Review: Veggie Slicer

If you follow me on Facebook you know how excited I was to finally get a chance to try a veggie spiralizer gadget. So many of my friends had been talking about it online and how amazing it was that I was getting a little jealous. The company apparently took pity on me because they were kind enough to send me one for an honest review. I was over the moon. I started pinning recipes left and right on Pinterest. I even watched some how-to videos on what vegetables to use it on. I mean this thing can spiralize anything from a beet to butternut squash. *mind blown*

Then I got the device and the first thing I tried were carrots. Now, I don't know about you but my grocery store's carrots are not massive in size. They are larger than the ones you get in those pre-packaged bags, but apparently not big enough for the Veggie Slicer. I wanted to make carrot "noodles" for a salad but due to the carrots shape and size, I was getting more rice, than noodle shapes. It didn't matter though, I just got this gadget and I would not be deterred. I ate my carrot rice salad and I loved it!

Sweet potato failure

Next I tried sweet potato. I really wanted curly sweet potato string "fries". So I grabbed the straightest and most narrow sweet potato I could find at the grocery store, went home, and got to work. Let me tell you, it is NOT as easy as you see on T.V. Let's just say that this is a good arm workout. Which wouldn't be a huge issue for me if the device wasn't so awkward to hold. It has these paper thin metal side things that are not the most pleasant to grip, let alone they feel like they would snap on you with the littlest pressure. There really is no easy way to hold this thing... so I gave up and handed it to the Mr. He tried for a while but I was getting too hungry and we weren't making much progress. So I told him to stop and that I'd just make normal fries.

Like cutting butter

Then I tried using the Veggie Slicer on zucchini. The experience was night and day. Sure it was awkward holding the device but zucchini is so soft that the device cut through it like melted butter. I didn't need to hold it in a death grip while I made "noodles". I was able to go through four zucchini in the time it took me to make that tiny pile of sweet potato. I made a really delicious shrimp scampi with the zucchini noodles and it was pretty easy. I actually plan on making the scampi again this week for dinner.

Conclusion: While this device can make an awesomely healthy shrimp scampi, I'm not sold on it. It's uncomfortable to hold onto, difficult to use on harder vegetables, and isn't the easiest thing in the world to clean. I spent more time cleaning the zucchini bits out of the blades than I did spiralizing the zucchini in the first place. I think it's a nifty gadget and it's an amazing way to eat more vegetables but it needs to be a little more user friendly.

Review: Cooking with Frank's RedHot Cayenne Pepper Sauce

Ever since I was a little girl, Franks has always been a staple in our home. My mom would make something called "hot noodles". Which are essentially egg noodles mixed with various spices and seasonings, then doused in Franks. I put Franks in just about everything I make. I'm not joking, it goes onto everything from my morning eggs, to my popcorn. Not only does it have a kick to it, but it's got great flavor as well. So when I was asked if I wanted to review Cooking with Frank's Redhot Cayenne Pepper Sauce by Rachel Rappaport, I was over the moon excited. I mean, c'mon! This is a cookbook focusing on Franks. How could I say no?!

The first recipe I tried was the Sizzling Sesame Noodles. The recipe is easy to make and was ready in no time. My one issue with this was that the recipe is just for the sauce. In the description at the top of the page, the author talks about how you could make it a meal by adding various vegetables. I personally wish the vegetables were included into the recipe because I had no idea how much snow peas, scallions, or carrots to buy at the store. Which is why I settled on just carrots. As for the flavor... I've made peanut ginger noodles before and hated it. However, this recipe has tahini and Franks in it, which I thought would alter the flavors... it didn't. With that being said though, I did like the kick of heat the Franks brings to this dish. It's just I've come to terms with the fact that these types of noodle dishes are not for me. However, if you like peanut ginger noodles, then you should give this recipe a try.

