Review: The Konjac Sponge Company ~ Konjac Baby Sponge

I received an email from Michele over at The Konjac Sponge Company asking if I'd be interested in their baby sponge. The sponge arrived with some useful information about their products, cute postcards and the lovely little sponge itself!


About the Company....

Michele Riley, is the founder and director of the Konjac Sponge Company.
She is a self confessed workaholic mother of 4 children. Michele Juggles motherhood and full time work, and endeavours to keep a "green" slant on all aspects of life. As always, she would never sell or promote anything she is not passionate about and will use for herself.

Having hypersensitive skin herself, Michele came across Konjac Sponges by total chance, and purchased one to try, she has never looked back! Impressed by something so pure, natural yet so effective she decided that the UK and Europe should have the opportunity to benefit from such a simple yet effective product.

Michele scrupulously investigated the product and the manufacturing process to ensure it was as green and ethical as first appeared. Once satisfied, she set about finding the finest most ethical and natural manufacturer in the world. Michele then quickly set to work, ensuring all the range was available for the UK and EU market.

Recently introduced to Europe the sponge has roaring success in places such as Japan, China, Korea and the USA. Made with 100% natural Konjac fibre, a food grade vegetable fibre from the root of the amorphophallus konjac plant.

The 100% vegetable sponge is naturally pH balanced, biodegradable, colouring free, vegetarian, moisture rich, compostable, naturally sustainable and environmentally safe. Ideal for use on baby's skin and also for applying make-up.

 

As the sponge is naturally moisture rich no further soap or body wash is required, however if you choose to still use some you can use much less as it will bubble more and go alot further than if it were on a 'normal' sponge or flannel. Thus making it better for your skin, your pocket and the environment!

 

The sponges were originally intended for use on children but people have grown to realise the benefits of everyone using them. The cleansing and soothing abilities make them ideal for all skin types and particularly good for those who are hypersensitive to some other products out there. 

The Konjac Baby Sponge is ideal for baby's or children (or indeed anyone) with sensitive skin or even eczema as no nasty chemicals or toxins are used. A baby's skin is more porous and can absorb harmful chemicals and pollutants into the skin 5x more than an adults, with this sponge you can safely and gently cleanse them without any damage or worry to the effect it may have.

Recently Lydia has had a rather sore bum, evil nappy rash due to her getting to hot after running around in her cloth nappy's in this heat we're having. Each bath time was a fight, the products we were using seemed to irate her sore delicate skin all the more. But what could i do? I couldn't just wash her in plain water after everything she gets up to in the day!

Lydia's first meeting with the sponge :)

So i didn't think twice and tried the sponge straight away. Using no soap or baby wash i cleaned her with the Konjac Baby Sponge and was so pleased to hear no screams this bath time! Amazing. Its soft and squidgy that amused Lydia how it felt, and it left her with really soft skin.

I like to squidge it squidge it!

I then had to sneakily use it myself when she wasn't looking, i washed my face with it. It has a funny vegetable smell but it doesn't linger or stay on your skin so that's OK, the texture freaked me out a bit but that's my own problem! My face was left really soft and i did feel cleansed and soft to touch, it certainly woke me up! Lydia then realised that Mumma was using her new best friend, and this is what happened....

....when the sponge was put away :'(

You can also use the sponge for washing baby's hair, as the sponge holds 10x its weight in water. So by gently squeezing it over baby's head you create a gentle and peaceful hair shampoo for baby :) Lovely. 

At £5.25 its only a few pounds more than a regular baby sponge, but you make your money back from all the shampoo and body wash you save.

Also being kinder to baby's skin and the environment is surely priceless?

Click here to order your Konjac Baby Sponge and view their other great products in their online shop.

Review: Organix, Toddler's Mighty Meals

We received an email from Sarah at Organix asking if we'd like to try their new toddler's dinner range, 'Mighty Meals'. She described the fives different types to us and i was very pleased to see that two of them are gluten and wheat free, being Coeliac its just what my household has to eat!

Its great to see the variety of something for everyone with the four main meats and a veggie option. Meals like these are often not free from for allergy sufferers so this was very exciting for us!

We received the Pork Meatballs and the Spinach Falafel dinners. Both looked great straight away, a great picture on the front which makes them look homemade and yummy! I love the little fork symbol at the top with the suggested age range, 1-3.

I think the portion size (200g) is just right for the age range, giving the older child other things to eat if needed. My 17mth old Lydia would eat all of this and want a yoghurt afterwards, she loves her pud!

Saying that Lydia was not interested in eating these on the two days i tried :( She's been teething and has been rather funny with anything besides yoghurt!

First we tried the Pork Meatball's in a tomatoey chickpea & sweet potato sauce

Lydia usually loves things that have a bit of pork in, with this she was happy to nibble on a meatball but didn't like the chickpeas in the sauce, once she had bitten one of them she refused to eat anymore of any of it! That was only on meatball one :(

If she wasn't in such a tetchy mood with her teething I'm sure she would've allowed me to pick out the meatballs for her to eat separately. But she was being fussy so me and daddy shared it! It was really tasty, she missed out! lol

I did find the sauce was quite dry, which is probley what she didn't like. Its the dryness of the chickpeas, so maybe a bit more tomato sauce is needed? Or you could swap the chickpeas for a more softer bean? (baked beans maybe? yummy!)

Next it was the Spinach Falafel in beany sweet red pepper sauce

Another gorgeous meal for my fussy not wanting to eat toddler to try. This time she dove in to the sauce first, chewed a bean and spat it out :( Then refused to have anything more to do with it. Again i think it was the dryness of the beans, but that's my toddler's fussiness and not the foods fault! Just have a drink with you.

