Waitrose New York Lemon Cheesecake Slices [@NLi10]

 Some cakes appeared in the fridge again!

As usual - due to the discount but not too discount status.  £2 a slice is a lot, £1.20 a slice is much more a home treat.

But they have scaffolding just like the posh places to keep it fresh, and unlike last time - these are actually vegetarian!

It holds together pretty well, and is a nice light bite.  I'd have preferred a heavier base and maybe added some raspberry sauce - but that last one's on me!

Overall a great café style desert-at-home option

British Pie Week Big Cheese Stack - Pieminister [@NLi10]

 We were in Leeds for the weekend - and it was British Pie Week - so we went out for pies!

Look at this glorious creation - but what is it?

It's the Big Cheese Stack!

They list it as "Big Cheese is a gloriously gooey combination of vintage Cheddar, potato, leek, Emmental and a splash of cider for good measure. This one’s for the true cheese lovers, oozing with rich, melty goodness in every bite."

(pic from the Pieminister website)

And here it comes with extras too - 

🥔 Mozzarella & Cheddar mash (for those cheese pulls obvs)

🥧 The Big Cheese pie

🧀 A halloumi, gherkin, pickled onion, and jalapeño skewer

🔥 Sprinkled with none other than a crispy onion and cheesy Wotsits® crumb!

🤯 Drown the whole thing in BRANSTON PICKLE GRAVY. We know it sounds bonkers, but trust us, it works 🤤

Don’t wait around to try this cheesy masterpiece, as it’s only available from 3-9 March, and after that it’ll be gone! So, make sure you get in and try it while you can 🏃

Why am I cutting and pasting so much?  Well I didn't eat it because I hate cheese.

I had the Filo Harissa Chicken, and all the stolen pickles. Yum!

The girls having the pies said that it was great, not too cheesy, and one even finished the Branston Pickle gravy with a spoon!

There has been a suggestion that other meals should be served with cheezy wotsits too...

To make up for the lack of pics here is an American guy in full armour from the Leeds Armoury museum (also worth a visit - less cheesy though)

Cathedral City - Hot Cheesy Bites (Iceland) [@NLi10]

 Iceland have done it again - make an oven ready version/range of something you recognise!

This time it's those big blocks of cheese.

Cathedral City is an acceptable brand to bring home as long as I don't accidentally pick Mild.

This is extra mature so a safe bet.  Easy enough to cook.

And there's only twelve so might as well do them all!

As a 'side' with a veggie curry for my partner and her sister they seemed to do well and worked like a very white version of paneer.  They did indeed get through all 12 with no issues and said that they were very good and suitably cheesy.  I have been asked to get more - so if they still exist (the downside to Iceland) then I'm sure we will have these as a replacement to the Chiquito's halloumi cubes that seem to have vanished again.

Heinz Beanz Cheesy Cathedral City Edition (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I’m lazy. I take shortcuts. I buy pre-prepared grated cheese. I hate grating cheese. Buying a bag of pre-grated cheese did make me think that I had perhaps maxed out my lazy skills, but it turns out I was wrong. Heinz and Cathedral City Cheese decided to take things a step further; instead of adding cheese to baked beans on a jacket potato, now we can get beans and cheese in a tin. I’m bizarrely excited, but I did manage to find a tin of Heinz Beanz Cheesy Cathedral City Edition.

As my jacket potatoes were nearly baked, I opened up the tin and heated the baked beans and cheese mix. The contents looked like regular baked beans, but there was clearly a creaminess to the colours and a slightly thicker sauce. I poured it over the potato and tucked in. Wow, this was a seriously generous portion of cheese mixed into the beans, and they were perfect. The flavour of the Cathedral City cheese shone through; rich and creamy, but flavoursome and the lovely tomato base of the beans was a perfect contrast too. I have no idea why this hasn’t been done before. This Heinz Beanz Cheesy Cathedral City Edition is absolute genius and is even simpler than buying grated cheese, so yeah, this will be my new go-to. 

Christmas Pudding Wensleydale Cheese (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I had a shopping list when I went into Morrisons, and I can assure you that Christmas Pudding Wensleydale Cheese was not on that list. Cheese wasn’t even on the list, but this time of year brings strange impulse buys. We walked past the cheese section, and this one literally had a bow on it. How could I resist?

