October Product Review

I have been sent a few items over the last few weeks, so I have decided to group them all together and write a round up review post again.

I love to have a little pamper time, not that it happens very often, and I also love chocolate desserts – the perfect combination in my opinion! Well, the lovely people from Rachel’s sent me a wonderful pamper hamper set recently along with some samples of their new organic Divine Vanilla and Divine Chocolate Pots. The goodies I received were so lovely and I have already enjoyed a relaxing late night bath (well, that is the only time I get to enjoy the bathroom on my own, once the boys are fast asleep!) using the bath oil and a tea light, bliss! Talking of all things blissfull these new desserts are delicious and soooooo good. Using my gorgeous personalised vintage spoon to eat them with, I love the fact that they are decadent but not too sweet and very easy to eat! So good infact that beware your children wanting to share them with you!!!

Suitable for vegetarians and just the right size for an indulgent dessert treat, these Rachel’s Organic Divine Desserts are available to buy in the chilled ailse in the supermarket

It will come as no surprise to you that I love baking and I often bake with the boys to get them to see how food we eat is made and to encourage them to enjoy it, so that they will want to continue as they get older. I was sent some lovely items from Home Bargains to get the boys and I to bake something to co-incide with the Great British Bake Off. If any of you are fans of the TV series will know, there was only one cake round this year (sadly) back on episode one so although I have used the mixing bowl and whisk during some of my bake along bakes , I have not actually made some cake showstoppers because of the shows schedules! Still, it is always fun baking and the boys have enjoyed ‘helping’ me, especially licking the bowl!!

Happy 5th birthday to Bear, maker of healthy childrens fruity snacks and nibbles. To celebrate their special anniversary, Bear have brought out special packs and for each one sold 25p will go to WWF to help save the bears on our planet. A great cause I think you will agree.

Hotel Chocolate mmmmm – that is what I think whenever I am asked if I would like to sample some of their yummy chocolate! New off the chocolate block, is their Supermilk 65 bars, called

a revolutionary new genre of chocolate with all the pleasure of milk chocolate and all the power of dark.

The good news is for those of us on a never ending diet, is that because the chocolate contains a high 65% cocoa content, a splash of milk and less sugar than a dark chocolate bar, it takes just a small portion to satisfy a chocolate craving. As you can see from the photo below, this is exactly what I did!!

Talking of watching what I eat *ahem* I was very happy when I was sent some Weight Watchers instant hot chocolate to review, because when you fancy a hit of chocolate, and don’t have any of the above mentioned Supermilk 65 bars to hand, a low calorie mug of hot chocolate is enough to remove that craving and fill a gap. The range comes in 3 flavours Cappuccino Cream Cake, Jaffa Cake and Chocolate Cherry Brownie, and I was sent the the latter two flavours to try. Obviously, being a calorie controlled drink, it does not taste as indulgent as a full fat hot chocolate, however, the jaffa cake orange and cherry brownie flavours that come through are really tasty. These will help me avoid chocolate for the next few weeks! Plus they are less than £1.50 which I think is very competitively priced compared to others on the market.

Kettle chips have been around much longer than I realised, and they have just released a variant that was first made waaaay back in 1988!!! Available for a limited time, the Salsa & Mesquite kettle chips are out to buy now and they are delicous. Kind of smokey and sweet and a teeny bit spicy – perfect for earting straight from the bag, or serving with some cream cheese maybe! These would be great to hand out over Christmas.

I have always liked drinking Appletiser, I remember when I was much younger that to be allowed a glass at special family occasions or if we ate out at a pub, made me feel very grown up! Nowadays, Appletiser is not just apple flavoured and the newest flavour to hit the shops is Apple and Pomegranate, which is not only a blend of these two juices but counts as one of your 5-a-Day and is 100% fruit juice. As you would expect if you are a fan of apples and pommegranate then you will love this fizzy and refreshing drink, and I will be buying this for Christmas day!

Finally I was sent some new biscuits made for children by Nairns, called Astro BItes . Available in boxes filled with 5 individual bags, these wholegrain oaty space shaped biscuits are really delicious (I *may* have sampled one or three!). And the great news for us Mums is that contain no nasties and 40% less sugar than standard biscuits. Yummy snacks which would be perfect for lunch boxes too.