Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters Sampling from Crowdtap!

Thanks to Crowdtap, I was able to try a snack by Brookside for free to try and review! I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to try this. I really like trying new foods, and I had never heard of this brand before. They sent me Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters in Berry Medley Flavors. The package describes them as, 'Clusters of crispy multigrains and soft fruit flavored centers, all covered in smooth dark chocolate.'

When I opened the package I was a little unsure what to think when I saw that I was sent Dark Chocolate. Dark Chocolate is not something I normally buy for myself or even really like. I tried these small crunchy clusters, that are in funny lumpy shapes of varying sizes, and was pleasantly surprised. They are rather tasty! The lightly bitter taste of dark chocolate is quickly evened out by the sweetness of the berries inside. They are the perfect balance of flavor. The crunchy-ness inside gives it a fun texture and makes it a rather enjoyable snack.

These Brookside Crunchy Clusters remind me of the brand Pringles chips... You know? "Once you pop, you can't stop." It's true. When you start eating these you have to put the bag far out of reach when you decide you're done, or you will keep opening and eating them. The bag is resealable, which is nice. I had never heard of this brand prior to this sampling, but since I have received these, I have seen them at just about every store with grocery that I have been to. I recommend trying these for a decadant treat. They would be great to pair with a strawberry yogurt, put on top of an ice cream dish or just to eat alone like I have been doing!

If you'd like to check out more Brookside Chocolate products, CHECK THEM OUT HERE!

English Food for an American Girl: Part 1

As some of you may have read before, I am a leader in an awesome clan on the phone app game Clash of Clans. In playing that game, I have been blessed to meet so many awesome individuals! I look forward to "seeing" them every day! One of those wonderful people have happen to become one of my best friends, or as I call him, best mate. Oh so British! His name is Don. Don and I had been talking, along with other members of our clan, about food a lot. I mean, what else do gamers talk about? Games and food. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Oh look, a food reference... Anyways, we quickly realised that there were some differences in food over in the United Kingdom and the United States. So like any rational food lovers, we decided that a swap was in order. This blog will be the first of a series of blogs based on the food adventures best mate Don has provided me with.

I started out trying a lot of the food that seemed pretty normal to me... Though, I was thrown off a bit by some of it. Everyday I will be trying one or two more things until I go through it all. I am trying to savor everything and go slow with it and really take time to enjoy it all!

The first thing that I tried was some crisps. AKA: Chips. The brand is Walkers. I've come to find out, that Walkers is basically the British version of America's Lays brand. Check out the Wikipedia for more information on the two brands HERE if your'e interested in reading more about it. Don sent me a variety bag of crisps. It is basically the size of a standard party bag of potato chips, except it has several mini bags inside of it. Like the bags you would send in your kids lunch box. There were two of each flavor in this bag. The flavors were Cheese & Onion: with cheddar from Somerset, Ready Salted: with salt from Cheshire, and Salt & Vinegar: with real British vinegar.

The Cheese & Onion flavor was my favorite! It tasted as expected, very flavorful. Delicious. All of the flavors actual tasted as expected. My son Hank ate both of the bags of Ready Salted and loved them. I did get to try some though! Normally I would never have eaten Salt & Vinegar on my own. But - since Don sent it to me. I was going to try it! I actually liked it! It had a distinctive vinegar flavor. It was not too intense and strong where it was overwhelming, luckily.

The box of food was so overwhelming to me at first, I wasn't sure what I should try. So, another safe choice. I tried Nik Naks crisps. The flavors were more interesting. Rib N Saucy, Hot N Spicy and Scampi N Lemon. So far, the only one I have tried was Rib N Saucy. The first thing I noticed about these when I opened them, was that they are basically the shape and consistancy of our Cheetos. That pleased me. I had been trying to explain Cheetos (crunchy Cheetos) to Don before. Well, there you go. They're like Nik Naks.

The next thing that I decided to try were English Scones.

These are amazing! I love them so much! They are very versitile... I will be the saddest (so far) when these are gone. I only have two left! The first time I tried them, I cut them in half and spread some fresh homemade jam (Thank you Aunt Maggie!) on top of them. The scones look small, and I can eat a lot. Believe me, these guys are super hearty, delicious and filling! They are lightly sweet, mildy buttery. Just delicious! That's the best way to describe them.

