Udis Vanilla and Almond granola

Desperately trying to bring out the sun, I am eating more summery foods recently. The breakfast porridge is stashed away for now and replaced with youghurts and granola with berries. Granola is something that you can seem to find a million different varieties of in the mainstream section of the supermarket but not so much in the free from isle. So I'm always on the hunt for something different to mix with milk or yoghurts. I purchased this Udis granola online from Holland and Barrett a while ago, it took FOREVER to deliver, but it was worth the wait!

Being a much looser granola this jumps out at me that it'll potentially be lower in sugar, as sugar is the binding agent in most granola, the rule of thumb is typically the more clusters, the more sugar there is, although this is not a fool proof method. As it is, this granola contains no refined sugar at all so is fantastic. Simply made from certified gluten free oats, honey, rapeseed oil, almonds and natural vanilla flavouring, I consider this to be quite a clean choice, as I can read and understand all the ingredients. This also means that those with egg, soya and dairy allergies are safe to eat this with no issues too!

These sweetly coated oats are the perfect morning pick me up, with the sharper dryness from the almonds, it strikes a good balance to have with some natural yoghurt and berries. Sometimes I even squeeze a little syrup in for good measure! Naturally flavoured it allows so much room to experiment with this granola, the vanilla is noticeable enough to stand against other flavours so adding some cacao powder to the mix would not overpower it.

Per 100g this granola contains 482 calories, 17.4g fat, 65.8g carbs 20.3g of which are sugars, 7.5g fibre and 11.7g protein. I tend to have 20g as a portion with 125g natural yoghurt, once you've added berries and any toppings you like, this tends to make a 200 calorie breakfast which keeps me satisfied until lunch.

If I had one complaint about this product, it would be that I would enjoy a few more almond slices in the mix, granted I could add more myself, but with the weekday rush it would be one less thing I have to do!

Unfortunately this product seems to be out of stock on Holland and Barrett currently as well as Tesco and Amazon, so hopefully it should be around soon!

Hannah x

No.G Open Top Vegetable Pie

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a while, which is a shame as this product doesn't deserve to sit in the corner, in all honesty like all No.G products, it's phenomenal!

Perfect for lunch, dinner or a picnic, this open top pie is more or less a very deep quiche. I feel the pastry is slightly different to the No.G quiches as it seemed more crisp and thinner, but it may have just been the way I cooked it! Filled with plenty of ingredients, this highly flavoured pie retails averagely for £2.50 in Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Ocado and now Waitrose!

At 405 calories per pie, these are a very filling meal either on their own or with a side salad. As expected there is 26.3g of fat per pie, but if you are choosing to eat pastry, you will be aware of this and know what to expect anyway! Perfect for a midweek dinner as you can just throw it in the oven, there is very little effort involved. But being packed with butternut squash, red pepper, extra mature cheese and spinach, it is so flavoursome and all the hard work has been done for you! Something I know would take me a good couple of hours to prepare from scratch and wouldn't taste half as good! The balance is perfect and makes the product taste fresh, healthy and slightly more nutritious but has a creamy decadence creeping in too. Making it a perfect treat without feeling like the second ingredient on the packet should be regret, haha!

Like all No.G products, the pastry is perfect. This is the pastry I now use as my benchmark to judge others, as all the pastry I have sampled from No.G has been exceptional. Golden, crisp and perfectly crumbly/flakey makes their pastry in my opinion the very best in the free from market. Not once have I had issues with them going soggy, feeling stale even though well within date or having a horrendous after taste. I feel that although No.G is on the higher price point of the market it has never let me down and this justifies the price.

Unfortunately this product does contain milk and egg, so is only suitable for gluten free diets, this is very obvious without reading the ingredients due to the inside resembling the fluffiness of an omelet, which can only be achieved using dairy. Synthetic or natural replacers for dairy products are not quite the same and don't achieve the same effect, or at least when I have tried, but I am always open to advice!

Another amazing product from No.G in my eyes and I can't wait to get my hands on some more bits to try!

Hannah x

Tesco Free From - Malted Milk Biscuits

Malted milk biscuits are quite nostalgic for me as these were what I was fed as a snack at my pre-school back in the mid 90's with a glass of milk! So almost a month ago, James bought me these malted milk biscuits when I saw them in Tesco and screamed with delight.

This almost normal sized pack retails at £1.20 so the value for money is great. Being free from wheat and gluten only, these are not suitable for egg or dairy allergy sufferers. There are no nuts in the recipe but they are not able to guarantee the ingredients are from nut free sources. A single biscuit is around 35 calories, perfect to have in the cupboard for both adults and children alike.  