The next recipe I tried was the Hot Nuts Brittle. I actually made this right before the holidays as one of our holiday treats. The directions were easy to follow, everything was mapped out for you in the recipe itself, unlike the previous recipe. I liked that there's a note at the bottom of the recipe that gives you a tip on howto make them even spicier (which we did). These turned out fantastic! I actually brought some over to a friends house on Christmas and she loved them. They aren't sweet like I would assume nut brittle to be, but rather savory. The Franks definitely adds this kick to them that really takes these to a new level. I plan on making this recipe every year for the holidays and even doubling the recipe to send out as gifts. Trust me, this recipe is that good.

The last recipe we tried was the Oven-Baked Crispy Catfish Nuggets. I've been on a fish kick lately and was excited to give these a try. I've never had catfish before and thought this was a good way to try it. Although I wasn't a fan of the fish itself (I guess I'm more of a salmon, tuna, swordfish kinda girl), the flavor combination was awesome. You definitely got that tangy, creamy, spicy flavor from the Franks buttermilk marinade. I was a little worried that after all the Franks I poured into the marinade you wouldn't even taste it with the coating, but you can. Plus, there's the added bonus of flavors with the mixture of chili powders and panko that really made for a delicious crispy outside. Now granted, the recipe called for breadcrumbs but all I had was panko. So with that being said, the recipe itself is forgiving if you need to swap a few things out for something else. I think this is a great recipe and if you like catfish or any white fish, then no swap outs needed. However, if you're not a white fish fan like myself, I would substitute the fish with chicken. ;)



In the end I would say this is a great cookbook for any Franks lovers out there. There are a lot of recipes in here. There are recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, side dishes, appetizers, dips, and dessert. A lot of the recipes even had full page pictures of the dish which I really liked. I'm a visual person and like to see what I'm making and how it's supposed to look. The only down side to this cookbook is that it is not vegetarian friendly and I currently gave up meat for a year. I was honestly hoping for more out-there recipes like the peanut brittle. There is one recipe in here that I wanted to try that's a cinnamon bun with Franks icing. THAT'S what I was hoping to see here but those kinds of recipes were few and far between in this cookbook. Then again, I realize that not everyone is as adventurous when it comes to cooking and eating new things.

With that being said though, I do think there are some good sounding recipes in here and I love that there is a cookbook out there that revolves around Franks. The author takes the time to give you the background story on Franks and even lists the various types of Franks sauces that are out there. If you didn't know, Franks is more than just the original hot sauce that's known for covering wings. She also includes a recipe to make your own dry ranch dressing mix and blue cheese dressing. Neither of which contain Franks, but compliment the hot sauce nicely. Like I said, this is a nice cookbook. It's not something you would want to get for your vegetarian family member or friend, but any Franks or carnivore lover would definitely get use out of this book.


 *I'd like to thank Kourtney and Ulysses Press for sending me a copy of the book for review.

Review: Mason Jar Salads and More by Julia Mirabella

Before we moved I had a full time job at Joshua Tree National Park, and was either eating quickly made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or eating out on my lunch break. I guess I was just too lazy to make an actual lunch for the day and would just wing it when the time came. So I was interested in reviewing a copy of Mason Jar Salads and More by Julia Mirabella in the hopes of adding some homemade healthy lunches to the mix. I'm not really a salad person, it's just one of those things that never fills me up. I was happy to see that not all of the recipes in here were salads. There are pasta, oatmeal, and quinoa dishes as well.

The first recipe I tried was the guacamole salad. The process was rather easy and I really liked the fact that you make the vinaigrette yourself. In fact, in the back of the book there's a whole bunch of vinaigrette recipes that you will be using for various mason jar dishes. I made this a day in advance and I will be honest, the avocado was starting to brown, so I wouldn't let it sit in the refrigerator longer than a day. However, the flavors were really good. It did in fact taste like a guacamole with lettuce and chicken (for the Mr). The only bad thing about this was that the dressing was very oily. Maybe we are just not homemade vinaigrette people but it seemed like everything was coated in a layer of olive oil. However, the flavors were there and in the end we thought this was a nice salad.

The second recipe I tried was the curried butternut squash over lentils. This one was delicious. There's a little bit more prep work to this because you have to cut and roast the squash but it's well worth it. With the added crunchiness of the pecans, the lime and cilantro sprinkled over top, and the creamy butternut squash... YUM! We had this as a main dish and I also put some in pint jars to pull out later for a side dish to dinners.