After eating my scone and having a side of fruit, I quickly realised that these scones would make excellent "strawberry shortcake" desert. So naturally, later on in the day when it came time to eat a snack, that's exactly what I made! Strawberries and whipped cream paired with a scone. A perfect pairing. Another wonderful creation. I really really love these scones.

Today I tore myself away from the last couple of scones and decided to try another new breakfast treat. Orange Marmalade. I know we have that in the United States, but I doubt we have the same brand. Also, I have never tried it before today either way, so it was a new experience. The first thing I noticed was that it was visually appealing. I liked the color. When I opened the jar, I noticed that it smelled great! I want my house to smell like orange marmalade. I popped a few pieces of wheat toast in the toaster and waited. Okay, time to spread on this marmalade. The texture was kind of funny, it was like little jelly balls all stuck together almost. It has little pieces of orange peel in it. I took my first bite. Sweet at first, then mildly bitter. Not so bitter where bitterness was an issue. It was good. I ate both of my marmaladey-goodness covered toast in a flash. I have 60 days to use the jar of marmalade. I will use it.

The last food item I will be covering in this blog was something that I had always wondered about and wanted to try. I thought that this food was possibly fiction. Turkish Delight.

I had only ever known about Turkish Delight from the cartoon movie 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe', when I was a kid. Well, it exists!!! Best mate Don to the rescue. Over the past few days I have picked up the package of Turkish Delight and stared at it with wonder. In too much awe to open it. It was like a treasure.

Tonight I got brave and needed to see what this Turkish Delight was all about... Well, I opened it and if I would have known they were individually wrapped, I would have opened it sooner.

Okay, so this Turkish Delight. I had no clue what I should expect. I just remembered that the kids in that movie loved it and it was super decadant and wonderful. Don told me that traditionally, Turkish Delight is not chocolate covered. The kind he sent me, is chocolate covered. Which is fine with me. Twice the tastyness, right? So I open it up and it has a sweet chocolatey fruity smell to it. I bite in to it. That is NOT what I was expecting. I don't know what I was expecting. But it was NOT that. Not saying that it didnt' taste good, because the flavor was fine. The texture on the inside is what threw me off. Big time. The inside is like hard jello. Not rock hard, but firm, solid... Jello. I have eaten half of it so far. I need to muster the strength to eat it and try to get over the texture. My son has since noticed it sitting by me and has taken a few bites off of it. At just 2 1/2 years old, he does not have any preconceptions about what things should have what textures. He's game.

Thanks for reading about my English food adventures! I will be posting part two very soon!

Holiday Treat! Sweet N Low Nog Blog

Sweet N Low sent me a goodie pack just in time for the holidays to try for free and review! The sweetness included: Sweet N Low packets, an Eggnog Recipe card, a Sweet N Low packet carrying case and a cute tote bag.

I was happy to make the Sweet N Low "Not So Naughty Egg-Nog", but as some of you may know, I cannot eat eggs! So, I was unable to taste the egg nog myself. Luckily, my husband plays guinea pig from time to time for me.

The recipe was super simple. All you need are:

*4 pasteurized eggs
*12 packets Sweet N Low zero calorie sweetener
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*5 cups cold skim milk (I did substitue the cows milk for Silk Original Almond milk this time!)
*Pinch of ground nutmeg

For easy mixing the recipe suggests making this in a blender. I just used a whisk. I think the blender would have been a lot easier, but I am a rebel!

First you place the eggs into your blender or container.

Next, add in the Sweet N Low packets and the vanilla extract.

Cover and blend on medium or high speed for ten seconds or until foamy. Or whisk if you're also a rebel! Add milk. Cover; blend five seconds.Pour into 1 1/2 quart pitcher. I just saved some dishes and did it all in a big punch bowl. It felt festive.

The last step is to pour and add a pinch of nutmeg to each individual serving, but I just sprinkled it on the top of the whole batch in the punch bowl to make it look fancy.

