Late Night Munchies = Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownies!

What happens when your uncle goes out of town to a birthday party for the evening and your aunt wants to have a wild party? You spend the evening playing Wii Bowling, getting the munchies, eating every chip and chocolate candy in the household, and finding a box of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Brownie mix in the back of the pantry. Okay, that may not specifically be what happens to everyone in situations such as this, but it is how things went down at my aunt's house last night! We ate the last of my Naturebox Nacho Lime Tortilla Chips, a whole bunch of Costco brand tortilla chips, and I personally ate just about all of the Andes Mints that were in a basket on the coffee table. After I mentioned wishing we could go to Burger King or Taco Bell, my aunt looked into the pantry and found these!

Intrigued, we paused our Wii Bowling game in order to make the brownies. The batter was very simple to make and only took a few minutes. I meant to take a picture of all of the steps of the cooking process, but after taking this picture of the dry mixture, I forgot to take the rest. Sorry! All that it involved was adding water, eggs and cooking oil. I was surprised that my aunt added olive oil... I never thought of olive oil as the type of cooking oil you'd add to sweets.  Has anyone else tried this? I've always used the more vaguely named "Vegetable oil" or even more vaguely named "cooking oil."

My aunt commented on how thick the batter was. I wish I'd gotten a picture to show you. She thought it was thicker than most brownie batters she'd made.

We had to wait an impossibly long time (about 45 minutes) for the brownies to bake. I also learned that, although I had thought it was about midnight by then, it was only 8 pm. It was like being in a weird time warp. But I digress...

Finally, after 45 minutes had passed, my aunt took the finished product out of the oven.

My aunt also had some Cool Whip in the fridge, which resulted in this conversation:

Here is what the final product looked like, after I put some on a plate and added a generous dollop of Cool Hwip.

It was delicious! It was super moist and rich and chocolaty, with little chunks of melted chocolate chip. For my aunt, it was actually too chocolaty, and she ended up pushing the plate away after only eating half. For me, it was amazing, especially with a side glass of milk to help wash it down. I could have eaten several helpings of it, but after eating all of those chips and candies I was starting to feel a little full. However, I did eat some more of it for breakfast the next morning!

This Ghirardelli Brownie Mix is the perfect thing to tuck away in your cabinet for when you are craving something especially chocolaty and delicious. It is so easy to make, and will completely satisfy your munchies. I will definitely be adding this to the grocery cart next time I go to the store.

NatureBox Vanilla Bean Wafers Review

In my last post on NatureBox Nacho Lime Tortilla Chips, I explained how I signed up for this snack membership site a while ago and ended up with a bunch of credits, which I put towards a whole box of brand new snacks to review. I was so excited about it, that after I finished writing about the Nacho Lime Tortilla Chips, I decided I just had to keep on munching! So now, let me introduce you to NatureBox Vanilla Bean Wafers.

Their name is similar to the Nilla Wafers we grew up with (which will always be a comfort food to me because they remind me of munching on them at my Nona's house as a child) but they are quite different. For one thing, like I mentioned in my last post, NatureBox never uses artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, or MSG. We can look at the ingredients on the bag of Vanilla Bean Wafers to see for ourselves.

My photo turned out a little blurry, but you can get the gist of it. They even use real vanilla beans! 

Here is yet another blurry picture, but you can see that these Vanilla Bean Wafers are smaller than regular Nilla Wafers. They are also not as perfectly smooth. When I bit into it, I found that the texture was also different. It was much more crumbly and buttery, almost seeming to melt in my mouth. It had a sweet, satisfying, unmistakably vanilla taste. 

One sometimes frustrating thing about NatureBox is that they don't always have the same snacks available from month to month. For example, I ordered Vanilla Bean Wafers in December, but now they are no where to be seen on the website. So if you find something you love, you should order a whole bunch of them, because you never know when you'll get your hands on them again! I ordered quite a few of these little bags of Vanilla Bean Wafers, and hopefully NatureBox will get them in stock again. 

