Marks & Spencer Spicy Chorizo Flavour Sweet Potato Snacks

We got married last year and got given a shed load of vouchers for various shops, however we've been together for 11 years and lived together officially for the last five of those and there is literally nothing we need! We've also decided we're sick of saving things - whether its "clothes for best" that never get to see the outsides of wardrobes or bottles of champagnes for celebrations that ain't happening - we were determined not to hold on to the vouchers for something special before realising they'd reached the use by date.

We'd very kindly received a decent amount in vouchers for Marks & Spencer, not enough for say a new bed, but too much to waste on overpriced photo frames or candlesticks! We've walked round and round in circles for the last 7 months and I've trawled through the website before we thought sod it - good food is better than things bought for the sake of spending money! A few sushi platters later, we had roughly £10 left on a gift card and went down the snack aisle, so expect a few M&S reviews in the near future.

Don't worry I didn't spend all the money on 'healthy' snacks, 90% was chocolate but as chorizo and sweet potato fans these seemed rather interesting. 

The ingredients list is suprisingly healthy, literally nothing on there that can't be found on a spice rack with the exception of the actual sweet potatoes. Not only are there no hidden nasties, they are baked not fried, contain 30% less saturated fats than standard crisps but they're suitable for both vegetarians and vegans, Although I don't know too many vegans that would want to eat a meat flavoured snack..

Looks: 

A lot fancier than a normal crisp! On the thin side but to be fair despite only weighing 23g, there were quite a few more than you'd find in an average 30g sized bag of crisps.

Smell:

The snacks/crisps/you know what I mean, had a distinct chorizo scent. Sometimes I find with meat flavoured crisps that there is just a general meaty smell but these were clearly chorizo.

Taste:

The texture was a little strange, they are very hard and a weird kind of crunchy. I've not actually had a sweet potato crisp before so I'm unsure if its the actual potato itself or the fact they're baked not fried that causes the slightly off feel but it was obvious I wasn't eating an ordinary crisp. It's not that I didn't like them, they were just different.  

The flavour was extremely mild, nowhere near as strong as the scent would lead you to believe. I could taste a small amount of the chorizo to begin with, what I could taste was very nice actually - again no mistaking it was chorizo but it wasn't spicy at all.  The chorizo didn't last for very long at all before a delicious sweet potato flavour overtook. Considering chorizo is a strong flavour I expected it to overpower any sweet potato but it was completely the opposite and it was the sweet potato I could taste on my tongue long after I'd finished. 

M&S should do themselves a favour and save some money - lose all the extra 'spicy chorizo' flavours - the sweet potato is delicious alone and the chorizo barely registered. These would have got a higher rating if that is what they were supposed to be, but Spicy Chorizo is what I was promised and Spicy Chorizo is what I expected dammit!

6/10

  

Nakd Caffé Mocha

When I can't have something, I want it all the more. The Caffé Mocha Nakd bars aren't sold in any single supermarket, in all fairness I could have ordered a full case from the Nakd website but I wanted to try 1 - not 18!!

I've been on the hunt since Amy found one in a health shop but I've not had much luck. For the last few weeks I've had an immediate family member in an Intensive Care Unit and so it's been a continuous cycle of days with long visiting hours with literally five minute breaks to wolf down a quick bite to eat. And so Nakd bars have been a god send! My supply had taken a serious hit until what should I find in the hospital canteen? The elusive Caffé Mocha! Typical, it's literally been underneath me for the whole time.. 

The bar is gluten, wheat and dairy free, vegan and one of your 5 a day. 

Looks:

Not much different to every other Nakd bar! A little darker and almost shinier - it looks moister (vom, I hate that word!) than some of the other flavours. 

Smell:

100% strong coffee baby! Although this didn't get my hopes up too much, I've been lead on by strong coffee scented edibles in the past only to have my heart broken by the poor flavour. 

Taste:

If you've read Amy's review you'll know she wasn't that impressed, I do agree somewhat with her review - it isn't as sweet as other bars but I also disagree.

