Twix Salted Caramel Xtra (@NLi10)

Twix Salted Caramel has been around for a while - in fact our resident Twixpert Spectre had a look at these when they first appeared.  

Now these are showing up in a few more places - and in the proper big size too!

Although I did give half away to my partner to get a second opinion (a small price to pay)

And it's basically a salty Twix!  Well - it does seem a little like the salt is between the caramel and the biscuit rater than mixed in with the topping.  And it's enjoyable - but it's not quite as revolutionary as I'd hoped.

It did however give me an idea - if they can pop salt in between the two layers then what about other things?  Could we have lemon Twix or Blueberry Twix?  I'm guessing jam isn't a great idea but I'm sure some kind of magic flavour dust could get in here.

Other than the various choc toppings I don't think I've seen many alt-Twix and although I'd probably buy real Twix more, it'd be cool to have the Kit Kat treatment here too (but don't tell Spectre as I don't think he'd be a fan).

Pure Brew Ultra Low Alcohol Lager (Ocado) By @SpectreUK

I must have done something wrong at some point… Cinabar is plying me with low alcohol lager! I only have an alcoholic drink four days a week, and that's after a considerable amount of exercise to burn off the extra calories. I did have a big beer the other night that went straight to my head. Maybe this Pure Brew Ultra Low Alcohol Lager from the Open Gate Brewery, Guinness & Company, Dublin, is a hint because of that?

At 0.5% volume The Open Gate Brewery states on the back of the bottle that they are drawing on over 250 years of Guinness brewing expertise to create beers, such as this Pure Brew Ultra Low Alcohol Lager. They state on the label that they fully brew their low alcohol beer without the need to evaporate off the alcohol (mores the pity) whilst keeping the flavour (huzzah). I'm sure that's true, however, the truth is at the bottom of a glass… so they say!

I was impressed to see that there are only 92 calories in this low alcohol lager. It's not marketed as low in calories, but it's certainly a plus for those, like me, that are trying to keep their weight down. I am just hoping that the low calories won't reflect on the flavour.

On opening the 330ml bottle there was a decent fizz and a sweet smell of roasted barley with herbal hops to finish. On taste this deep golden straw coloured lager tastes a little like a brown ale mixed with a lager. This is not a bad thing, as the sweetness from the malted barley hit my tastebuds first with a flavoursome burst, followed by the light bitterness from the herbal hops. It's a perfectly balanced sweet and bitter bubbly beer… lager not a bitter, and in my moreish drinking confusion I completely forgot about the lack of alcohol.

Ever tipped cola on your pizza? Chicago Town - Sticky Sweet Cola BBQ Pizza (Ocado) By @Cinabar

I couldn’t resist trying this pizza from Chicago Town with its rather different sounding cola base. I have seen cola used as a marinade on meat and in cookery in a number of recipes, but I can’t remember seeing it on a pizza before.
This Chicago Town Sticky Sweet Cola BBQ Pizza comes with a stuffed crust, the filling in the crust is tomato based, not more of the cola barbecue which I thought was a little odd. The topping is ham and mushroom too, not my first choice with a barbecue base but it still sounded good. Truth be told I like most pizza toppings.
The Chicago Town Sticky Sweet Cola BBQ Pizza looked good when it came out of the oven, the cheese dusting on the crust just going golden, and the crusts had risen. The flavour of the base was quite sweet, I know it was meant to be, and the cola was far more prominent than I thought it would be. It took a couple of bites to become accustomed to the flavour, and then it grew on me, the flavoursome sweet cola goodness with its spice and the mushrooms and ham worked. I ended up really enjoying it. I think the crust having the tomato was a good choice too, I ate the crusts last and it was a nice bit of contrast.

Mangajo - Pomegranate & Green Tea (@NLi10) - Water Juice & Tea all together!

I've already talked about this one before - but it was 9 years ago it turns out!  This doesn't feel like something that could have been around that long - so what did they do right that I just didn't spot?

First of all the health halo on this one is HUGE - Pom & Green tea and no added sugar?  So what is actually inside.

As my past-self's abject disappointment showed - this is water. 11% of the drink is fruit juice (only 2% of which is Pomegranate) and there is 9g of green tea powder per litre.  While that's not much thats possibly enough to give you a boost.

All it really claims to be is hydrating, which is pretty easy.  And it achieves that - see how empty the bottle is?  These juicy waters were all the rage for a time, and still seem to crop up - and this is at least a natural one.

So then - if you fancy a flavoured water, and only want a little one (250ml) and don't mind paying a premium for less chemicals then it's a decent product.  I did enjoy the drink.  And I guess it's low calorie too. 

It's just hard to recommend as a first choice when there are real water, juice and tea usually available right next to these.

Peperami Pep'd Up Chicken Bites (Asda) By @SpectreUK

I'm always looking for a bit of extra protein to have with my lunch after a session with my free weights. I usually have a tuna sandwich with some pork scratchings on the side. The pork scratchings aren't exactly good for keeping my weight down, but we do need some fat in our diets too. These 'Protein Kick' Peperami Pep'd Up Chicken Bites sound like a healthier alternative snack. They are; "Cooked, chopped and shaped chicken in a smoky tikka style glaze." They are made with 100% chicken breast, and are oven cooked, providing an extra 10.5g of Protein, and without the crunchy fat that comes with the pork scratchings. I do like a bit of spice too!

As you can see from the photograph, Peperami Pep'd Up Chicken Bites are fairly small bright red nugget sized chicken bites. On opening the packet there was a strong spicy aroma of chicken tikka. On taste these Pep'd Up Chicken Bites have a good lip smacking tangy tikka taste to them. They have a medium spice and I can imagine if I ate enough of them they may make my nose run a little, but the 50g packet was gone so quickly whilst I was eating my tuna sandwich and pieces of cut up tomato on the side, that I hardly broke a sweat. Having said that, I'd certainly have these Peperami Pep'd Up Chicken Bites again, as they are a high protein, low calorie and lower fat alternative for a protein boost during my lunch after a good session with my free weights.

Information on the packet;
Per 50g bag there are 104 Calories, with 5.2g Fat, 3.4g Carbohydrates, and 0.96g Salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.