Naturebox Nacho Lime Tortilla Chips

I honestly don't remember signing up for NatureBox. I think it was a while ago when I was looking for subscription boxes. NatureBox is not exactly a subscription box, They do have a membership option where you pay $30 per year, which entitles you to a $5 credit per month plus discounts on additional snacks. At the time that I signed up, I think they only had the membership option, so I signed up for it and placed my first order, and then forgot about it. Recently I discovered I had a ton of credits, so I spent them all, just so that I'd have a bunch of new products to review for you! You can look forward to a whole series of NatureBox reviews!

If you've read my blog before, you may remember that I am a big fan of Tostitos Hint of Lime. So when I saw that NatureBox had a similar product, I was excited to try it!

The main thing that makes NatureBox different is that they do not use any artificial colors or sweeteners, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, or MSG. I thought you might like to take a look at their ingredients.

True to their word, they use simple ingredients. And if you have questions about the ingredients they do use, you can check out their Ingredients Index (scroll down on their About Us page) where they explain some of the more suspicious sounding items. 

After checking out the ingredients, I took my first chip out of the bag. The first thing I noticed was that it was kind of orange colored, although not as brightly orange colored and dusty as the usual nacho cheese flavored tortilla chip. 

As I bit into it, I noticed that the texture was thick, firm and crunchy, similar to the kind of tortilla chips you might get at your table at a Mexican restaurant. The cheese and lime flavors were much more subtle than other chips. In fact, the lime was a lot harder to taste than the cheese. Although I do love the strong lime taste of Tostitos Hint of Lime, other people I've shared them with have mentioned that they wished the lime taste was more subtle. For the person with more refined taste buds who doesn't like the over the top, "in your face" flavors of some chips, these could be a great alternative. Ironically, the NatureBox chips actually list lime oil as one of their ingredients, while the extremely limey Tostitos Hint of Lime chips do not list lime anywhere on their ingredients. That is worth noting. Often natural ingredients have milder tastes than artificial flavors.

I also like the somewhat sweet taste that these chips have. The sweetness seems to show up after the cheese and lime flavors. It keeps me going back for more.

Do I love NatureBox's Nacho Lime Tortilla Chips? Yes. Did I eat half of the bag while sitting here writing this? Yes. Will I buy them again? Yes. Do I prefer them over Tostitos Hint of Lime tortilla chips? Not necessarily. I definitely appreciate their natural ingredients and their calm flavor. I think I love them both for different reasons. Sometimes I'm in the mood for extreme lime flavor even though I know it is artificial, and sometimes I just want something more authentic like this. If you've tried them both, I'd love to know if you have a preference!

What, Exactly, Does LOVE Taste Like?

I've always enjoyed Oreos. When I was a kid I used to buy a small package of Oreos at the drug store just about every day after school. I also used to be obsessed with mint Oreos and chocolate creme Oreos, but that is about as far as I ever went as far as different flavors. But today, I saw this in the store, near the check out line, and I was intrigued.

The cashier was intrigued, too, and said that she'd just been talking about these with some other employees. We wondered what, exactly, "love" tasted like, as interpreted by an Oreo cookie. We noticed that there was no actual flavor description except for "sweet and tangy." The cashier said she and her friends thought it might be cinnamon. I said I hoped it would be cherry.

I took them over to my aunt and uncle's house, where I was staying for dinner. They like to help me review new snacks sometimes.

I opened up the package and smelled the cookies. They had a sweet, syrupy smell that almost reminded me of children's cough medicine.

I am one of those people who has always eaten Oreos by twisting them open and biting off the creamy filling first. So that is what I did. The pink cream was "sweet and tangy," exactly as the package described it. It did remind me of cherry or maybe raspberry. My aunt and uncle, who ate the entire Oreo without disassembling it first, had similar reactions. My aunt said she thought it tasted like cherry, and my uncle guessed "tutti-fruity."

(Later, I looked them up on Google and learned that they are actually supposed to taste like strawberry. I can see that. But most strawberry flavored things are sweeter, while these are more sour, like actual strawberries.)

Are they good? I think so! At first I wasn't sure, but the sweet and sour taste grew on me. I ate about ten more of them as I wrote this review.

I also like how each Oreo has a little Valentine's message on the front, such as "Dunk in love," or "XOXO Oreo." It would be cute if they could individually package these, and then little kids could take them to school to give to their friends with Valentine's cards.

