Special K Granola with Cranberries, Pumpkin seeds and Almonds [Review by @NLi10] PLUS CONTEST

A short while ago our friends at Kellogg's sent me some of their new Granola.  I like granola, but don't tend to buy Special K products (as my partner says it's like real cereal but without the fun), but I couldn't resist trying this one out.  After all - I've written about a fair few granolas on here, some amazing and some just a bit boring.  This one promised to be worth a shot as it has both nuts and seeds alongside the fruit and granola.  It also came with a tea towel and a canvas bag - result!

Cat not included.  

We are unusually not going to be reviewing the red variety (has raisins so is not for me) but the green.  Fortunately the green variety is the one with the cranberries in it which is automatically good - as is the fact that Kellogg's are recognising that not everyone that wants a healthy cereal likes raisins.

The bag is optimistic as usual and promises that it will do 8 portions.  Instead of strategically weighing it out to have their specified amount and automatically being disappointed I piled about a fifth/sixth of the bag into a bowl and set to work.

The first thing I noticed is that it's not all that sweet.  This goes along with the Special K philosophy of being healthy so don't expect that hit of sugar or honey here.  The flavours are not quite as earthy as a Lizi Shaw granola, and the texture isn't as insanely varied as the Dorset Cereals ones are due to there only being a few different ingredients, but there is a place for this.

While this is not going to win awards in any particular category I think that Kellogg's may have found the right balance here.  It's easily light enough to eat before work (I tend to treat granola as a weekend cereal), it's not so chewy that it takes ages to get through one huge bit of dried fruit, it's satisfyingly filling without making you feel stuffed.  I'll see how quickly this goes down, but I do think it's something I can see myself buying again.

The flavours are not all that sophisticated here, it tastes of the things in it with no roasting or trickery going on, but they are nice.  It's one where you'll be hunting out the nuts and fruit as you go for that little sweet hit.  I definitely liked this, and am tempted to pick out the raisins from the other variety so I can give that a try too.

PRIZE ALERT:

Kellogg's are so confident that you'll like this granola too that they have given us another two packs to send to one lucky winner.  All you have to do is comment below and I'll use some kind of sophisticated randomisation method to pick a winner. 

The usual caveats apply- contest only open to residents in the UK and you'll have to supply us with your address if you do win. People who write for this blog or work for Kellogg's are not eligible - if you can't be contacted within a week of winning we will pick someone else so either make sure your e-mail is attacked to your comment profile or leave something like a Twitter ID and we'll be sure to let you know.  Good luck - and feel free to share the contest with other cereal fans.

Contest closes in one week on the 8th March 2014

                                                                 PRIZE ALERT

W K Kellog - No added sugar granola, Coconut Cashew & Almond (Co-op) by @NLi10

I had to tripple check this box - is this really another company releasing cereals with the word Kellogg on them?  As suspected - this is not.  This is a posh new Kellogg's brand, that is recognisable enough that you know where it came from, but different enough that you know something is up.  Also it's £3.50 for a small box so that's a clue too.

No artificial nonsense (unless you count the strawberries in the picture which aren't in the cereal) and full of baked grains, can this comete with the top end granola (Lizzi's)?

It's certainly got the branding right, and the bowl does look quite mixed and promising.

The flavour though is a little homogeneous, and the texture doesn't vary enough either.  I'm not getting fresh seeds bursting with flavour or fruity sweet hits which I'd expected the coconut to provide.  You do get the occasional deep roasted taste from the granola, but not enough to compare with the brand leaders.

So - this is a decent, well made cereal from the experts, but that doesn't stand up to the premium brands it's positioning itself against.  It's a granola for people who are used to muesli (a gateway granola?) which you could happily serve to guests who are used to cornflakes and they'd probably enjoy it.

The box isn't going to go to waste though, I'll happily eat this up and try the second flavour (hopefully while on special offer).

