I am always keen to try out new food and drink and recently I have been trying out even more new things than usual, thanks to our Bloggers Night In! Many of the food and drinks here were kindly given to us to try out during our party and to take home in our goodie bags. I will be doing a full post soon to tell you about all the fun we got up to at Eileen Et Speaks From Home’s house but for now here’s my round up of some of the best and most interesting food and drink products I have been enjoying lately!
Tenderstem Broccoli – You might think broccoli is not that exciting, but we had it raw and used it with dips and it was great for a healthy snack! For some of the ladies at the bloggers night in it was their first time eating raw broccoli!
Chantenay Carrots – Another healthy one, this time for the kids. They were sent some Chantenay carrots snack packs which are available in Morrison’s for 50p each. Ideal for Mr Z’s lunch box as they are already in such a handy little pack. These are in carrot slice shapes rather than carrot sticks which makes a change too. I have tried them myself at home and found them good and tasty as a healthy veg snack!
Soreen – is another great one for the lunchboxes. I have written before about my love of soreen so imagine my happiness when I got to our night in and saw all the Soreen goodie bags that had been given for us to take home! (Thanks so much to zoe from My Mummy’s World for organising it all!)
I find the lunchbox loaves great for the kids and the chocolate malt loaf eaten warm is so nice! Ideal for winter in fact. The flavour that I had not tried before was the Fruity Five, its a lighter version of the malt loaf with 5 fruits inside and I really liked it. The Fruity Five also tastes nice warmed. I just microwave for a few seconds. Toasted soreen is also very nice especially original soreen with butter, but microwaving leaves it squidgier!
Popchips – Somehow I had not tried Pop Chips before, so I was interested to taste them on our Blogger night in. I really liked them and I would buy these in future. I want to try the other flavour too!
Wonderful Pistachios
I was sent some of these recently and also enjoyed them in our Blogger Night in. I can go either way with nuts, some are lovely and some types I really don’t like at all so I wasn’t sure what I would think to these – but I’m pleased to say that they are really nice! I tried all the flavours of Wonderful Pistachios and Roasted & Salted is my favourite but they all make a tasty snack. They are ideal for snacking when watching TV over Christmas!
Gourmet Popcorn from Darling Spuds
I didn’t get a chance to try this on our blogger night in, but luckily I took some home to try out. As soon as I opened the pop corn my kids came running and were eager to try it out too and they loved it so it was all finished in a matter of minutes! The Darling Popcorn is a mix of sweet and salty, flavoured naturally from sea salt and cane sugar. They look and taste like a high quality pop corn and we really liked them. I would buy this in future, it’s ideal for movie nights or even for pack lunches as the bags are a suitable size. It’s only 40 calories per bag too, so quite a bit lower than crisps!
And onto the Drinks!
Choc Shot Hot Choc
I love this product, it’s such a good idea and I definitely will buy this in future. It’s hot chocolate in a squeezable liquid format so that you never get any powdery lumps when making your hot chocolate. It is not too bad at all calorie-wise either at only 15 cal per spoonful (which is enough to make your hot chocolate). It’s quite versatile as you could use this as chocolate sauce for ice cream too. Mr Z (5) usually has a hot chocolate before bedtime each evening instead of just having milk, so I was keen to see what he would think of this. He said it’s “perfect” so can’t really get a better recommendation than that!
The mug shown above with my hot chocolate was personalised by Vista Print as a gift for us on our blogger’s night in. Thanks to Tami from Mummy of Two for organising all of our mugs!
Fruit Broo – Another Hot Drink I’ve tried for the first time this week was Fruit Broo. This is also a concentrated liquid, and you add a couple of spoonfuls to hot water to make your drink. I was interested to try this as I thought it could go either way as it’s so different! I was happy to find that it is nice! It has a good fruity taste, and is not too weak which is a problem I find with some fruity teas. I’ve found it’s great if you are a feeling a bit under the weather as something hot and fruity to drink feels very soothing.
