Review: Morphy Richards Flavour Savour Slow Cooker

Morphy Richards made my Mum a very happy lady just before Christmas as they sent her a 4.5 litre Flavour Savour digital slow cooker to try out and report back on. Mum is not much of a writer so she has asked me to write up her thoughts and I was also lucky enough to get a go with the slow cooker and to try a couple of meals cooked in it.

For ages both my Mum and I have wanted a slow cooker, so this was the perfect opportunity for us to try out a few recipes. The Flavour Savour is a really nice model as it has 3 functions: quick brown to seal your meat, fast stew to cook for between 1 hour 30 mins and 1 hour 45 mins and traditional slow cooking for between 4 hours and 11 hours.

Firstly Mum used the fast stew function to make a spicy sausage casserole. Firstly she used the brown function to brown off the sausages and drained off any excess fat.  Then all the other food got put into the same pot and the fluid put into the cooker  as well and it was then left to cook for 1 hour 45 minutes.  Once cooking finishes the cooker automatically goes into keep warm mode and holds the food at a constant temperature for up to 2 hours.

Browning the sausages

At the start of the cooking process

Sadly she forgot to take a photo of the finished meal but it was very good I am told!

Plus Points for the Flavour Savour Slow Cooker

• Large steel cooking pan which is lightweight and easy to carry due to the handles.  It can also be used on a gas or electric cooker hob.
• Stay cool handles on the pan and lid. The lid is also glass so you can see how your meal is cooking.
• Simple digital display settings.
• Cord storage in the base for smart storage.  You can also store the base in the cooking pan if you wish.
• It has  stylish exterior and does not look out of place left out on the work surface.
• Versatile that it can be used for fast or slow cooking.
• Excellent browning function for meat and onions, keeping down mess and minimising the pans used.
• Dish and lid are dishwashable and came clean very easily.
• Easy to understand and follow instructions

I asked Mum the question we all want to know, what could be better or where was the flavour savour slow cooker not up to scratch and I have to be honest she could not fault it and could give me no reason why it was not an excellent buy.  The only comment she had was to shop around and find a good price as that would make it even better!

Then when I was down at Mum and Dads just after Christmas we tried out the slow cooker function and had a beef and tomato casserole A few more pictures for you:

Quick frying the onions

Yet again we forgot to take a photo when the stew was finished and we had to take a photo of the last dregs once we had all eaten.  Do you get the feeling that we all like our food? 

I have to say that the flavour savour makes a superb meal and with the very minimum of fuss.  I was really pleased, as was Mum who give it a 5/5.

The 4.5 litre Flavour savour retails for £89.99 and the larger 6.5 litre model is £99.99.  I have to say that the 4.5 litre easily made enough food for 6 adults to eat a good portion. You can check out the full specification on the Morphy Richards website for some super recipe ideas and great deals.

Morphy Richards have teamed up with Age UK to put together a portfolio of products that are suited to the older generation.  Making it easier for them to perform everyday functions that younger people take for granted.  Whilst my Mum is officially an OAP she is in fact a very fit and active woman.  However I am pretty sure that if my Nan, at 84 tried to use the flavour savour she might find the pan too large and too heavy for just her living alone. The super thing about this range is that Morphy Richards are making a donation to Age UK for every item sold.  I can heartily recommend the Accents One Cup water boiler that I trialed a few months back and then gave to my Nan.  I saw her just after Christmas and she told me it was a godsend at 4am when she can not sleep and wants a quick cuppa!

Many thanks to Janelle, who has been a superb contact over the last year whilst I have been a Morphy Richards House Proud Innovator.  I am enjoying working with such a great brand.

Disclosure:  This is a review post.

Review & Giveaway: Morphy Richards Meno Milk Frother

How do you feel about cappuccino or a nice frothy cup of hot chocolate just like you get in Costa?  Yep, I love them too and therefore when I received the new Meno milk frother from Morphy Richards I was pretty chuffed.

This mini kettle (the Meno) has made friends with it's big brother in my kitchen and is sitting along side him making me divine drinks each evening.  For I am being strict with myself and just having them on an evening.  It could be quite dangerous (without even having to mention the word addictive), if I start to drink milky drinks all the time I know that a tubby like me will pile on the pounds!

The Meno milk frother is capable of making hot frothy milk for things like cappuccino and hot chocolate (or babyccino as my kids love) as well as cold milkshake drinks. It is very easy to use, pour in the milk, twist and lock the lid and press the button, a couple of minutes later and you have perfect forth, be it hot or cold.  I have to say the heat and froth function is my favourite.  Just take a look at this picture, the froth is great, it stays really firm and makes for a fabulous drink.

I have to say that in all honesty I was not as impressed with the milkshake function which froths the cold drink.  It was not as frothy and bubbly as I might have expected but was still good. Actually JJ told me it was excellent, so what do I know?

Once you have used the milk frother it is actually really easy to clean.  None of it can be immersed in water so it is just a case of washing with hot water, a mild detergent and a soft cloth.  It took seconds literally.

The Milk Frother retails at £59.99 from Morphy Richards but if you fancy buying one then you can have a 30% discount when you use the following code MFH6030 and purchase direct from the Morphy Richards site prior to 6th May 2011.  Just enter the code at the check out stage.