As a black coffee fan I'm always annoyed when products focus on the milky sweeter coffee variations. I suppose it's to reach a wider audience, but why would someone buy coffee flavoured food if they aren't after the taste of coffee? Anyway, I understand this is Mocha flavoured, so is chocolate/cocoa and coffee but pleasingly (for me) the strong rich coffee flavour is predominant and the cocoa, while noticeable plays second fiddle.

The texture is the same as every other non-Crunch Nakd bar but the strong coffee and cocoa flavours overwhelm the signature date/nut/raisin flavour that makes the base of all the other bars. I think this is probably what Amy found lacking, but I enjoyed the more authentic stronger tastes.

Delicious - I've cleared the canteen out!! 

8/10 

Itsu Wasabi Peas

Our Wasabi Peas are crunchy little firecrackers...

...Wasabi is also known as 'Japanese Horseradish'...

Green peas with a wasabi flavoured coating

I've recently graduated to Madras and Jalfrezi levels in my curry eating and I even had a pot of Phal sauce the last time we went to an Indian restaurant. When I'm feeling particularly lazy I'll even use the extra hot Chili Con Carne cooking sauces... I'm finally learning to appreciate the flavours of the spices rather than feel the heat. I put my hands up and admit, I got cocky - Ha! I'm a big girl now, wasabi peas will be nothing to my superior taste buds.

Looks: 

Well they look like peas! A slightly unnerving green colour which I can't work out if it's the colour of the actual dried peas or the wasabi flavouring but it's not Birds Eye pea green anyway. There were a lot in the small 30g box, more than enough to pick through in front of the telly for a while. 

Smell:

They didn't really smell of anything, I suppose I expected a spicy scent but there was nothing I could detect. 

Taste:

The texture is spot on, crunchy and nut like but without the little bits that you're left picking out of your teeth. I chewed the first few using my molars and felt quite smug, these were nice - slight spicy flavour, missing a bit of salt but I'd clearly become the spice queen. I laugh at the puny wimps who can't handle wasabi. Until I accidently let one touch my lips and sit on my tongue. 

Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus these are ridiculous. They are what I imagine Hell tastes like. My nose was watering, I could no longer feel the bottom of my face and honestly, I wanted to cry. Mr.1T reckons they taste like Brannigans Roast Beef & Mustard crisps but that's crap, I've certainly never eaten a crisp that makes me want to rip my tongue from my mouth. 

However.

They are torturously addictive. The heat doesn't have a lingering burn like curry for instance; once you've swallowed, its gone. I could'nt stop myself crunching through the box in one go and perversely licking a couple every now and then. Sicko.

Rating:

Oh God. 1/10 The actual flavour is lovely but the heat is overwhelming and I'm firmly put back in my place. 

New Covent Garden Soup Co Soup of the month - January

I've made no secret of my love of New Covent Garden Soup Co soups and I have a love/hate relationship with their soup of the months. If it's good, I'm gutted it will be gone in a couple of weeks time but it runs the risk of not being good enough to be a standard flavour but one they wanted to try out anyway. 

NCG (I really can't be bothered to keep writing their name out!) have a range of 'Skinny Soups' ironically most have more calories than the normal line but are all "delicious and satisfying, yet less than 2% fat, all green traffic lights and (per half carton) 2 of your 5 a day". 

This months soup is Chunky Root Vegetable,

Looks:

It was a bit on the thin side for a chunky soup before I warmed it up but it thickened nicely. It doesn't look the most appealing, a bit sickly in colour but there seemed to be plenty of veg and black turtle beans.

Taste:

For the amount of veg present, I expected my first taste to be one of the many different used. Unfortunately the first, and most, of my spoonfuls tasted heavily of black pepper. It's the very last ingredient in the ingredients list so I have to assume the machine went a bit haywire on the batch mine came from but it was massively over-seasoned. The only times I couldn't taste the black pepper was when I could taste the garlic and thyme so I really do think I ended up with a dodgy lot - either that or NCG have got their seasoning ratios way off. 