The variety I tried was Rhubarb, Apple & Cinnamon. There are 6 varieties including Lemon and Ginger which sounds even more ideal for when you have a cold! I would buy these from time to time, it seems like something good to have in over the winter.
Cherizena Christmas Coffee
This was a slightly more luxury coffee than I usually have! We made a festive start to December by getting the proper coffee maker out and having this Colombian Christmas Coffee. It’s rum, nuts, orange and spice flavoured. The flavours were not too strong or over powering and it made an enjoyable cup of coffee. This could also make a nice small gift for any coffee lover over Christmas.
Beanies Flavoured Coffees
I have also tried a couple of new wintry flavours of Beanies flavoured instant coffee. Some of you might remember I tried them for the first time a couple of month back. From the two flavours I tried, Christmas Pudding flavour and Winter Warmer, Winter warmer was my favourite. They are all instant so can be made just straight from the kettle, which is handy in a rush.
Alcohol free drinks and cocktails
As I’m Muslim obviously I can’t drink alcohol, so instead I have been trying out some alternatives. Schloer is the classic choice. I have been drinking this at celebration times since I was little and it does always fit in with a party atmosphere. There are 7 flavours so you won’t get bored of it!
One I had never tried before is Eisberg non alcoholic wine. This is said to be ideal for pregnant women who will be giving up wine or alcohol during the pregnancy, or those who need to give up for whatever reason. I have to say, it wasn’t so much my cup of tea. It has quite a wine-ish taste to it, even though there is no alcohol in it, it tasted and smelled too much like actual wine for me (I’m not used to that as I don’t drink, hence why I don’t like that kind of taste!) If you are a wine drinker who is cutting back due to pregnancy or health reasons, then I think you would like it.
We also tried some mixers from Funkin which can be used to make either alcoholic or non alcoholic cocktails. I had never tried these before and wouldn’t have thought of trying this but Pippa from Red Rose Mummy made me a non alcoholic one with schloer and the Funkin White Peach Bellini and it was nice! so this is something I might explore further in future to make non alcoholic cocktails at home.
Party Pieces supplied all the disposable tableware for our night in, in a funky Pirate theme
This theme was in honour of one of our blogging group Kelly from Wrtitings, Ramblings and Reviews who couldn’t be there for the weekend, but she is a Ninja Pirate! All the cups and plates were good quality and it saves a lot of work from washing up!
I will definitely be getting disposable tableware for Mr T’s party which will be coming up later this month, and for over the holiday season in general! I even have my eye on some disposable coffee cups which look quite handy, and some food packaging like these Pet Pax disposable lunch boxes for children’s meals.
What have you tried lately? If you have tried anything new and delicious which you think everyone must try please share it with us in the comments!
Disclaimer: The majority of products featured here were given as PR Samples. I have selected which ones to feature and was not obligated to write about all of them but shared the ones which are of interest. This post also contains some sponsored content. Some of photos are courtesy of other bloggers from the ‘Cotton On Tour’ – Thanks for letting me use them!
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
chestnuts are my winter food essentials
I don’t think I have ever tried those!
Roasted & Salted is also my fav of the night!
I did love the broccoli I will definitely be adding that to my party nibbles from now on!
I love the chocolate soreen! Yummy!
We got to try so many lovely things. Made bread and butter pudding with my Soreen Fruity Five malt loaf – it was lush.
So many fab snacks there, it was great to try them all. I’m loving the Fruitbroo for my cold too.
Sounds like a good night had by all. I love food, so getting to try new varieties / products can be just wonderful. Like yourself I enjoy Schloer, the flavour of fruit I find refreshing. So I may try FruiBroo sometime, now that you have informed me of the brand.
Choc Shot Hot Shot – exactly what I have been looking for all my life 🙂
Sounds really good! I am in love with these food items. I’ll be definitely trying each of them.