Bear: Tropical Crunch [Baked Granola Nibbles]

I would like to start by saying a big thank you to Bear for sending me these samples of the Tropical Crunch Granola, it is much appreciated.
Towards the end of last year I wrote about the Cocoa Cherry Pie Granola, and rather enjoyed it, but found the pieces rather large and crunchy. I was pleased to see that the granola pieces in this bag were a little smaller and more manageable, but still maintaining the crunch.
The main flavour that comes through with these is a wonderful natural coconut taste, that is rather moreish, what then follows is the flavours from the oats. Mixed in too are pieces of pineapple. I have no idea how Bear have managed to get pineapple in this form, as it is ever so slightly crisp, but then it comes to life and melts in the mouth and releases all the flavour, its genius. I would love to have had more in the bag though, 9% may seem that a decent amount, but I really would have liked some extra.
So in conclusion, Bear have come up with a product that definitely tastes Tropical with its coconut and pineapple flavours, and is a healthy snack food too. Lovely, but that pineapple is so good I think you should increase the contents!

White Choc & Rasp Granola - Sainsbury's Free From Range [@NLi10]

 I had a look for a new exciting cereal, and unexpectedly found one in the 'free from' section.

My main issue with granola is that it tends to be a bit heavy for breakfast, but I wondered if this would work out as a slightly lighter alternative.

It's basically just normal granola which has been made in a gluten free environment.

Milk free white chocolate alternative is the only real concern - plus the fact that the choc looks like it's melted into huge lumps.

Quite pretty, but but has resulted in clumping - lets see what it's like.

Sticking to the dairy free theme I've gone with Oat Milk as my Alt Milk (I get whichever is cheapest usually) and it worked pretty well.  

The grain bits have crunch, there is a decent variety in them too. The choc stuff is actually a highlight - the not-milk helps it blend in with the rest.  There isn't much of the red fruit bits - but what is there is good quality and strong tasting.

With a handful of blueberries or something to balance the lack of fruit bits then this would be perfect.

I think I can eat this happily on relaxed weekend mornings but I do love a larger bowl of cereal on a week day so see how it goes.

Alpen Luxury Granola (Sainsury's 3/9/08)

Imagine a standard size box of breakfast cereal, add to this a decent amount of hazelnuts and raisins. Get a good portion of granola oats and roll them in chocolate, add this to the box… now fill every last space remaining in the box with chocolate.. pack it in… leave no area empty of chocolate! This is what Alpen has done.

This cereal screams chocolate overload, and is absolute heaven for the chocolate lover. The pieces of chocolate are a proper size too, not just a chocolate-chip, but a proper chocolate chunk! Gorgeous – but not for those without a sweet tooth!

Dairy Milk Cranberry & Granola (13/9/09 Sainsburys)

Cadburys have two new offerings, this one and an apricot bar, the details of which will follow shortly. I guess this is aimed at giving the fruit and nut audience an alternative, or making their chocolate seem ‘posh’.

I feel that the cranberries are very nice, and their taste does work well with the chocolate. The granola on the other hand adds a decent texture, but its flavour is no replacement for nuts!

Dear Cadbury,
Please can we have cranberry and nut dairy milk?
Many thanks,
Foodstufffinds x

Lizi's High Protein granola (@Ocado)

We love Lizi's cereals.  Don't tell Mr. Kellog's's but Lizi is much better at it.  A good while ago I picked up this bag of high protein granola.  We've reviewed the 1000 hours brands high protein efforts so I figured I'd give it a go.

As you can see it's the usual amazingly high quality - actual recognisable things and really soft and squidgy granola to go with it.

Essentially it's your typical Lizi's cereal with soya protein flakes added - but it works a treat.  You can be all healthy and have this with almond milk and really taste the richness of all the flavours coming through.  There are a mixture of textures in every bite!

As usual I will be rationing myself and only having this at the weekends as a treat - back to the standard staples in the week - but boy is it something to look forwards to!  Another massive hit.