When we came to give it a try, we decided we would have it with some other meats and cheese as a quick and easy dinner. I’m never one hundred percent sure of the correct strategy for opening waxed cheese, so I got a sharp knife and just cut through the middle of the whole thing. From there, you can peel off the rest of the wax.

Inside, you can see the cheese is clearly packed with goodies and fruit. I gave a piece a try. Wensleydale is a creamy cheese and can very much work with a sweeter flavour (it is often paired with cranberries this time of year). The Christmas pudding taste was absolutely out of this world. It was all there, raisins, rum, spices, and citrus. It was absolutely delicious, and the flavour of the dessert was well balanced with sweet, spicy goodness. The creamy cheese shone through too, and it mellowed the spices perfectly.

This Christmas Pudding Wensleydale Cheese may be a novelty in cute packaging, but it also works impressively well, with spot-on flavours. I will be buying another of these for the Christmas cheese board, as I just loved it so much.

Roosters Gastro Brie and Cranberry Chicken Kiev (Aldi) By @Cinabar

I was browsing Aldi’s new products; they are starting to get a few special and luxury items, presumably for the upcoming season. I couldn’t resist picking up a box of these new Roosters Gastro Brie and Cranberry Chicken Kievs. They looked like the perfect Friday night dinner. I love cheese in pretty much any format, but mixing it with cranberries and chicken sounded perfect.

These cook from frozen, so after the oven had warmed up, I got them cooking. They cook for 41 minutes. It is times like this that I know I’m on the spectrum because 41 minutes bothered me more than it should. Surely cooking times are always to the nearest 5 minutes. The other part of being on the spectrum made me set the oven timer for exactly 41 minutes because, well, that is what you do.

Anyway, once it was cooked, the breadcrumbs were lovely and golden. I cut in, and the gorgeous, cheesy filling oozed out. This meal was mainly about the cheese; that wonderful brie flavour with the chicken was delicious. The cranberry is there, but not too strong, just adding a little tang of berries. Again, it was nice, and it added just a bit of edge to the flavour. This is a perfect Friday night tea, and I can’t wait to see what else is in the new Aldi range.

Walkers Wotsits Really Cheesy Flavour Crisps (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

I really fancied a bag of Walkers Wotsits the other day, and found a multipack in a local garage supermarket nearby. I don't know why I suddenly had a craving for them, I haven't had a packet of Wotsits for ages, but maybe that's the reason. It's not that I don't like them, it's just usually I gravitate around other flavours of crisps, such as; ready salted, salt and vinegar, beef, or sea salt and black pepper. I find they go much better with beer.

Anyway, then a few days later Cinabar bought a multipack of these limited edition Walkers Wotsits Really Cheesy Flavour Crisps. "They probably won't taste much different," she says, but maybe they will? Sure, they'll smell much the same with all that cheesy seasoning, but these crisps are made from potatoes, rather than the usual Wotsits' maize. So, they'll not only look different, but they'll probably taste a little different too. The question is, is that 'different' better, worse, or just a bit weird?

On opening the packet I realised very quickly that I was wrong about them smelling the same as regular Wotsits, as these Walkers Wotsits Really Cheesy Flavour Crisps smelt of cheesy potato crisps. They tasted a little more salty than usual Wotsits too, nice and crunchy though, with a cheesiness to start with that was reminiscent of Wotsits, and then that luscious saltiness. I really liked them, though they didn't taste much like the normal Wotsits. Better I thought. Cheesy potato crisps for the win. Though if they hadn't have put Wotsits on the front of the packet, I'd have just figured they were cheese and sea salt flavour, or something like that!

Information on the packet;
Each 24g packet has 113 calories, with 5g of fat, 0.5g of sugar and 0.23g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Cathedral City Cheese and Onion Crisps (Iceland) By @cinabar

I don’t normally get excited about new cheese and onion crisps, I’ve eaten a lot of them over the years. These are a bit special the cheese in them is one of my favourites. Here we have Cathedral City Cheese and Onion Crisps. I think these are an Iceland exclusive, as they stock a few products made with the cheese.

