You know how we love food around here and recipes and… and you may not know it but we love NOMU products too… and for our readers overseas who haven’t already seen us using NOMU products on our blog… you may need to hold your breathe while we show you the coolest treat on the block… Let me introduce The NOMU Recipe Box:
Firstly… NOMU is a company that makes well… some folk might think they make hot chocolate…
But they make a whole lot of other products too:
But the thing that I love about NOMU is their recipe cards… love!!! They publish a monthly collection of the most stunning recipe cards on their website… always a collection of different and stunning looking recipes… beautifully presented with fabulous photography. They do turn an ordinary meal into something much more interesting. Anyway for the longest time I have downloaded their recipe cards each month, honestly I have even pinned them!!! But I am the kind of person that really wants to hold a recipe in my hands to use it… I know, call me old fashioned but cooking off a screen just doesn’t work for me. So I was thrilled to see their recipe box hit the stores… Let’s take a peak inside…
And while there is room for a whole lot more cards in your box, they do give you some blank cards for your own family favourites. But wait their is more, their is still room in your box… and the publishers Penguin Books South Africa have already brought out a set of expansion packs:
So this is expansion set #1… you can chose to buy an individual package or the complete set… and add them to your collection.
Se7en + 1 Things we liked about the recipe cards:
- The box is really sturdy and would look good on any kitchen counter… though ours has yet to reach the counter because it has been on our coffee table in the lounge inspiring young chefs for a couple of weeks. Yes it takes time to review anything to do with food… you just can’t rush food, flavours need to mingle and new ideas need to settle.
- The cards are well organised into easy to use categories… in fact it is really easy to design a whole menu… check for a starter, a main, a side and a dessert and you are good to go.
- I know this is not about the food at all… but the cards are just that, good quality and sturdy, and easy to wipe clean of most splashes.
- The cards are beautiful and inspiring… my kids took a look at these recipes and wanted to try them… turns out they weren’t too difficult at all… their premise is good ingredients makes fine food… you can’t go wrong with that.
- It was a nice change to not use a cook book, it felt a lot more flexible… mixing and matching recipes… however they could put a colour code on their recipe cards, because once they are out of the box they may get a little out of order and if you live in a family with eight junior chefs… well there are some very amusing folk in our family that like to thing that chocolate ganache should be in the “MAINS” section… and another small member of the family was quite convinced that these cards were good for shuffling. Now I know not all recipe boxes would be expected to endure such abuse… but I am saying… a little colour coding on the cards or perhaps a grand collection card to place at the front of the box – for those of us who like to keep things “just so” and others of us who are convinced that white chocolate mousse is a starter.
- We did find that the recipes used ingredients that we had around the house… it was easy to whip up a loaf of bread or mini pancakes and not difficult to take the recipes from ordinary to excellent… a tub of raspberries can really re-arrange your ideas for a pile of pancakes. Of course their cards are part of their brand and all the recipes include a NOMU product somewhere… you don’t have to use NOMU products though, gasp I probably shouldn’t write that… but if, for example you don’t have NOMU salt on hand… then you could probably get by without it. That being said their products are fantastic and you can shop online, from anywhere in the world… you may want to take a peak!!!
- Now one advantage to a recipe book is that you can browse them before you buy… and it is quite tricky to browse a sealed recipe box… not to mention the expansion packs are impenetrable. So you have to rely on their good copy on the packaging telling you that the box contains 48 fabulous recipes… this may be true… but I like to know what I am getting, because there is no way I want an entire collection of recipes that only contain two or three that my family will eat. Turns out you can browse their recipe cards online… In fact, you can subscribe to their recipes online, and so be entered into a fantastic competition every single month – not that we have ever won one!!!
- The question that you have to ask is: Once you have your box of cards, and your expansion pack… why would you want to buy them again… a bit of a once off shop. But then I got thinking: These make fantastic gifts… yes a great big box of cards is a fabulous gift for someone starting a new home… but because you can buy individual packs they make fantastic little gifts too… I know plenty of folk (like eight of them) who would think a packet of recipe cards would be about the coolest gift in the world. But wait there is more… these recipe cards are just that cards… I would definitely buy a pack of these and use them as postcards to send a favourite recipe or two to friends on the far side of the world. Food photography postcards with a recipe attached… It says I am thinking of you and an easy to post gift all at the same time. Yup that so works for me!!!
