Monthly Box - Flavourly Box

Got a little something different to write about this time, its a newish type of monthly box. Its called the Flavourly box. Check out their website here . Would like to add that I am not being paid for this review, I saw their advert on TV and I got the first box half price so I thought why not give it ago. :)

On to the box!

As per usual with the monthly boxes you do get a lot of leaflets. This is the most I have ever had inside a box. There are various companies whose products we are tasting, a voucher for another box and then also the guide to the products. 

As you can see the meet the makers guide gives you all the information about the products inside, including if they are vegetarian, award winning, gluten free and nut free. Although I do think they made a mistake and labeled the nuts as nut free....Opps

Whats in the box!

Stuff! Well not just any stuff, some lovely food lets have a look at each item. 

Now this blog I will just be showing the items in the box, there will be future blogs about the products. 

First up we have 3 packets of The Dormen nuts, we have Bombay mix, caramelised cashew and peanut and finally we have smoked almond which for some strange reason I keep reading it as smoke salmon.  From what I have found out The Dormen company do more than just nuts they do crips as well. Link is here

I have never tried this product, and I can say that I am really looking forward to the caramelised cashew and peanut they sound fantastic. 

Next up we have a mulled spice pack, there are 3 "tea bags" in the pot. The aroma is so strong, you can really pick up the hints of clove, nutmeg and allspice. I will admit the clove is a tiny bit over powering. As you can see by the photo, there are whole cloves in the bag along with citrus zest. I happen to LOVE mulled wine and spiced drinks, so I shall be giving these a go. The instructions say add to a bottle of cider, red wine or apple juice and simmer for 10 minutes then its done! Perfect! 

Next up two products from the Monty Bojangles range, Hot chocolate fudge and French ginger truffles.

I have seen the truffles before in Waitrose but never their fudge. My mum loves the ginger truffles, I sometimes get them for her as a little present. I never knew they made so many products until I had a look at their website!

Apparently Monty Bojangles is the cat in charge of the company...pretty cool. We even get a Monty seal of approval on the fudge! I had a peak inside and there are mini marshmallows worked into the fudge, I have a feeling it will be amazing!

Next on the list are the Angelix Rosemary and Sea Salt biscuits, its nice that they including something savoury in the box instead of all sweet items. 

These are gluten free,dairy free and egg free, so perfect for people who are intolerant. 

Whats cool is that the company which make these is based in Inverness just down the road from where I used to live in Scotland! 

On their website they are showing the Rosemary and Sea Salt as being a new item in their range.I might save this so we can have cheese and biscuits one day. 

Now on to the best part of the box!! A packet mix for cinnamon, white chocolate and cranberry muffin mix! I happen to have a massive thing for cinnamon, I love it with pretty much anything. So I am really excited about making these muffins. What I am going to do is a full blog post on the making the muffins and the most important part the tasting. I love that they put a large packet of muffin mix in the box. All I need is some vegetable oil, 60ml water and 1 egg. Perfect! 

I  must say I am rather impressed with this box, there is a nice range of products even if some of the items come from the same company.

If you are interested in getting this box you can follow this link

Which will take you to sign ups where you get £5 off your first box. After that they are £15 a month.

Cadbury's Dairy Milk - Mousse Snowman

Another little festive treat. Cadbury's Moose Snowman. Milk chocolate with a soft vanilla falvour mousse.

Saw this little guy near a counter today, and thought it would be perfect for the blog. Its the perfect size for a treat.

I was disappointed with the moulding of the snowman, it looks rubbish. He only has a nose. Where are the eyes and mouth, in fact where are the typical snowman features, the coal buttons etc. If I saw this on a front lawn (in snow form of course) I would be really disappointed! OK enough of the rubbish moulding! On to the eating.

 When I opened the packet I was hit like a slap in the face with the overpowering smell of sweetness, a sickly sweet. Also the cadbury's chocolate didn't smell like normal chocolate. I wonder if they have been cutting corners since it is only a little cheap bar?!

This is what a chocolate snowman should look like

See cadbury's can you see all the details, he has a face including a mouth, and buttons. He looks like a happy snowman. Not some no faced miserable dull thing which is desperate to be eating to put it out of its misery. 

Now the moose is supposed to be vanilla. It was gross. ( I still ate it all though..) far far far to sweet and sickly. No real hit of vanilla again more like chemical vanilla. I really need to find out where companies are getting their vanilla from. Maybe due to the recession they are cutting corners too.

This is the first festive offering from cadbury's I have tried and if I'm honest is has put me off trying any more..which is a shame as cadbury's used to be really good chocolate. 

Over all I R DISSAPOINT :( 

Drink Me Chai -Spiced Chai Latte

And now for something completely different ie Not food!!

Now back when I was in Sweden in September, I was introduced to a Tassimo who do a wonderful Chai Latte. Since getting back I have longed for something similar. I was in Waitrose the other week in Newark and whilst looking for something else I saw this little packet for 30p so I thought what the heck Il give it ago! The packet is 20g and has 90 calories per cup.

