NOW CLOSED: Share the favourite teatime treat for your family - you could win a £50 voucher - also feedback thread for Birds Eye range testers

[AnnMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Birds Eye testers who are getting their family to try items from the Birds Eye range in the run up to Mother's Day.

This is part of the Birds Eye "Teatime Handover" project which is all about encouraging families to prepare, eat together and have fun teatimes together - each family were sent £15 of Birds Eye and supermarket vouchers and have been tasked with making a teatime meal for Mum in the run up to Mother's Day this year.

Birds Eye would like to invite all MNers to share on this thread their best teatime treat in your family - whether savoury or sweet - what goes down well at teatime in your household? Add your comment and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one winner will get a £50 John Lewis voucher

If you are a tester please share with us how your family got on with making tea for you - let us know...

~ who normally cooks the family meal in your family
~ who was involved in this task and how they got on
~ what they prepared and how - if they jazzed up the Birds Eye products - did they try out any recipes? Do include links if you can.
~ what your verdict was on the meal? Did your children like it? Did your partner?
~ any other comments?

Everyone who takes part will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks
MNHQ

PS: For easy recipes and Teatime Handover tips visit www.facebook.com/BirdsEye.

Not a tester.

I cook all the food at home, DD (2) will often 'help' . The treat that everyone loves is homemade garlice bread - it's really cheap too. I just use sliced bread, spread a thin layer of garlic puree on (we always have it hiding in the fridge), drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle on some parsley (I buy the frozen ready to use stuff as it tastes as good as the fresh stuff but cheaper and is ready to use) and a bit of pepper. Sometimes for a special treat I sprinkle some cheese on top of this. It just goes in the over (around 200 C) for ten mins and it's ready. Goes with pretty much any savoury dish as an accompaniment, is a great way to use up old bits of bread, really cheap and quick, and the family love it - win win

Garlic not garlice

We love toasted sandwiches with cheese and tomato :)

not a tester.
in our house its 99% me who cooks, i tend to cook twice - once for kids then again later for us. not really tried any of the birds eye stuff but i would do if i see it, im quite open to it for convenience but would have to try it first to see if it tastes okay.

my kids fave teatime treats is more likely to be the unhealthy things like if i give them chips or spagetti hoops they love it!! but also some healthy like corn cobs and cucumber

My dcs seem to enjoy everything just that bit more if it's made into a picnic - so even something simple like cheese and crackers gets a very good reception if eaten on a picnic rug in the living room.

Otherwise, they really enjoy tortilla wraps or pancakes they can fill and roll up.

Fish fingers is a treat for us when we need a speedy supper

Who normally cooks the family meal in your family

I normally cook dinner when we are all together, on most week nights it is just my son and myself at weekends and for this meal it was my partner and his two sons as well making 5

Who was involved in this task and how they got on

My son aged 16 took responsibility for the meal, he went shopping with the voucher, I had asked him to prepare it for the evening of Mothering Sunday as my partner was away with his youngest son and I was on a retreat with my bible study group. I was a little concerned to return and find that he had returned from the shops with 2 packets of Southern Fried Chicken, 2 packets of peas, 2 packets of sweetcorn and a pint of double cream!! He seemed to think he knew what he was doing so I told him what time we would need to eat and let him get on with it.

What they prepared and how - if they jazzed up the Birds Eye products - did they try out any recipes? Do include links if you can.

He cooked the chicken in the oven, then he boiled the sweetcorn and peas and at my suggestion mixed them with some boiled basmati rice. He made the cream into a cream and mustard sauce for dipping the chicken. The recipe for that was one that he had used in his Food Technology class at school and I don't know where it was sourced from

My partner's children helped with serving and pouring drinks etc and his eldest loaded the dishwasher and tidied the kitchen after supper.

What your verdict was on the meal? Did your children like it? Did your partner?

It was very nice, we all enjoyed it including my partner's 9 year old son and his 16 year old who is quite a fussy eater. My partner said it was really tasty and we all had seconds of chicken and sauce.

Any other comments?

