Review: The Collective’s Yoghurt Suckies

My boys love yoghurt but normal yoghurt pottles seem to be beyond their ability to manage.  They make a MESS!  They’re invariably spilt all down their uniforms or on the ground, not to mention the yoghurty mess that ends up in their lunchbox and backpack by the end of the day.

The lovely folk at The Collective have pretty much solved this problem for us with their cool suckies range of yoghurts.  They come in either 100g pouches or 70g tubes.  There are no fruit bits or seeds to be rejected, no artificial flavours or preservatives – just the good stuff.

I’d been a fan of The Collective’s gourmet yoghurt range and loved their flavour combinations and branding.  You’ve probably noticed them on the chiller shelves.

The boys choosing their suckies

I got in contact with the PR team at The Collective and organised for the boys to review their suckies.  They loved the extra bits that came – a hessian bag, tattoos, badges and of course the yoghurt.  The boys had been restricted to small bowls of yoghurt at home but had had lunchbox envy when friends had the pouches and tubes and were dead keen to have them in their lunch boxes.

Each day they took a different flavour in their lunchbox and reported back on what they thought.  The littlest one liked the Nommy Banana flavoured pouch and Bonkers for Bananas tubes the most, whereas the biggest one liked the Honeycomb pouch the best.  They both happily scoffed all the other flavours we had as well.

From a mum’s perspective these are great – highly practical size and shape so I don’t get leaky leftovers in the lunchbox, you can freeze them so they’re cool for break time, easy for the kids to open (one twists and the other tears or snips), a good range of kid friendly flavours with no fruit bits or pips, no preservatives and no artificial flavours.  Personally the practical packaging and healthy yoghurt (with no preservatives or artificial additives) is what sold them to me, oh and I’ve got a real thing for funky branding.

Lunchbox for the biggest one

From a kids perspective they look cool, taste fab, are healthy and are easy for little fingers to manage.

They loved the tattoos!

The full range of 100g pouch flavours are: Nommy banana, Blueberry, Honeycomb, Peach and Apricot, Sassy Strawberry, and Heilala Vanilla.

And the 70g tube flavours are: Sassy Strawberry, Bonkers for Bananas, and Bouncing Berries.

The tubes come in a box of 8 and the pouches are sold individually.

Happy sucking

The Collective as a company is super cool.  They launched into the NZ premium yoghurt market in 2010 and made their presence known pretty quickly.  There’s a great range of innovative flavours and a limited edition yoghurt that is changed every three months – currently it’s raspberry and amaretto.  You can buy The Collective yoghurts in the UK, Ireland and Australia, and NZ of course.

The Collective supplied the yoghurt pouches and tubes plus the super useful bag, fun tattoos, funky magnets and badges, but the views are all my own.

Review: Nude Yoghurt

 

When the PR at Piako said she’d send me a natural unsweetened yoghurt I must admit I groaned – it’s not exactly fodder for superlatives or a taste sensation I thought.

Foodie friend was far more excited “But it’s so much more versatile!” She exclaimed and happily took a pottle home. The next day she was raving, “Its sooo creamy!”

I dug into my pottle and I have to admit she’s right. Piako Nude yoghurt, commonly known as Greek style yoghurt is actually really very nice.  It’s naturally higher in protein and lower in fat so it’s a good healthy option.  It’s a far better alternative taste wise than lite vanilla tub yoghurt which has been my standard supermarket purchase. I’ve had my pottle with fruit (particularly nice with pears), maple syrup, brownie and just scooped from the pottle when I’m peckish.

Foodie friend however has far more interesting suggestions for using a pottle of Piako Nude yoghurt;

• Make Tzatiki – add mint, cucumber, garlic and lemon juice, then dip crudités or bread
• Use it plain with a Caesar salad
• Ideal with with fruit compotes, crumbles or pies for dessert
• Use as a replacement for cream in many recipes
• Drizzle with honey and eat with fresh fruit
• Try it in Annabel Langbein’s Lemon and Ginger Ice-cream

Our take on Piako Nude yoghurt: This is our go to alternative to cream or vanilla yoghurt. Thick and creamy it has a wonderful texture and is spot on in terms of flavour, spanning the sweet and tart line beautifully.

If you’d like to see my Foodie friend in action check out one of her cooking classes.

Yoghurt was supplied by Piako but all views are completely my own.

Late night treat – bananas, maple syrup and Nude…

Foodie Heaven – International Cooking Classes

Carolina & Andrea

In full flow

I’ve never been to a cooking class, but I’ve always wanted to.  The Argentian aka Carolina, is world famous in our neighbourhood for her fabulous cooking and passion for food.  Now she’s taking her passion to the wider community of Christchurch with her friend and fellow Argentinian, Andrea.  Andrea and her husband have recently moved into a house perched on the hill above Taylors Mistake from Barcelona where they’ve lived for the past ten years.  Having been to and loved Barcelona, I can tell  you this is quite a contrast.  But, their new abode makes the PERFECT location for a cooking class with dinner or lunch.  Andrea and Carolina are charming and delightful hosts and their passion for cooking is catching.  Their chosen recipes for the evening were not only genuinely delicious, but very easy and easy to accomplish for any home cook.