Welcome to my kitchen counter....

When I opened the packet I could smell the spices instantly, smelt very nice. Really did remind me of the tassimo chai latte. Also using my favorite NHS mug. 

Here's an action shot for you after I mixed it. When I added the water the smell of the spices intensified. I am loving the smell. (can you tell)

Here is the drink all settled, I mixed it for a while but it still had bits floating on the top. When I took the first sip I did sort of get a gritty sensation, I'm not sure but it might be the milk in it that is floating. Once I left the mug on the side for a few minutes to write this the little bits disappeared. Guess they dissolved or sank to the bottom.  Looking at the packet it could have been the coconut fat which is listed on the ingredients. 

The taste is nice, a little sweet but nice. However I do think I might of added a little to much water as there is a hint of a watery taste going on. You can really pick out the cinnamon. 

As it cools down it does lose its favour though. I guess its best drank fast whilst its still nice and hot. 

Getting in the festive spirit with the help of Mr Kipling Frosty Fancies

I thought it was about time that I did a Christmas food post, I have a few things I want to post about so lets kick off with Mr Kiplings Frosty Fancies. Basically white French Fancies. (I happen to LOVE French Fancies)

The tag line on the packet says Exceedingly Merry...I think I will be the judge of that.

On to the eating. 

I noticed when I opened the packet I had a rebel Fancie, who did not want to sit in a row like the others. I have to admit this was the first one I picked out. 

As you can see via the cross section photo below, the yes I was right. They are just white French Fancies, but these are supposed to have a vanilla flavoured filling.

I can honestly say that these are disgusting. The smell like chemicals, they taste they chemicals. Heck I wouldn't be surprised if they were chemicals. 

There is not a hint of vanilla at all, just a horrible chemical taste. I really am struggling to find anything nice to say about the filling. You also get a nasty after taste.

As per usual they have the light and fluffy sponge which is always nice, and the icing on the outside is the same as the others just white.

Honestly I wouldn't buy these again, they have left me feeling a bit sick to rich and to much like fake vanilla.

Sorry Mr Kipling but you have not made me feel exceedingly merry but instead exceedingly sick.

Katy Perry Pop Chips

I have seen pop chips around the main supermarkets for a while, but I have never seen Katy Perry's flavour, which I saw her push on a chat show months ago. I have only ever seen the normal flavours, salt and vinegar, salted etc 

Well the other half came home with a surprise for me. He had managed to find some, at a sainsburys in Kings Lynn of all places. Brilliant! Lets get tasting. 

So the packaging is a little different on this one, there is a pink/purple colour theme and the photos of the chips have sparkles on them. I guess that is down to this being something that Katy (apparently) came up with herself. 

The magical thing about popchips is that they are to quote the packet " Never fired and never baked" making them healthier, it says on the back of the packet that about 22 chips is roughly 128 calories. Not sure if that is good or not to be honest. 

On to the best part the tasting, upon opening the packet they do not have a smell they just smell bland which is not a great start, lets hope they taste better than they smell. 

They chips themselves don't have the most appealing appearance, basically from what I can gather they made from whole grain corn. Which I am guessing has been popped! So really I'm eating flat popcorn. 

Now these are sweet and salty, you can really really really taste the sweet aspect, it hit my taste buds as soon as I put a chip in my mouth. Not so much on the salty side though. I feel that the sweetness overrides everything else. You do get a little after taste of the salty covering, but nothing to shout home about. 

I have noticed one thing though, that as I have been writing this I have been eating them, they are so moreish! The lower down the packet you get the more you can taste the flavours, I guess I should have shook the bag first? 

I think these would be great if you are having a movie night in or a party as it is something different. 

I think if I had the chance I would buy these again, I can't really find anything bad to say about them. Well there is one thing - They don't put enough in the packets! 

New Scratch Boxes - Fresh Dessert Kits

Hello there my followers...

Today I got the chance to try out a new dessert kit which is hitting the shelves across the UK. I was lucky enough to find both my kits reduced to the fabulous price of........75P! Yes that's right 75P per kit normally they are £3.00 so bargain! 

I would never have normally got these as its not something either of us would have bothered with, but we them being reduced and all that we thought why not! 

Supposedly in 3 simple steps we are meant to make a wonderfully stunning pudding! First up we tried the Cinnamon, Apple and Almond Crumble. 

Upon opening the box, we are greeted with some pre sliced apples, with a little knob of butter. The instructions are in the lid and say it should take around 10 minutes to do the whole thing. 

First up we warmed up the pan and melted the butter, my trusty assistant mag was helping me this evening. Seems simple so far.....

Then we added the apples and coated them with the butter again going well so far nice and easy. 

