Natures Store Mini Review - White chocolate and caramel rice cakes

Rice cakes are a perfect at the desk snack and whoever at Natures Store thought up white chocolate and caramel certainly needs a pay rise! I find than rice cakes are always filling whether they are sweet or savoury and these ones really hit the spot when I am after a sweeter one!

A pack of six can retail from £1-£2 depending on the retailer but are available from Natures store's website for £1.70. There is only 82 calories per cake so is great as an afternoon snack!

The rice cake itself is about 1cm thick and has a thin layer of the white chocolate caramel. There is just enough chocolate to cover and give a good flavour but not over powering. Quite sweet in flavour, this is certainly for those with a major sweet tooth.

I thought I would bullet point my initial views on them, as lets face it, with rice cakes other than their flavouring, do not vary too much! It tends to be what they are coated in, or flavoured with that makes them stand our from the crowd!

Positives:

• Under 100 calories per snack.
• Good flavour, tastes more like a chocolate bar than a rice snack.
• Available online and in Tesco stores. 
• Only 15p-35p per portion depending on offers and where you buy.

Negatives

• Only available in packs of six, would be great if they were also available in the snack packs Natures Store have the regular chocolate rice cakes in. 
• Not always in stock in store, so often I have to order them online. 

If you see these in Tesco, or are already ordering on Natures Store's website, I would say to give these a go and pop them in your basket as they are really sweet treat with such a unique flavour for a rice cake but are not hugely calorific!

Hannah x 

Breakfasts of the Week!

I noticed that for the whole of last week I took pictures of my breakfast, so I thought that I would share what I make in a typical working week, as I don't have much time!


Monday - Udis vanilla and almond granola with M&S blackcurrant and blueberry yoghurt

Tuesday - Delicious Alchemy porridge with banana, mixed raisins and syrup.

Wednesday - Natural yoghurt, Udis vanilla and almond granola and syrup with a banana

 Thursday - Tesco seeded gluten free toast with peanut butter and banana

Friday - As it was so good on Thursday I had the Tesco seeded gluten free toast with peanut butter and banana again!

Saturday - Udis vanilla and almond granola with milk

I'd love to know what you like to eat for breakfast!

Hannah x

No.G Too Good To Be Gluten Free - Crustless Garden Vegetable & Feta Quiche*

Another No.G product for you all to drool over today! These notes have been in my notebook since the beginning of December and it is really time this fantastic product should be on my blog! When No.G asked which products I would like to try, this one really stood out as I used to love the feta and broccoli quiche from the Morrisons deli, I ate it all the time, no wonder I was always so unwell! My eyes lit up when I found that No.G cater to a market that is gluten free but like to have flavoursome food. There is only so many chicken nuggets and chicken burgers you can eat!

Being crustless means that there is only pastry on the bottom of the quiche. I baked mine in the oven to have it with salad for dinner and the pastry went beautifully crisp. I also ate one cold and though the pastry wasn't as crispy, it still really stood on its own as a great pastry. In terms of flavour, the mixture of green vegetables and mint combined perfectly. If you are not a mint person I would recommend trying another flavour as it is quite prominent. But as I am a fresh mint lover, it was perfect! Sprinkled on the top you will find feta and pine nuts which added a crunch and richness to the quiche. The egg binding was fluffy and in no way stodgy. Overall everything tasted very fresh and light.

At 309 calories per quiche, this would fit perfectly in any January diet plan you are choosing to follow as with a mixed salad, and even some boiled potatoes if you're feeling hungry for dinner will be a well balanced meal. Retailing at £2.50 you may think that this a quite pricey for a single serve quiche, but if you look at mainstream counterparts, they are very similar in pricing and do not even brush near the quality we are receiving from No.G. Ingredients such as feta cheese, petit pois, onion, asparagus, broccoli, spinach and pine kernels is just not something you see combined in a quiche everyday! I feel the quality is second to none with all the No.G food I have tried. 

I really enjoyed this quiche and it just makes me want to try more of their products! I find my local stores do not stock them but you can find them in Sainsbury's and online on Ocado. I would really recommend giving their range a go. I'm just trying to get hold of some of their sweet range now! 

Hannah x 

*This Product was sent to me to try, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Snact - Apple and Mango Fruit Jerky

January is typically a month used to kickstart a new eating plan or diet. To help you on your way with a new lifestyle change I find healthier snacks packed in a way junk food would be really helps me shred the pounds! So today I am bringing you the ultimate in what I like to see as heathy food but packed in typically naughty crisp style packaging!

The key to any successful lifestyle change or dare I say diet, is that you need to feel you are not restricting yourself or cutting back. This I find helps if you find treats which are lower calorie and more nutritionally beneficial but isn't always your conventional apple or cucumber sticks! This is where Snact is perfect! If you are a 90's kid like me, I am sure you remember the fruit bowl fruit flakes or fruit winders, partially fruit but mainly sugar. Well imagine them tasting as good as they did, but 100% natural. This is what we have here!