This meal is the vegetarian option in the 'Mighty Meals' range, and i think it is gorgeous! I love falafel, so to try a spinach falafel was great. I'd be happy to buy this for myself as lunch!

Lovely bite-size balls for adults to eat (like the pork meatballs) but i feel they need cutting in half for the younger of the eaters out their.

A very well rounded meal with delicious flavours. And Lydia will be trying these two again once she's feeling better from teething :(

However Lydia did love playing robots with the cardboard sleeve packaging....

... funny child of mine!

So if your now hungry or fancy trying these for your toddlers then here's where you can get them!

They're on offer in Boots from the 6th May for 6wks they will have 20% off, along with other Organix goodies to try. Or buy them directly from Organix online shop for £1.99 each.

Also from June/July time they will be available from big supermarkets like Sainsburry's, ASDA and Waitrose.

Review: Village Bakery ~ Gluten and Wheat free products

The lovely Fran from  The Village bakery sent me over some of their gorgeous food to review. Included in my bundle were; Apricot slices, Date slices, 4bars seeds, 4bars fruit, 4bars nuts, ginger cake, rich fruit cake slices, rye bread and rye & coriander bread.

I am a Coeliac and have to follow a strict diet containing no wheat, gluten, malt, rye, barley or oats. This meant i was unable to try the bread or slices. However, Justin is sensitive to eating to much wheat so he tried out these for me :)

Justin tried the Apricot and Date slices first....

 

He found them to be a bit dry, much better to have them with a cup of tea rather than a snack by on its own. But he enjoyed the tasty chewy fruits inside them. A berry version would be nice.

We wondered if it was possible for them to be made without the barley malt? Then Coeliacs could also enjoy them. Being a man he thought the size of them was small, and had to eat two in one sitting!

These vegetarian friendly bars are made without wheat or yeast and have reduced sodium. Priced at £2.25 i thought they were a good price for 4 healthy and yummy snacks.

Next up it was the Rye bread, and Rye with Coriander bread....

 

Justin had never tried Rye bread before so he didn't know what to expect from it. When he first sliced it he found it quite hard to cut, describing it as a brick! It felt tough, stiff and stodgy, i mentioned that Rye bread is quite 'heavy' like that and he was happy. He described the flavour to be very strange, it was quite dry and hard to chew. I suggested that he toast it and melt butter on it, like a sun loaf or something. He enjoyed the flavour of it more once it was warmed through, but he said he wouldn't eat it again. Being a lover of coriander i thought the Rye&Coriander loaf would go down a storm with him, but no. He was really put off by the nasty colour and smell. He reluctantly tried it and didn't like it at all. I think his view would change if he 'had' to eat wheat free all the time, his taste buds would change.

Priced at £1.55 for a 400gram loaf, i think this is a great price considering other wheat free bread can cost up to £3 a loaf! Its also available with sultanas, i bet that's yummy toasted with butter!

I tried the 4bars, Ginger cake, Fruit cake slices....

The four bars come in three different variety's. Fruits, Nuts and Seeds.

Vegetarian and with no added fat these are a great healthy snack to just grab when your on the go, or put into your bag for later. Really lovely texture that's soft and not to chewy.

The fruit one contains apricot, date and orange. I'd love to see a berry version, cranberry, raspberry and blueberry maybe?

The nut bars contain cashew, walnut, hazelnut and almonds. Yummy indeed! These helped me through my nasty spout of morning sickness, a nice healthy snack with no over powering strong flavours. These ran out very quickly and i needed to buy more!

The seed bars contain pumpkin, sunflower, linseed and sesame. These were also a fantastic emergency snack, excellent to give you a little elevenses boost without ruining your appetite for lunch. I did find them a little dry. But all of the bars are moist enough to hold together without being to soft or gooey.

 

For 4bars/170grams at £2.25 i think the price is great. They are decent sized bars that will leave you happy and wanting more! Also being Organic, very low fat and sodium is an added bonus!

The rich fruit cakes slices come in pack of 5, lots of yummy cake to share. Or not, as these are the moistest, juiciest and tastiest gluten and wheat free cake bars i have EVER tried. (and i like cake! lol) I was so impressed with these. Rich and filling but so yummy and like a treat, defiantly a tea time speciality. I am certainly going to buy more (lots more) and have them at Christmas with some brandy cream, mmmmm....

I let my 15mth old daughter try these, she was that impressed that she said 'CAKE! Mmmm' for the very first time! At £2.65 for a 5pk/200grams, Get in my belly!

                                     

 

The Ginger cake is a lovely treat, and i also found out that it helps with morning sickness! With bits of stem ginger hidden in amongst the moist, tasty sponge-like loaf cake. A soft gingerly flavour that's not to over-whelming is wonderful, a perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of tea.

£3.50 for a 300gram loaf is a good price, your average price of a cake this size I'd say. To know that both of these items have been made in a dedicated wheat and gluten free factory is really pleasing. The last thing i need (being pregnant) is to be ill from cross contamination, no worries with The Village Bakery Melmerby :)

All of the packaging is excellent to! The brightly coloured, easily identifiable packaging is mostly 95% recyclable. And they all clearly state the allergens, health benefits and other needed information. Great!

Available from Sainsbury's (Free From Aisle), Waitrose, Fresh and Wild, Planet Organic and all good health food stores across the UK. Not all items are available in every shop, so please check online first or order directly from here ~ http://www.village-bakery.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1