My husband Casey tried it, and I think he wasn't really aware that there are actually raw eggs in Egg-nog, but he is aware now. He said it tasted pretty good but he would have preferred the actual milk. (He is not used to Almond milk like I am!) He also said that it is not thick like the Egg-Nog he buys in the store. But, it tasted good and he did like it. Again, I could not try it, but I did smell it! It smelled just like any other Egg-Nog that I've ever smelled before.

Inside the little carrying case for individual Sweet N Low packets they included some Sweet N Low recipes for boozy drinks. "A-List Lemon Twist", "Pret a Pink-Tini" and "Little Pink Dress". For these recipes and more, please visit Sweet N Low on Facebook HERE!

Campbell's Soups, Sauces and More!

Hello! I hope everybody is enjoying the holiday season! We've had some ups and downs here! We had a lot of holiday plans and ended up getting sick right smack dab in the middle of it all! That's what makes life interesting I guess, curve balls. During the past month and a half, I was lucky enough to get to try out a box of different products from Campbell's brand! Thanks to Crowdtap and Campbell's for letting me try and review all of this great food!

They sent me so much great stuff! A reusable grocery sack, a wooden spoon and cutting board and a shaker for the non edible items. The food they sent consisted of their new Campbell's Skillet Sauces in Creamy Parmasan Chicken, Prego Light Homestyle Alfredo sauce, Campbell's Chunky Beer and Cheese soup, Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Roasted Chicken Soup, Swanson Traditional Cream Starter, Campbell's Soups for Easy Cooking Creamy Portobello Mushroom, Speghettio's Micros, and a can of Campbell's Creamy Pablano and Queso soup.

I tried most of these, but have not had an opportunity to try all. One of the first ones I tried was the Creamy Parmesan Skillet Sauce! It came with a quick and easy recipe, and sounded tasty. Chicken is always my go to dinner idea for something quick and that will please everybody I'm cooking for!

It was super easy to make, and it has a thicker richer taste than the Prego Alfredo sauce. Though, both sauces have similar flavors. If you like one, you will probably enjoy the other! I topped some penne pasta with the Parmesan Skillet sauce and had a side of green bean cassarole with it. The dinner was great and filling!

I did not personally get to try the Campbell's Chunky Beer and Cheese soup, my husband Casey wanted to try it so badly he took it to work. He told me that it reminded him a bit of Campbell's Chunky Chicken Corn chowder - which just so happens to be my favorite that I've tried! Casey said that the soup was delicious and he would buy it again. Casey did say that he did not think there was enough food in one can for a full meal if you were very hungry, and recommended eating something like some toast or a roll with it. I did eat a can of Chunky's Chicken Corn Chowder and photograph my bowl so you could see how creamy and thick Chunky's soup really is.

One of the things we received we didn't care for as much as we thought we would. The small container of Speghettio's Micros. These come in a little box, and inside of that is plastic tub with a plastic seal you pull off. This is a microwaveable item, so it would be great for packing in lunches. The reason we did not care for these as much as we found that the flavor was off compared to the traditional Speghettios that come in the can. It was hard to get over the flavor difference and I'm not quite sure what it was besides the different packaging. My husband still shared the whole container with my son and they liked it okay.

One of my favorite items was the Prego Light Homestyle Alfredo sauce. I have also purchased the regular Alfredo sauce, and they both taste equally great. I don't notice the difference in light or regular very much. I would buy either and be happy. I made a very quick dinner out of this! I just boiled some pasta, you can use any type that you'd like or just have laying around. I used shells this time. I used some canned chicken this time around, you can also bake some fresh chicken in the oven and cut it up. It just depends on how much time you have to cook. Then I also added in some frozen broccoli. Again, you can steam some fresh broccoli and put that in instead based on time. Lastly, I topped it with some fresh black pepper out of the grinder. I love making this and I always make extra! This dish reheats really well for a next day meal and feeds a lot of people.

I was really pleasantly surprised to try the Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Roasted Chicken soup. This is supposed to be a more premium soup, like something you'd get while dining out. This Slow Kettle Style soup has a great flavor, it tastes fresher than traditional canned soup and the color of the broth and look of the ingredients look very appetizing. I really enjoyed this soup and could see buying this more often. It would make a great lunch or just a really relaxing and tasty bowl of soup for when you're under the weather. I believe the container is microwave safe, but I decided since I was at home I would follow the stove top directions.