This pack in particular was in my snackly box so I am not too sure where you can readily purchase them, although I imagine there will be a few online stores stocking them! I received the apple and mango version and for around 60 calories per pack, these are a fab on the go, throw in your handbag kind of snack. I also love that they claim to save fruit by taking all the not so pretty fruit the shops won't sell, and squishing into yummy snacks! I hate food waste so this is something that makes Snact stand out from other fruit snacks!

Fruit jerky is the perfect description as they do remind me of jerky, or giant fruit flakes, though not jelly like in texture and taste much fresher than fruit flakes. The flavouring is very concentrated, which is fantastic as theres noting worse than bland or artificial fruit flavoured food! I wish I could find more of these to try in store as I am a nightmare for craving things but having to wait to order online, or sometimes waiting till I need a lot from one place to save on shipping!

If you can get hold of these, pick some up, you will not regret it! It fulfils my need for crisp style snacking things, because as you can see from my blog I am a true snacker! My family always tease me that if I ever had to write a diet book it'll have to be called snack yourself thin!

Hannah x

M&S Made Without Wheat - Chocolate Fudge Cake

Today I'm still holding onto Christmas! I am trying to let go but as I spent the week before Christmas in New York, I didn't quite fit in all my usual Christmassy things... So I thought I would make up for it now!

Today I am talking about a very hard to find cake! I saw these in M&S the day before I went away and thought I'd pick one up when I get back, but they were nowhere to be found, typical! Today I spotted them in the cafe and picked one up. The use by date was today and I paid £1.85, but I am sure if I waited until later in the day I think you could pick them up for a bargain!

At 333 calories these cakes are quite calorific, although I guess it is still better than buying a whole cake and eating your way through that! In all honesty it was the little stars that enticed me into buying this product, I am a complete sucker for cute food and when I saw a cute looking free from cake I was so excited!

In terms of texture, this cake was quite moist and rich, not overly so though, I found the portion size to be perfect and that if there were any more I may not have been able to manage it! If you have ever tried the M&S chocolate loaf cake, it is not too dissimilar, so it is great that we can get something comparable all year round. With chocolate chunks and a thicker icing which I believe if you microwaved, like I have done with the loaf cake, would turn into a amazing rich gooey sauce.

The flavour was beautifully chocolatey and with quite a bit of depth. Although rich I would imagine children would enjoy this too, I may pour a little double cream on top to soften the richness if I were serving this to younger children.

If you are wanting to try this product but can't find it, I would recommend trying the M&S chocolate loaf cake, as it is almost the same and is also great hot with some cream!

Hannah x

M&S Made Without Wheat - Sausage Rolls

The Sausage Roll wars are back on today! To add to my DS/Schar, No.G mix is the contender from M&S! Being a ready to eat sausage roll meant I could just pick these up and tuck in, which is exactly what I did!

Retailing at £3 for a pack of two these rolls are slightly more expensive than Schar, but you do not have to cook them, which I would argue would cost more than 50p, yet  they are cheaper than No.G, as you get two in a pack although they are smaller! I actually got mine for £1.80 as they were on their use by date, which is great as I ate one for lunch yesterday and one today and saved a few pennies!

The pastry was flakey in texture, beautifully light and airy, I microwaved them to eat and they kept a good dry texture and did not go soggy, lets face it, soggy pastry is never good! This pastry is very comparable to the No.G pastry and leaps and bounds above the Schar pastry in my opinion. Schar use much more of a short crust, which is delicious, but flakey is the way to go when it comes to sausage rolls!

In terms of flavour, the sausage meat is seasoned nicely, much more plain than the No.G comparative but that's clearly where the price difference comes into play. These sausage rolls are much more of a basic sausage meat, which are still very flavoursome and perfect for everyone as there are no strong flavourings,  but if you are after something which has a slightly richer, more peppery flavour I would pick the No.G as they feel slightly more luxury.

The M&S sausage rolls are a lot more accessible to me though, as although M&S Foodhall and Sainsbury's are right next-door to each other where I shop, Sainsbury's does not stock any No.G products and has very limited gluten free options, so in this respect I would be more included to have the M&S ones, purely because I have to order a minimum of £40 on Ocado to get hold of them, and I don't always need that many groceries.

Being around 100 calories less than the No.G, the M&S rolls are around 300 calories with 21.1g of fat. Obviously being a smaller roll, I would feel the macros of the comparable weight would be about the same, so there is nothing better for you in terms of lower calories or fat, other than the M&S sausage roll is smaller so makes for a smaller portion. Although you can cut these sausage rolls into party sized and limit your intake that way, if that is something that concerns you!

Overall I think the M&S Sausage rolls are wonderful, but having the rare novelty of being able to compare two great gluten free products, I had to take the opportunity, as it wasn't too long ago we barely had one option of each item! If I had to choose which sausage roll I enjoyed best, it would be very hard to make a decision as I enjoyed them both, but I feel the M&S is more of a lunch box treat products, whereas I would use the No.G as part of a buffet cut down or when I was having guests as I feel the sausage meat is slightly more luxury!

