Out & About September 2017

OA food & drink

TEA TIME Invest in a slow cooker – bung some ingredients in the pot in the morning and return to a healthy meal for the family. Here are some recipes and three of the best slow cookers to buy if you don’t already have one

Sage Fast Slow Pro Cooker by Heston Blumenthal £159.99

Crock-Pot Black Digital Slow Cooker, £39.99

Lakeland 1.5 litre Slow Cooker, £22.99

McDonalds, Northbrook Street, Newbury Retail Park and Tot Hill Does the Happy Meal make parents happy by being healthy? No trans fat now means the Happy Meal is better. Nuggets are best, with carrot sticks or a fruit bag. To drink go for organic milk, mineral water or a Small Fruitizz (made with fruit juice concentrates of grape, apple and raspberry mixed with sparkling water). All nutritional information is on McDonalds website, but as an example: a cheeseburger is 290 calories and 11g of fat, a hamburger is 240 calories and 8g fat, chicken nuggets 190 calories and 12g fat. Fries are 100 calories and 5g of fat and apple slices 15 calories. But, like Burger King, be aware of the salt content of your children’s meals. Check the website. This 6L cooker is a multi-purpose machine, hence the price. Combining the benefits of a slow cooker and pressure cooker into one handy unit, the Fast Slow Pro brings the best of both worlds to your kitchen in a stylish and space-saving option. With six pre-set settings including pressure cooking, slow cooking, searing, sautéing, reducing and steaming, the Fast Slow Pro makes getting the cooking process started incredibly simple. It even has a keep-warm function to ensure your food stays hot and ready to serve for up to two hours after it’s cooked.

Easy-to-use one-touch button settings and a generous 4.7L capacity, this is ideal for catering for up to five people. Two heat settings allow you multiple cooking options as and when you require them. A keep-warm function guarantees piping hot food whenever you eat. The countdown programmable timer allows you to set your cook time, ranging from 30 minutes to 20 hours. The digital timer will count down the minutes and automatically switch the cooker to warm when cooking time is up. Removable stoneware, which doubles as a convenient serving dish, and safe glass lid are all dishwasher safe, for ultimate convenience.

This basic cooker will do the job. It has three heat settings – low, high and auto. Low is for simmering and slow cooking, high is for faster cooking and auto is a standard setting, which cooks food on high until the correct temperature is reached, then keeps it warm until ready to serve. Its heating element encircles the crock for even cooking and it has a dishwasher safe ceramic cooking pot, while the glass lid allows you to see what’s cooking. Just right when cooking for one or two.

OUT FOR TEA So the cupboard is bare and you did not prep the slow cooker. If you take the little ones to a fast-food place are there really healthy options on offer?

Burger King, 34 Greenham Road Best choices are nuggets, hamburger or veggie burger and Apple Fries to replace French fries. All nutritional information is on their website, but a veggie burger is 330 calories and 12g of fat.

Nuggets are 190calories and 12g of fat. The kiddie-sized burger is 260 calories and 9g of fat. No soft drinks come with kids’ meals – like McDonalds – just milk, chocolate milk, apple juice or water.

Pizza Express, Market Place, Newbury The Piccolo menu at Pizza Express has, for example, Bolognese, mushroom béchamel pasta, American pizza with pepperoni, but healthiest is the Pollo Salad – torn chicken, Cos lettuce, roasted red and yellow peppers, light mozzarella and light house dressing, served with polenta chips or dough balls. Three courses for kids is £6.95. A healthy dessert is

DISHING IT UP Three fun ideas for mealtimes Disney 3-Piece Disney Princess Story Telling Melamine Set, Amazon £7.99. This very girly set Includes a plate, bowl and tumbler Churchill Wheels on the Bus 4 Piece Breakfast Set, John Lewis £30. Included inside this gift box from Churchill is a plate (17.2cm), a bowl (13cm), a mug (284ml) and an egg cup (6.5cm). Twisted Envy Whatever Ceramic Tea Mug, Amazon, £5.99. For the teenager in your life…

a Bambinocinno, a frothed milk drink with a sprinkle of chocolate powder. The traditional dough balls come with a fresh salad of crunchy cucumber and red baby plum tomatoes.

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