Well Being and Health – Easy Ways To Make The Most Of Vegetables

Easy Ways To Make The Most Of Vegetables

 

We often throw away a lot of fruit and vegetables that have a habit of going off before we get around to using them. In this post today I’m going to outline the ways in which I make the most of vegetables and how easily you can so to.

 

Sabrina’s Top Tip is to invest in a blackboard or a meal planner or even both! That way you won’t forget to use what’s in your fridge! Plan out one night a week that is a Treat Night where you can have something tasty like chips with your evening meal, but otherwise mix up your vegetables so as not to get bored with the weekly selection.

 

Buy Frozen

You often get a lot more veg for your money with frozen, and it’s just as good for you with most brands choosing to freeze hours after the vegetables are picked. Frozen often gives you more per kilo as well, with things such as broccoli because you’re not paying for the weight of its stork, or spinach for example which is frozen in far larger quantities than you find it in fresh packets. Frozen veg also has the added benefits of you only using what you need each time rather than you wasting with cutting sections of fresh veg up when preparing them.

 

Make a Soup or Sauce

Usually I make a soup or a sauce out of veg that needs using up, or left over veg that wasn’t all eaten during something like a roast dinner.

 

Use your Peelings – They are the most nutritious parts!

If you often peel potatoes, parsnips, carrots and sweet potato, but throw those peelings away, you should consider making your own vegetable crisps out of them.
A greatly tasty and healthy snack for children between meals or as a starter while the evening meal is cooking. Keep them for 48 hours in a clean lidded Tupperware box to keep the crunch!

 

Save Money By Using the Stems

If you prepare Cauliflower and/or Broccoli regularly, do you ever use the stems? There are a few options to save you throwing them away.
Make Cauliflower Rice by putting the stems and any left over florets into a processor to make cauliflower rice.
Make an easy vegetable curry by cubing the stems of cauliflower with any left over potato and cook them a little longer than you would usually to soften them up.
You can take broccoli stems and either shave them finely using a peeler and fry them with stir fry vegetables or dice them and add them to pasta dishes.

 

Buy Seasonal to Save Money

Look into buying Seasonal Vegetables that are on offer in Supermarkets. Some of the larger ones in the United Kingdom do weekly deals too! Make sure you plan your week around this and use up the items that will spoil first so as to ensure no waste.

 I hope you’ve enjoyed this short post and my vegetable tips!

✩ Sabrina ✩

 

Reviewing the Wacom Bamboo Fineline 3 Smart Stylus


Wacom Bamboo Fineline 3 Smart Stylus

The Wacom Bamboo Fineline 3 Smart Stylus is an ergonomically designed piece of equipment ideal for writing notes on certain apps. It’s black and grey with a similar length to an ordinary pen, but triangular in shape.

The Bamboo Fineline is created for Apple products with iOS. There are Wacom apps available to download from their website in order to use the stylus. I tested these using my iPad and iPhone and found it worked better on the iPad due to the screen size.
The stylus has a usb charging cable (included) and a retractable tip.

The App available is called Inkspace and you can use Bamboo Paper to write and edit using the stylus. It was fairly easy to pair with my devices and once that was done it’s easy to use.

The Bamboo Fineline is designed for natural writing and has pressure sensors and many smart features. One of these is a shortcut button and the other is it’s ease in pairing with note taking apps. I found the stylus was accurate when I was using it to write. What is written can be exported to other Apple apps.

I have also discovered it works well with apps sensitive to touch such as colouring apps. I was able to use the stylus on the Colourfy App where I used it to colour in some pictures.

Ease of Use 4/5
Accuracy 5/5
Battery Life 5/5
Compatibility 4/5

Over all I feel like this stylus is a great item for people who specifically need this type of technological equipment. If it will be used regularly then it’s a great tool that is very useful. It’s a shame that it is only compatible with certain apps and devices. It is obviously only usable with Apple products which could put some people off. But it’s accuracy was excellent, it’s lightweight and portable which really go in its favour.
I would consider using it every time that I use my colouring in apps now, where as before I tested this product I hadn’t even considered using a stylus.

