New releases from Simon & Schuster Product Review

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Great reads to get mums talking

As mums we know there’s nothing better than being able to take time out with a great book …

Whether it’s to help you make a delicious meal for your family or read for your own enjoyment, a beautiful quality book is a joy. Which is why we’re so excited to bring you the latest page-turning reads from Simon & Schuster – a unique opportunity to read and review one of four brand new titles!

This month’s Simon & Schuster Book Review, will feature the following titles:

The Can't Cook Book

The Can't Cook Book

Are you smart enough to dodge a telemarketer yet clueless as to how to chop a clove of garlic? Are you clever enough to know how to forward an email but don’t know the difference between boiling and baking? If you are basically competent, then Jessica Seinfeld’s new book The Can’t Cook Book is for you.

Average Ratings (from 35 ratings)
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Octopus's Garden

Octopus's Garden

Based on the lyrics of the world famous Beatles song, this glorious picture book follows five children on a magical journey through the Octopus’s garden. The playful Octopus takes them on a wondrous underwater adventure – riding on the backs of turtles, playing pirates in a sunken city and sheltering from a storm in the octopus’s cave. The book comes with an accompanying CD which includes an exclusive reading by Ringo Starr and a never–before–heard version of the song.

Average Ratings (from 36 ratings)
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Did you enjoy reading it to them?
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Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc)

Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc)

In Sister Mother Husband Dog (etc) Delia Ephron brings her trademark wit and effervescent prose to a series of unforgettable, moving, and provocative essays. The emotional linchpin in this collection is the author’s stirring, eloquent response to the death of Nora Ephron – Delia’s older sister and frequent writing companion. In “Sister,” Ephron deftly captures the love, rivalry, respect, and intimacy that made up her relationship with her sister in a way that is at once deeply personal and comfortingly universal.

Average Ratings (from 21 ratings)
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The Island House

The Island House

In 2011 Freya Dane, a Ph.D. candidate in archaeology, arrives on the ancient Scottish island of Findnar. After years of estrangement from her father, himself an archaeologist who recently died, Freya has come to find out what she can about his work. As she reads through his research notes, she sees he learned a great deal about the Viking and Christian history of the island. But what he found only scratches the surface of the discoveries Freya is about to make.

Average Ratings (from 36 ratings)
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Be part of the Simon & Schuster book review team.

In the Simon & Schuster book review, mums selected will receive one of the four books profiled above. We’ll be asking mums to read the book they receive and then post their review and ratings on the relevant book’s page.

Invitations to review will be emailed to all Mouths of Mums members on Wednesday 5 November 2013 at 4.30pm so keep your eye on your inbox so you can apply to review! You can also apply after this time by clicking APPLY TO REVIEW at the top of this page. If you’re not already a member, you can join here.


Published 4th November 2013

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Mum-of-two Rebecca McCracken has spent the last four years reading ingredient lists on pretty much everything she buys at the supermarket.

Like many parents raising kids with food allergies, a quick trip to the supermarket often means checking labels, comparing products and hoping to find something the whole family can eat.

Bec’s four-year-old son and 17-month-old daughter were both born with cow’s milk protein allergy. While her son has since outgrown his allergies, her toddler still reacts to dairy, making even everyday staples like bread a challenge.

“Unless we buy expensive sourdough for seven or eight dollars, we don’t really have a choice.”

Even then, it’s not ideal.

“A kid doesn’t want to eat a sourdough sandwich,” Bec laughs. “And fairy bread on sourdough is not great.”

A New Loaf On The Block

Bec runs an online community for allergy families, so she spends plenty of time sharing recipes, product finds and supermarket discoveries with other parents.

It was one of those parents who first told her about new JUST bread.

“A follower messaged me and said, ‘Oh my gosh, this bread is coming soon.’ I was like, ‘Where? When? I need to know. I’m getting my car keys and running!'”

Made with baker’s flour, water, yeast, vinegar, oil and salt, JUST bread contains no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours.

For Bec, it sounded almost too good to be true. “When we saw JUST bread, I was like, ‘You’re joking.’ A bread that’s fresh baked but in the bread aisle? That’s unheard of for us.”

“It was really exciting for our family and for the allergy community.”

The Family’s Toughest Critic Approved

Of course, there was one person whose opinion mattered more than anyone else’s.

“My toughest critic is my daughter. She is so fussy. We know something is really good if she approves it, and she approves it. She loves it. She’ll eat it plain, toasted, as French toast … whatever. She loves it.”