Fighting my taste buds to taste the veg, I was otherwise pleased. The vegetables do have a good fresh flavour it's just covered in pepper. The carrots especially tasted extremely vibrant and fresh and all the veg held on to a decent texture, no mushiness whatsoever. I also enjoyed the black turtle beans, mainly again for the texture as they hold a little more bite than the rest of the vegetables. 

It had thickened up while heating, but the actual soup was still on the watery side especially for a chunky soup. I'd have liked a thicker 'base' so to speak.

Rating:

6/10 It's not one of my favourites, purely because of the pepper - the vegetables were very nice and it was satisfying and extremely filling. If anybody else has tried this I'd appreciate it if you could let me know whether they're all massively peppery or if its just mine!

Fruit Heroes - Banana Fruit Bar

As I previously mentioned, it's January so everywhere you turn adverts and promotions are screaming at us that we should add be on a diet and detoxing. As a result, lots of little products like this are on special offer, the Fruit Heroes Fruit Bars range are all half price in Tesco at the moment - 99p. 

I'm pretty sure they're intended for kids lunch boxes, they only weigh 20 grams but one small bar still counts as one of your 5 a day. 

I've also spoke before about how my favourite healthier snacks are Nakd and I was totally brand loyal until I tried the Tesco versions, they were just as nice and cheaper and the Fruit Heroes bars are cheaper still and have roughly the same kind of ingredients so I thought I'd give them a shot. 

The box was a bit deceptive. It's the same size as a multipack of 4 Nakd bars but I should have realised they'd be noticeably smaller with five in this box. I'd expected them to be similar to the Tesco bars - shorter than the Nakd but quite thick. I couldn't have been further from the truth, they are much longer and maybe a quarter as thick, even the biro I included for scale was fatter than these bars! 

I'm not going to lie, I used my eyes before my nose and I wanted to throw it straight in the bin. It looks exactly like the chews I give my dog!! I actually even picked it up intending to throw it away but my nose remembered to work and I got a sniff of extremely strong banana. 

Now I'm a bit of a banana fiend and once I'd caught scent of that, there's no way it was going in the bin. So I (really) shut my eyes and took a bite. 

The texture is slightly off compared to Nakd and Tesco. It's a lot stickier and softer than both and I didn't get much satisfaction from the actual chewing part. 

The flavour is amazing though. It tastes like (and even more so as I couldn't see what I was eating) mushed up banana. The soft consistency adds to this and it's probably the most natural tasting banana flavoured product I've had. 

Nakd have the reputation of being one of the 'cleanest', healthiest snacks around with a small ingredient list but the Fruit Heroes have even less; 79% dates, 18% banana, 2% sunflower oil, water and natural banana flavour. 

Delicious, a better banana flavour than both Nakd and Tesco but just let down slightly by the lack of a good chew! 

8/10

Oat So Simple Multi Grain Fruit Muesli

Now the cold has finally kicked in I have the perfect excuse to buy even more warm cereals. Morrisons are selling 12 sachets of Quaker Oats microwavable Oat So Simple porridge for £1 (it has to be microwavable for me, it's nicer on the hob but God help me when I forget to soak the saucepan) and while picking myself up a box I spied Multi Grain Porridge -  Fruit Muesli oats, rye & barley. 

The method is the same as the Kellogg's porridge: empty the sachet into a bowl, fill the empty sachet with milk up to the line, microwave for 2 and a half minutes, stir and wait! 

Emptying the sachet didn't give me much hope, there were a lot of oats and not much else but that's the thing with this type of easy porridge, you can't change your mind once they're open so I stuck the milk in and waited. 

The good bits must have been hidden as it certainly wasn't plain porridge after a zap - it had a delicious fruity scent and I could see the raisins, sultanas, cranberry and apple pieces. 

There is added sugar. it comes quite low on the ingredients list so there isn't much but it tastes a lot sweeter than ordinary Oat So Simple. It doesn't taste artificial or sugary sweet but rather a sweetness from the fruits which has sort of soaked through without the flavour. 