They are available in multipacks of six packs, all in the Cathedral City burgundy. I poured out the crisps, and there was a decent portion. I gave one a try, and the texture is quite thick, they are posh crisps after all, so they have a thicker slice of potato and a hard crunch. The flavour was lovely the cheese was wonderfully rich, and the standout flavour was the onion, which followed and was very much present but didn’t overpower the rich cheddar. These crisps are super tasty. I was very impressed by the flavour and that I could pick up on the cheddar. The texture was a little too crunchy for my taste not enough to stop me from buying them again, but probably a sign that I’m used to less posh crisps! 

Cheese & Black Pepper Hot Cross Buns (Asda) By @cinabar

I was struggling with lemon hot cross buns as not being quite traditional enough for me, so as you can imagine, the discovery of Cheese & Black Pepper Hot Cross Buns did make me pull a face. I love hot cross buns, but for me, it is about juicy currants and spices like cinnamon. They are, at the very least, a sweet treat. I have to admit that I enjoyed the lemon version I tried, but I think this may be a step too far. Savoury hot cross buns, what do you even do with them?

Inside the bag are four buns, and once split in half, you could see all the cheese mixed in there. It did look plentiful. We had these Cheese & Black Pepper Hot Cross Buns as a sandwich with a slice of roast beef inside. These flavours worked really well together, the cheese and the pepper were both nice. The mild cheese is lifted by the spice, but none of the flavours are too strong. The buns were fluffy, and they made a fab sandwich. I thoroughly enjoyed the cheese and pepper flavours, they were well balanced and nice and tasty. As a bread roll alternative, these Cheese & Black Pepper Hot Cross Buns are a winner. They just don’t feel like an Easter treat, but they were a nice lunch.

Curators Cheese Flavour Pork Puffs (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

Just when I thought I'd blogged about all the flavours of Curators Pork Puffs, Cheese Flavour Pork Puffs appear on the shelves. I've liked all the other flavours so far and have them in regularly, but I have to say that I'm just not sure about Cheese Flavour Pork Puffs. Not that I don't think that cheese goes with pork, I'm just not sure that I've ever tried it before.

On opening the packet there was a strong smell of pork puffs with a cheesy aroma at the back of the smell. It was somewhat an unsavoury savoury smell. On taste these Curators Cheese Flavour Pork Puffs screamed cheese at me from the get-go. There was also a strong flavour of salty pork puffs that followed that blast of shouty cheese. Bizarrely these cheesy pork puffs actually worked.

These Curators Cheese Flavour Pork Puffs tasted great, in a bizarre kind of moreish way. I really liked them for their mixture of yelling-at-me cheesiness and their salted pork puff goodness. They were very tasty and I'll definitely have them in regularly, just like Curators's other flavours.

Information on the packet; The 23g packet contains 120 calories, with 2.23g of fat, 1.1g of sugar, 0.97g of salt, and 16g of protein. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Mini Cheddars - Banging Cheese Burger (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

So this is a bit different for Mini Cheddars. Although the brand has bought out different flavours over the years, they are usually different types of cheese. After all, these are cheese biscuits, so the predominant flavour is usually cheese. It is, however, summer and barbecue season, so many of us will be making cheeseburgers. I decided to try them out with a sandwich at lunch time.

I opened up the bag of biscuits and poured them out. They had a light aroma, and didn’t look like they had too much seasoning. I gave one a try and it was alright. I have to admit I had been expecting a bit more strength in the flavour. There was a mild beef meaty taste and a little cheese, and even just a bit of herbs in there too. All in all, the flavour sounded much more exciting than the actual taste. These Mini Cheddars Banging Cheese Burger are pleasant enough and I’ll happily eat up the rest of the packs, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy any more. I’m not sure they quite hit the ‘banging’ flavour that was promised in the title.

Wensleydale Cheese with Rhubarb (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I am a big fan of different cheeses and love to have a selection or find something new. This is a Tesco own cheese; Wensleydale Cheese with Rhubarb, and it has a Yorkshire connection. Obviously, Wensleydale is in Yorkshire, but Yorkshire has an area called the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ which is one of the best areas for growing the fruit. By fruit I mean stalks, and it is probably technically a vegetable, but it feels like a fruit because we use it in Rhubarb Crumble. It sounded like it would be a winner with cheese either way.

