Comvita UMF® Manuka Honey (UMF 5+, 10+, 15+)

While Manuka Honey is fast becoming the must-have product of health food fanatics, many people have never heard of it – but its distinct health benefits have been relied on for hundreds of years by the native population of New Zealand.

You might have taken honey for a sore throat or on toast for an upset tummy, because as well as tasting sweet, honey contains the anti-bacterial property hydrogen peroxide. Manuka honey contains hydrogen peroxide and its own natural anti-bacterial property measured by UMF® or ‘Unique Manuka Factor’.

This highly-controlled and laboratory tested rating proves the honey’s special antibacterial quality – shown in clinical studies to reduce the levels of harmful bacteria in the throat, the gut and even on infected wounds, whilst also strengthening the body’s natural immunity.

Comvita is one of the world’s largest and most experienced producers of premium quality honey and is licensed by the Active Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) to use the UMF® standard.

Spread on toast or added to a warm drink, manuka honey is a delicious and health-boosting start to the day. Manuka honey is great for maintaining a healthy digestive system, boosting immunity and overall wellbeing.

Comvita Active UMF® 5+ Manuka Honey (£5.99 for 250g, £9.99 for 500g), 10+ Manuka Honey (£15.99 for 500g), 15+ Manuka Honey (£16.99 for 250g)

 

Available from Boots, Holland & Barrett and all good pharmacies and health food stores.

For further information call 0800 652 3468 or visit http://www.comvita.co.uk/.

I love honey and grew up with runny honey or set  honey spread on bread or toast. I did get given a drink of lemon and honey to soothe  my throat when it was sore. It certainly always made me feel better just for the sweet soothing taste in my throat. So we have always know about the benefits to heal a cough and cold

But I never knew all of the healing properties that a certain Manuka honey had, I never heard of it until about 10 years ago and that was for the treatment of burns.

The flower looks so pretty and its amazing that the honey made from this delicate flower can be a miracle cure.

Especially with the cold weather and inevitable bugs we get, I know what I ma putting on my toast at the moment, it helps that it tastes so very good too.

The bees feed off the Manuka plant (Leptospermum scoparium) which has delicate pink or white flowers and is native to New Zealand

Good Natured Carrots Fresh and Tasty.

I was sent the Good Natured Carrots to review along with the Good Natured Potatoes, read the potatoes review here and I was happy to see they are pesticide and residue free. Its strange I just expect a product that grows in the ground to be natural just as it is, but with the sprays and pesticides that do get used, our humble veg can not be as natural as we imagine.

Th carrots look really good, fresh and whats lovely is the bag they arrived in is compostable, so this is the perfect product for no waste and all of it from packet to peeling to carrot all gets eaten or made into compost

So that hopefully when we grow our carrots next year. Good Natured Carrots peel and bag could be providing the soil they grow in.

Plus with the snow we have been having it looks like our snowman will have a nice organic nose.

I have to add my picture of our casserole, the carrots and potatoes arrived the day I was making this and made a tasty accompaniment.

Good Natured Carrots are pesticide residue free - grown in harmony with Mother Nature, using only natural predators (good bugs) to control pests (bad bugs) and disease. The whole range is both good natured by name, and good natured by nature as all packaging is fully compostable.

Carrots are a magnificently versatile vegetable and extremely good for you as they’re packed with vitamins and minerals including vitamins A & C, folate, beta-carotene and potassium. Naturally high in fibre, a single serving of only 80g forms part of your 5 A DAY.

Farmed in Yorkshire, Good Natured carrots are grown under the watchful eye of Guy Poskitt. Affectionately known locally as the ‘Carrot King’, Guy’s family have been carrot experts for over 50 years.

 

There are few rules when it comes to carrots but they do need to be stored in an airy, dry cool spot or in the fridge. But now on to the thorny issue of preparation: to peel or not to peel? There are supporters of both camps. Some prefer to scrape, or even just a quick scrub. At Good Natured we don’t feel strongly about it, we would just say that as our carrots are pesticide residue free, they don’t NEED to be peeled. So the decision is up to you.

To boil, just cover the sliced Good Natured Carrots (rounds or batons? decisions, decisions …) with cold water, add a pinch of sugar and simmer for 4-6 minutes until just tender. Season with a knob of butter and serve. A handful of chopped Good Natured Fantastic Flat Leaf Parsley or Currylicious Coriander at this stage is a welcome addition.