*picture taken from book*
This was a whoopsie on my part. I thought I had taken a photo of this one and apparently I didn't. This was another recipe where I made a big batch, ate it for dinner and then put the leftovers in the jars for lunches and side dishes later on. This was a tasty tortellini with basil pesto, cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella. There's a recipe for pesto but I bought store bought stuff because basil is not cheap here. I'm talking about those small herbs packets that you see in the produce section that still have their roots but are packaged into these small plastic containers for like $4. Yeah, I wasn't about to buy a bunch of them to make the 4 cups of basil I'd have needed for the pesto. Especially when I could buy pre-made pesto for a fraction of the price of purchasing the basil alone. In the end I don't think it really mattered because this was a delicious pasta. Definitely one that I will be making again.



Apparently mason jar food is somewhat of a craze right now... or was. I don't know, I don't keep up with these things. However, I could see why they would be popular. They are easy to store, take up less room in the fridge than your Tupperware would, are pleasing to the eye, you can pack it in perfect individual servings, and you can pack pretty much anything in them from liquid to solids and the jars don't leak. Only down side is that if you drop your lunch, it will smash. Luckily I didn't have this happen to me even though I'm a total klutz. This is definitely a book that I would recommend to anyone looking to try mason jar foods. In the beginning of the book Julia explains how and why you want to assemble the food a certain way in the jar, she talks about the benefits of using mason jars instead of tupperware, and she also gives you extra tips for making your mason jar meals work. The only thing with mason jar recipes is that you need to make sure you are at a place where you have a bowl handy since a lot of the dishes need to be emptied out into a bowl to be eaten (they are layered so that they don't get soggy). For instance the guacamole salad was layered with the dressing and veggies on the bottom, then packed lettuce, then the avocado and chicken on top. So there are some dishes in here that wouldn't work for a full on-the-go dish. However, the tortellini dish would be perfect to just open and eat as you are running errands or moving around. Either way, I plan on trying out more of the recipes from this book and putting my dusty mason jars to good use.

Review: Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches by Kris Holechek Peters

I was given a copy of Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches by Kris Holechek Peters to review a while back. I was excited by the idea of a dairy-free ice cream sandwich since I'm mildly allergic to milk. I will admit that I'm not a huge ice cream fan. The Mr. can eat a tub of it in two sittings but my carton will sit in the freezer until it develops ice crystals. However, when you slap it between cookies, I'm in it to win it. So I was excited to give this book a shot.

First I made the Strawberry Italiano sandwiches which were a strawberry balsamic swirl ice cream sandwiched between to shortbread cookies. I didn't think the swirl would turn out because anytime I have to "swirl" something in, I always tend to over swirl it and end up just mixing it in. However, I'm happy to say that my swirl was perfect. Ha! The shortbread cookies don't have a lot of flavor so the ice cream is definitely the star in this one. I wasn't sure how the balsamic was going to play out in this, but you don't taste it at all.

The second ice cream sandwich I made was the Pumpkin Snickerdoodle sandwiches which are pumpkin ice cream sandwiched between two snickerdoodle cookies. Oh yeah, these are my favorite ice cream sandwiches ever. When you pair the pumpkin ice cream with the sugary cinnamon cookies, you get one amazing treat. I'm not gonna lie, it took all my willpower not to dip a cookie into the churning ice cream while it was freezing. Then, when the moment came where I could actually eat one... I ate two. And I've had one just about every night since. These are amazing and perfect for the fall.


This is a great recipe book to have on hand if you have an ice cream machine. Whether you are vegan or not, it doesn't matter, it's awesome. There are your basic ice cream sandwich combinations but then there are crazy ones like cardamom cookies and pistachio ice cream, orange zest cookies with earl grey tea ice cream, rhubarb cookies with sweet corn ice cream, and that's just to name a few. You have savory ice cream sandwiches, sweet ones, even ones designed for the season/holiday. I'd buy the book just for the pumpkin snickerdoodle sandwich recipe alone. Heck, I plan on making another batch of these babies this coming weekend because they are THAT GOOD. The next recipe I plan on making after I've had my fill of the pumpkin snickerdoodle ones is going to be the cranberry ice cream with gingersnap cookies. But if I'm being honest here, I have a feeling I will be making every single one of the recipes. Even the crazy ones.

