My Stellar Magic Wand, Breakfast Smoothies for Picky Back to School Kids

I have a very picky eater. Last year school day breakfasts consisted of two or three cereal bars, loaded with sugar. It was better than the alternative, an untouched bowl of soggy cereal. No matter what brand or type of cereal, Michael would be fed up of it after two days, and it would get thrown away. Cereal bars worked because at least he was getting some carbs in, which experts say are vital to helping kids concentrate in school, but I was aware the other health benefits are non-existent.

A quick way of getting some healthy fruit into him, as an accompaniment to his array of cereal snack bars, is to make a smoothie. My old stick blender, literally bought in a Woolworths, had given up, so I was delighted to test out the new, powerful Stellar Stainless Steel Stick Blender.

It's quite large, but it does screw apart in two pieces for dishwashing the lower half, and storage. There is a dial on the top which varies the speed and power, and even on the lowest setting it packs a punch.

My previous stick blender had nowhere near the power the Stellar does. There is also a button for a pulse of extra power, which could help with making soups. It's definitely a space saving alternative to a large, clunky juicer. It requires less clean up and with a two year guarantee you can be confident to give it a try.

My smoothie recipe was pretty simple, raspberries, plain yoghurt, skimmed milk & honey for sweetness. Now I've seen the power in the Stellar Stick I'd be keen to try a more dense fruit or vegetable to see how it blends that. Maybe banana and try an unpeeled apple next week.

You can buy the Stellar Stick Blender for half it's RRP at £36 here.

The Chill Factor Jelly Maker- Does It Work?

Remember when we were young, if you wanted jelly you'd have to plan to ask your mum like a week in advance. By the time you bought the jelly, found time to make it, waited for it to set, it was hardly worthwhile. Now there's quick set jelly powders, and even better, ready made jelly pots.

If however you want to make your own jelly, you might want to invest in the £12.99 Chill Factor Jelly Maker this summer. 

We've reviewed the Chill Factor Ice Cream Maker previously, which I was intensely skeptical about, but which works a treat. Yet I was still suspicious of the jelly maker's claims of "jelly in minutes, not hours" as I recalled my own childhood asking, "is it set yet?" every five minutes of my frazzled mum.

We set about making our jelly, following the instructions carefully. You freeze the lower part of the device overnight. It says the freezer is where it 'lives' which makes sense, so it's always ready for making instant jelly. Otherwise the time you wait for it to freeze would be the same as waiting for normal jelly to set!

You make the jelly as the packet instructs and pour into the Chill Factor and start squeezing. The jelly mixture starts to thicken up over 3 - 5 mins. The process definitely needs an adult present, as you'll need the normal boiling water at the beginning. After the squeezing you put the stopper on the top and flip the Chill Factor over. 

You leave the mixture another minute to harden, and unscrew the top, leaving the jelly ready to eat in the lid which doubles as a bowl. 

The process didn't quite work for us, but I think we could have been more enthusiastic with our squeezing, and could have done with continuing for longer than the 3 and a half minutes. We were too eager to see the results.

Instead we put the bowl into the fridge for five minutes and when we came back to look, it had completely set. So if you can't get your jelly firm as you'd like, just pop the bowl into your fridge briefly. It's still a lot quicker than leaving it for five hours to set regularly. 

The Chill Factor Jelly Maker comes in several colours and is £12.99

Sneak Those Veggies Into Dinner Time with Pop Chef for only £9.99

Remember going to the Ideal Homes Exhibition when you were a kid? There was always a fun cutting novelty for making food shapes that Mum wouldn't buy. Well now you can get the Pop Chef for only £9.99 and it's safe for over 3 year olds to use as it doesn't have blades. Affordable, safe, quick, easy, dishwasher safe.

You can make appealing, party fruit kebabs (sticks are included in the pack). Or how about saving some pennies and shaping toast, cheese and ham and sending it to school for break instead of packs of Dairylea Lunchables. This way you can use fresh produce with no additives. 

As you can see above the Pop Chef is also useful for pretty and simple bun or cake decoration. I was very excited to try this product out; I'm the sort of adult does buy Lunchables, for themselves! 

You have six different shapes and the ends are incredibly hassle free to swap over. I tried cutting Apple, yellow pepper and toast. All cut easily. When I went to pop them however, I came stuck a little. I squeezed the orange pump and the apple didn't budge. I worked out there's a trick to it. You smack the palm of you hand down on the top of the orange part like you would to get tomato sauce out of the end of a ketchup bottle. This works a treat and the shape literally pops audibly out of the tube. So if you child is using the Pop Chef themselves, they may need to practice that part or have your help.

As it is my son is a fussy eater, so the Pop Chef will be getting used regularly from now on. 

The £14.99 Home Ice-cream Maker that Actually Works! The Chill Factor.

When I was a child I wanted, and finally got, the Mister Frostie Slushie Maker. My parents would have this look of utter misery when I'd ask to use it, as it never really was me using it, it would be them. Twenty minutes of cranking the almost impossible to budge handle, to make half a cup of broken ice. When the Chill Factor arrived with us yesterday for review, Mister Frostie was the first 'person' who sprang to mind. As my son bounced about excitedly deciding which flavour of ice cream to create first, I thought to myself, 'this is Mister Frostie's revenge'.

Nevertheless we stuck the cone in the freezer overnight, and picked up the ingredients we needed to make Oreo Ice cream this morning. All we actually needed was 100ml of cream, and some crushed biscuits. In fact all the recipes suggested in the Chill Factor instructions are two or three ingredients long. That means you know exactly what's going into your home made ice cream, sorbet or frozen yoghurt. No additives, and you can flavour using fresh fruit.

For £14.99 it's a very reasonable price for something that doesn't take up a whole cupboard to store, like a large ice-cream maker, and can help you with healthy eating as you control the ingredients. I love it. I'm freezing it up again as I type, I'm going to make myself some frozen toffee yoghurt to have while I watch tv tonight.

Let me know if you get one yourself, and which recipes you come up with.