Tesco Beautifully Balanced Tandoori Chicken

Tesco sent me some vouchers to try their new frozen beautifully balanced range as part of their Orchard scheme*...

'"Our new Tesco Beautifully Balanced range of ready-meals, soups and pasta sauces are expertly prepared with great quality ingredients, then frozen to keep all that fresh flavour locked in. So it’s really easy to enjoy deliciously healthy food in a flash."

I chose the Tandoori Chicken which it suggested microwaving (from frozen) for 12 minutes. I'm always a bit dubious about microwaveable frozen chicken, and was expecting a dry, tasteless (although apparently healthy!) meal. The pack contained two chicken breasts in a Tandoori sauce with red onion and red & yellow peppers. I couldn't fault it on Tesco's promise of it being ready in a flash, and I served it with easy cook rice, which meant that my entire dinner was ready in less than 15 minutes. 

The chicken breasts were nice and plump, and actually retained a lot of moistness despite being subject to the wrath of my microwave. The peppers were succulent- even my other half ate them who normally refuses to eat any veg. I was actually really impressed! The sauce had a certain kick, but just an enjoyable heat and certainly not a sweat inducing intensity. Anyone who says you can't eat healthily when pushed for time and on a budget (the pack should have cost £3) should give this range a go! 

8/10   

*If you shop at Tesco and you're not part of the Orchard scheme, I suggest you sign up! It's a free service run by Tesco, who invite you to try certain 'programmes' where you can try certain ranges or products for a fraction of the price- or most of the time completely free. 

New Warburtons Giant Crumpets

I love a good crumpet because I think it's about as acceptably close as you can get to eating Yorkshire Pudding for breakfast. I don't know if that makes any sense to you, but I'm comparing the satisfying doughiness that you just can't get with bread. Anyway, Warburtons have just bought out giant crumpets and I couldn't be happier about it.

I bought the pack of two from ASDA for the reasonable price of 50p. They were packaged well with a protective plastic case to prevent them from getting smushed in transit. I decided that I couldn't wait until breakfast and so threw the boat out and had them for dinner with some cheese, beans and sliced frankfurter sausage.. Well actually, that's a lie, that's not the reason I didn't wait until breakfast- I just couldn't be faffed to cook and this was a super quick supper solution.

The crumpets, though large, fitted nicely into the toaster. They took a couple of minutes longer than their smaller counterparts, but my whole dinner was ready in less than 5 minutes. Jamie Oliver could learn a thing or two about speedy meals from me, haha!

Fans of Warburtons crumpets, don't be scared, these Giant Crumpets are just as good as the smaller ones. They're soft, and fluffy, and.. well.. just heavenly! I didn't think crumpets could be improved upon- but Warburtons have proven me wrong. I can't wait to have my next one smothered in peanut butter!

9/10