If you have tried both I would love to know which one you prefer, or if you are just excited that more and more free from products are hitting the market!

Hannah x

The Handmade Treat Company - January 2016

What's a better way to kick off the new year than getting a new subscription box! The Handmade Treat Company are very similar to Snackly but they also include what I like to call a luxury me item! This could be anything from a lip balm to a soap, something you can use for a bit of me time whilst chomping on your freshly delivered snacks!

This month is the first months box I have received and as I am in fully engagement party planing mode, all of these things are perfect for my to throw into my bag as I am rushing around hunting down the perfect balloons and sorting catering, is it just me or does talking about food make you starving!



So lets see what we got in this months box!

Peanut 9 Bar
When I was a florist I lived off these as they filled me but I could eat them without touching the food with my bare hands, which I wouldn't recommend when you have touched all sorts of potentially toxic plants! So I know I love these, although I don't recall the peanut ones, I could only get the original and chocolate coated ones so it'll be nice to try another flavour.

Gnaw - Peanut Butter Chocolate
Keeping to the peanut theme, I received one of these in a Snackly box which I have yet to eat, I love peanut butter and chocolate, so it can only mean good things, and I think these will be perfect for a film night!

The Melting Pot - Dark Chocolate and Orange Fudge
This is one thing I most certainly will not be sharing! James loves chocolate orange so this may have to be cracked open when he is doing a wedding shoot... But as it is a much bigger bar than I have received of The Melting pot fudges from Snackly in the past, I may let him share! I didn't receive any orange chocolate at Christmas, so this will make up for it!

Mr Filberts - Chilli Roasted Tasty Seeds
The amount of new seed products I have seen recently have really interested me, I have been snacking on seeds and sprinkling them on salads since I was a small child and rosemary and chilli just sounds divine!

Twinning Tea - Lemon and Ginger
We have got a little sample of tea in our box this month, a lemon and ginger tea is perfect too as I have been back on my lemon water kick! A tea would make a welcome change to what I am currently  drinking

Soma Soap
In terms of our little luxury item, we have got a beautiful bar of soap. I love all sorts of bath products, my Lush collection is quite embarrassing! This will be stored away ready for its turn on my bathroom sink!

Have you subscribed to The Handmade Treat Company? I'd love to hear what you received!

Hannah x

M&S Made Without Wheat - Christmas Pudding

As we bid Christmas a fond farewell, I am trying to cling onto the last dribs and drabs of the festive season. I clearly went overboard on buying mini gluten free Christmas puddings, so there will be a couple of reviews in the coming weeks, but it's ok as a winter dessert surely?!?!

This review will be quite short today as I actually ate the M&S Christmas pudding on Boxing day and the sleeve ended up in the recycling before I had a chance to take notes! But at Christmas calories don't count!

We put the pudding in the microwave for 40 seconds and it came out piping hot. I have a very powerful microwave, so timings do have to played by ear as microwaves can vary so much. Just do what you feel is right for your microwave.

Once removed from the microwave, the pudding turns out of the bowl very easily and created a perfect dome. I accompanied the pudding with a little Baileys cream and quite a bit of clotted cream, as cream is the quintessential Christmas dessert condiment in my eyes.

Texturally this pudding was very moist and almost sticky, a very deep rich brown colour and perfectly fruity. The flavour itself I could not detect any alcohol, not to say there may not have been some in the mix just lifting it, but if there was it was subtle enough to be suitable to feed to children, much more of a warm, moist fruit cake than a rich boozy Christmas pudding. I personally preferred this as I think sometimes way too much alcohol is used in a Christmas Pudding and takes away from the flavours.

I found this pudding very enjoyable and would recommend trying it. I believed it retailed for around £2 which is the same as Sainsbury's mini Christmas Pudding, but I have found both is store for 60p in the sales. Which maybe why I have so many now!!

Hannah x

What I ate - Frankie and Bennys Edition!

Happy new year! I'm kicking off the year with a tiny post that I intended to post four weeks ago to ease me back in after a short break! Before Christmas James and I took a trip to see Mumford and Sons at the O2 and decided to eat out. Frankie and Bennys have a wide range on their gluten free menu so we decided to eat there!

Here's what I ordered!





Starter
I ordered the potato skins to start as these are something I love to have as a treat when eating out, I chose the option with bacon, which was a fantastic choice. There was plenty of bacon and was full of flavour.

Main
I opted for the naked burger, which came with sauce, coleslaw and a salad. This meal was quite light and refreshing but very filling. The beef burger was beautifully seasoned and was juicy and rich, combined with the crisp, fresh salad made a very well balanced meal.

Have you tried anything in Frankie and Bennys? I would love to know what you think!

Hannah x