And the se7en + 1th thing:
We Tried Se7en Recipe Cards…
We always try at least se7en recipes from a new cook book or recipe box… we tried to take a card from each group… of course there was the shuffle situation… but the proof is in the empty plates… Anyway I tried to find all the recipes that we made on their site… so click on the recipe and take a wander through the NOMU recipe cards online… you won’t be disappointed!!!
- Grilled Goats Cheese Bruschetta: This recipe has a lovely little fancy addition of parsley oil… Well three times I made the goats cheese bruschetta and three times the tray was eaten before we remembered to make the parsley oil… lets just say… goats cheese bruschetta has landed on the menu!!!
- Indian Chicken Curry: Because my family loves curry… loves curry!!! So we had to try the curry recipe…
- Rustic Potato Chips: The recipe link is not quite the card we used, which was much simpler just potatoes, oil, rub, salt… and rosemary from the garden tossed in for good measure.
- Apple and Cinnamon Hot Cakes: These are our new rainy day go to… just saying!!!
- Apple Galette: Our firstborn dived into this recipe with gusto… and he has been making baking sheets of apple galette since he mastered this new skill… No one is complaining!!!
- Farmstyle Bread: Because bread is something we make everyday… my kids were happy to try a new recipe out!!!
- And then we couldn’t decide: Oven Baked Cinnamon Donuts or Churros and Hot chocolate Dipping Sauce… We may have to give both a try this weekend!!!
A Little GiveAway for Reading so far…
And finally as a special treat for our readers… I bought an expansion pack for you to share… So leave a comment and say what they think of recipe cards vs. recipe books… is it a yay or a nay… which do you prefer… and if you are one of the first se7en to leave a comment then we will post you a recipe card to try… wherever you are in the world. How’s that “a recipe card post card…” Myself – I’m loving it!!!
Post update and Congratulations: PhillyGirl, Chantal, Abigail, Jessica, Rentia, Megan and Pam… You were our first se7en commenters and you can look forward to hearing from us soon.
Now you may think this is a sponsored post, but it isn’t!!! The Recipe cards are published by Penguin Books South Africa and they gave us a set of Expansion set #1 Recipe Cards to review, thank you so much Penguin Books South Africa, we love reviewing great products. The recipe box, however, we bought ourselves – it is entirely our own, as are all the opinions expressed in this post. And even though NOMU probably have never seen our blog, let alone know anything about this blog post… we do want to thank them for creating this great product… not to mention all their other fab products.
Wow, this looks fantastic 🙂 Just went to check out the site and I am definitely putting the NOMU Recipe Box to my birthday wishlist 🙂
I think the cards would be a fabulous change to a book!
I love Nomu products – have been using their dry pesto mixes as my must have to change couscous from bleh to ORSM since they were available! Recipe cards are a great idea – books tend to get in the way and ruined in a kitchen of experimentation.
I love the idea of these recipe cards! I always find recipe books to be a pain in the kitchen – it’s hard to keep them open, hard to find room for them, and even harder to keep them clean!
Wow these look great. I like cards verses actual books. I always write out recipes on a three by five card and have those lying around all over the place. Maybe I need a recipe box like this.
I ABSOLUTELY love the recipe cards!
It’s so easy to handle, much more functional than a recipe book!
Not to mention that these ones include NoMU ingredients, hello, they are the best!!
Yes! I prefer recipe cards in the kitchen – much easier to use then a book! Wow, what a great review – it makes me just want to rush out and buy NoMu Recipe cards myself (if I don’t get them as a “Surprise! I love you and love your cooking!” gift from my hubby first – nudge, nudge!!)
I love cards, but am trying to cook more digitally. Reining in cookbooks has been a big project of mine. But my kids love cooking off pretty cards!
Recipe cards are handy for their size but I would need to remember to return it to its box…that kind of organization I am still working on. These recipes look delicious!
I love reading through cook books but cards are so much easier for cooking. I can tape them to my cabinet, out of the way of spills
recipe cards definitely simpler than the book.
I like recipe cards so I can just pick out one recipe to try at a time.
Love this idea. Been eyeing this for a while:)
Love the recipe card idea for organisation, I can never remember which recipe book or page number the specific recipe was on!
certainly sounds and looks good! will have to look into the NOMU site!
I love recipe cards – shame I’m not one of the first 7 to comment. Easy to wipe clean and you don’t get distracted by other yummy looking things while cooking!
I agree- cooking digitally has it’s merits but there’s something special about a collection of recipe cards- epecially if organised and packaged so beautifully!
Would really love this one