Huel - initial order + granola (@NLi10)

In early Jan I bought a sample of the Huel drink that acts like a more science based version of Slim Fast.  You have the drink for lunch and that's your nutrition and calories sorted.  As it was decent enough (and my sandwich shop at work closed) I decided do do a months trial and got a box.

The box cost £40 with the referral code from a friend (shared here for you too) which gave me £10 off and he gets the same.  I'm sharing his again not mine as I'm still not convinced I'll use all this!

I got a free t-shirt in the brown envelope (presumably so they know what size I am and can target the advertising appropriately) and a smokey shaker with my wicked black powder.  We'll deal with that another day though - as I want to talk about the cereal first.

So far so good, plain simple branding and a lovely foil sealed bag means you get what they intend you to get.

And there are an awful lot of nutrients in here - how can this be anything other than a great healthy breakfast - right?

Decent grain size and a mix of the Huel pellets and actual grain is promising too.

It just tastes really nothingy.  There is a big feeling like you are eating the dry powder with some bites and the crunch of the cereal feels off too.  Maybe I'm just used to the Lizzi granola and some of the stores own ones that rely on seeds and pizzazz to make me reach for those over the crunchy nuts?  Who knows.

Flooding it with the (almond) milk helps, as does adding fresh fruit (I did order the fruit version of the granola too but they gave me a credit instead of sending it later).  Its still not quite as I'd thought it'd be.  I expected the box to be far too small and to absolutely demolish it within a week.  Now I suspect there will be more than enough for my Huel using friends to try some, and give it back for me to finish.

It's not a £5 a box cereal by any stretch, and compared to the (spoilers - really quite enjoyable) milkshakes this is a massive miss.  If I do end up using my store credit on a follow up order it won't be on this.  For die-hard fans of the brand only.

Muller SKYR - Raspberry & Hazelnut Granola [@NLi10]

 I wanted a quick post-supermarket snack and realised I’d not had a posh yogurt in ages. My god they’ve gone up in price!

I settled on a SKYR, as it was different enough to pique my curiosity and yet still basically a fruit corner.

It’s made of Quark! Well - isn’t everything? This just means the strange milk derivatives and not the sub-atomic particle, but I guess technically it’s both.

The lid sounds enough like a cat thing that both cats were summoned, they were both very briefly interested in the lid - but neither liked the taste so I was left to tip my granola into my quark.

It’s got a different texture to that which I expected, but it’s really nice. Not too sour, not too sharp. The granola was properly nutty and fruity in all the right ways.

I discovered on a future trip that if I’d bought a multipack these aren’t that expensive, but I think I’d rather just have them as a secret late night treat occasionally than have a stash ready.

Makes me wonder if they do vegan style ones made of coconut or similar because I’d be very interested in that.

New Kelloggs Nutri-Grain – Crunchy Oat Granola Cinnamon (Sainsburys) [By @cinabar]

As a serial cereal bar consumer (sorry), I was quite pleased to see this new product from Kelloggs on the shelves. Although it is marketed under the Nutri-Grain brand, it isn’t like their soft bars, and instead consists of two thinner crunchy granola bars. I love cinnamon so was impressed to see this as the new flavour, but feared that they might be quite hard bars. Thankfully I discovered that both bars were pleasantly crunchy. They were just right the texture, crunchy, but still easy to eat. They had just enough give in them to make them crisp but interesting, without being too hard on the old teeth!
The flavour was warm and lightly spiced due to the cinnamon, but all the oat flavours still shone through. They had a lovely cinnamon and brown sugar taste, which is the flavour I love. Mild cinnamon is far superior to the hot stuff, but there are some fab clips on YouTube of people eating copious amounts of cinnamon raw, if you like that sort of thing!
Back on track with these bars, the sweetness and gentle cinnamon mixed with the oats make these bars my perfect treat. They are also one of the few non chocolate cereal bars that have made it to my regular shopping list.

By Cinabar

Strawberry & Redcurrant Dorset Cereals Granola (Asda) [by @NLi10]

Today we continue my trek through the raisin free mueslis and granolas and return to the Dorset Cereals section to check out their Strawberry & redcurrant variety.