*Oh and the best part about these recipes are that you can eat the cookie dough batter while you're waiting for the first batch of cookies to bake. I mean, it's not like I ate half a batch of the snickerdoodle dough or anything. I just... heard that you could is all.

Review & Giveaway: The Miracle Grill Mat

 I am not a griller. It's nice to look at and the idea of grilling is cool but the moment I pop the top on that beast, everything goes down hill. I don't know why I have so many problems when it comes to grilling but I do. I've begun to hate grilling because I always lose half of what I'm cooking to the grill. Half the time, I'd much rather heat up the house and bake my chicken or fish than mess with the grill. So when I was given the chance to test out the Miracle Grill Mat, I jumped at the opportunity. I will admit that I was a bit skeptical, given my history with grilling. So of course the first thing I tried on it was fish. I was really impressed that the fish didn't stick, even though it was covered in a sugary marinade.

Next I tried a chicken breast and a veggie burger. Same thing, nothing stuck. Which was really surprising since not only did the chicken always stick before, leading to a chicken breast that looked like it went through a shredder, but it was always blackend to a crisp during the cooking process. This chicken came out nice and golden colored and when the Mr. cut into it, it was very moist. Granted I didn't eat any but you could see that it was not dry. Even the Mr. said he was surprised that it was cooked so well considering it came from the grill and not the oven.

There are a couple down sides to this though. One of which being that you don't really get those grill marks on the food. Sure they are there, but they aren't as predominant as if it were straight on the grill itself. For me, I don't use my grill for grill marks, so I'm fine with that but I could see others having a problem with it.

Also, it's not the easiest thing to clean. Because of its size I have to clear out the sink and lay it in the bottom of the sink so that it can rest along the sides and then I scrub it down. I used a marinate on the fish the first time I used it and I still haven't been able to get the tackiness off of it fully.



Lastly, the mat doesn't stick. Which when it comes to food is great. But when you are talking about the mat sticking to the grill when flipping, that's a problem. Each time I've gone to flip the food, the mat has moved around on me and has bunched up in the back of the grill while I'm maneuvering the food onto the spatula. So if you have one of those little round charcoal grills, I could see you pushing the mat with your food right off the grill itself and onto the dirty ground.

In the end, this is a great product and I would recommend it to anyone who's like me and has a hell of a time when it comes to cooking on the grill. Sure it has some flaws but the fact that I don't lose my food to the grill, I can work around them. I also like that the two grill mats come with a a baking mat. I haven't tried it out yet since I haven't baked cookies... yet. I will be doing that this weekend but I look forward to testing it out as well.

The giveaway is for the US only. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review & Giveaway: Book-Shaped Cake Pan

I was recently sent a book-shaped cake pan from Gone Reading for an honest review. As you know, I've been offline for a while because I was in the process of moving. I'm happy to say that our new location is out of the desert and actually right on the beach. So with the cooler temperatures I will be doing a lot more baking. So I was pretty excited to christen our new oven with a cake. A book-shaped cake to be precise.

One thing that I liked right away was that the cake pan comes with instructions on the back. It lets you know how much cake you will need to make and the best ways to decorate it. However, considering it's a Wilton cake pan, of course they want you to decorate it exclusively with Wilton products. Which, I suppose you can do if you want, or you could go against the grain and use your own homemade frosting/fondant to decorate with.

Once I mixed up three cake mixes (yes, this baby takes three mixes to make a full sized cake) I poured it into the baking pan. However, I held onto about a box worth of cake mix because the directions said to fill the pan half way, which left me with some extra. No worries though, I just poured it into a resealable bag and put in the freezer to thaw out and bake with later. I did read later on that people said they put all 3 cake mixes in with the outcome of the cake rising above the pan. That way they just sliced the cake along the top of the pan, leaving a flat level base when you take the cake out of the pan.

