Fabulous Finds for September 2017

Warning, this month my Fabulous Finds are mostly food related so this post might make you hungry. I have some brilliant dairy free products to share with you as well as some lovely children's bubble bath, another fantastic children's clothing range and a personalised phone case which is doing a great job protecting my phone from my children.

Collage of the 9 images below


InfaCare Night Time Baby Bath*

A good bedtime routine can help children go to sleep faster and sleep longer. Bath times are part of our bedtime routine and they are a relaxed affair as part of wind down time getting Little Sister ready to go to bed. I have used InfaCare Baby Bath on and off for 6 years so I was interested to try the Night Time version with my youngest. I started using InfaCare baby bath because it was gentle on my eldest daughter’s sensitive skin, but it also mades lots of long lasting bubbles. InfaCare Night Time is as lovely as the original, but with a gentle relaxing fragrance to help with bedtime. It is mild enough for children from 1 month old and clinically tested to be gentle on skin. I’m a big fan and so is Little Sister.

A 750ml bottle of InfaCare night time baby bath ultra mild surrounded by bubbles

Bonne Maman Mirabelle Plum Conserve*

I regularly go to France and while there I love to go to the supermarket to check out all the food that we don’t have in the UK. Many brands have slightly different ranges available abroad and I love to try new varieties from old favourites. The range of Bonne Maman products in the 'supermarché' is impressive and one of our favourites is the Mirabelle plum 'confiture'. I was excited to find that the conserve is now available in the UK bringing with it memories of sunny days and fresh bread. My eldest says it tastes like honey and I like that it has a more subtle flavour than strawberry or raspberry (our other favourites). It’s perfect on a bit of french baguette or toast.

A jar of Bonne Maman Mirabelle Conserve next to fresh french bread and a gite in the background


Free From Belgian Chocolate Rocky Road

When someone comes to your house and brings you dairy free treats you know they are a good friend, but not necessarily good for your waistline. Mummy Gadget Geek recently visited recently and brought these Lazy Day Foods Free From Rocky Roads (found in Morrisons) and I’ve had to buy a few more packets since. They are free from dairy, gluten, wheat and egg (and vegan too). The factory is allergen free other than Soy so these should be safe to eat for most people with a food allergy. The dark chocolate base part is somewhere between a squidgey chocolate brownie and soft ganache with shortbread pieces, sultanas and glace cherry. It is topped with little vegan marshmallows. There are a number of other treats in the range which look delicious, but I haven't tried yet.

Lazy Food Days Free From rocky road box next to a piece of Rocky Road covered in mini vegan marshmallows

Betty Crocker Icing

I’ve known for a while that the Betty Crocker cake mixes don’t contain dairy (although they do contain the worrying message that they make contain milk ingredients like they have forgotten what they actually put in), but I didn’t really see the point in making some of them without having suitable frosting to go on. I only realised this month that their ready made tubs of icing are also dairy free. Since finding out I have made red velvet cup cakes with the vanilla butttercream style icing and a carrot cake with rich cream cheese style icing. I don’t think the cream cheese one tastes exactly like cream cheese icing, but it tastes less sweet than the vanilla icing so is good for people who don’t want their cake too sweet. Thanks to my recent baking my youngest has learnt the word “cake”, but what she really means is “icing” as she prefers to crumble the cake part than eat it.

A tub of Betty Crocker's Rich Cream Cheese Style Icing and a tub of Vanilla Buttercream style icing

Little Dickens & Jones 

When I took Big Sister shopping for a dress for her 6th birthday party I was expecting it to be a long and painful experience. We parked at Lakeside next to House of Fraser and as we walked through the children’s section with lots of (expensive) designer clothes M went straight to a dress she loved. It wasn’t surprising she loved it as it had lots of sequins and a tulle skirt in a gentle shade of salmon pink, but I was surprised that it was only £40. The dress is part of the Little Dickens & Jones collection which I hadn’t heard of before. They have a great range with lots of cute and stylish prints, but most importantly they are a fantastic price. I bought the girls matching long sleeve tees and M a cotton dress for £12 each. Available from House of Fraser (instore or online).