I have one photo of the porridge post-microwave, obviously porridge isn't very appealing to look at but I did try - this comes out steaming and so I ended up with a gallery of not much else besides a misty lens!

The raisins were large, juicy, chewy and had survived the microwave well.The cranberry and apple pieces were small but intense, the cranberry being the stronger of the two, and had a sweet taste that really went well with the comforting porridge. There was also small crunchy and chewy pieces, which I'm guessing are the rye and barley, they didn't add much flavour but I appreciated the texture between that and the thick porridge. 

The Multi Grain Fruit Muesli is actually described as a delicious porridge bursting with great taste and texture, and I think they've nailed it. Overall it's sweet but it's a lovely natural sweetness, it doesn't taste artificial at all and somehow manages to taste both good and good for you. There aren't many products that can claim to do that, the general rule is (with processed products) the better it is for you, the worse it tastes!

Very nice, its got my favourite porridge at the moment (Kellogg's Crunchy Nut) beat on the fact its healthier - made with wholegrains, high in fibre and protein, reasonable on sugar and low in fats and salt - but it tastes just as good! 

8/10 

Good 4 U - Super Bites Banana & Cocoa

I was so pleased when I found the Tesco Fruity Bars, their version of the Nakd style bars. I was even happier when I found these Good 4 U super bites - "naturally nutritious & delicious superfood truffles" - little balls extremely similar to the Nakd Nibbles. 

 The company are called Good 4 U, and the name is pretty apt. This small 40g bag is 1 of your 5 a day, rich in fibre and calcium, low in saturated fat, has no added sugar, is a source of magnesium (23% of your RDA to be exact, which contributes to a reduction in tiredness and fatigue) and is 100% vegan and gluten free. Phew!

We found two flavours; Coconut and Banana & Cocoa. I chose the latter, obviously and Mr.1T went for coconut. 

These type of snacks never look very nice do they?

They're bigger than the Nakd Nibbles and there was a decent amount in the smallish bag. The smell was pretty even, some smelling strongly of banana and some with a cocoa scent. 

Taking a bite the texture was similar to Nakd but I'd definitely be able to tell the difference, the Good 4 U are softer and chewier without any of the grittier pieces found in the Nakd. 

The nutritional aspects, and the size were pleasing but they were let down slightly by the flavour. They were quite plain generally with a sort of earthy flavour. The ingredients are 40% dates, milled sunflower seeds, raisins, reduced fat cocoa powder, dietary fibre, chia seeds, red algae seaweed, freeze dried banana, brown rice flour and natural flavouring. So you can imagine - the ingredients are all brown and it just tastes.. brown?

It is reminiscent of the base flavour of Nakd bars, probably due to the dates, but the Good 4 U are missing the fruity, bright, vibrant flavours that round it all off in Nakd. 

I could taste the banana and the cocoa. The cocoa is very mild, its not pretending to be chocolate - its proper cocoa, and it is tasty but not very strong at all. The banana is better,  its an authentic tasting banana but isn't very prominent at all and had a strange slightly bitter or almost gone off after-taste.

So it probably doesn't make much sense at all that I'm going to say these aren't actually that bad!  With the Nakd bags, I like to sit and pick at them but I couldn't enjoy these eaten that way. Shoved in like the greedy pig I really am, the flavours do end up a little more pronounced and the soft, squidgy texture is enjoyable. Honestly though, I wouldn't buy these for the flavour but the nutritional aspects do make it appealing - it's an easy way to get a vitamin and mineral hit. Mr.1T thoroughly enjoyed the coconut balls though and for someone who avoids health food as a rule and someone I've never noticed have a general like for coconut, that's pretty impressive! 

6/10

For a slightly different experience, take a look at Amys blog, Seeks New Treats! 