The cake came out of the pan with ease. I didn't hit any bumps when baking. Now decorating was a whole other issue. This sucker is HUGE! It didn't fully fit on my cooling racks, and it just barely fit on my 9x13 baking sheet shown above. So considering it's just the Mr. and myself, this pan is a bit much. However, I could see myself taking this to book club meetings where I can share this with others. Like I said it makes a HUGE cake.

My only complaint is that the pan is fragile. My pan arrived bent (shown in first picture). As you can see, it didn't really change the shape of the cake. I suppose I got lucky, had the dent happened anywhere else, who knows if it would have been easily hidden.

In the end, this is a great pan to have in your kitchen. It's different enough to add a little something extra to what would otherwise be a sheet cake. You can decorate it like a book, write a message on it for birthdays, graduation or even use it to announce the sex of your baby. The possibilities are endless. I of course went the easy route. After all, I'm still living out of boxes at the new house but I'm not going to lie, this book-shaped cake definitely cheered me up. It's pretty cool seeing a recipe come to life on a cake. I will definitely be getting my use out of the pan. Just need to make some friends at the new place so that I don't become obese eating all this cake by myself.


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Gone Reading is giving one lucky reader a $20 eGift Card for their site!

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Review: Vegan Beans from Around the World by Kelsey Kinser

Vegan Beans from Around the World is a cookbook by Kelsey Kinser. This is a great recipe book for vegans and non-vegans alike. I recently found out that I'm allergic to dairy so I've been trying to watch what I eat. Plus, I'm always looking for new vegetarian dishes to mix up meals during the week. This book has a little bit of something for everyone.

First I tried the black bean & sweet potato queso-less-dilla with tofu sour cream and really enjoyed it. I will admit that I was missing the cheese in it, but the sweet potato does add a density and slight creaminess to it that imitates cheese pretty well. The tofu sour cream, although a little funky tasting by itself, was awesome when mixed with homemade salsa. I didn't really notice that it wasn't real sour cream.






The next recipe I tried was the Italian "meat" balls. The meatballs smelled and tasted really good in all their white bean glory. You mix a lot of ingredients into the white beans like you would a real meatball. Now, they definitely didn't taste like meatballs but they did have a lot of great flavor and in the end were delicious with the pasta. My one and only complaint was that my meatballs fell apart and were pretty mushy even though I left them in the oven another 15 minutes. They just didn't hold up like they should've.




The last recipe I tried, and by far my favorite, was the lentil loaf. I grew up on my grandpa's meatloaf. So this was the true test for me. I will admit I was pretty skeptical about the recipe. It seemed legit with all the ingredients put in. There's seasonings, onion, bell pepper, bread crumbs, ketchup, just about everything goes into this. No where in the recipe does it say to mash the lentils but I did. I found that I wanted more of "ground meat" appearance and consistency, and that was the best decision I made. Not only did the loaf, at quick glance, look like meatloaf but it was delicious. I paired it with mashed potatoes and corn, Just like my grandpa would, and I was taken back in time to my childhood. Sure, I could tell it wasn't ground beef, however, it was so darn close to it and so amazingly delicious that the slight taste difference didn't even register.  


If I had someone who was looking to take a step away from meat and dairy, I would definitely recommend this book to them. Even though I haven't tried the dessert recipes yet, I do plan on continuing my journey through this book. I just couldn't wait anymore to share my review.

Review: Varick Winery's Screaming Hornets Hot Sauce

I have got to share this hot sauce with you guys. Last year my family went on a wine tasting tour up by the Finger Lakes and came across a winery that also made hot sauces. Knowing how spicy my husband likes his food, my mom bought a bottle of their Screaming Hornets hot sauce for a Christmas gift. However, when the Mr. and I tried the hot sauce I quickly claimed it as mine. You see, the Mr. has a tenancy to put hot sauce on everything... literally. He puts it on hot dogs, on his eggs and even on his turkey sandwiches.

I thankfully had the fortune of visiting the winery when the Mr. and I were in NY a few months back. Funny story, we couldn't find the place. We drove past it about twice because within the year from when my family went to when I got to go the winery had changed their name due to legal issues. So, who knows, maybe I have the few bottles of hot sauce with their old name on it. 

