Tag: potato

Party On: PopChips Review Extravaganza!

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Recently, the nice people at PopChips sent me a box of tasty treats to review, and by a fantastic coincidence, they arrived the day of my best friends’ birthday (they are twins… the grammar is making my head ache)! Already armed with the super delicious (but highly calorific) Kettle Chips I had already bought, I took the box along to share, and get everyone’s opinions about PopChips.
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I first heard about PopChips through Jillian Michaels’ podcast, as she’s an investor in the company (and you know I love me some Jillian). These are often listed as one of her recommended snacks on her diet plans. However, these really aren’t diet food – but then, they’re not really crisps, either. They’re puffed up discs of deliciously flavoured, 100% real potato goodness, and each bag is under 100 calories.

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Think popcorn, but crisps! So, I took my magical box to the party (not just ANY party, a 30th birthday party!) to canvass some opinions. And to be honest, some of my friends sounded like they were auditioning for a job in PR when I asked them to text me their thoughts later – they obviously really liked these crisps! (And there were plenty of Kettle Chips that got left behind that night, let me tell you.)

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This is Charlie. He had plenty to say about PopChips, all of them in handy, bite-sized slogans. He started off quizzically.

“Who would have thought you could flavour air? Crazy!”

Then he upped the ante.

“They were so good, I had my sex-face on. Mmm-mmm.”

(I did not get a sex-face photo. Sorry.)

He finished off with:

“If Sting had PopChips, he wouldn’t need tantric sex.”

Indeed! Those salt and vinegar ones must be good. (What a scamp!)

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This is birthday girl #1, Rachel! She loved the salt and vinegar flavour too, and complimented them on their crunchiness.

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This is Lorraine, birthday girl #2! She was also heavily into writing slogans when I texted her about her thoughts. “Why have crisps when you can have PopChips?!” she demanded. “Taste just as yummy but fewer calories – just what I want from a snack! Particularly liked the barbeque flavour, very tasty!”

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As you can see, Omar was initially sceptical about the idea of low calorie crisps. He is a man’s man. Man’s men don’t eat low calorie crisps. However, he was won over, and pronounced them “tasty, and surprisingly light.” Well. He was eating the manliest flavour, after all.

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Here’s Sara (you might remember her from the post about WestQuay’s new Dining area). She liked her salt and vinegar flavour, and told me she reckoned they were “a good alternative to crisps.”

Finally, my dear husband, Michael. We don’t need a quote from him. Look how happy he is, just eating those PopChips.

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Really, the face says it all, doesn’t it?

You can buy PopChips at WHSmith, Waitrose, Ocado, Boots, amazon.co.uk and many other fine retailers. Check out PopChips’ site here! Or, visit them on Facebook. Tell them I sent ya!

Frugal Potato Soup

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This is one of my most viewed photos on Flickr – I assume people are searching for it for a simple, cheap, potato recipe. Well, it’s certainly that!

It’s a tasty potato soup that in its most basic form only requires five ingredients – potatoes, garlic, onions, vegetable oil and water. You don’t even need to add stock, but seasonings might be needed, depending on your taste. I also added milk and some bacon strips to the top of mine. This soup is also better eaten the next day, and will serve around six.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 white onions
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 5 small potatoes
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 pint milk (optional)
  • Fried back bacon strip (optional)

METHOD

  • Finely chop garlic and onions together in a processor, then heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan with a lid, and add the onions.
  • Sweat with the pan covered for ten minutes, then add the potatoes and a cup of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer.
  • Cover again and leave for 20 mins, checking the water is covering the potatoes. If it’s not, add a bit more. Continue to cook until the potatoes are tender.
  • Add around a pint of water (around half a litre) and bring to the boil. (Note: if adding milk, reduce the amount of water used and add the milk at this point.)
  • At this point, you can whizz the soup down to a fine puree or mash it to leave it slightly lumpy. Taste for seasoning. The soup is now done!
  • Garnish with snipped bacon, as in the pic, or maybe with some chives. Or leave plain!

If you eat the soup the following day (recommended, as all soups gain more flavour the day after) then add some more water or milk as the potato tends to make the soup more solid the longer it sits.