Before I start let me say that all views and opinions in this review are my own. I have not been paid to make this review, but I have been given these 5 packets for free.
Review 1: Mediterranean Chicken Pasta
These only arrived today and after having a quick glance through them I was pleased to see that I already had in most of the suggested ingredients for each of the packets. I showed them to my kids and they chose this one: Mediterranean Chicken Pasta.
What it says on the packet:
You only need chicken, cooking oil, pasta, a yellow pepper, a tin of tomatoes, and some cheese. We have all of those already! Bonus!
It says cooking time is 20 mins (that doesn't count cooking the pasta, although you could use fresh) and that it serves 4. There are usually 5 of us, but my eldest is out at a friends so that's not a problem. Looking at the list of suggested ingredients to add there's going to be more than enough anyway.
I've not let the kids help with this one. Mainly because this is the first time I've done a review like this and trying to handle cooking, photos, video AND small children around hot things was a little more than I could cope with, maybe they can help with one of the others.
Cooking:
Ummm.... I seem to have had a slight mishap with the pepper. It turns out it was a GREEN pepper I still had in the fridge, not a yellow one. But I'm sure it's not going to make a massive difference and as I cook the meal I have to say I think it looks and smells very nice
It did take me a little longer than the 20 minutes but to be fair I was messing about taking photos and videos. I'm sure that if I was just cooking it normally then 20 minutes would be about right. Even with the dried pasta! I was really happy that by the time I was required to add the pasta to the rest of the mix it was cooked and ready to go.
It looked good when it came out from under the grill. I am a fan of melted cheese! The kids were waiting at the kitchen door shouting that they could smell tea and it smelled "Yummy!"
It was easy and clean to serve up, no sloppy mess. And I was right, there was more than enough for all of us! A good size for our family of 5.
How did it taste?
At first I thought it could have done with a little more seasoning, but as I ate more I changed my mind. The flavour creeps up on you and soon I was quite happy with it. The kids liked it too, even our fussy 3 year old said it was "yummy", "nice" and "good". Neither of them quite finished but with their eldest brother out they had both been given larger portions than they normally would have had. Simply not having a massive tantrum and pushing their plates across the table should be considered a good rating!
Over all I can say I am happy with this recipe mix. I see it being something I would keep in for quick meals on the days that I work, and would take with me on self-catering holidays with the kids where it's simply not sensible to take or buy a load of different herbs and spices and make "from scratch".
Kids rating: 4/5
Kids rating: 4/5
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