While I avoid raisins due to flavour concerns others actual have this problems due to heath reasons and some have to cut out citric acid entirely! While I'm fairly sure this isn't on the safe list due to the varieties of red fruits it is suitable for me so lets see what it's like.

The granola itself has the usual dorset mix of seeds and grain and has the distinct sunflower taste behind all the red-bits.  These are strawberries, raspberries and red currants so all quite potent and great for that morning shot of vitamins.

The box says it provides 12 glorious portions, which I find a little optimistic given that each time I have these style of cereal I seem to get a larger portion.  They are very filling though so I'm sure that sticking to the correct portion size is acceptable.  I just like a large breakfast!

I have a couple of other red cereals that I bought at the same time to work through, but this is a good solid start.  Not overly crunchy, rich in flavour and filling enough to get me through a spring morning walk to work.

Berry Granola - Rude Health (Waitrose) [By @NLi10]

Red flavour is my favourite of all the fruits. Red flavours of juice drinks, yogurts and cereals will always get tried first - over chocolate and the other options and in particular Raspberry is my very favourite. There aren't all that many cereals that match up to this profile - especially when you consider that I don't like Sultanas & Raisins as they overpower everything else.

Rude Health has a history of making compulsive cereals that take me a while to get through the box. Everything they do seems to be more filling than its counterparts and making me struggle to finish my usual heaped cereal bowls. This is no exception - it was a battle to get to the end of my first bowl and I wasn't entirely sure that I enjoyed it. My second day I put in 2/3 of the usual amount (still probably well over the 'portion size' that boxes recommend) and was much happier with it.

It's a fruity concoction, but you can still taste the grains and identify flavours. It happily turns the milk pink and doesn't get overly soggy. Being a granola the roasted cereals have a lovely, lasting flavour which I think I will try with warm milk at some point for maximum hug in a bowl effect.

The boxes always look small, but the Rude Health cereals seem to last just as long as others in similar ranges. I think that I'll be adding this to the list of things to return to once I've caught up with the backlog of review cereals in the cupboards.

By NLi10

FUEL your 10k Hours Granola (Asda) [by @NLi10]

There are frequently products that I am slightly scared to review and this Granola was one of them.  It gave me flash-backs for the various potions I've reviewed over the years.

Not only does it have a big angry Man-style box, but it's listed stimulants such as Guarana in big letters.  Looking at the ingredients it also includes more caffeine than I should probably have too.  So why would they do this?

Turns out it takes 10,000 hours (or 10K hours) to get really good at something.  From the piano to sports this seems to be universal, although they don't reference their sources.  As it's got loads of chemicals in it I dutifully weighed out a portion.

And at this point I took a little time to enjoy the chocolaty smell and then poured the milk on and enjoyed my small, but filling portion thoroughly.  And then my brain said - I've had this before...

 And a quick search on here showed I had! take a second to look back two years.

While I'm not entirely convinced this is the exact same recipe I am convinced that they have basically taken the nice holistic mornings breakfast that I reviewed and put it in a box that is far more now, and primed for Olympics style competitiveness.  The same effect was seen (I was slightly perkier, and then slightly drowsier when it all wore off) - although my teenage cousin went back to bed after eating as I guess the vitamins triggered another growth spurt.

I still recommend this as something to eat, but I think that finding something you enjoy is a better way to spend your 10K hours.  It's a happy coincidence that I enjoy this cereal - even if I preferred the more friendly 'praise the sun' box.

Loveberry - Raw Superfood Granola (One Earth Shop - Digbeth) [by @NLi10]

When digging around at the One Earth shop recently I found a bag of quite expensive granola cereal (£4.30 I think) that was bright red and full of fruits and caught my eye.  It was full of all the kinds of things you'd usually see in the premium cereal aisle but also both raw and with no added sugar.