Texturally these biscuits are slightly more powdery than I recall, but I could be wrong as it has been 18 years and I know I used to dunk them in milk! They were the right shape and colour and look the part. I found that the taste is exactly how I recall, quite subtle and a bit milky/creamy but other than that quite plain. For nostalgia sake, I decided to dunk them in a glass of milk and it was like hopping in a time machine and I was back in that wood polish scented room with all my class friends!

Ingredients:

Vegetable Margarine, Maize Flour, Sugar, Oat Flour, Glucose Syrup, Cornflour, Tapioca Starch, Rice Flour, Reconstituted Egg Powder, Dried Whole Milk, Flavouring, Raising Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate), Salt, Vegetable Margarine contains: Palm, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Salt, Emulsifier (Mono- and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids), Reconstituted Egg Powder contains: Water, Dried Egg

I really enjoyed these biscuits and they would be perfect to dunk in a latte or a tea, I think I'm going to look out for some rich tea next!

Hannah x

The Foods of Athenry - Cookie Shots

After biting the bullet and ordering The Foods of Athenry cookie shots from Holland and Barrett (like I need more sweet treats!) I am starting to think they are one of the most convenient snacks I have purchased in a while!

Being small domes of cookie, around the same diameter as a pound coin, these 18 calorie mini cookies are the perfect portion control or craving curber if you need something rich and chocolatey, just without the calories.



Retailing at £2.99 for a 120g bag, these are fantastic value. I have been having 5 as a snack, reaching 90 calories, and they are by far better than chocolate itself in terms of satisfying a chocolate need. Being free from gluten, milk, egg and nuts, these are the perfect lunch box snack or even buffet table at a kids party.

The ingredients are as followed:
Gluten & Wheat free flour (Maize, Rice, Potato, Tapioca, Buckwheat) 100% Vegetable non-hydrogenated Margarine, Sugar, Coca, Concentrated Fruit Juice, Natural Vanilla, Raising Agents (Mono Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum).
Margarine contains ( Vegetable Oil, Water, Salt, Emulsifier: E475, Natural Colours: Circumin, Annato, Natural Flavouring).

The cookie itself is very crunchy and reminds me of the texture of a Oreo style cookie biscuit. This dry crisp consistency seems to translate well into gluten free food and tastes great with no aftertaste, powdering or like you're eating cement when you start to chew, so when I see a product like this, I do get high hopes!

Flavour wise, this is a very rich intense Cocoa chocolate taste, they do remind me a lot of all these Oreo style sandwich cookies, but with a more fulfilling chocolate hit! They are bitter in flavour rather than your typical super sweet cookies, which makes a welcome change. It also makes them much more versatile, as the filling sweetens the sandwich cookies, these are completely plain to use as you wish.

I think not only as a snack but these would be great as an ingredient, I think making a cheesecake base with these cookies would work really well, or even just throwing them together with some ice-cream, cream and sauce to make a sundae!

I have just seen that there are blondies! I will have to try them next time I am ordering from Holland and Barrett. I haven't tried much from The Foods of Athenry as they are not always a brand that come to mind as I don't see them available much, but I'd love to know what you love so I can try some more!

Hannah x

Honeybuns Bakery - Triple Tinker Cookie

Earlier in the month I treated myself to a Honeybuns order. Within this order I chose a triple tinker cookie as I have never tried one before and thought it was about time I gave one a go!

Retailing at under £2 per cookie, these are quite large and fantastic value. The thing I love about Honeybuns is the variety of sizes they do their products in, allowing them to be much more affordable. Being sold singularly you can also buy a good selection of cakes to try what you want to without paying extortionate amounts of money or having enough food to feed a whole school!

At 250 calories a cookie this is quite calorific so it is just as well they are sold singularly! It also makes them feel like much more of a treat. Unlike many free from cookies I have tried, this cookie is very soft and chewy and has quite a rich flavour. Don't be mistaken into thinking that this cookie would be suitable for children, this bitter cookie, with a coffee twang is much more of a big kids treat! ;)

Filled with large chocolate chunks, texturally this cookie is very different. Quite flexible and chewy, it really gets your jaw working! With creamy hits of decadent milk chocolate, it's simply sensational!

I would love to see bitesize versions of this product. I recently bought The Foods of Athenry cookie shots and I love how I can space these over the day and feel I am having lots of treats for little calories, as I am a snacker having them spaced makes me less likely to binge on a lot of calories in one day!

Another hit from Honeybuns for me! Not that I have found any misses yet! The only drawback I have ever found to Honeybuns is their availability, although available online with fantastic delivery options and the ability to freeze most products, it's only really an issue when I have a sudden craving!

I would love to know if you have tried this cookie and what you thought of it!