*info taken from their website*
Varick Winery is a jack of all trades in the Finger Lakes Wine Country in Upstate NY. The historic farm dates back to the early 1800's and houses not only the vineyard but a berry farm and lodging as well. Yes they make and sell wine ranging from dry reds and whites to sweet cherry wine, but you can also go there during berry season and pick your own berries (which is one of my fondest childhood memories or my grandmother and me). They also have a country store where you can purchase their hot sauce, BBQ sauce, various fruit butter, jelly, fruit toppings, fruit preserves, mustard and salsa.


About the product.
This hot sauce is buzzing with flavors of Tabasco, peppers, habanero peppers, vinegar, green chili peppers, and black pepper. It can make some of the less qualified absolutely SCREAM! A must for chicken wings. Hot-Hot-Hot!

Conclusion: I love this hot sauce. It's not really that spicy, which may take away points for some but not me. When the hot sauce first hits my tongue, I taste a tangy sweetness to it, but then the heat kicks in for a second and then there's a peppery after taste to it. I will say that I'm not like the Mr., I don't put this hot sauce on everything. In fact, I love it so much that I'm quite stingy with it to be honest. I find that it goes really well on creamy noodle dishes like the creamy beef and noodle casserole, beef stroganoff  and S.O.P. However, when I do put it on something, I make sure there's hot sauce in every bite. This is definitely a great hot sauce. It has amazing flavor and isn't over powering in the spice department. I highly recommend this hot sauce if you're a fan of a little spice and tend to put pepper on your food.

Review: VidaCup

I was given the opportunity to try VidaCup thanks to Ashley over at MommyGuru. VidaCup makes instant coffee, tea and energy drinks that are great for those of us on the go. Below are my personal thoughts on the products.

Ageless Brew

"Imagine a coffee that helps you look and feel rejuvenated.

Ageless Brew is a creamy, slightly sweet, low calorie latte that can do just that. Our gourmet coffee is infused with age-defying ingredients including our organic H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. This latte will please your senses and your body inside and out. Ageless Brew is truly a Cup of Life.
We start with all-natural arabica coffee grown deep in Brazil providing a deep, dark, rich tasting coffee that smells as good as it looks. We then infuse our premium nutritional and herbal blend including grape seed extract, Extramel, red wine extract, resveratrol, and our exclusive H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. You’ll feel great both inside and out. Lightly sweet and creamy, it’s conveniently packaged in single serving instant sticks so you can take your Ageless Brew anyplace...anytime."

My thoughts: It smelled like a delicious cup of cappuccino and I was really excited to try this one. It's supposed be light and smooth tasting while being low calorie, but I did not like the flavor at all. It had a very chemically enhanced taste. Picture Pepsi and diet Pepsi, for the non diet drinkers, you always taste a difference. I really wanted to like this because it smelled so good but I had to stop myself from spitting it back out into my cup. I quickly dumped it out and rinsed my pallet with something a little bit more appetizing.

Mo-Joe

"We start with all-natural Arabica coffee grown deep in Brazil – providing a deep, dark, rich tasting coffee that smells as good as it looks. We infused our coffee with our proprietary and unique herbal and nutritional blend. Conveniently packaged in single serving instant sticks so you can get your mo-joe with Mo-Joe anyplace… anytime. Our infusion begins with Green Tea, Bacopa, Ginkgo and Gotu Kola. We didn’t stop there. Like all our coffees, Mo-Joe has been infused with our H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. Many other enhanced coffee companies infuse their coffee with less powerful medicinal mushrooms, but we believe, and studies will validate, that the H1X1 is by far the most potent medicinal mushroom in existence and we strive to bring you the best.
The result? Mo-Joe is a product designed to give you more of what you want in a morning coffee. The unique coffee blend is deep and dark, smooth and rich. It isn’t about just giving an extra jolt of caffeine, but also providing additional nutrients and herbs to increase energy, mental clarity, and an overall feeling of well-being."