I decided that it would be wrong of me to not take this with me, but it sat around on the work-surface for a while as I decided it was probably best eaten on a lazy Sunday morning and not in the pre-commute rush of the week.  The clumps were large, and the actual separate strawberry slices were few but probably there is one per portion (I'm expecting three from the pack).

The flavour itself is not as strong as I'd expected from the smell.  I guess it's like the fruit infusions - naturally unsweetened products just don't have that kick that you expect from the manufactured tastes we are used to.  This isn't to say the flavour wasn't nice - just a lot more subtle than I expected.

The chunks mostly crumbled easily when bitten but a couple did not due to hiding a chunk of fruit.  These were harder work to eat, but easily the most flavoursome parts. Yum! It was also quite filling.  I think that my portion size was perfect for me, but many people would probably get 5 or 6 portions out of the small bag.  Like with the other granolas I've tried I gave myself less than I'd usually go for and was still very satisfied.

I think that this is a nice change cereal, but at the price I'm not sure I could justify buying it over some of the more mainstream seeds and berries granolas that I tend to stock-up on.

GNAW bars of choc with bits (Malt Kiln Farm Shop) by @NLi10

While walking along the Fosse way towards Stretton Under Fosse we decided to visit a local farm shop that has recently been done up.

It’s a lovely area, and the fields of strawberries on the road down to the big barn of the Malt Kiln Farm Shop are really tempting.

The entrance makes people look tiny.

 

And it has a garden centre vibe inside, but is lovely and airy.

Fortunately for me, amongst the local produce is a valid review target. We like GNAW, they crop up in charity shops and make lemon meringue chocolate bars.

 

Here there is a new addition to the range, bars with bits in. One contains raisins so we laugh at that one and move on. Two contain seeds and granola and good things so we can buy those. 

First up we tried the milk chocolate variety

It’s essentially a slab of chocolate with peanuts granola and seeds. None of these really stand out as much as the salt on the peanuts which when you hit it is amazing. Yum. 

 

I think I preferred the dark version overall, while the orange flavour kind of vanished after the first bite the dark choc and seeds was much more my bag. My partner disagreed and preferred milk, but they were both good enough to try again. 

It’s mostly choc though, so not really ideal for a hot day.

 

If I’m honest though, I’d rather have another large bowl of the fresh strawberries we picked up on the day. Yum! 

Jordans Super Fruity Granola

I reviewed the Dorset cereal Red version previously, and this is the review of the Jordan's equivalent. This comes in the eco-friendly 'just a bag' packaging which I approve of, and it makes it a lot easier to store.

While fundamentally the two cereals are doing the same thing this one appears to be more traditional granola and less about the seeds. It also appears to have more of the stronger flavoured red berries which I like. The mix is raspberries, redcurrants and pomegranate (yay! although its just apple pure flavoured with pomegranate) which is quite a variety, and although we've debated about the existence of super fruits in the past it's certainly better for you than Frosties (sorry Tony). They never specifically say that the contents are superfruits, just super fruity, so the dodgy science is avoided and everyone has a good time!

The oaty mix is really quite nice, and I think of the two cereals I prefer this one. The bags are again premium priced, but not to the extent that I'm worried about it - it's more of a weekend cereal anyway.

I'm always happy to try raisin free, fruity cereals and this is one of the best I've had recently.

Dorset Cereals - [New] Marmalade Granola {by @NLi10} (Co-Op)

Marmalade is something that you have for breakfast. I'd never considered it as a cereal flavour until seeing this packet on the shelves. The main reason for this is that citrus fruits and milk don't historically work well together - ever seen Orange Flavoured milkshake for sale? I expected that the milk would go wrong and didn't put too much on the first time.

This was a mistake - while the orange does come off into the milk it just mingles as a flavour and doesn't curdle. The very orangey milk (I ate it quite slowly as well) wasn't that appetising and put me off coming back for more for a while.