Tesco Fruity Bars

I love Nakd. The normal bars, the crunch bars, the nibbles, the fruit & nut bits and the flavour infused raisins. I've even converted Mr.1T, who turns his nose up at anything remotely good for him, into a Nakd Bakewell Tart addict - he tried one at the start of last week and he's gone through 3 multipacks already! Let's be honest though, they're expensive. I will pay more for them as they're superior to other 'cereal' bars - a lot more filling, most are one of your 5 a day and they contain only natural ingredients. It was about time a supermarket made a rip off version though! 

Banana Bliss 

My old faithful Nakd Banana Bread, is thankfully one of the two flavours Tesco have so kindly imitated. I have high standards though so this had a lot to live up to. 

Going into it, from a health food point of view, it's a mixed bag. Ok if you're on a diet they have less calories, but they are smaller, however they have somehow managed to squeeze 4g more protein into 4g less product - so they should be roughly as filling. 

Although they are only 4g lighter they seem a lot smaller. Otherwise they look pretty much the same, with the exception of white specks dotted about in the Tesco bar. 

For a product that didn't have much of a banana smell it sure did taste like banana! The strength of the banana flavour was completely unexpected as it really didn't smell that way, it's not an artificial unpleasant banana and I really enjoyed it. One thing the Tesco Banana Bliss bars have that the Nakd Banana bread doesn't, is the addition of Soy Protein Crispies. They aren't the same as the crunchy bits used in the Nakd Crunch bars and (please forgive me Nakd!) I think I prefer them. 

It's a tad sweeter tasting than the Nakd bars but actually has 5g less sugar, work that one out! 

I'm very impressed and I'll definitely be buying these again. 

8/10 

Berry Blast 

Nakd's berry flavoured bars are strawberry as is the norm, most berry cereal bars are strawberry or cherry but Tesco have switched things up and gone for cranberries. 

Nutritionally they've not got much going for them; they are higher in calories - if you're watching your waistline, have 18.2g of carbs of which 10.5g are sugar - not too great for a low carb/low sugar diet, only have 1.4g of fibre and 1.8g of protein so they're not going to be too filling either. They are low in salt though suprisingly, less than 0.01g per bar which is far from the norm in snacks, trust me we've been on a low salt and sodium hunt! 

Anyway, enough of the boring stuff. 

The only difference visually, was the lack of small white crunchies. I think that explains where the large amount of protein comes from in the banana bar and why there's nowhere near as much here.

Although the little bars have nearly four times more Dates, the raisins were all I could smell. I didn't notice any berry scent beforehand but I could taste the cranberry, it's a nice summery flavour which is quite light and almost refreshing tasting. Although there is actually more sugar in the berry bars, they don't taste as sweet as the banana, not that that's a bad thing, they just had more of a 'healthy, wholesome' taste. 

I like the previous soy pieces but I didn't miss the crunch here. The lack of them meant it had a thicker, chewier feel which wasn't better or worse, just different. 

Another lovely flavour, well done Tesco! These will be another regular buy. 

8/10 

Frill - The Frozen Smoothie Intense Chocolate

I spoke a little about the importance of dietary fibre when I reviewed the Fibre One Chocolate Fudge Brownies. When it comes down to it, I'm more than happy to fulfill my fibre needs with an ice cream - well, frozen smoothie. 

Frill can't really be compared to any other frozen dessert. They are frozen smoothies - completely dairy free so suitable for vegans and unusually have no added sugar. The tub has a few facts printed on it, and the nutritional information is quite impressive. A typical ice cream contains just 0.5% fibre, Frill Intense Chocolate has 9.6%. Ice cream typically contains about 21% sugar and Frill has just 9.4% and they are naturally occurring sugars from whole fruits. These are per 100ml and are the same in weight, so the entire 475ml tub will give an average adult woman a whopping 251.75% of the recommended amount of daily fibre! Ok you're getting 47.5% of your RDA for sugar too but they are natural sugars and I'm pretty sure most ice creams contain that in one 100ml serving! 

Enough of the preaching and on to the review! 

It's all well and good being on the healthier side but if it tastes like crap it's pointless. 