I think sometimes we underestimate how competent the family can be at preparing a meal, it is very easy to just do it yourself as you know you can do it quickly and efficiently, I think I would be more willing now to let them all contribute to the catering

Not a tester

Best treat: Pancakes! Quick & easy and everyone loves them!

Our teatime treat is to not cook a dinner and have a picnic (usually indoors!) instead, i.e. we get lots of picnicky type food out and all help ourselves to some lovely french bread, salads, deli meat, crisps, sausage rolls etc, whatever things we have that don't need cooking! The kids love it and it means no cooking for dh!

I normally cook the family meal in our family, DP works away, we take it in turns when he is home, although dd1 (12yo) occasionally helps out and dd2 (5yo) loves to help with preperation etc.

Myself, and both dds where involved in the tasks. We planned a couple of meals, dd1 searched for recipes based around my favourite food (Mexican!) and we went shopping together. We prepared the meals together and ate together. It was fun and no arguments, which surprised me as usually they fight constantly. We worked as a little conveyer belt and dd2 learnt to peel carrots and parsnips.

We made a meal based loosely round this recipe here
We used mushrooms instead of refried beans (as we forgot to buy them!) and the kids made the salsa using tinned tomatoes, garlic, ground corriander, dried basil, a squirt of lime juice, a green pepper and chilli sauce.

The girls cut up the onions, mushrooms and a green pepper. I fried the mince, added the chopped veg and the herbs in the recipe. A handful of cheese and half the salsa went in, when melted, we wrapped them in the tortillas and topped them with sour cream, salsa, cheese and a few herbs.

We served the burrittos with Birds Eye Rice Fusion Mexican style and honey glazed carrots and parnsips. (as these needed using)

Everyone loved this meal and we where stuffed afterwards. I used 2 packets of the rice between the dcs (12, 5, 1) and I, it was about enough for us but if DP had been here, then I would have given him a full packet.

I quite like the rice, it was easy to use (microwave) and would probably use it again if it where on special offer, but I do think it is quite expensive compared to competition. (£1.74 for 2x200g)

The other meal that we had was Birds Eye 24 Crispy Chicken Dippers 440G, sweet potato wedges and Birds Eye Garden Peas And Supersweet Sweetcorn 750g.

The vegetables where fine, the sweetcorn a little chewy. The Dippers where ok although I'm not a fan of us having processed food. I was also dissapointed that the packet is a little misleading. It says '100% chicken fillet' on the front and yet the actual chicken content is only 50%. The kids did enjoy them though.

All in all, we enjoyed the challenge and my daughter's really enjoyed us selecting items and cooking together. I'm not sure I will be able to bring myself to buy the processed chicken again, maybe a packet for the freezer but it will be for an emergency tea more than something we have regularly.

I also have some pictures, but cannot find my email which tells me where to send them.

Not a tester.

Favourite teatime treat used to be pizza; then went through a scampi phase! Now I think it's probably macaroni cheese, followed by either fresh mango or homemade tiffin.

Fish pie, especially this time of year as it's real comfort food. Nice easy bung in the oven meal as well, so great for the busy family :-)

Fishfingers, preferably Birdseye - seriously!

A picnic platter of food, with chicken dippers, pizza and cupcake sized "toad in the holes"

Current favourite meals in our house are:

Pizza Pittas - small pitta bread, drizzle with olive oil, spead tomato puree on then sprinkle powdered garlic and Italian mixed herbs, add chopped pepper, cover with grated cheese. Pop under grill until cheese melts. Yumm.

Cheesy Pasta - Boil pasta, steam broccoli and salamon in microwave. Add olive oil and flour to sauce pan and mix to smooth paste, pour in half a pint of milk and heaped teaspoon of mustard. Add large handful of grated cheese and stir until cheese melts and sauce thickens. Flake salamon and break broccoli into florets then mix together. Lovely.

Not a tester
~ who normally cooks the family meal in your family
Usually my OH
~ who was involved in this task and how they got on
They made fish finger sandwiches. Both children are 2 and 3, so it was a big deal for them.

