Sponsored post: Cooking made easy with Gousto

Our mission at Gousto is to make it easy for you to cook quick and delicious meals at home with quality ingredients. Our chefs devise the recipes which you choose from online and then we deliver all the ingredients to you in exact portions with step-by-step instructions. That way you can enjoy restaurant-standard meals in your own home with no food waste.

To ensure you get the freshest and healthiest produce, we source our ingredients from a carefully selected network of British suppliers. Our meat comes from a farm in Devon and most of our fish is Scottish.  Our chefs regularly devise new menus taking advantage of the best British harvest has to offer.

All this means that when you enjoy your Gousto meals, you can trust that you're getting high quality, seasonal ingredients that are sustainably sourced. Our organic produce has been awarded the Soil Association organic standard and we work closely with Love Food Hate Waste to cut back on food waste.

Gousto are offering The Simple Things readers £20 off your first box of delicious ingredients. Simply place your order at www.gousto.co.uk and enter the code SIMPLETHINGS at checkout.

Sponsored post: Found! The gift that goes straight to his heart

Struggling for gift ideas for the men in your life? The Man Box Collection from award-winning Ross & Ross Food could be the answer to your problems.  The Cotswold-based fine food company specialises in handmade pates and terrines using the best British ingredients. Each Man Box has a combination of English craft beer, British charcuterie, chutney and Great British pork crackling to form the ultimate snack box. The products are either made in-house or from local artisan producers. What man wouldn't be happy with a box full of fine British beer and his favourite snacks? 

Available in Original, Spicy and XL. Prices start from £20. The Man Box is available online at www.rossandrossfood.co.uk and NotontheHighStreet.com

Ross & Ross Food are recent winners of the Bursary Award and the Midland Street Food in the BBC Good Food Show and were Finalists in the Cotswold Life Best Local Producer. The pair currently supply their award winning pate and terrines to the likes of Harrods and Daylesford as well as number of quality fine food stores and delis.

Wordless Wednesday

Inntravel the Slow holiday people

Wordless Wednesday

 

Inntravel the Slow Holiday people.

Sponsored post: Time for some New Year TLC?

Do you need some wholesome, hearty food to get you through a cold and wintry January?  This delicious soup, brought to you by Yeo Valley, is the ultimate comfort food to keep you warm and cosy. And, what's more, it’s super speedy to make and healthy to boot! Why not put that boot camp on hold for another few days and treat yourselves to a little soul food...? Smoked Haddock and Leek Soup

Serves 4 / Prep Time 5 mins / Cooking Time 25 mins

Ingredients

2tsp oil

3 sticks of celery diced

400g potatoes cut into small cubes

1litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

2 leeks cut into disks

200g Sweetcorn, tinned or frozen

600g Smoked Haddock, skinned and cut into bite sized chunks

200ml 0% Yeo Valley Natural Yeogurt

Small bunch of parsley

What to do:

1.  In a large saucepan gently heat the oil then add the celery, put the lid on a sweat for 5mins. Add the stock to the pan along with the potato and bay leaves and simmer for 10 mins until the potatoes are tender.

2.  Add the leeks, sweetcorn and haddock and a good grind of black pepper. Bring back to a simmer and cook for a further 5mins until the fish is cooked through.

3. Remove from the heat, stir in the Yeogurt and check the seasoning then divide between 4 bowls and top with the parsley leaves.

 Notes:  For a change use half smoked haddock and half prawns.

Sponsored post: Wonderbag Perfection!

HOW VERY BETTY! This wonderful insulated Wonderbag is a real asset in your kitchen - use it to cook anything from stews or vegetable curries to simple rice and soups.   HERE'S HOW IT WORKS: You start the cooking process in your pot on your stove or Aga as normal and then place it in the Wonderbag to continue cooking without the use of additional energy.  It's a bit like having the benefit of a simmering oven without the Aga -  and all Aga owners will tell you the miracle of all-day cooking in that beloved oven. This means less time tending to  food that's cooking on the stove – time that can be better spent looking after children, earning an income or doing essential chores!

The handy recipe book will get you started and you can be comforted with the knowledge that you are saving energy and that for every one purchased a free wonder bag is sent to a family in Africa. Visit http://bit.ly/1iJ9yu2 to buy yours.

Win £100 of Joy vouchers!

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY and British fashion and lifestyle company Joy is helping to spread seasonal cheer by offering one lucky winner the chance to snag a £100 voucher - the perfect excuse for a shopping spree before Christmas! To enter, all you have to do is Like the Joy Facebook page here http://goo.gl/1tpojs

Get a pack of fresh coffee for £1!

Fresh coffee delivered to your door

LOVE COFFEE? Now's your chance to try Pact Coffee, a new London start-up which delivers fresh coffee to order the following day. The Simple Things have teamed up with Pact to give readers a bag of delicious fresh coffee for only £1 including free P&P (usual price £6.95). Pact source their coffee from some of the finest farmers in the world, hand-roast it in London and deliver next-day to ensure maximum freshness.

Simply visit www.pactcoffee.com and enter the code SIMPLETHINGS250 to claim your 250g bag for £1. All orders placed before 1pm are shipped the same day so you could be sipping outstanding coffee by this time tomorrow.

Pact is run by a group of friends on a mission to make sure customers never run out of great quality coffee again. Their carefully selected coffees are all roasted in small batches to ensure the very optimum quality, and sold no later than 7 days after roasting when they are at their best.

If customers like their beans ground, the Pact team will grind them minutes before they are sent, then seal in a special valve bag which keeps coffee fresher for longer. They also make sure to grind it to suit the coffee machine customers use at home (fine for espresso, coarse for cafetiere and everything in between).

There is no commitment or trickery, cancel anytime. Future bags are £6.95 with free P&P. For full terms and conditions go to www.pactcoffee.com/terms

Wordless Wednesday

Inntravel the Slow Holiday people.

Save 20% on yurt hire

*Sponsored post

Claim 20% off our normal hire rates at Yurtiva.com! 

Yurtviva are a friendly, family-run business. Our yurts are strong but naturally beautiful, rustic structures, that are highly versatile. We hire our hand-crafted yurts for all special occasions including weddings, festivals, children's parties, corporate events, workshops, gigs, re-enactments, craft fairs, sleep-overs, parties & celebrations and much, much more. 

Our yurts are a stunning alternative to a marquee or tent at a fraction of the cost. We offer free-floating yurts (no upright pillars) allowing for a far more spacious and practical space.

We have been making yurts since 2007 and all of our yurts are made by hand, using locally sourced materials. They take months to build with care and precision; the wood is processed by hand as is the stitching, which gives each yurt a unique, bespoke look and feel, giving you a truly stunning setting for your celebration!

Yurtviva have a range of yurts on offer from the small 4 metre yurts, which are particularly good for children's events to our huge 12 metre yurt “Colossus” (pictured) which is perfect for weddings & festivals.

The Yurtviva team are a friendly crew who aim to give you a special and memorable setting without a huge impact on the earth, adopting the 'leave no trace' policy.

Each yurt can be dressed to suit your personal needs and tastes and we offer a free consultation upon booking, to discuss all the fine details of what you might need for your special event!

If you're looking for the 'WOW' factor for your celebration, a Yurtviva yurt will certainly fit the bill!

Visit www.yurtviva.com and claim your 20% hire charge discount.