite soups of all time, which I make about once a month (at least!). It's a vegetarian version of the famous Russian-Ukrainian beet soup, borscht. My version is delicious and heartwarming - brilliant for cold autumn days and dark winter nights. Yet it's light and refreshing enough, so it would also be good during summer. I tend to use sauerkraut during winter and plain white cabbage during summer (and prefer the first one).

Depending how good your knife-skills are, but it could be on your table in about 40 minutes or even less. I use the food processor to shred (or 'julienne') the vegetables.

My favorite beet soup
(Mõnus peedisupp, täitsa lihavaba)
Serves 4 to 6 as a main course


September 2007

400-500 g (about a pound) of beets
2 medium onions
2 large carrots
400-500 g (about a pound) white cabbage or mild sauerkraut
2 Tbsp olive oil
1.5 litres vegetable stock
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice or wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

sour cream, to serve

finely chopped parsley or dill, to garnish

Peel the beets, onions and carrots. Cut all vegetables into thick matchsticks (you can use a food processor here to speed up the process). If using fresh cabbage, shred it thinly.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add carrots, beets, onions and a pinch of salt and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Add the shredded cabbage or sauerkraut, then pour in the hot stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer on a low heat for about 20-30 minutes, until vegetables are softened.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, keeping in mind that a proper borscht should have a slightly acidic taste.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream (or omit, if you want a vegan soup) and sprinkle with some chopped parsley or dill.
Serve with some crusty (rye) bread.

UPDATE 21.9.2007
Hedgehog made this soup, too - check out her post here.

NOTE: This soup recipe was originally posted in September 2007. It's been fully revised and updated in November 2011.

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Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate

We are huge chocolate fans in our house, in fact I would say we are chocoholics the lot of us. Matthew is by far the worst one for eating lots so when we were sent some lovely chocolates from Green and Blacks he declared them as his own. I wasn't too upset by this as I've been on a diet recently and chocolate was one of the things I decided I needed to cut down on. It didn't stop me pinching a few when he wasn't looking though.

Green and Blacks, make and sell premium organic chocolate. They use fine organic ingredients which are ethically sourced.

This Christmas Green and Blacks are launching a new range of gift ideas, perfect for any chocolate lover and would make a great gift for those hard to buy for friends and relatives - everyone has at least one - I think I most of my relatives and friends are difficult to buy for so I will certainly . The range includes The Tasting Collection, Conversations Collection, Dark Miniature Bar Collection and The Ultimate Collection.

We were sent a lovely "conversation box" to try, as you can probably guess they didn't last long in our house.

The boxes are made up of 40 individually wrapped chocolate squares. They are available in 2 different boxes - mint and variety. We were sent the variety box. This is made up of dark, milk, white and butterscotch chocolates. They are perfect for when entertaining guests or like in our house on their own with a cup of tea and a good book. Each chocolate wrapper has a question on the inside so these are perfect when you have guests over. The box is priced at £6.49 and can be bought online here.

The lovely lovely people from over at Green and Blacks have sent me a Tasting Collection box of chocolates to give away to one of my readers, the box of chocolates is worth £11.99.

To enter the competition you must like and share the picture that is on our facebook page (make sure its the original picture from me that you share).

Open to UK residents only, the competition will close on 21st November 2011, a winner will be picked at random from all entries.

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Raskullz Safety Helmet Review

Callum was very kindly sent a Raskullz safety helmet from Ozbozz. He hasn't had a great amount of time to use the helmet as the weather here has been totally awful. He says he can't wait until next Summer so he can use it whenever he uses his bike and scooter - which I hope will be almost everyday. This is an improvement from Callum's usual attitude towards wearing a safety helmet as he doesn't like to wear one and will usually refuse to wear it - the rule in our house is that he isn't allowed to use his bike out of the garden without one so he very rarely gets to use his bike.

The helmets are unique in design.Callum was sent the Mohawk style helmet. He says it makes him look cool and gives him "spiky" hair.

There are 3 other designs for you to choose from at the minute, these are a shark for young boys and a unicorn or ladybug for the younger girls. There are other designs coming soon too, including a rabbit and a bee.

The Raskullz are designed to encourage children to wear the protective safety helmets more often. They will provide protection against minor impacts and abrasions when scooting, skating, boarding or cycling.

The Raskullz helmet is fitted with an adjustable safety strap. This makes it easy to adjust to fit your child's head comfortably. They Conform to safety standards and have instructions included to ensure they are fitted properly. It is recommended that the helmets are used for children age 5 years+. The helmet is priced at £19.99. I believe it is worth every penny if it encourages your child you wear their helmet. I give the Raskullz a super rating of 4/5. Plus with Christmas fast approaching a Raskullz helmet would go perfectly with a new bicycle or scooter if your child has asked Santa to bring them one.