Campbell's has so many really great recipes for their products online, check it out for yourself! Campbell's Home Kitchen Recipes, tips and more!

Campbell's has always been and will always be a favorite in our household!

Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer Instant Coffee Try and Review

This past month I've had the pleasure to try for free and review Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer instant coffee, thanks to Smiley360! I absolutely love doing reviews for food and drinks, so I was extra excited to receive this coffee! It was even packaged cute, in multi colored tissue paper. (Which I have reused in a birthday gift already! Yay recycling!)

They sent one container, and three coupons for more. We went to Winco and they did not carry this product. I couldn't find the information on where to buy it online so I decided to email Nestle. We went to Walmart, and they did have each flavor so I bought it there. A few days later, Nestle did email me back and gave me a link to a store where you can buy their products. The store is called Give My Brands! They do not have a product locater due to the way that their distribution works.

The three flavors are Sweet and Creamy Original, Hazelnut and Vanilla.

This instant coffee is super easy to prepare! I just filled up the kettle and put it on the stove until it was boiling, you put two tea spoons full of the powdered coffee and creamer into your cup, pour in the boiling water and you're ready to drink your coffee! This is so great for busy mornings when you don't have much time to get ready and go out the door.

My husband Casey has never been big on instant coffee, but he has been drinking this every single morning! It's even easier to make then using our Kuerig and much easier and less wasteful or time consuming as using our Mr. Coffee 12 cup machine.

Now, I don't normally drink anything that has caffeine in it, since I am highly sensitive. I did drink a little bit of each flavor of coffee for this review however. I thought I'd prefer the Vanilla flavored Nescafe, but honestly I am partial the Original sweet and creamy flavor! It is exactly as described, sweet and creamy! All flavors are good though, and I could see rotating between the three of them on different days depending on mood. The only thing that they could do to improve this product is to start making it in decaf!

I made a quick You Tube video on just how easy it really is to make! Don't mind my son in the back ground enjoying his video! :)

Since I already had one container of the Sweet and Creamy Original flavored coffee, and I had 3 coupons for more Nescafe with Coffee Mate instant coffee and there are only 3 total flavors; I decided to send a free coupon home with my friend Anne. I waited until Anne went to the store and had a chance to try her coffee before asking for her opinion. This is what Anne had to say! (Thanks for your time and your opinion, Anne!)

So go out and get yourself some Nescafe with Coffee Mate Creamer instant coffee and try it for yourself!!! Click HERE! for a 75 cent off coupon!

Scott Naturals Tube-Free Toilet Tissue Sampling

Hello there! I hope everybody is having a great weekend! Today I wanted to share with you a new product I was given for free to try from Scotts Brand on Crowdtap. I was given a 4 pack of Scott Natural Tube-Free toilet tissue.

Right away when I found out I would be participating in this product sample and review, I was excited. I really liked the idea of tube free to help reduce landfill waste. You can recycle toilet paper tubes, but let's be honest, how many people really do? Usually there is a trash can next to the toilet and it goes straight in there.

I have been using Scott's brand Naturals Tube-Free toilet tissue paper for about a week, and we are almost done with the first of the four mega rolls. It says that these four mega rolls are equivelant to twelve large rolls. They aren't joking! It took two adults one week to go through one! This toilet tissue is unscented, as it should be! Though, it has a mild recycled paper smell to it. The paper is a bit rougher than I am used to, but it is not unpleasant. I have been using Quilted Northern toilet paper previous to Scott Naturals. The toilet paper has a nice texture design that is both aestetically appealing and also seems to be quite functional for waste removal.

You can still put this toilet paper right onto your holder, but you have to work at it just a little bit to get it on there. Also, wihtout the tube, it is not quite as round and uniform as your typical toilet paper on the tube. These are also mega rolls that I recieved. There was a bit of reshaping of the roll to be done so that when you pulled the toilet paper off of the roll it actually rolled fluidly.

"Did you know that in the 45 minutes it takes to shop for groceries, nearly 1.5 million toilet paper tubes are thrown away in the U.S.?" If you'd like to explore more on Scott's web site, please click HERE!

They say seeing is believing! Check out this Scott Tube Tower video... It will really put just how much waste we are creating into perspective.