Vemondo Plant! Schnitzel - vegan cutlets from Lidl [@NLi10]

 I was in Lidl, feeling under-the-weather and needed some effortless meals for the week.  I spotted these in the veggie section and decided they'd be worth a try.

Very simple Euro-style vegan cutlets - water, breadcrumbs and soy - yum

They look decent quality though, and fried up quite well.  Decent aromas and it didn't fall apart too much until the end.

It lost a bit of the coating, but I recovered it. I added spätzle and pasta and rocked and home-made pickled red cabbage.

And my goodness was it good.  The flavours were deep, the coatings crispy and the textures welcoming (even to my veggie partner). There are a lot of carniverous meals that are a pain to make at home as the Quorn cutlets and meat imitating cutlets just don't work.

Here though I've just unlocked so many lemon chicken style Chinese meals to veggify at home.  I can't wait to go back and get more - I hope it's not one of those temporary products for a theme week.

Blodwen Blonde Ale (Sainsbury’s) By @SpectreUK

I have fishy picky bits for dinner tonight, and fancy a blonde ale to wash it down. The name of the Welsh lady on the front of the bottle is Blodwen. She is raising her glass to the sea's bounty and the hard working women of Wales.

Brewed by Drop Bear Beer, and Tomos Watkin, Blodwen is 5% in volume. Malted barley and wheat were used in the brewing, as well as hop varieties of; Bobek, Goldings, Cascade and Olicana. So, I'm expecting citrus, mixed with spice, floral and pine notes, and some tropical fruitiness too.

On opening the bottle there was a floral and pine aroma from the deep golden beer inside, and with a decent hint of spice. On taste, Blodwen had a rich woody spicy bitterness to begin with, and a little citrus and fruitiness mixed with the sweetness of malted barley and wheat into the aftertaste. This is a gorgeous flavoursome blonde ale, and it washed my dinner down a treat. 

Milka Oreo MMMMax (B&M) By @Cinabar

That isn’t a typo on the title, they really did combine “mmm” and “max” to call this MMMMax. Not the prettiest name for a chocolate bar, but it does hint at the size, and this bar is huge. I almost didn’t buy it, it was just for me and I knew it would take a while to get through, but I gave in because I can’t resist Milka chocolate.

Peeling back the wrapper, I noticed each piece of chocolate has “MMM” stamped on it. They’re definitely committed to the new word. Breaking off a strip revealed thick milk chocolate, plenty of Oreo biscuit, and a layer of soft white chocolate that tasted just like the filling inside an Oreo.

Taking a bite, the texture of such a chunky bar was perfect. The smooth chocolate, crunchy biscuit, and sweet filling worked so well together. I love Oreos, and that mix of sweet but slightly bitter cocoa with my favourite Milka chocolate was pure heaven.

When I bought the bar, I worried it might be too big for me to finish. Now I’m worried I’ll be judging myself for eating it too quickly.

Higgidy x Guinness Pie - Slow-cooked Steak [@NLi10]

 It's almost valentines, and so the romantic food choices are in the shop.  This is perfect as it's a mash-up of Higgidy Pies and Guinness

It's certainly a luxury proposition, and has all the great pastry you'd expect.

And when cooked it's meaty enough to have the full attention of the cat

Although it's not as filled-to-the brim as a Pieminister special it's very much a luxury dinner

The gravy isn't too strong - although Irish I'm not one to drink pints of the black stuff - but the flavour is there and welcoming and the steak is great quality too.

I'll hopefully have this one again before it vanishes from stores.

Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I love Galaxy Minstrels. I usually have them with ice cream, especially vanilla. Boring flavour you may think, but with Galaxy Minstrels or some mini chocolate biscuits or other, a good vanilla ice cream tastes like chocolate and cream. There aren't many better combinations.

I haven't seen these Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs before. They are crispy shelled Galaxy chocolate eggs for Easter. I haven't even thought about Easter yet. I'm still reminiscing over mince pie season, and munching my way through Hot Cross Bun season.

On opening the packet I was expecting the unmistakable aroma of Galaxy Minstrels. Instead I received a waft of Minstrels and a lot of coco. Sadly these little hardened shelled chocolate eggs must have had a rough time of it in the packet.

These Galaxy Minstrels Mini Eggs were more bits and bobs than full crispy shelled eggs. On tasting one whole egg, they tasted like a large Galaxy Minstrel, but I thought they were made of tougher shelled stuff, unfortunately they'd definitely been in the wars.

Information on the packet; The 80g bag contained 460 calories per 100g, with 19g of fat, 65g of sugar, and 0.18g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.