Even me, the least patient person in the world when it comes to ice cream, had to wait a bit to dig into this. It does state to allow product to soften before serving and I had no choice, it's super thick and solid and unless I wanted to channel my inner Uri Gellar, I had to wait. While I was waiting I became a bit concerned that I couldn't smell any 'intense chocolate' but I pushed those concerns aside, I've learnt now that sometimes that means nothing. 

I admit, I did force one spoonful out while it was still like concrete and it was weird, very slow to melt and it had an extremely thick feel but was lacking a creaminess. 

So I waited a bit more and thankfully the longer I waited, the better it became. Despite how it looked, and that was strange in itself - every time I took a chunk out the layer underneath got that icy look to it most ice creams have when you first open them on the top - it had held up well, no freezer burn or icy feel at all. Allowing it to melt gave it much more of a creamy texture, make no mistakes it doesn't have a creamy taste but a much more pleasant texture. The softer it got, the more chocolatey it tasted too, it really reminded me of a frozen version of either Cadbury Chocolate Mousse (the kind you find in the kids section in the yoghurt aisle) or a frozen chocolate Angel Delight - the real stuff not the ice cream mix! At times it tasted just like Angel Delight but overall it tasted more like a less sweet version of the Cadbury. I could taste the 'smoothie' part of this to be honest, I couldn't taste the individual ingredients - mainly Dates - but it did have a healthy 'green' side to it amongst the chocolate. 

I thought I'd finished up my review there and I'd rated it as 6/10 for pure enjoyment and 7/10 for a chocolatey treat as part of a healthier product. I was only halfway through though and waste not, want not, I opened it again ten minutes later. Those extra ten minutes at room temperature had done a lot for the flavour and texture, the chocolate (which comes from cocoa powder) seemed stronger and there was a much more rich and creamy feel - in other words, it seemed a lot more like normal ice cream now. 

I'm quite impressed, don't expect a sugary sweet Ben & Jerry's like product but if you go into it and take it for what it is, it's good stuff and perfectly acceptable. I wouldn't say no to it again anyway! 

7/10 

New Covent Garden Soup Co Multigrain Risotto

I love, love, love New Covent Garden Soup Co soups, my favourites are the Carrot & Coriander and the Carrot & Butternut.

I tried the new Scream Of Pumpkin soup last week but didn't bother reviewing it as there was nothing Lucy said in her review that I didn't agree with! 

There are three new "Taste Of Health" products out from New Covent Garden, I'd like to try all of them but the first I found in Sainsburys - Multigrain Risotto with Greens. 

A little back story, I dream of a risotto I had on my honeymoon. It was just Cretan vegetable risotto with tomato and a little hint of cheese, but hands down it is the best thing I've ever eaten. Ever. 

It doesn't look too great but I don't think risotto is a pretty food anyway! It only takes seven minutes on the hob and as you can see in the photo, it comes out of the carton very thick and gloopy but it thinned out as I warmed it up. 

The end result was great, far too thick to be soupy but just a tad more watery than normal risotto. Not that it tasted watery in the slightest, it was thick, filling and the mixed grains (barley, red rice, quinoa, pinhead oats, spelt) tasted and felt like actual risotto, not mushy or too hard at all. 

The flavour was lovely and creamy, there was no overpowering individual 'green' that stood out and they all complimented each other well. That said I did have a few whole heads of broccoli which was interesting - I didn't expect that!

All of a sudden I got a taste of that cheese that has been missing from every risotto I've had since that one perfect one - Pecorino Cheese according to the ingredients. There's not a huge amount of the cheese in the risotto but it packs a punch and adds a creamy cheesey element to what's already a good dish, 

This is probably the nicest ready made risotto I've tried. It's certainly the nicest where the preparation is put it in a pan and give it a stir occaisonally for seven minutes or whack it in the microwave and forget about it. 

It's nice and healthy, low in sugar and saturated fats, a good source of fibre and protein and half a carton is one of your five a day but it doesn't taste like it should be! 

8/10