Swizzels Valentines Gift Ideas For Vegetarians and Vegans (Sent For Review)

The Love Heart is synonymous with Valentines, and Swizzels Love Hearts sweets are the perfect way to pass on your messages of adoration on Valentine's Day, or any day. We've been sent some to review, along with some other goodies from the Swizzels range...and EVERYTHING they've sent me is vegan!!!

I'm vegetarian and so are several of our children. Swizzels have spent the last couple of years adapting their recipes and this year you have a whole host of sweet treats to choose from. No longer need anyone face disappointment.

I've been sent a Vegan/Vegetarian Hamper, Personalised Love Hearts Tube and some Limited Edition pink Love Hearts - all suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Valentine's Gifts For The Romantic....and the downright witty.

My partner and I have always marked Valentine's Day. With our large family and a lack of local relatives I actually don't think we've been out together for Valentine's Day since 2008, but we have had some lovely candlelit meals alone in the kitchen. We swap cards and small gifts and that's been our limit until now...

This year I've been asked by several companies if I wanted to have a look at their products for Valentine's Day. I felt like spoiling myself and my partner, so I picked the ones I liked and said yes. I just hope he doesn't actually read this...

Snapfish asked if I wanted to look at their personalised gifts, so I made a card for my partner and a photo mug with a nice picture of me on it. My partner saw I was making him one and he made one for me too, proving he really is just as romantic as I suspected...

An actual romantic meal for two! Review of The Neighbour's Chef in Oldham.

I was given the opportunity for 2 people to review The Neighbour's Chef restaurant in Oldham and I really was excited. We never go out, we don't have relatives nearby and there's always someone needs us, or a lift, or something. We could have Valentines a week early.  It's the perfect push we needed to actually take some time as a couple and dare to leave the teens in charge of the little ones. A meal out? Just the two of us? Ohhhh yes.

We booked our meal for 7.00, so by the time we arrived it was already bitterly cold and pitch black. The Neighbour's Chef is housed in a building which obviously used to be a large pub, so it's really spacious and had a good sized car park which is right off the main road and easy to spot. 

The waiter/owner came straight over and he was lovely, really keen and sat us at a nice table. He asked us if we were there through Groupon, so I had to come clean and tell him we were there for a review and bless him, he looked really nervous.

The restaurant was beautifully laid out, very spacious and neat. It was fairly early on a Thursday, so there were only 6 diners including us.

The Neighbour's Chef is so named because they wanted to bring together different foods and flavours from all of their neighbors throughout the world, so the menu features a fantastic array ranging from curries and noodles to risotto, pizza and nachos. Lots of items on the menu can be customised, for example you choose exactly how you want your pizza rather than just selecting from a list of 5.

I was especially delighted to see that the menu online is only 2/3 of the actual menu, there was an entire extra page - including a big veggie section!

It's instantly clear that the prices are really incredibly reasonable - the Neighbour's Chef Poppadum Platter at £2.25 is cheaper than it would cost me to buy 4 poppadums from my local take away, and the quality is great.

The onion chutney was incredibly fresh, I'd believe it was cut especially for us. When I make it at home it isn't that fresh when we get to eat it. There were 2 varieties of poppadum too - which is a first.

We also ordered a mixed vegetarian starter with onion bhaji's, pakora and samosas. Again it was really incredibly fresh and beautifully cooked, crispy and not at all greasy. When we'd finished there wasn't so much as a smear of oil on the plate.

Everything is freshly prepared by the in-house chefs and all of the meals are chosen for flavour, not fads or fancy names.

For main course I had the Chef's Special Vegetable Dum Pukht Biryani (at only £5.99) and my partner had Chicken Thai Green Curry. Again they were lovely - more lovely than my photography which was suffering slightly from the 2 pints of Cobra and the fact I actually had relaxed.

The Kulcha vegetable stuffed naan bread was gorgeous. I took about 20 photo's of it for some reason....and insisted on taking home what I couldn't finish....

Neither of us managed to finish our meals, and the waiter/owner was more than happy to 'doggy bag' it for us to take home - I did only take the remaining naan bread though.