My thoughts: Smelled more like coffee than Ageless Brew. It has good flavor and is a bit sweet, like the beans were roasted differently from what I'm used to. I would say that this is a pretty good representation of a freshly brewed cup of coffee and taste wise is better than those that I've tried from my grocery store. The only down side is that strange sweet taste to it. I like to be able to add a little bit of sugar to my coffee but this makes it nearly impossible.

XTREME

"Who needs ineffective, sugary energy drinks? What use is an energy drink that makes you burn out?
We developed an energy drink that is loaded with effective herbs and vitamins that will give you healthy, sustained energy – effectively, without the crash. Xtreme gives you more than just energy, you’ll get great nutrition. This refreshing, fruity flavored drink is unique, effective and convenient.
What’s in it? Only the most incredible proprietary blend of fruit and berries that give you an ORAC value of 5,000 per serving. Imagine combining grape, wild blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, prune, strawberry, acai berry, maqui berry, wild bilberry, goji berry, pineapple, apple, orange, grapefruit, plum, raspberry, watermelon, lemon, lime, cantaloupe, cherry, papaya, peach and pear. We could have stopped there, but didn’t.
Like all our products, Xtreme has been infused with our exclusive H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei.
This jam-packed formula means only three words…. HEALTHY HIGH ENERGY; all natural, low calorie, and tons and tons of sustained energy. Oh and did we mention it tastes great with only 30 calories?! Just rip, pour into your water bottle and off you go!"

My thoughts: This is a fruit punch flavored energy drink and it's actually... not bad. I'm not a huge fan of energy drinks but this one didn't taste bad at all. It didn't have a funky after taste to it and it would be a great thing to pack in your bag for work or when you know that you are going to be out and about all day long.



Conclusion: I'm not sure if because VidaCup uses something called H1X1 in their products and that is what I was tasting in their coffee but whatever it was definitely gave them a funky taste. However, I did find that the Mo-Joe had more of a coffee flavor than other instant coffees that I've tried previously. However in the end, VidaCup was unable to get me to bat for the instant team.

Review: Nescafe Memento

When Nescafe Memento first came out, the company offered a chance to try the instant coffee for free. Me being the type that drinks coffee on pretty much a daily basis decided to give it a shot. Not too long after, I received samples of the Nescafe Memento in Mocha and Caramel Latte in the mail. I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of instant coffee. So keep that in mind when reading my reviews.

 
Caramel- Good but too watered down. I measured the water  (yes I did) because I wanted to make sure I was getting what it was supposed to taste like. Now I like my coffee to taste like coffee. I drink espresso. So to me, it was more water with a sweet caramel coffee taste. It reminded me of my high school days when I would go to the local convenient store to buy a cup of caramel cappuccino from one of those coffee machines. I think it would have been a lot better if I'd added half water and half coffee to it. But then that defeats the whole purpose of the drink. I also didn't feel like it woke me up or gave me any energy boost.

Mocha- Again... not a lot of coffee flavor. This one tastes like watered down hot cocoa. It has a strong chocolate flavor to it which I think would be great when used with coffee instead of hot water like the package says.






 Conclusion- Great for adding flavor to your coffee but not good as a substitute. Maybe I'm just a coffee snob but it was too watered down. There was not enough coffee flavor to either taste good or give you that java jolt you're looking for in the morning. I actually ended up taking a nap after drinking the Mocha. It definitely did not give me the kick in the rear that you need when you're running low on energy.

Review: Cabot Light Cheese

Right before my birthday I got an email from Averill from Cabot Creamery. I've made it no secret that Cabot is the household favorite here. I'll use your every day brand of cheese for pizzas and what not, but when I want to sit down and eat a good cheese with crackers, Cabot is the only option for us. Now I've been known to use their cheese in recipes like the Spicy & Smoky Mac & Cheese  featuring their habanero cheddar or the Hawaiian BBQ Burger with the chipotle cheddar but I love to just sit down and have cheese and triscuits (yes I'm weird) while the Mr. and I watch night time television. Which is why I was over the moon when Averill contacted me about their new light look. Not only do I love their cheese but at the location we are currently stationed at... they don't have Cabot!
(Trust me, I've written the stores and asked for them to carry it.)

