Rosie Scribble

The airfryer 'kids know best' test

We’ve been trying out a new version of the  Philip's Airfryer over the last few weeks to see if even I, as a non-cook, can manage to prepare anything half decent. The results have been mixed, but that is more to do with my ability to prepare food from scratch rather than the airfryer itself, which is surprisingly good if a little cumbersome in the kitchen due to its size.

The airfryer cooks a variety of food in a quick and healthy way using, as the name suggests, air. To test it thoroughly we were provided with the recipes and ingredients to make chicken nuggets and potato wedges, although I must disclose here that getting a little carried away with the potato chopping meant that we ended up with chips rather than potato wedges. But no matter.

Review: The Morphy Richards Supersteam Mop and Cleaner

Having decided it best to test the Morphy Richards Supersteam mop and cleaner thoroughly before posting this review, I then realised that would involve cleaning the whole house from top to bottom. So instead, I decided to test the steamer on our front room carpet, our wooden kitchen floor, the dining room curtains and a small section of bathroom tiles, because no-one sees the rest of the house anyway.

Win a Crock-Pot slow cooker

If you are enjoying the latest trend in slow cooking, or you are keen to try it out, then you could be in with a chance of winning this Cook and Carry model from Crock-Pot UK.

I’ve previously tried out a slower cooker from Crock-Pot so I can happily recommend the range.

All you need to do to enter is answer this simple multiple-choice question:

Which of the following celebrities regularly produces recipes for the BBC food blog?

a) Will Young

b) James Martin

c) Barack Obama

(There’s a hint over on this slow cooking recipe if you really need one).

• Simply enter by leaving a comment with the correct answer.
• The competition closes at midnight on Friday 7 October 2011.
• The winner will be selected at random and announced on this blog on Saturday 8 October  2011.
• One entry per person, UK residents only (apologies but these things are heavy to post).
• The prize is a Cook and Carry Crock-Pot slow cooker RRP £44.99
• Responsibility for sending out the prize lies with Crock-Pot UK.

I have not received a payment to run this competition. I’m running it because it’s Friday, it’s sunny and I’m in a good mood.

You might also be interested in Crock-Pot’s own competition, which it is running on its Facebook page. Crock-Pot is on the hunt for the nation’s most passionate cook with the launch of Crocktober – a competition inviting members of the public to create a mouth-watering slow cooker recipe for their chance to win up to £3,500 worth of prizes.

Any recipe that can be cooked in a slow cooker can be submitted. A panel of judges will be looking for creativity, speed of preparation, value for money and, of course, how flavoursome the dish is. For full details and to enter, visit www.facebook.com/CrockPotUk.

How to save money on your laundry bills

I’m guessing that over the course of a year I spend at least £100 on washing powder. We are a very small family unit so the average family is likely to spend a lot more.

This week I discovered something that will reduce my laundry bill substantially. It’s the Ecoegg – an ingenious alternative to washing powder. It’s a clever gadget that you place in the drum of your washing machine each time you put on a wash instead of washing powder.

But does it work? Amazingly it does. I’ve tried it on white, darks and bed linen and each wash has come out perfectly clean. It has proved to be as good as, of not better than, my usual washing powder.

The Ecoegg contains two types of cleaning pellets  - tourmaline pellets that weaken the adhesive forces between the dirt and the fabric, and mineral pellets which naturally ionize the oxygen molecules in the water then penetrate deep into the fabric lifting away the dirt and grime.

I am incredibly impressed with it. The Ecoegg is available in a range of different sizes. I’m trying out the value pack which costs £19.99 (plus P&P) and lasts for approximately 720 washes – the equivalent to about three years’ worth of washing for the average family. This particular Ecoegg can be refilled and comes with ten refill packs.

It has altered the way I do my laundry and I won’t be buying washing powder again.

Some facts about the Ecoegg that are worthy of note:

• It contains no harsh chemicals, petrochemicals, optimisers, bleaches or ammonias
• It is 100% hypoallergenic and has been presented with an Allergy Friendly Product Award by Allergy UK
• It softens as well as washes eliminating the need for fabric conditioner
• It eliminates unnecessary packaging and is reusable for many years to come
• It is manufactured from polypropylene which is 100% recyclable
• It can be used to wash delicates and at temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius
• It does not leave any residue as with powdered detergent so there is no need for a rinse cycle
• All customers are offered a 30-day money back guarantee if they are not happy with the Ecoegg’s standard of performance.

The Ecoegg can be ordered from www.ecoeggonline.com. We received our Ecoegg free of charge to review and I highly recommend it.

The one where I blog about boiling water

It is possibly not a blogging high point for me to be blogging about boiling water, but this contraption is a little bit clever.

It’s the Accents One Cup from Morphy Richards, which allows you to boil just enough water for one cup of tea (or coffee) , and it does it in just 30 seconds.

I’ve gone to the effort of cleaning a small section of my kitchen so I can demonstrate it in action here:

It comes in red and black and I’ve been using it several times a day as it’s quicker than boiling the kettle and it means I can boil exactly the amount of water I need.

It does look a little unusual and I’ve discovered there’s a knack to filling it with water without spilling half of it down the side, but now I’ve mastered that I wouldn’t part with it.

I received the Accents One Cup from Morphy Richards free of charge to review (RRP £34.99).