Tragic as it was, we were not able to fit in a dessert, although I have a feeling I would have enjoyed anything from the menu...

Before we left, a quick visit to the loo and it was exactly as I expected. No frills but spotlessly clean.

The Neighbour's Chef is an independent restaurant run by a keen team who want you to enjoy your meal. They're very proud of their service - after we had eaten the waiter couldn't wait to bring out some amazing little tablets that turned into full sized hand cloths when he poured warm water on them.

We were asked throughout if everything was okay, but we were left alone to enjoy our meal, there was exactly the right amount of interaction.

A man who has every right to be proud of his business

I'll be honest, their website is full of spelling mistakes and 1/3 of the menu isn't even shown, but I'm not bothered because I'm not there to see how great a website they have - I'm there for the food and the experience. If they pumped all their money into website design then they could end up all hot air and no product.

I like to be able to support independent products and services, and I would definitely recommend The Neighbour's Chef to anyone. We've promised to return with our troop of children and we definitely will because the prices are excellent, the food is delicious and the staff are absolutely lovely. It's a place I would feel incredibly comfortable taking our children and I could be certain they'd ALL find something they loved on the menu. We might even go back again on our own.....

The Neighbours Chef regularly hosts special nights -
On Valentine's Day they have a Dance Performance and 3 course meal plus wine for £35 per person
On 23rd Feb they have a comedy night with Daliso Chaponda and Tony Vino and 3 course meal for £27.99 per person

Take a look at their Facebook page or Twitter feed for regular updates,
or ring them for further details - 01612585311. 

The Neighbours Chef  also serve food to take away and you can find them on the Just Eat website.

If food is the food of love....Valentine's treats you can eat.

Valentine's Day is a perfect occasion for cooks and food producers to really go to town and create some lovely products. The heart is a very easy shape to make and can be used to make a whole range of foods romantic and special. You don't have to spend a fortune, a few simple tricks and treats and you can have special Valentine's goodies for pennies.

It's easy to make a heart if you don't have one. Take some strong card - thicker than a cereal box is best - and cut a strip about 3cm tall. The length will decide how big your heart is, so experiment until you're happy with it. Fold your card in half and then fasten the open end together with tape.
 

If you want it bigger then fasten 2 pieces of card together and tape both ends. Then push one end inwards to make a heart that you can draw around or cut around. If you use food safe card (from inside a bread roll bag for example) you can even press out heart shapes from bread, pastry, fresh lasagne sheets or a multitude of other things.

Duerr's have released a special Aphrodisiac Jam for Valentine's Day this year - Strawberries and Champagne with a hint of Horny Goatweed, it's gorgeous, and lovely on a shaped sandwich or toast....
 

.....or pancakes with whipped cream for a very sweet and special Valentine's breakfast, lunch or evening supper. I'm not going to comment on the potency, but I'll tell you that the taste is great....

Heart-shaped moulds can be picked up really cheaply, we got ours free with a magazine that was £2 and chocolate is a definite win for Valentine's Day. We made it extra soppy by adding heart-shaped cake decorations. I bought a bag of thousands from ebay for less than £2.

The effect is one my assistant and I are very pleased with....

You can't mention Love Hearts without thinking of Swizzels Matlow sweets and this year there are a range of special releases for Valentine's Day. The embossed tin full of mini Love Hearts is my favourite, and they also have a selection of gifts that can be personalised on their website if you're quick! It's a great way to say "I love you" without breaking the bank.

If your loved one is unable to eat foods containing wheat or dairy, then another treat for them are these gluten and dairy free Shortbread Hearts from Orgran. We tried them at our bloggers night in last year. They're also vegetarian and despite being made without butter, the taste is gorgeous. They're a little hard for me, so perfect for dunking in a nice cup of coffee while you relax and let someone else tidy up after dinner....

 I hope you have a Happy Valentine's....

Duerr's Aphrodisiac Jam and Swizzels Matlow Love Hearts Valentine's special releases are available online or in supermarkets for a limited period. I was sent mine to review. I am a very lucky lady. I also hid the sweeties from my other half, so lets hope he doesn't read this....