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I am Officially a Widow...

An Xbox widow that is... and probably for the foreseeable future or until I buy some different games or hide the controllers!

I love my partner Matthew to bits, in fact he means the world to me, there is no one I would rather spend time with - other than our children and pets. But just lately or rather the last week or so I have seen less and less of him due to work or Battlefield 3! I fear this is only going to get worse with Call of Duty 3 due for release in a matter of days. I wouldn't mind but all the games are the same, they look the same and I'm pretty certain that they play the same too. He would argue this and has done recently that they aren't the same at all and are oh so different! Like I say I beg to differ. I'm pretty sure that all us partners would argue the same points though. I don't mind him playing the games I play consoles myself when I find the time, I just don't like the same games for hours on end when all they seem to do is run around and shoot everyone.

As soon as my soaps (I admit I'm a bit of a fanatic) have finished he whips the TV remote from me and he's away, head set on and babbling rubbish to his mates. I think it has been made worse for me in that the last few weeks in that he has been working days so home on an evening. I shouldn't moan about this as we get to see more of him but I do and often (but isn't this not a woman's prerogative)

We are sat side by side, him on the Xbox and me writing this post barely chatting to each other - unless one of us has uttered the words "make a brew" or "it's your turn to put the kettle on". Wow how boring do we sound?

Don't get me wrong I love playing on the consoles but I am definitely a Mario kinda girl. I love nothing better than whizzing around the Mario Kart tracks or stomping through levels of Lego character filled games. But these shoot em types well they just bore me, yes each to their own I hear you cry and I do agree but cant the creators of these types of game make them a bit more different even if its just for us poor woman who have to endure them from afar.

So roll on the next 9 days - he's on holiday from work (and will no doubt be playing his not so little socks off), he's then back to work and on nights so I can have my beloved TV back - just in time for I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!! Trashy TV at its best and I love it.

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James' Clarks Shoes Review

Once Callum and Nathan had chosen their new shoes it was James' turn to have his feet measured and choose some new shoes from Clarks new autumn range of shoes. Well when I say choose this was actually my chance to choose some shoes for him.

James was in quite a stroppy mood when it was his turn. He likes to say no a lot and make a bit of noise. He is too small to use the measuring machine so his feet were measured using a foot measurer.  The process is pain free but gets an accurate measurement, it can take a while to get a measurement if the child is misbehaving, but to say James was being moody it didn't take Carol long to measure his feet. James' feet measured in at a 7F. All 3 boys feet were the same width.

Carol brought out 3 pairs of shoes that were in James' size for us to choose from. We let him try them all on and go for a run around the shop - lets face it 2 year old children don't walk anywhere!! I loved all the shoes and had a really hard time choosing which ones to get James. I wanted to make sure that they would last him and be comfy for him on his little feet. In the end I decided on a pair of boys Fun Lites Infant shoes.

These shoes are designed with active little boys in mind. They are made from blue leather and have an very light and flexible sole. They have adjustable twin Velcro straps to make sure that the shoes fit securely. The shoes have hidden lights in the heels, James loves stomping around to make them light up! The shoe are available in sizes 7 - 9.5 and come in 3 different width fittings (F,G,H).

I think I made the right choice for James in regards to his shoes as he is always stomping around the room or kicking things to make them flash, he even laughs at this when he sees what he can make them do. I would highly recommend Clarks shoes and give them a rating of 5/5.

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Build A Bear Workshop Supporting Children In Need!!

Build a Bear Workshop have worked with BBC Children in Need for the last four years. Last year they donated an amazing £135,000 to the charity. This year they hope to raise even more. In store children can make their Pudsey and Blush Bears now or you can purchase ready made ones from the Build a Bear Workshop website. Both bears are priced at £15 with a £5 donation being made from each bear sold going directly to Children in Need.  

This years campaign theme and slogan is "Show your Spots... Lets Raise Lots". To mark this Build a bear have designed some lovely outfits for both Blush and Pudsey. There are different outfits for the bears and a £1 donation from each outfit sold will be made to Children in Need too. You can see the full collection here online.