We shared some of the Wensleydale Cheese with Rhubarb and I noticed it wasn’t the most crumbly Wensleydale we’ve had, there was some crumbs but it mostly stayed in shape when we cut pieces off to try. The base flavour of the cheese is very smooth and creamy, and the tang from the Rhubarb is sharp and adds a lovely contrast. The fruit isn’t too sweet, but I liked the sharp acidic flavour in the cheese. It is an unusual combination but a good balance of flavours. It makes a nice change from the Christmas Wensleydale with Cranberries that is so popular, and turns this into a fresh Spring versions of the cheese. I'd definitely buy it again.

Cathedral City: Cheese and Ham Pizza (Iceland) By @Cinabar

It's all about the cheese! I bought this pizza because I was excited to see that cheese makers Cathedral City had diversified into new products. This one caught my eye as I do like pizza. I ordered it online and added it to my weekly grocery shop. I have to admit (again as it is becoming a habit) to not paying that much attention to the item and assuming that it was a Cheese and Ham pizza that there would be tomato sauce in the mix too. That is a prerequisite for pizza surely? Not this time though. It is just cheese and ham, nothing else. Taking it out of the box it did look disappointing.

We cooked the pizza and it did start to look a lot more enticing. I gave a piece a try and have to say the cheese on this pizza saves it. There was loads of flavour from it and it was reminiscent of cheese on toast, particularly with a thin and crispy base. The pieces of ham were good, and added a lovely meaty flavour, but I would have liked more slices given it was the only topping.

So when Cathedral City decided to make Cheese and Ham Pizza they really went with it and put aside the tomato base. I found the pizza far more enjoyable than I thought I would, but I am a cheese fan. I’m still pretty sure some tomato paste under than cheese would have perfected it.

Wensleydale with Chocolate and Orange (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I was looking at cheese in Tesco in the hope of picking up something a little different, the shop did not disappoint. I found this Tesco own brand Wensleydale with Chocolate and Orange. I had been looking for Wensleydale with fruit, but how could I resist this strange combination. Chocolate and cheese?

The cheese is actually quite small, and it is covered in wax. For those wondering the best way to open these types of cheese, I always cut the cheese in half (with the wax on) and the peel the top and bottom on the wax off, and the sides should just peel as one. I like Wensleydale cheese and it is a creamy crumbly mild cheese and always works well when paired with sweet fruit (like cranberries or apricots) I was looking forward to seeing how chocolate orange worked with it.

There were plenty of chocolate drops within the cheese, more than I had expected. I gave a piece a try and oh my, I realised I had found the perfect dessert cheese. The flavour was sweet but perhaps not quite as sweet as expected, there was cocoa and citrus and a wonderful creamy flavour from the cheese. I really enjoyed this. I’m so glad this cheese is more than just novelty and it manages to actually work even as a crazy combination. Definitely one for the Christmas cheeseboard.

Port Wine Derby Cheese (Tesco) By @cinabar

One of the great things about the Christmas season is that the range of cheeses in shops seems to expand, and even better we get a few new curious cheese combinations to try. I could hardly miss this new Port Wine Derby Cheese in Tesco, it was such a different colour to everything else on the counter. It was a fabulous shade of burgundy and was rippled with colour, it is a proper stand out cheese.

The Port Wine Derby Cheese is a firm but creamy cheese and I thought gauging it from the colour it would have a strong port flavour but in fact it was quite delicate in taste. I loved the lighter flavour as it let the cheese taste come through too without being overpowering. The port is a nice twist of warmth running through it. It is a flavour to savour. We enjoyed it with olives and salami and it made a fabulous quick tea. I say quick the rosemary focaccia was not quick but that is worth the time and effort.

Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing what new cheeses we have out this year and this particular Port Wine Derby Cheese will definitely have a space on our Christmas cheeseboard.

Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I spotted this new Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce on the Ocado website under new items and I thought this would be nice for burgers, as it is barbecue season. I decided to try it out on chips as a starting point and ( squeezed a dollop of the yellow sauce on my plate. I have to admit the appearance is a strikingly yellow, like mustard. It isn’t a good looking sauce.

I dipped a chip into it and the sauce has a pleasant cheese flavour, I do love cheese and I love choosing different ones from a deli counter. This sauce couldn’t really be identified more than generic cheese, the square slice you get wrapped in cling film for a cheap burger topping, but liquidised. The flavour was nice, I think it needed mixing with something that hard more flavour to start. There is a place for this Hellmann’s Cheese Flavour Sauce, on top of burgers, for dipping spicy nachos in etc, it will be handy to have at the side of the barbecue. It isn’t for the cheese connoisseur but it is a fun sauce and it perfect for the summer.