Thank you to Argos Testers for allowing me to Review this product.

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Here are some images of my using the Stylus and the results when using it of Colourfy.

Above: Writing on the Wacom Bamboo App – Bamboo Paper.

Above: A result from Colourfy using the Bamboo Fineline Stylus.

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Thank you for reading this short review post today. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

✩ Sabrina ✩

Reviewing Baby Items – Newborn Nappies

Reviewing Baby Items – Nappies

Hello Severn Wishes followers! Today I am talking about Nappies! In fact I am doing this short review post today about which Newborn Nappies we found to be best. I am comparing on several different levels.

Our son is moving on to the next size up now, and it’s been interesting to look back at what we have tried and tested and what has worked for us. And it’s also been useful to compare prices! We shopped around to be competitive and even tried other brands because other brands were expensive.


✩ Newborn Nappies Tried & Tested ✩
✩ Pampers – Size 1 Newborn 22 Nappies for £2.50 – £4.00
✩ Tesco Loves Baby – Size 1 Newborn 25 Nappies for £0.85 – £1.00
✩ Aldi Mamia – Size 1 Newborn 24 Nappies for £0.85
✩ Boots Baby – Size 1 Newborn 24 Nappies for £2.50 

✩ Scores ✩

✩ Pampers ✩
Design 5/5
Fitting 4/5
Sticky Tabs 4/5
Wee Indicator 5/5
Details – 4 – 11 lbs (2-5kg), Wetness Indicator. Quilt lined so as to pull wetness away from baby’s bottom. Soft materials used and air channels to keep the skin breathable. Navel friendly shape and design for newborns. Nappy design has size increase indicator lines. Recommended by the British Skin Foundation.
My Opinion – The design is great on Pampers, they are soft and have a good fit. We have had over 100 of these nappies and only 1 that leaked. I would purchase these nappies but only on special offers and not at full price. 

✩ Tesco ✩
Design 5/5
Fitting 5/5
Sticky Tabs 5/5
Wee Indicator 5/5
Details – 4 – 11 lbs (2-5kg), Wetness Indicator and it has Soft Cord Protection. Hypoallergenic and Dermatologically Tested. Nappy design has size increase indicator lines. The sticky tabs are strong and they are also a different colour which makes it easier to see on those sleepy nappy changes in the middle of the night. It has a nice colourful design as well.
My Opinion – Overall a great fitting nappy that is soft for baby and affordable too. We haven’t had any nappy malfunctions as yet and we have now used over 300 of this type.
 

✩ Aldi ✩
Design 5/5
Fitting 5/5
Sticky Tabs 4/5
Wee Indicator 5/5
Details – Size 1 is 4 – 11 lbs (2-5kg), Wetness Indicator and Soft Cord Protection. Hypoallergenic and Dermatologically Tested. Anti Leak System and Breathable Soft like Cotton. Nappies are made from fibres that are from sustainable forests. With a cute character on the front and size increase indicators.
My Opinion – Very soft and easy to apply with the long sides and long frills to prevent leakages, a great nappy overall. We have been very happy with the ones that we purchased, both quality and price.

✩ Boots ✩
Design 3/5
Fitting 3/5
Sticky Tabs 3/5
Wee Indicator 4/5
Details – Size 1 is 4 – 11 lbs (2-5kg), Wetness Indicator and Soft Cord Protection. Hypoallergenic and Dermatologically Tested. Basic Design.
My Opinion – We had 3 Nappies leak out of the 24 in the pack. They were not as soft as other brands either and I had two nappies where the tabs came clean off during a nappy change rendering that nappy unusable.