Hannah x

The Handmade Treat Company - April 2016

Last week my last Handmade Treat Company box arrived, I am saying my last as I have unsubscribed  for a little while. I have a lot of food to eat and my friends and family are always picking me bits and pieces up to try, which I obviously appreciate, but it does mean I am inundated with food! So I have stopped buying bits for a while in order to eat it all!

But I still enjoy surprise boxes, so lets see what's in this one!

Munchy Seeds - Pumpkin Power
I have received chocolate coated seeds from Munchy Seeds before, but not naked ones! This toasted seed medley shot looks perfect to add to salads. With a mix of sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds this mix sounds beautiful. It also states that it is high in Iron and as I have recently been told I am anaemic and lacking in iron and B12, this will be perfect to accompany my tablets, so I will give it a go and let you know how I like them!

Chika's Plantain Chips
I have received this product a few times before, being a lover of bananas and dried fruit, this type of product is completely for me!

Keep Well Snacks - Organic Flakees Spiced
This dried fruit and veggie mix contains apple, carrot, pear and chia. Made from 100% natural ingredients, this rather 'clean' snack is perfect for on the go. Being gluten and dairy free with no added sugar, this snack is suitable for vegans and is one of your 5 a day! That's fantastic!

Zoot Zero - Creamy Milk Chocolate
Free from added sugar, this twin pack of chocolate contains 43% cocoa and is suitable for vegetarians as well as us gluten free lot! In all honesty I am not sure that I am excited to try this bar as it doesn't seem to have anything that stands out from a regular chocolate bar to me, but I may be mistaken and it could be remarkable!

Twinings - Cranberry Green Tea
I love this tea, the cranberry one is lovely in particular so I know I will enjoy this snuggled up in bed!

The cosmetic item this month was an aloe lip balm, but someone has seemed to have borrowed mine so I am not sure what it was called and what it'll be like!

I'd love to know what you got in your box!

Hannah x

Holland & Barrett Haul

I received my Holland and Barrett order today! I had to order some supplements, but as free delivery is applied to any order over £20, I thought I would make the most of it. There have been a couple of items I have been desperate to try, so I thought why not!

The first is the Meridian Yeast extract. I have previously seen this in store, but I thought it was quite large and I wanted to try a smaller jar before buying the larger sized ones. Unfortunately when I tweeted Meridian they told me that this is the only size that they do, so I thought I would just take the plunge and if I don't like it, I will try and gift it to someone who does! This 340g jar retailed at £3.99.

The next item I purchased is the Foods of Athenry cookie shots,  I have been wanting to try these for such a long time, but they never seem to be in my local stores. Being gluten, wheat and dairy free these cookies are vegan. At only 18 calories per cookie, these are a perfect little treat. This 120g bag retails at £2.99

I then received a free 1kg bag of peanuts because I ordered more than £10. I am not sure if the code is still valid but incase it is, all you need to pop in the code section is FREENUTS.

Have you placed an order with Holland and Barrett recently? I'd love to know what you got!

Hannah x

Mrs Crimbles Classic Madeleines*

I'm slowly working through the lovely birthday hamper Mrs Crimbles sent to me, I thought I would review one of my favourite items, it's taken so long as I just had to try every one in the pack to make sure I definitely loved them before reviewing... Honest!

From what I believe this item can only be ordered online from Mrs Crimbles, but they have redesigned their website in the last couple of weeks and I cannot see where you would order them from, so I'm just hoping the face lift has meant that they have had to take the store down temporarily and that it's not gone forever!

I feel these retailed at around £2.50-£3 for a pack of 6, but as I cannot access the online store, don't quote me on that one! Each Madeleine is around 130 calories, so a perfect portioned sweet treat!

If vanilla is your thing, you'd love these! I absolutely love vanilla, it's my flavour shot of choice in coffee, my favourite yoghurt flavour and even my favourite shower gel scent (don't worry I don't eat shower gel!) I don't know how they have done it without affecting the integrity of the texture, but these are unmistakably vanilla flavoured, incredibly strong and stands out, without being over powering.

Super soft and squishy, this is an unusual texture to achieve in gluten free baking. Representative of mainstream versions, this light, foamy, fluffy textured clam shell shaped sponge has the little central rise and a light thin buttery film coating, adding to it's authenticity to the mainstream counterpart.

Perfect for children I think this smaller portioned, light and soft cake would be great for toddlers and those just starting out with food as well as us adults, as they are buttery and melt in the mouth, making them easy to chew as they fall apart beautifully.

I find these are the perfect lunch box treat as they are not too calorific but at the same time really hit the spot when trying to satisfy your sweet tooth.

I would love to know if you have tried these and what you think!

Hannah x

*This product was sent to me to try, all opinions are my own.