Mini Cheddars - Nacho Cheese and Jalapeño (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

I stumbled across another new flavour Mini Cheddars following on from the Chipotle Chicken ones we tried recently. At the time I thought chicken flavoured Cheddars seemed a bit strange (chicken and cheese) but the idea of Nacho Cheese sounded a bit more down to earth. I picked these up in a multipack with six bags, all the same flavour though.

I tried them with a lunch sandwich in place of crisps. There was quite a bit of seasoning on them and the flavour was very reminiscent of nacho cheese and quote strong. The heat was a nice addition, the chilli wasn’t too hot but added to the whole Mexican feel and gave them decent warmth. I thought the flavour was a little strong with my sandwich but these would be good as an afternoon snack on their own.

It is nice to see new flavours from Jacobs Mini Cheddars and I’d buy these Nacho Cheese and Jalapeño ones again. Looking forward to seeing what other flavours come out.

Mini Cheddars – Chipotle Chicken Wings (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

When I first saw this new flavour from Mini Cheddars I was a little confused, is the first flavour of product with a cheese in the title not to include cheese? I looked closer and these Mini Cheddars Chipotle Chicken Wings are both cheese and hot chicken, strange but true. The bag is bright red too and there is warning on the front about heat level, I was quite excited to give them a try.
The bags are small but there is still a decent portion of these Mini Cheddars with Chipotle Chicken Wings flavour biscuits in the pack. They have a darker than usual seasoning and a spicy smell that was appealing. My favourite flavour of crisps are chicken ones, be them roast or spicy, I was looking forward to trying this on a Mini Cheddar. Th texture is the usual soft biscuit but the flavour is remarkably impressive, it is a complex mix for the taste buds. There is a lot of smoky flavour, cheese and chicken and quite a hit of chilli. These are strong on the heat front than I’d ben expecting, I let one melt on the tongue and got quite a tingle, but they aren’t scary hot. (Personal preferences do apply here). This is very different seasoning for a Mini Cheddar but the Chipotle Chicken Wings do work, they are a bit different and rather nice as an afternoon snack.

Cheesies – Crunchy Popped Cheese – Cheddar (Holland and Barrett) By @Cinabar

I’m going to be honest the term Crunchy Popped Cheese meant nothing to me when I picked up this bag in Holland and Barrett. Cheese is not usually crunchy, or popped and this wasn’t even found in a chiller cabinet. I like cheese, no I love cheese, so I had to figure out what this product was all about. I’ve had popped crisps before and these seem to be cooked in a similar way, heat until they dry out and pop, they look a bit like croutons as they are airy like a bread and crunchy too. The only ingredient in them though is cheese. I’m not sure when the correct time to eat these is, perhaps just watching the telly, we had them with a cheese meal which was a little over formal for these snacks.
So they taste like a really nice cheddar, quite a strong flavour with plenty of depth. I liked the taste very much. The texture is light and crunchy, my brain was telling me it was wrong but the more I ate it grew on me. I probably would have these again, I think they would be fun to munch on while watching a film. They were lower in calories than I expected too, but not so low in fat as they are cheese after all.

Dairlylea Lunchables - Street Food - Houmous Sauce (Asda) By @Cinabar

We were having an at home picnic for our tea and this meant I got to open up this Dairlylea Lunchables - Street Food with Houmous Sauce. Home picnics are fine, and a safe way to enjoy the lockdown. I have had a few of these cheese snacks and always liked them so was looking forward to this new trendy sounding version.

I peeled back the lid and was immediately a bit disappointed, I’m not sure why but somehow the two plastic sachets and the bread just didn’t look as exciting as usual. The bread was also a bit floppy and moist, damp almost. So I opened up the houmous tearing at the plastic and squeezed some on the bread. Next came the cheese, apparently you can tear it into pieces, I think you will note the photo shows minimum effort from me on that part.
Admittedly the flavours together weren’t too bad, the bread was a little soft, the cheese was soft and the sauce was also soft so it was lacking a bit of interesting texture. It was okay, but not sure I’d buy it again.