Carrots also work well in salads, grated or shaved, dressed with raisins, toasted pine nuts and tossed in vinaigrette. They’re super in soups (who doesn’t love a steaming bowl of Carrot & Coriander?). And it doesn’t end there; carrots love to be cooked with spices, herbs, garlic and chilli as well as in sweet dishes (carrot cake), in pickles, served with any meat or fish or raw, chopped into batons for dipping into hummus or eating au naturel.

Which ever way you like yours, find Good Natured Carrots at selected ASDA stores nationwide, priced at £0.92 for 750g.

For more good news visit http://www.goodnaturedfruit.co.uk/ and follow us, Good-Natured on Facebook

GOOD NATURED SPLENDID SPUDS - ESSENTIAL CHRISTMAS ROASTIES

 

Grown in harmony with mother nature, using only natural predators (good bugs) to control pests (bad bugs) and disease, you can be assured that this buried treasure is pesticide residue free. The whole of the Good Natured range, which includes soft fruit, salads, herbs and vegetables, is good natured both by name and good natured by nature, as all of the packaging is 100% biodegradeable.

 

We’re all agreed that good Christmas Roasties are an absolute essential. There are no hard and fast rules as to which potato you should use, however Good Natured Splendid Spuds have an almost ‘buttery’ flavour and a smooth waxy texture – ideal for making the turkey’s favourite oven partner.

Everyone has their own secret recipe when it comes to creating the ultimate roasties. Nigella Lawson par-boils her potatoes, drains, then adds some semolina before giving the pan a quick shake. When Delia gets to the draining stage she then recommends putting the lid on and giving the potatoes a really good ‘shake, rattle and roll’ to fluff and roughen up the edges to deliver a really crunchy spud. The lovely Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall favours setting his par-boiled pots aside until they have cooled completely. He then scratches the surface of each potato with a fork and sprinkles the lot with a little salt before they go into the sizzling fat.

 

There are lots of opinions on the best fat to use as well, but here at Potato HQ, we favour Goose Fat which has a rich, silky texture and subtle, savoury flavour, ideal for making the best-tasting roast potatoes.

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with cold water. Bring to the boil then boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes

2. Switch the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7 and place the goose fat in a large roasting tin towards the top of the oven

3. Drain the potatoes (reserving a bit of the water for gravy, stock or soup). Return them to the pan and shake vigorously to roughen up the edges

4. Take the tin from the oven and add the potatoes. Turn them quickly in the oil then cook at the top of the oven for 50-60 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking until golden on the outside and cooked through

5. Drain and sprinkle with salt and serve at once

 

Good Natured Splendid Spuds come in an easy carry 2kg biodegradable bag and are sold in selected Asda stores nationwide, priced at £1.57.

If you are considering your Christmas dinner as the days are disappearing fast, when it comes to potatoes I was sent the Good Natured potatoes. They are available in Asda they are a really good price, they are pest and chemical free. If that hasn't sold it to you then I can also tell you they are very tasty.

I have eaten them with a chicken casserole teamed with the Good Natured Carrots see my other review here . They are flavoursome very fresh tasting and the potatoes are creamy and light in mash. 

 I tried them in a roast dinner too so that I could vet them for a possible purchase for Christmas meals.  They passed and let me tell you I am Irish its a given that potatoes are the

best I can have.

Chris and I both love making roast potatoes and our tip is to par boil and then use a fork to rough up the surface. Roll in flour and then put into scorching hot almost smoking fat on a good high heat. We cook at gas mark 7.


 Good Natured recommend ASDA Extra Special Goose Fat with an RRP of £2 for a 200g jar (prices correct at the time of printing).


For more good news visit http://www.goodnaturedfruit.co.uk/ and follow us, Good-Natured on Facebook

For more recipes using goose fat visit http://www.goosefat.co.uk/page/home

Nicky Clarke Straighteners Winner

Thanks to all the people who took the time to enter, a fabulous response.

Thank you to the gorgeous people at Nicky Clarke who generously offered the prize.

The winner will have a lovely time getting ready for this Christmas seasons event and have good hair days all the time now.

So jealous!!

A new giveaway coming in the next day or so.