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Overall Thoughts

I would happily continue with either Tesco or Aldi Nappies. We prefer shopping in general at Tesco though, so we wouldn’t go out of our way to find an Aldi store just to get their nappies. However if we were passing one or heading there for another reason I would more than likely stock up on a few of their Mamia Nappies, they are good quality and very affordable. The Tesco Loves Baby Nappies have been best overall while staying affordable, and the bonus is that we get points on our Tesco Rewards card.

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Thank you for reading this short review post today. I hope that I have given you an insight into the world of Newborn Nappies and if anyone needed some inspiration on what brand to try… you now have my opinions.

✩ Sabrina ✩

October 2018 Treatbox Reveal

Hello and Welcome to the October 2018 Treatbox Reveal
with Sabrina of Severn Wishes Blog.

Happy Treat Box Day Everyone! So it’s officially Autumn (as of a few days ago) and we are all counting down to the next “Holiday” which of course is Halloween!

This month the Treatbox  is “Positive Vibes” and as Autumn begins… leaves are changing and the nights are drawing in. Colder days are upon us and I hope that this box will reflect this seasonal transition…

The tissue paper is pale blue as I opened this box. The little sticker reads “Hello You”.

Here are all of the contents of the October 2018 Treatbox. Remember to check your calendar print information because there are often variations in some items with their flavour or their colour for example.

This month there are 5 physical items in the Treatbox plus a Calendar Print and two A5 Prints as well.

 


Calendar Print – October – Smile! Leaves changing…
2 A5 Prints – “Be Kind” & “Do It For Yourself”
Coaster “Good Vibes” – exclusive to Treatbox
Dark Grey Scarf – 100% Polyester
Vitamasques – Sleep in Mask – Made with Avocado
Kokoa smooth Venezuelan Hot Chocolate Stir-Ins! We get 3 in the Packet and they are 58% Cocoa.

Melting Pot Fudge – Traditional Butter Flavour – made in Ireland

Here is a selection of my photographs of this month’s box, I hope you enjoy seeing the items up close and if you have any questions about any of them please leave me a comment at the end of the post, I will do my best to find you an answer.

My Favourites

My favourite pieces in the box this time have been the Grey Scarf, the two Prints and the Hot Chocolate Cocoa Stir-Ins. I cannot wait for a cold afternoon where I can enjoy the hot chocolate. The prints are always great for building positive thoughts through ones day.


My Overall Opinion

I really liked that the box resembled (in my opinion) an afternoon of relaxing. You could go for a walk with your lovely new Scarf keeping your neck warm. Once home you make your Hot Chocolate, while it’s too hot to drink you stand your mug on the Treatbox Coaster, enjoying eating the bar of Fudge as you relax in your favourite chair.

It was great to try new brands and new things in this month’s box as well.

The scarf is nice quality and soft to the touch, and I liked the over all positive theme.

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Are you thinking of ordering a TreatBox for yourself or for a gift for someone?
Then you can find Treatbox subscriptions and build your own box at their website https://treatboxuk.com/

If you aren’t sure on whether to try a TreatBox for yourself or not I would say order a one off box, and then if you’re happy with it you can always subscribe afterwards. Check out my previous posts on the Treat Boxes I have received so far, in this unique category of my website called ‘Treatbox’ especially for these box reviews and reveals – Severn Wishes – TREATBOX

Thanks for reading this months box reveal today, if you have any thoughts you would like to share or if you have purchased a box after reading one of my reviews then I would love to hear your from you, why not leave me a little comment in the section below. If you have any questions about any of the items from this month’s Treatbox then please get in touch I am more than happy to answer them if I can.

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Thanks for reading this post everyone! I hope you enjoyed this Reveal.

So finally don’t forget that Severn Wishes website isn’t just about Treatbox! I write about every aspect of my life and review many a variety of things and other boxes sometimes too. So if you enjoy this reveal then why not check out my other categories.

Thank you for your on-going support for me and my blog, I hope you have a wonderful month! Don’t forget you can follow me on Social Media to see what I’m up to on a daily basis…

✩ Sabrina