We were recently sent an adorable Pudsey Bear wearing a set of spotty pjs (like the ones as shown above). The boys call him their special teddy as he is a "poorly bear". I explained to them that Pudsey was a special bear as he liked  to help lots of children who weren't as fortunate as them. Callum was really interested in this and asked me lots of questions. We will make a donation as we always do but this year I can explain why we make the donation with the help of our Pudsey. This year Pudsey has been redesigned and has a spotty heart (see picture below)

Children in Need's mission is to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. This years event will take place on 18th November. Last year they raised an amazing £39 million. This money has helped many organisations who work with children aged under 18 with mental, physical, behavioural and psychological disorders. They also help children who are living in poverty or who have been abused and neglected.

Pudsey is a firm favourite with James, as you can see from the pictures below.

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Milton Hygiene Range Products & Competition

As a busy mum of 3 small boys and owner of 2 boxer dogs our house is always in need of a clean or a tidy, the boys and dogs are like tornadoes when it comes to mess and can spread it quicker than I can clean up after them. I can guarantee 10 minutes after cleaning up after them the mess made will be twice as bad as it was before and even worse if they've been in the garden. The dogs are very nosy and often I have come home to find their muddy paw prints on work tops and kitchen appliances. This can be a nuisance but it can also spread germs, I always clean down my worktops before preparing food and have to give the kitchen cabinets and appliances a clean pretty much every day too just to be on the safe side.

Recently I have been trying out some cleaning products from Milton. I knew Milton produced sterilising products for baby equipment but that was about it. So when I was asked to try some out I thought why not. We were sent 4 products to try. We were sent some Antibacterial Surface Wipes, Antibacterial Fabric Solution, Antibacterial Hand Gel and Antibacterial Surface Spray.

The Antibacterial Surface Wipes are really easy to use. They can be used on any surface within your home and are ideal to take out with you especially if you need to use public baby changing facilities. The wipes are fragrance free and are clinically proven to kill harmful bacteria. The wipes are 100% biodegradable. I have used them on my work surfaces in the kitchen and to clean my appliances like my washing machine and fridge. The wipes are priced at £2.29 each.

Now that the winter is closing in this time of year is notorious for sickness bugs and germs spread like wildfire in the boys school (I'm pretty sure that its the same everywhere). If  I'm really honest I hate this time of year as I can guarantee at least one of the boys if not all will come down with a stomach bug and at the very least a cold between now and Christmas. It seems like a vicious never ending circle in our house and is one I try to nip in the bud when the first one comes home ill. I tend to get on military cleaning mum mode, I clean the house top to bottom and change their bedding but I had no idea that any germs on their clothes or bedding would survive a wash cycle. How wrong was I? The answer is very! Over the past two weeks I have been using the Antibacterial Fabric Solution in every wash load and will definitely make sure I am well stocked up should we have any nasty bugs in our home. The Antibacterial Fabric Solution can be used at low temperatures which is great for those of us who like to do our bit for the environment. It can be used on most types of material and is gentle with most skin types. it is simple to use as you only need to put 20ml in per wash. It works by killing bacteria and fungi that normal washing doesn't get rid of. It is priced at £5.73 for a 1 litre bottle.

With the 3 boys being out and about is a real chore especially when they are being toilet tourists even at 6 Callum is constantly asking to use a toilet in pretty much every place we visit. I love the Antibacterial Hand Gel as it is the perfect size to carry in my bag and just whip it out whenever I need it, when any of us have been to the bathroom or before we have something to eat it is easy just to get it out and use as you don't need to use it with water, it is also quick drying. The gel has a pleasant clean fragrance to it too that isn't over powering. It is priced at £2.19 for 100ml.

I have been using the Antibacterial Surface Spray both in our kitchen and bathroom, it has a lovely clean fragrance which isn't too over powering. The spray is a great way of cleaning, it is also fast and effective and is proven to kill a wide range of bacteria including the really nasty ones that cause food poisoning such as E.coli and Salmonella. It even kills fungi which is responsible for causing Thrush. The spray is non tainting too so it wont leave a smell on any surface that you use it on. It is also perfect for cleaning most surfaces in the home, kitchen worktops, changing mats and the bathroom sink!! The spray is available to purchase at £2.29 for a 500ml bottle.

For further information about these products or other Milton products visit http://www.milton-tm.com. Milton items can be bought in supermarkets and pharmacies or online.

You can follow Milton on Facebook and Twitter for offers and new product information.

I would highly recommend the Milton hygiene range of products they are effective and reasonably priced. They are ideal for around the home and when out and about. I give the whole range a rating of 5/5.

Competition:

To win one of three winter cold & flu protection kits. Each kit has a  Milton Antibacterial Hand Gel  and a Milton Antibacterial Surface Spray - just follow the simple instructions below


Update to terms: ROI entrants welcome too 

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