Still open are these giveaways

Designer  Tights

http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.com/2010/11/win-tightsplease-red-or-dead-addy.html

Win Little Dish Favourites Cookbook Ends 02/12

http://given-to-distracting-others.blogspot.com/2010/11/win-little-dish-favourites-cookbook.html

The lucky winner

is

Drum Roll

Hush from the audience

Kiki_725

Answer - tourmaline

Twitter - @kiki_725

Well done, I am contacting you now.

Send a Ferrero e-card and win 1 of 100's of Ferrero Prizes

Here is an Ecard I was just sent from the lovely people at Ferrero I am trapped in a bubble so close that man up there..... yet so far!!!

One thing I will be able to get near is the Ferrero Chocolates as they have a new website.

 

To coincide with the launch of the site  www.ferrero-range.co.uk Ferrero have created this  unique festive e-card that can be personalised to send to loved ones.

 For every e-card that is sent, as well as spreading Christmas cheer, senders also increase their chance of winning one of hundreds of boxes of delicious Ferrero chocolate!

 

 

 

Edible Christmas Tree in Covent Garden today mmmmmmmmm!!

 

For yet another opportunity to win, this involves Twitter.

Ferrero fans can take the new ‘Which Ferrero Are You?’ quiz which reveals which Ferrero in the range best suits them!

To win you  must go to Twitter and  tweet your result not here (for example mine was  I am Raffaello by Ferrero alongside hashtag #ferreroxmas (otherwise Ferrero won’t find them!)

Radisson – Park Inn competition

As you know I love a good competition whether its entering them myself, telling my readers about one or actually holding one on my blog.

I Wanted to give you a heads up on a great  new one running weekly until the 18th December 2010 

PARK INN HOTELS ARE RUNNING A COMPETITION TO WIN SOME FANTASTIC PRIZES

Play 4 Park Inn  

 http://www.ebuzzing.co.uk/rd/17741_1758_256573_13781_10875/play4.parkinn.co.uk/  its addictive, I found it very similar to "4 in a row"

You play against the hotel manager and you have to defeat him with 4 keys in a row. Win or lose  and 18 years or over,you get to enter your score in a weekly draw.

Two winners weekly receive of an iPad and a £250 voucher (respectively) for Park Inn Hotels, which can be used at over 200 hotels in 16 countries (also valid in Radisson Blu and Hotel Missoni, and includes the UK), and can be used at the restaurant, bar, or simply on your room. 

At the end of the competition there is a grand prize draw winner of a £300  gift card and a weeks stay in a Park Hotel.

The stays can be in

Manchester - great for shopping or visiting the hallowed Manchester United Ground.

 

Berlin for a historical stay in a bright and modern city

Djerba,  Tunisia with its great beaches and for an exotic break.

I played against the manager and it is so simple to play, the dratted manager beat me, but I have a cunning plan to outwit him next time, I can play 20 times and its not the highest score that wins I could play really badly and still win a weekly prize.

I quite fancy Tunisia if I was to win, it sounds far flung and hot and with snow iminent I could do with a bit of warmth right now.

I often look at the North African countries and fancy the culture the fact that people are still nomadic. I would love to visit the colorful markets and taste the spicy African stews.

It would be a dream destination for Chris as he is a diehard Star Wars fan and Djerba was used in the original 1977 movie.

It came as a surprise when I looked it up.  Its an island off the North African coast known for it's architecture, made up of square whitewashed houses all over the island.

The whole island is like a little world of its own, so small enough to cover all of it yet, there is enough  to make globe-trotters have a great time here for a good fortnight.

Well enough off my daydreaming, you better get over and try and beat the hotel manager, I reckon its easy. Good Luck!!

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Winners Panda Cloud Antivirus Pro Edition 10 Licences

Thanks to everyone for the insight into what worries you have about security when using the internet.

Banking online and your children's security seemed to be the biggest concerns and are mine as it happens too.

So for 10 lucky people they will have a little more peace of mind  against virus threats, as they have won the Panda Cloud Antivirus Licences Pro Edition too!!

So in the order out of the random number generator. I used Psychic Science to find the winners.

sjaom

MunchKim

Garbhein

Rhoda

Kathcake

Ian Campbell

Lottiegirl

Madbird32

Michelle comment 9

Paula Virgo

I need names and emails from all of you if you see this before I contact you.

Please send to the email under my profile pic.

Well Done

More giveaways coming this week