~ what they prepared and how - if they jazzed up the Birds Eye products - did they try out any recipes? Do include links if you can.
They enjoyed buttering the bread and making smiley faces on it with sauce.
~ what your verdict was on the meal? Did your children like it? Did your partner?
They loved it and enjoyed helping out.
~ any other comments?

We share the cooking in my family, and with our one year old we sit her in her high chair and talk her through what we are doing. So far there is very little that she won't eat (and long may it continue).

I'm not jsut saying it but I REALLY love Birds Eye peas and always ensure that we don't reach the end of a packet without having another to start on already in teh freezer. Any food where we can use peas is always a treat for me!!! They are fab in so many things, from thai curries, risottos to just alongside faggots and mash.

Not a tester. Favourite tea time treat is still pasta and homemade tomato pasta sauce for my daughter, jam sandwiches for my son (he lives for jam!) Birds Eye petite pois and sweet corn are always their veg of choice, even though they like most vegetables.

Tea time treat - home baking. I try to make muffins or cakes with fruit in for puddings. Blueberry, raspberry and white choc, carrot, date and apple etc.

Not a tester, but my DCs' favourite teatime treat is doughnuts for pudding, normally on a Monday night after swimming :)

we like roasted poussins with sweet potato baked in cumin and cinammon served with watercress
Quick, easy and delish: pretty healthy to boot I reckon

Not a tester but our favourite tea time treats are pancakes with a choice of toppings...lemon juice& sugar, nutella and/or jam. :)

Fish finger sandwiches!

My kids love home made spaghetti bolognese. Possibly because it's (a) tasty and (b) messy. I also let my 3 year old help with some of the simple parts of preparing the meal: pressing the button on the mini-chopper (I'm too lazy and cack handed to spend half an hour chopping all the veg by hand!) and throwing the tinned tomatoes and a couple of bay leaves into the pan.

Super-simple, extra-tasty heavenly hot chocolate sauce - can be used in a number of ways to make supper special. It's a really easy recipe, amounts are very 'ish' rather than exact so you don't have to worry if you don't have exactly the right amount of something.

Favourite ways tend to be either drizzled on ice cream (it sets hard where it's thin or the deeper bits stay hot and act as a nice bit of variety to the coldness of the ice cream) or used as a dip for chopped up fruit (or I guess bits of biscuit or marshmallows but we all prefer it with fruit). Or if it is cold from the fridge you can use it as the inside of chocolate truffles or if things are really bad just use it to OD on chocolate by eating it straight from the bowl with a spoon - can be hot or cold, tastes just as good but hot drips more and is liable to leave more evidence if you're not careful and then you get caught out when the dc realise there is only half the amount of chocolate sauce they were expecting.

To make it you need:
a large 200g bar of dark chocolate broken up - Bournville works well
a knob of butter about the size of a walnut
a good squirt of honey (or a couple of spoonfuls) - to taste
a small tub of double cream

Put the chocolate, butter and cream in a bowl and gently melt in the microwave (or over a pan of simmering water) until it's all melted, then stir together.

Mix in the cream to taste - it will take a bit more if you prefer the sauce to be less dark or you don't have to use the full carton if you don't want to. Pouring lots of really cold cream on hot chocolate can make the chocolate go a bit hard and lumpy so either let the chocolate mix cool down a bit or stir the cream in little by little to start so it doesn't go lumpy.

Taste it - add more honey or cream if needed. Taste again just to be really sure

If the dc aren't having any - a splash of liqueur works really well in it too.

Assuming you are able to go into the fridge without doing a little quality control to check it is still OK then it should last a couple of weeks (so long as the cream was reasonably fresh). It can be heated or reheated as needed, or if you are using it as a dip for fruit etc, you can just put a spoonful into a little dish and melt it for each individual so you know exactly how much everybody has.

I have dc that adore fruit but are complete nightmares when it comes to getting them to drink milk or have dairy things like yoghurt. I make theirs extra creamy and it's one way of getting something dairy into them (they are also very skinny and need the fat - if only I did too!).