I had my choice to try two of the flavors and since we like spicy we went with the Jalapeno Cheddar and the classic (for me at least) Sharp Cheddar.

The Jalapeno Light has only 70 calories! It had a creamy texture with a very slight cheddar taste but you could definitely taste the jalapenos. It wasn't too spicy, it was about as spicy as pepper jack cheese but with the added bonus of the cheddar flavor. This would be perfect on a cheese platter, burger topper or even as a fondue. This has quickly become one of my top favorites and the fact that it's 50% less fat really makes me happy.

The Sharp Extra Light has only 60 calories per serving! Unfortunately even though the nutritional facts had me tearing open the packaging it was a miss for us. We found the flavor to be not as sharp as you would find in a normal sharp cheese. The texture was a bit more rubbery and not as silky on the palate. I must say that if you are looking for a low fat cheese but don't want to sacrifice the flavor go with the Sharp Light that has 50% less fat as apposed to the 75% less fat. However, if you are looking for a light cheese for toppings, then this would work great, but as a stand alone it didn't really work for us.



*I must say that I am really happy that Cabot is coming out with fresh new looks and cheeses that are diet friendly. I'd like to thank Averill and Cabot for allowing me to check out their new light look and sending this deprived girl their delicious cheese. If you see these in your local grocery store, pick up one! You'd be surprised that diet could not only look but taste so good.

Review: Kettle Brand 30th Birthday Limited Batch Flavors

If you follow me on Facebook, then you probably saw the post that I was one of 5,000 people who won the chance to get a sneak peak at Kettle Brand's Limited Batch potato chips in celebration of their 30th birthday. They brought back 4 flavors that they had previously been retired and after tasting them... I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why they retired them in the first place. They could out trump the classics, in my personal opinion.

*Now I supposed I must put a disclaimer.... we love Kettle Brand chips. They are crunchy, not overly oily and always have great flavor. This is pretty much the only brand of chips we buy. So my review will be based off of the flavors.

Beer Cheddar- After debuting as a fan pick during the brand’s first People’s Choice vote in 2005, this flavor earned a cult following. A combination of tangy sharp cheese with malty beer notes forms a perfect balance of smooth and salty flavors.




My thoughts: Sorry there is no photo. The Mr. ripped open the bag and scarfed them down before I could get a picture. However, I did try a few chips and I must say that I'm not a fan of this flavor. I don't like the smell or taste of beer and this definitely have a creamy beer finish to it.  However, to those who like beer, you'd probably enjoy this chip.

 Red chili- Introduced in 1982, this flavor mirrors the taste of sriracha sauce combined with a vinegar tang and Cayenne pepper for a searing red chili heat. While it may have launched ahead of its time, this chip is making an on-trend comeback with the flavors and foods of today.


 My thoughts: This was really good. There was a pepper taste to it but not a lot of heat. The heat index was very mild.

Jalapeno Jack- Originally debuted in 1989, this flavor not only has a visual resemblance to a slice of Pepper Jack cheese, but has the same creamy, salty Jack cheese base mixed with the spice of red and green peppers and a strong jalapeño flavor.



My thoughts: My favorite of the bunch. It had a kick at the end with a light dusting of cheese on them. This was the bag that the Mr. knew not to touch.





Salsa- First launched in 1999, vocal fans have long mourned this favorite’s absence. Tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and garlic blend with the bright flavor of lime to create an unmatched combination that’s sweet, smoky and salty.



My thoughts: This is a great chip for everyone. You can taste all of the seasonings like onion, tomato and peppers. It definitely has a salsa taste to it and doesn't have any heat to it at all.



These flavors are only available for a limited time, and similar to a Disney movie, once their time is up, they will be off shelves and you will be unable to buy a bag. Hopefully the good folks at Kettle Brand decide to bring these flavors back more often because now that I've had a taste... I will never be able to look at my once favorite BBQ chips the same.

Can't find Kettle Brand potato chips in your area? You can always go to their website and order them!

Discription of the flavors came from Reuters