Veggie Pasty & Herby Crisps (@NLi10)

Bit of a mix today - a few things I started to look at but then didn't end up reviewing.

First we have the sweet potato waffles we've had here before (just as nice - but healthier?)

And a plant-based Moroccan spiced vegetable pasty.  This was me - choosing to have the veggie option over the easy meat option of the beef/chicken pasty.  This just sounded exciting.

And unlike this cooking layout - it was exciting.  Like all the veg you'd get on a BBQ skewer, but wrapped in a lovely crispy pastry.  Very much a victory and I'd be happy to have this veggie delight again.  Wasn't much to look at inside though (coloured veggies!) so I didn't take that.

****

And lastly we have Pipers Farmer Crisps - Atlas Mountains Wild Thyme & Rosemary Crisps! That's a lot of adjectives.  I'd not have chosen these.

So what do you get?

Herby crisps!

It's actually quite a good one - these taste like luxury roast potatoes.  Making crisps that taste more like 'dinner' potatoes than chips is frankly a genius move.  If you like roast dinners then you'll love these.

Now I've tried them I'd happily have them again.

 

Gingerbread Munchies (Asda) By @cinabar

Munchies are usually in a 100g pack, they come in a ‘grab bag’ and there are usually quite a lot of them. I bought these new seasonal Gingerbread Munchies online, when they arrived I couldn’t help but notice they are in quite a small bag. They are the same price as the full size but we are missing around 20% as this is just an 81g bag. Sorry to start this post going on about the weight of the bag but it has distracted me.

The chocolates though are fab though. The Gingerbread Munchies are milk chocolate squares filled with a crunchy bit of gingerbread, they are sweet and the ginger is flavoursome without being too spicy. Some ginger beers are too strong for me so my palette prefers a warm sweet ginger rather than a fiery one, and these match that. I love the mix of textures with the crunch in the middle it makes them fun to eat. The only issue I have with that it feels like there are missing sweets in the pack for the price. The other new flavours (fudge) launched in a bigger bag for the same price so honestly I think I’d pick up one of those bags next time.

Firecatcher Golden Beer (Morrisons) By @SpectreUK

Guy Fawkes night is just around the corner on the 5th of November. For the next few nights much of the United Kingdom usually sounds like a war zone every evening, with many households traditionally letting off as many fireworks as they can, whilst the other households are watching their fireworks on the sly.

Guido Fawkes was part of a gang of people who decided to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Guy wasn't the ring leader as such, he just seemed to have the coolest name. The gang were all caught after their failed attempt and summarily hung, drawn and quartered for trying.

This Firecatcher golden ale was produced by a favourite local brewer of mine; the Wychwood Brewery. You can see why I picked it so close to Guy Fawkes night. This 3.5% in volume session ale sports flavours of warming honey and bitter goosebury. Presumably it's low alcohol by volume is useful for not blowing yourself up whilst setting off fireworks or whatever you may be setting alight to on Bonfire Night.

On opening the bottle there was definitely a fruity goosebury aroma coming from the shining bright golden ale as I poured it into my waiting beer glass. The bitter goosebury flavoured hops set fire to my tastebuds to begin with a bit of spice, quickly followed by sweet honeyed flavours from the malts into the aftertaste. This is a warming spicy beer that goes down very well on a dark cold night. It certainly went well with my beef stew and Yorkshire Puddings. Lovely!

Whatever you're up to just remember to watch your hands and eyes with fireworks and Sparklers, and stay as safe as possible. Have a good explosive evening!

Chocolate Orange Popcorn (Tesco) By @Cinabar

I think this product has launched as part of the Christmas festivities but the packaging isn’t decorated with Christmas trees or anything too obvious. There is some red on the wrapper and their is a bit of gold glitter, it reminds of those seasonal wrapping papers you buy that you think you can also get away with using for birthday gifts throughout the year!

Anyway I saw this new bag of Chocolate Orange Popcorn in Tesco and thought I’d give it the taste test while catching up on belated horror film season from Halloween. I opened up the bag and there was a lovely scent of chocolate and orange. The popcorn pieces were medium sized but the glaze over them was dark and shiny in places.

I gave a piece a try and the glaze is pleasingly crunch giving way to the popcorn underneath. The flavour is very well balanced, a nice hit of chocolate and orange, but not over powering of the corn flavour. It just worked really well. I always say that texture is one of the best things about snacks and this is what made this Tesco Chocolate Orange Popcorn so enjoyable to munch on, that crackly coating was lovely.

This is one I’ll buy again perfect too for a Christmas film night in, or as the bag isn’t covered in Santa Clauses any other choice too. ;-)

Christmas Pudding Flavour Yoghurt (Morrisons) By @Cinabar

Halloween is now done for this year, so I think Christmas goodies are now fair game. First up we have from Morrisons The Best range this new Christmas Pudding Flavour Yoghurt. I had this as a sweet treat at lunch time after a sandwich. It should have been with a turkey sandwich (but it was ham and tomato chutney) but the yoghurt was festive at least. I pulled back the lid and the yoghurt was pale in colour, but it was speckled with spices. The texture of the yoghurt it really good, it is thick and creamy and feels very rich.

The flavour is an impressive recreation of Christmas pudding and it did it so better than I thought it would. There was lots of fruit and spice in the flavour, the raisins shone through as did the punchy hit of citrus peel. I really enjoy Christmas spices and cinnamon so found myself scraping the pot after lunch. There is also quite a bit of cream in the recipe and this made the whole thing rather luxurious to eat, which was nice to brighten up a particularly cold dark Monday. The clocks went back so everything looks dark early now! Let’s get the Christmas stuff out and brighten it up.