Bec says she was impressed too.

“I like it. I like that it’s only got minimal ingredients and doesn’t have the additives and preservatives that are in a lot of other brands.”

A Simpler Option For Everyday Families

Bec tried out JUST bread because of her family’s allergies, but she says it has a broader appeal.

“I think everyone is becoming more conscious of additives and preservatives in their food.”

It’s a feeling many of us can probably relate to. We don’t all want to overhaul the way we eat, but plenty of us are paying a little more attention to ingredient lists and looking for products that keep things simple.

Bread is one of those foods that’s always around. It ends up in lunchboxes, on the breakfast table, alongside soup on a cold night and covered in hundreds and thousands at birthday parties. When we eat something that often, it’s only natural to wonder what’s in it.

JUST bread keeps things simple with a handful of pantry ingredients and no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. It’s the sort of loaf that fits easily into busy family life without asking us to compromise on taste or convenience.

Little Changes, Big Difference

 

For Bec, finding a loaf of bread her whole family can enjoy is about more than ticking another item off the shopping list.

“It seems like such a little thing to the normal community, but for us this is a massive win.”

Being able to make sandwiches without worrying about ingredients. Packing lunchboxes a little more easily. Bringing back fairy bread for birthdays. Sometimes it’s the little things that make family life feel a whole lot simpler.

And while Bec found JUST bread because she needed another allergy-friendly option, its simple ingredient list is likely to appeal to plenty of other families too. After all, when we can choose everyday foods made with ingredients we recognise, that’s a pretty good place to start.

JUST Bread is made on a line that also processes soy and sesame.


Mouths of Mums is proudly working with JUST. to bring you this article. JUST bread is made with just a handful of pantry ingredients.  JUST. The Good Stuff.

  • I am so glad to hear about this and will definitely be on a look out for this in the supermarket. I have noticed that there are starting to be more ‘cleaner’ products in the supermarket, meaning consumers are being heard. We are going full circle back to how foods use to be produced before companies got greedy and started taking shortcuts to producing food items. I hope we continue seeing more preservative and additive free options that are affordable come back in the supermarkets.

    Reply

  • I am so glad to hear about this and will definitely be on a look out for this in the supermarket. I have noticed that there are starting to be more ‘cleaner’ products in the supermarket, meaning consumers are being heard. We are going full circle back to how foods use to be produced before companies got greedy and started taking shortcuts to producing food items. I hope we continue seeing more preservative and additive free options that are affordable come back in the supermarkets.

    Reply

  • Grabbing your car keys and running for a bread ?? I can’t imagine doing so for a bread lol ! It’s nice to see that more and more allergy friendly products are being produced and put on the market.
    I don’t agree with the statement that “A kid doesn’t want to eat a sourdough sandwich”. It depends on what type of bread you introduce to your kids. My kids grew up with 7 seeds, rustic bread and sourdough and they love it. It’s also quite easy and cheap to make sourdough bread yourself.

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  • I haven’t seen this bread in the supermarket but will be looking for it now. I have been trying to avoid preservatives and additives for some time now and as highlighted in the article bread it difficult to find, or super expensive, without them so I don’t have it often.

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  • This is fantastic, finally a bread that is not full of nasty stuff. I will be going straight out to buy this. My son has ARFID and will only eat white bread, but it’s not terribly healthy. With this bread, at least I know that it is much healthier than the alternatives. Woohoo

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  • what about gluten is it gluten free thats what i need

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  • I cant wait to give this bread a go (so far its always been sold out at my local woolies so it must be good). So good its suitable for those with allergies too. I think nowadays were all looking for cleaner options of ingredients in our foods so this is a step in the right direction.

    Reply

  • I am glad more and more allergy friendly products are being produced and offered. I don’t agree with Bec’s statement that kids don’t like sourdough bread. My kids were introduced to sourdough and the most rustic and seeded breads from the time they started to eat bread, and they love it

    Reply

  • Oh I cannot wait to try this bread! We go through that much bread each week and I always feel so guilty with how much my kids have – not anymore! Would love to see them introduce other variants in the future – multigrain and gluten free would be superb!

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  • This is such a great product that I’m looking forward to trying! I’ve only been buying bread from bakeries the last few years because grocery store bread texture was so dense and unpleasant. But the hassle with bakery bread is I can’t get it everywhere! I’ll be really keen to give this a go

    Reply

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