My birthday girl in her pink sequins and tulle Little Dickens & Jones dress

3 Little Dickens & Jones children's clothes items hanging on shutters: 2 matching t-shirts with a cat wearing a cold mask and a grey cotton dress with silver stars on

Pizza Express Vegan Cheese

I have long been a fan of Zizzi’s for their great allergen menu including dairy free pizza’s, but it’s good to have a bit of variety. I asked in a local Facebook group about dairy free food in our high street and I was told Pizza Express have recently started offering vegan cheese as an option on their pizza. I’m fussy about my dairy free cheese, but it was highly recommended so I thought I would give it a go. Pizza Express is really child friendly and it was great that Little Sister and I could have a dairy free pizza while the rest of our table chose the normal variety (Little had a pizza from the Piccolo childrens menu with vegan cheese). There are less options for dairy free starters than at Zizzi’s but it was great to have Pizza with (vegan) cheese at Pizza Express and not feel I was missing out.

A Piccolo and full size pizza from Pizza Express with vegan cheese on

Kirsty’s Kids' Kitchen Ready Meals

In Morrison’s this month I discovered Kirsty’s Kids' Kitchen meals. I have bought a number of products from Kirsty’s range in the past as they have a good range of dairy free (and gluten and wheat free) ready meals. I hadn’t previously heard of their children's meals, but as they were on offer I bought a few. The meals are the perfect size for Little Sister’s dinner: on hungry days she eats the whole lot and is full doesn’t want anything else. We have tried lasagne, chicken korma with brown rice and Sausage casserole with root vegetables. The casserole was her favourite and chicken korma my least favourite because it’s a bit too sweet for me (I didn’t eat korma’s even when I could eat dairy so I don’t know how this compares). They can be cooked in the oven or the microwave if short on time and with a good shelf life they are well worth buying for handy meal. There are 8 varieties and there are several more which sound delicious and I want to try.

The Free From refrigerated shelves in Morrisons showing the Kirsty's Kids' Kitchen Ready Meals

Case Station Phone Case*

I love the personalised phone cases I see other parents with, but I need a phone case with a good level of protection because my phone gets dropped at least 3 times a day. I was recently talking to Case Station who said they had a range of phone cases which can be personalised with photographs and images and they even have a "tough" version with an inner TPU liner. They gave me a code so I could order one and see what they are like. I found the website really easy to use. I didn’t have an up to date photograph of my girls I wanted to use so I went for a patterned case and added my name. The case arrived quickly and fitted my iPhone 7 perfectly. Since putting the case on I have dropped my phone about 100 times (this is NOT an exaggeration) and the phone is undamaged. I recognise I am tempting fate by writing this though.

After a months (mis)use the case has some scratches on, but it still looks great. Next time I get a new case I will be heading back to Case Station, but I will probably go for a paler background so the scratches are less obvious. They do gift vouchers too if you are looking for present ideas.

Front and back view of Tough Case Station personalised iphone 7 cover with polka dots and a red label saying "Kate"

Ginger Pig Loughton

After having an encounter with a local butcher who actually made me cry through his rudeness I have been sticking to the supermarket to buy my meat. In September however that has changed with a branch of the amazing Ginger Pig opening in my local high street in Loughton. The new shop is bright, clean and full of friendly, knowledgeable staff. They have a great range of meat (including less common offerings like hogget) as well as a delicatessen selling hot and cold food. It’s not cheap, but the quality, knowledge and service mean we will be regular customers. There are currently 8 Ginger Pig shops in London/ Essex.

Two cuts of meat wrapped in Ginger Pig paper bought from the Ginger Pig Butchers in Loughton



***Disclosure: I received the Infacare Night Time, Bonne Maman Conserve and Case Station case for the purposes of an honest review***

9 comments

  1. I love the Infacare range. So gentle but really good value. I haven't tried that particular product. Will keep an eye out!

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    1. I agree that the value is excellent when you compare to other gentle baby products. This is rrp £3.49 for 750ml which is a big bottle so it lasts ages

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  2. I absolutely love infacare!!! Used it on all three of my girls - and me :) didn't know they had a new one out! Have a new addition . 12 weeks ok baby nila , definitely grabbing some xx

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    1. Congratulations, fingers crossed it helps their sleep too!

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  3. Oh how lovely is that dress!! We always park in the house of Fraser carpark when we go to lakeside, but we never look at the clothes. Must have a look next time we go x

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    1. I was so surprised at how great value they were with lots of gorgeous designs. I'll definitely keep checking back when I'm near a House of Fraser

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  4. Inficare night time bath is like gold dust here! we got a big bottle once and we used it so much that we ran out and i never found anymore! the best stuff!!

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  5. Infacare looks like one worth to try for the little one.
    http://www.onesliceoflemon.com

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  6. oh i love Bonne Maman jams etc they are always so tasty!

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