The steps

The view

The table

Chatting

The ingredients

Two neighbours (also fans of Carolina’s) and I headed over the hill and joined Carolina and Andrea for the launch of their International Cooking Classes last week.  This particular night was making Italian Sorrentinos – filled homemade pasta.  The first thing that hits you, is the incredible view from Andrea’s home.  And whilst on the deck admiring it, a friendly paraglider flew past on his way down to the beach.

The fine art of sugar syrup

Rapt audience of foodies

The friendly paraglider

The cooks started with pasta, making sorrentino’s for us – very similar to ravioli, or tortellini.  They showed us how to make the pasta dough, sharing their tips and tricks along the way.  We all had a turn with the pasta machine and turning the handle, making it thiner with each of the six runs through.  I’ve always thought it looked time consuming, but surprisingly it wasn’t, more therapeutic.  Andrea and Carolina demonstrated how to make two fillings for the sorrentinos – salmon and homemade ricotta with dill, and pumpkin and mozzarella with basil.  We all followed along on our recipe sheet, making extra notes here and there. Each filling was served with a different sauce, cream sauce for the delicate salmon and ricotta, and an earthy puttanesca sauce for the more hearty pumpkin and mozzarella.  Both were beautiful and worthy of any restaurant.  The thing about cooking classes is not only do you get the smell (or should I say aroma), rather than the picture, but you can interact with the cooks, and in fact it’s encouraged.

Making the pasta dough

Checking the texture

Testing the thickness

Having a go

The two fillings

Sorrentinos

Ready to eat

We sat round the table and ate in the fading sunset and enjoyed both the food and company of others whom we didn’t know but, joined together with a common interest, food, we had a really good night.

Ready to eat

Before and after

After the main course Andrea and Carolina showed us how to make their version of Tiramasu.  Now, I should confess here to never having tried Tiramasu, always being put off at the end of a meal by layers of cream and sponge and topped off with coffee, seemed sickly to me.  But this Tiramasu was amazing – light, delicate and left me wanting more.  Super easy to prepare, we were all delighted to have this gem of a recipe in our repertoire.  Next dinner party, that’s what I’m serving.

Sugar syrup

Tiramisu perfection

Three hours later, happily full and armed with tips, tricks, new tastes and inspired to make sorrentinos myself, we headed back over the hill to home.  We all agreed we’d had a great night, having thoroughly enjoyed learning something new, the location, the food and the company.  We’ll be back for another class.

International Cooking Classes cost $50 which included the three hour class with dinner and dessert.  Carolina and Adrea hold classes each month with different themes.  To book: Email: cookingfoodclasses@gmail.com, Facebook: here , Mobile: Carolina 0210783841 or Andrea 0211735514.

PS.  Here’s Carolina’s recipe for Palmeritas from a previous blog post.

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Whittakers – Chocolate heaven

I’ve always loved chocolate, any time, anywhere, and it’s particularly best in the morning.  Some people are lollie fans, some are potato chip fans, but it’s always been chocolate for me.

After the scandal when Cadburys reduced the size of their blocks, increased their prices and then used palm oil instead of cocoa butter in their chocolate, I decided the time was right to try out their competitor, Whittaker’s.  Peanut Slabs had been a favourite of my husbands for years, but I’d never really tried their blocks of chocolate.  So, when Whittaker’s sent us a parcel of six of their new flavours (L&P, Berry & Biscuit, Milk Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Hokey Pokey and Fair Trade Creamy Milk), the boys and I were in chocolate heaven.

Whittaker’s have been a family owned and operated business since the 1890s and it’s still made right here in New Zealand, Porirua to be precise.  There’s no palm oil in their chocolate and they have fair trade cocoa beans, butter and sugar in their 33% Creamy Milk Block and 72% Dark Ghana Block from Ghana and Costa Rica.  Have a look at their rather cool website here and you can see where most of their other ingredients come from, and which countries you can buy Whittaker’s chocolate in.

The boys and I enlisted the help of our neighbours and set about doing it in a scientific manner, tasting each flavour one after the other.  The results I found rather interesting – there wasn’t a clear winner.  We all liked different flavours.  The little boys liked the L&P ‘popping’ chocolate the best, followed by the Berry and Biscuit (MUCH better than Cadburys as it doesn’t stick in your teeth), Mr Newly 18 also liked the L&P flavour and confessed to having eaten an entire block single handedly in one sitting.  Mr 16 liked the traditional 33% Creamy Milk, and Mrs Neighbour’s favourite was the Hokey Pokey.  My father liked the Milk Strawberry, and I had two favourites – Peanut Butter and Milk Strawberry.  I’m not a peanut butter out of the jar fan, but I REALLY liked it in a chocolate.  I knew I was going to love the Milk Strawberry as in a box of chocolates, they’re the ones I search for.  I found the L&P ‘popping’ chocolate disconcerting, but the kids demolished it.  I do however LOVE that they’ve combined an iconic kiwi drink with a chocolate – how fab is that!

Our take on Whittaker’s chocolate: We all agreed that Whittaker’s was by far the richer, creamier, tastier chocolate, and we all loved eating chocolate just for pure enjoyment.  There are so many different flavours to choose from and with each of us preferring a different flavour, I wonder which is your favourite Whittaker’s flavour?