That takes the cost down to £42.00 and if you consider that the hot froth gives you a drink as good as you get when you buy from Costa or such, it will have paid for itself in no time!!

One last thing, those lovely people at Morphy Richards have given me one of these super kitchen gadgets for one lucky reader to win.

To enter:

• Mandatory- Subscribe to my blog, either click the google follow button on the right or the RSS feed one and leave me a comment to say you have done so, making sure you leave me a way to contact you if you are the lucky winner.
• For an extra entry - Tweet I'm in to #win a @LoveYourMorphy milk frother from @michelletwinmum 's #giveaway http://bit.ly/gnYBxd

Terms and conditions:

• The competition closes 12 Noon 1 May 2011
• The winner will be contacted within 3 working days of the giveaway closing
• Open to UK & Ireland residents only
• The milk frother will be posted directly from Morphy Richards
• The prize is not transferable and there is no cash alternative

Good Luck!

Congratulations to @utterlyscrummy who is the lucky winner of this great prize.  This email or DM me your address so I can pass this on.  Thanks, Mich x
This is a review post.  I was sent this item free of charge for the purposes of this review.  I was not instructed what to write and I remain honest.

'You Iron on a Saturday Evening?', Review & Giveaway

I often get strange looks when I tell people that I like to iron.  I have started to whisper it now as I realise that it makes me a bit of a leper amongst the group of mums who like to boast about how they never iron anything.  'I only buy clothes you can put in the tumble dryer and then shake out' I hear them say.  Well like I always say, each to their own.....  personally mine never shake out well enough for a perfectionist like me.

Give me a Saturday night of good cheesy TV, preferably X Factor, Casualty and maybe a stand up comedy show and I am a happy girl.  I can easily stand and iron for a couple of hours in front of the TV. Ironing is something I have grown up with, my Mum does not like it too much so it was something I did to earn my pocket money and help out at home.  I love the satisfaction of watching the ironing basket shrink and knowing that anything we want to wear is in the cupboard. As I have got older and busier the things that I iron have diminished, we do get into bed with creased sheets and the tea towels remain crinkled but that matters not to me.  It does matter to me that when my family leave our house we take pride in our appearance and look good in our well ironed clothes.

Shall I show you what a sense of satisfaction looks like to me?  There we go, 20 minutes of ironing mid week to keep the basket down!  Note they are all children's clothes, they seem to be wear double what dh and I do!

When Morphy Richards approached me and asked if I would like to trial and review one of their irons I said of course, I am more than happy to.  I was sent the latest Comfigrip iron which retails for £79.99.  This iron is full of features, all the usual ones you would expect like extra long cord, self clean, water spray and shot of steam. My favourite feature being the trizone (ceramic) plate which means that the iron glides like on silk on all fabrics, it was a beautiful smooth iron to use.  The extra large water tank and filling hole was also a little extra that made a difference to me. No fiddling around, this is well thought out and easy to use. I think any accomplished ironer would agree that constant steam is a must to get a good precise finish and this iron is great as you can adjust the levels and there is even an eco option so you can save up to 23% energy.

My one qualm with this iron is that it is heavier than ones I am used to and for me it became more uncomfortable to iron after long periods of time. So I would say this iron is perfect for someone who either does not have a lot to iron but wants a professional finish or who irons small amounts on a regular basis rather than someone like me who does a mass iron for a  good couple of hours. On the whole this is a very good iron and I am happy to recommend it, the results from using it are excellent. Lastly, just one more feature that I should mention is the auto-standby, I can imagine this would be fabulous for those with a younger baby who may just demand their attention right now while they are ironing,  You can literally run off and feel happy that the iron will shut off after 1 minute inactive face down and 8 minutes inactive in its upright position.

Here is the iron, pretty stylish right?  Or can you not get as excited about an iron as I can?

So what about you?  Do you like ironing?  Go on, you can admit it here.  This  is a safe place, all us people who actually like to clean and launder can come out the closet and celebrate being just a little bit house proud together. Talking of being house proud, why don't you take a look at the Morphy Richards site Home of the House Proud.  It is full of wonderful inspiration for cleaning, ironing, cooking and other domestic tasks.  At the moment you can enter a fun competition to be crowned the World Ironing Champion, winning a gold iron and £500. Take a look, there are three different categories you can enter, more information here.

Giveaway

Now is the chance for one of you to win the very iron that I road-tested.  So this is an iron that has been used about 5 times and is in perfect as-new condition.  I will send the iron from here at my own expense.

To enter -

• You need to leave a comment on here with a way I can contact you if you are the lucky winner (email or twitter ID)
• For an extra entry you can tweet '#win a superb iron in @michelletwinmum's #giveaway http://bit.ly/g5nTpq'

Terms and Conditions -

• The giveaway closes at noon on 11 April 2011
• The winner will be contacted within 3 days of the giveaway closing
• The prize is not transferable and there is no cash alternative
• The prize will only be posted to a UK address due to the cost of postage
• You have read and accept that this is a road-tested iron that has been used 5 times

Congratulations to Helen at Casa Costello.  You are the lucky winner, please email or DM me your address and I will post the iron out to you.


This is a  review post.  I was sent the iron for the purposes of this review.  My words and opinions are my own and I was not instructed what to write.