Due to the breakfast review season I decided to give this another go and used far more milk. This made the flavour much more diluted and gave a hint of orange to the icy freshness which was really quite pleasant. Dorset Cereals do a good granola and the cereal part of things is great with a wide mix of seeds and berries and as their really fabulous boxes proclaim 'no dust!'. Again I chose this to eat as it didn't contain raisins and while it was less of a muesli experience than their Fantastically Fruity Muesli from last week it was a very different cereal and may be one for someone more used to marmalade on toast.

And you could easily eat this as a light lunch to annoy Johnny Vaughan - as in the Belvita breakfast biscuits TV advert he suggests that the most unlikely thing in the world would be to eat marmalade for lunch.


Bonus orange related mention - Innocent Orange Juice with bits

I'm not sure what I was expecting but this is just really nice orange juice. I think all the fun smoothies skewed my expectations of what would be inside an innocent package.

by @NLi10

Nature Valley, Crunchy Granola Bars - Oats & Honey [By @NLi10]

A good while ago as part of their Olympics sponsorship promotions I got given this twin pack of bars on the street in Birmingham. Despite feeling a little bit sad that the people handing the bars out had to explain to every single person that they may contain nuts I took one and stored it away, forgetting about it.

Eventually, one day at work, I'd run out of my biscuits and decided to give them a go. They are a lot tougher and crunchier than I expected! Essentially it's a granola style bar but really compressed so it's almost like a rivita crisp style. The flavour is nice and oaty but really quite mild, and the experience is very dry so you'd not want to eat these out and about without having a nice flask of tea handy.

They do feel quite healthy and probably aren't full of too many poly-un-bad-things despite their fairly high calorie count (for a 'healthy' snack anyway), but if you are doing exercise up on the hills of Britain or just doing some running like the people on the telly then an extra 200 calories is nothing.

They gave me a voucher too and I haven't decided whether I'd make it through a multipack - although the oats and chocolate variety does sound appealing...

By NLi10

Degustabox - Foodie Surprise Tasting Box (@DegustaboxUK) [By @Cinabar]

I’ve received a Degustabox! For those that don’t know Degustabox is a service which for £12.99 delivers you a box of surprise goodies, consisting of new or interesting products, so you can see why I love the idea of the service!
Degustabox very kindly sent me a box so that I could have a look at the sort of goodies they send out. My first impression on opening the box was that it seemed very good value, as there was loads of things packed in.

The contents:

3 x Maggi cooking packs. Two So Juicy cooking bags, one for sticky barbecue and one for Mexican chicken. The other Maggi product was called So Tender and it contains seasoned papyrus cooking papers. I have to say I can’t wait to try this, as I’ve not seen anything like that before and it looks a really fun way of cooking chicken breasts.

Drinks: a bottle of coconut water from Zico, which is a chocolate edition. I shall take this to the gym with me tomorrow, and see how I get on. They also included a bottle of Kombucha, which is fermented tea. I’m not sure what to do this a quick google highlighted several health benefits for the drink, but I think it might fascinate Spectre more!

Other savoury: There was tin of chunky tomato soup, which will come in handy with all the cold weather we’ve been having, and a packet of quinoa. The quinoa microwaves in two minutes and I’m thinking i will make a great accompaniment to the Maggi Mexican Chicken.

Sweets: Two packets from Goody Good Stuff, one Tropical Mix and one Sour Mix. These are a new brand of sweets to me, but are all natural and vegetarian. We are looking forward to giving these a try during a film night in.

Other sweet items: Also included in the box were a packet of Dorset granola and a packet of wafer Butter Crisps from Jules Destrooper. Both of these items were from brands I have tried before, and enjoyed, so I’m looking forward to giving these items a try too.

I thoroughly liked the selection of goodies, and have to say the value is really good, but you have to accept that there is going to be some random items in there. I was impressed by how many things there were from brands I hadn’t tried before, and that the quality of everything seemed top notch.

If you fancy trying out your own Degustabox do take a look at their website for further details: http://www.degustabox.com/en/

By Cinabar