Once we have cooked the apples for 1-2 minutes we added the cinnamon sugar, when we opened the packet it smelt fantastic. Really strong cinnamon aroma coming through. I chucked it all in the pain and we cooked the apples again for another 3-4 minutes. What I failed to get a photo of is me adding the tiny amount of brandy which came in pack. 

Once the apples were nicely coated, mag plated them up in a professional way, then we added the remaining syrup. 

We then added the "crumble" and the mascarpone for the topping. The mascarpone does have vanilla running through it and tasted pretty good! 

We decided to give both the puddings scores out of 5 so for the crumble 

Ease - 5 - Although some parts of it did take a little longer than stated. 

Flavour - 2 - We couldn't taste the cinnamon, nor could we taste the brandy. All we could taste was the overpowering almond. 

Price - Normally this is £3.00 no way would I pay £3.00 for this, I think maybe £2.00 is better. But 75p is even better! 

Next up is the Chocolate Honeycomb and Pear Cheesecake.  

Again the 3 simple steps (which is really about 6 steps) is printed on the inside of the lid. 

I put Mag in charge of heating up the pears and ginger letting it thicken and become syrupy.....

Insert another 4 steps here .... unfortunately the photos were lost...and when I say lost I mean I forgot to take them.

Whilst Mag was in charge of the pears and ginger, I set about mixing the chocolate, honeycomb powder with the cream cheese. This took a lot longer than stated. It was a bit of a nightmare to mix in. I had to mash it all up and really mush it in, before the cheese warmed up enough to enable me to just mix everything in. 

The pudding was supposed to be stacked like a real cheesecake with a biscuit base, with the chocolate filling and then the pear and ginger. Well since it was just the pair of us I dumped it all out on the plate...

Ease - 4 - Mixing the cream cheese was a nightmare, really need to warm it up before you try and mix in the chocolate. 

Flavour - 2 - If you tired each part on its own, they were not great, the biscuits were like hob nobs, and the ginger and pear was so strong it was daft. Yet when you mixed them all together wow, it tasted fantastic! Out of the two this was my favourite. Everything seemed to go really well. The honeycomb gave a great change in texture as well. 

Price - Normally this is £3.00 no way would I pay £3.00 for this, I think maybe £2.00 is better. But 75p is even better!

Well over all, I would not buy these unless they were vastly reduced. You might be able to make a full size pudding for 2 for cheaper.

Cooler box of mystery Japanese Sweets - Kracie Choco-Neri (Neri Ame Chocolate) and Kracie Strawberry Choco-Neri (Neri Ame Chocolate)

Photo Heavy 

I have a cooler box, which is mostly full of random sweets and most of them are Japanese. I thought it was about time I had a go at one of the Kracie DIY kits which were lurking at the bottom of the box. Today I pulled out the Choco-Neri kits, in strawberry and chocolate. 

I have seen videos of these kits on the internet, the end result always intrigued me. 

Lets begin! Now I made both kits, but only took photos of the whole process with one, I didn't see the point in doing it twice when the end result is the same just a different flavour! 

First up 

Kracie Strawberry Choco-Neri (Neri Ame Chocolate)

 Above is the front, back and then the instructions. It seems pretty simple, the packets all come with a small water container which measures the amount of water you need to add.

Above are both the packets opened, as you can see, there is a plastic tray, with two sticks for stirring, you can only see one packet in the photo but there are three in total which you add at different stages. 

 Stage one - Open packet 1 and pour in to the plastic tray as below.

Stage two - Add 1 measurement of water

Step three - Mix until the powder has completely dissolved and turned into a bright pink runny liquid. 

Step four - Add packet 2 to the bright pink mix, these are small rice balls (rice krispies) 

Step five - Mix until all the balls are coated nicely with the pink mixture. 

 Step six - Add in the third and final packet, this seems to make everything extra sticky and gooey.

 Once everything is mixed in, its ready for you to taste

 As you can see from the above two photos, it gets very sticky.

Tasting it, you can really pick up on the fake strawberry, it smells fantastic really strong strawberry scent. 

The rice bits, went a little soggy and lost some of their crunch, and after a while the mixture sort of sets like cement. Think of melting marshmallows and then letting it puddle and then set again. That gooeyness and mess is just what this is like!! 

Below is the chocolate one, the process is just the same as above, but the outcome is chocolate falvour instead of strawberry! Thats a shocker right?!

Ok so the chocolate smells just like nesquick and tastes pretty good, again the rice bits have gone soggy not the best. I wonder what would've happened if you just put just packet 1 and 2 in! Maybe I should try sometime. Thinking about it a bit more the smell reminds me of the smell of hot chocolate. 

Now whilst I have been writing this, the food as sort of set. You have to try and pry it out the bottom of the tray! Still tastes OK though. 

I really enjoy these kits. I wish I could remember where I got them from. Its not something I would eat very often though as they are both quite sweet. 

Let me know if you want me to do more random cooler box mystery posts, I really do have more in there! I also have a few more of the Japanese DIY kits.