(By the way, have you ever wondered if Oreos are vegan? The answer is, sort of, depending on how strict of a vegan you are. Although they do not contain animal products in the ingredients, they do have contact with machines that have also been used to make things that contain milk and eggs. Some vegans are bothered by that, and some aren't.)

So... are you going to try Love, Oreos? If you do, get them soon, because they are just here for Valentine's Day!

Jelly Belly Soda Pop Shoppe Review

The other day while I was visiting my mom in Chicago, we went shopping at the outlet mall in Pleasant Prairie, WI. We made a stop on the way home to the Jelly Belly Visitor Center, where they have a Jelly Belly store where you can sample any and all flavors of Jelly Bellies. I've been there a bunch of times, and I've even taken the warehouse tour a few times... you get to wear a paper hat and take a train ride around the warehouse. It is kind of cool. This time, though, I just wanted some Jelly Bellies!

My mom bought a big bag of Jelly Belly Flops, which just means they are Jelly Bellies that came out in weird shapes and didn't make the cut into the regular bags. They taste just as good, but you get lots of abnormally huge Jelly Bellies or conjoined twin Jelly Bellies. I also bought a small bag of Soda Pop Shoppe Jelly Bellies to review for you! I was debating between them and the ice cream flavored ones, but the Soda Pop Shoppe won because they have Dr. Pepper flavored ones in there!

They come in six flavors: Orange Crush, A&W Root Beer, A&W Cream Soda, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, and Grape Crush.

Here is what they look like up close. From right to left, they are Dr. Pepper, A&W Root Beer, Grape Crush, Orange Crush, 7-Up, and A&W Cream Soda.

I tried them one at a time and tried to decide if they really tasted like their sodapop inspiration.

Dr. Pepper - It was good, but I wouldn't have necessarily guessed that it was Dr. Pepper if it was a blind taste test. I might have guessed Spiced Cherry, or even Cherry Cola.

A&W Root Beer - It tasted like root beer, but it reminded me even more of a root beer barrel hard candy. It is sort of like tasting really strong, undiluted root beer. I've always loved root beer barrel candies, so this one turned out to be my favorite!

Grape Crush - I definitely would have guessed either grape soda or grape juice. But have you ever noticed that grape flavored things don't necessarily taste like actual grapes? In this case it definitely tasted more like grape pop or grape juice and less like grapes on a vine.

Orange Crush - It was very orange-y, so I would have definitely guessed orange, orange juice, or maybe orange soda.

7-Up - It was lemon and lime flavored, and did remind me of 7-Up.

A&W Cream Soda - It was vanilla flavored. I'd probably have just guessed vanilla, not necessarily Cream Soda.

I decided to take my taste testing a little further, and compare some of them them with the regular flavors in the Jelly Belly Flops bag. Specifically, I wanted to compare the Orange Crush, 7-Up and A&W Cream Soda ones with regular orange, lemon lime, and vanilla flavored Jelly Bellies.

Here are the regular flavored Jelly Bellies side by side with their soda inspired counterparts.

Lime vs 7-Up: They tasted similar, but the plain lemon lime Jelly Belly had a little bit stronger of a limey flavor, while the 7-Up one was milder and sweeter.

Orange vs Orange Crush - The regular orange one tasted fruitier, whereas the Orange Crush one tasted a little sweeter and with a milder orange flavor.

Vanilla vs A&W Cream Soda - These tasted just about the same.

I definitely enjoyed the Soda Shoppe Jelly Bellies... and all Jelly Bellies in general. Except for those Bean Boozled ones. I will not try those. However, I did once sample a Pencil Shaving flavored Jelly Belly at the warehouse, and I have to tell you, it wasn't half bad!

What is your favorite flavor of Jelly Belly?

So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt

In my quest to experiment with veganism, I've been wanting to try a dairy free yogurt. I love regular yogurt so much, and it is one of the things that will be very tricky for me to give up. I've picked up So Delicious Yogurt Alternatives a few times, but every time, I've been afraid to try it. I don't know why. I expected it to have a really weird aftertaste, like some of the dairy free ice creams and things I've tried. So every time, I ended up not eating it, and eventually it would expire.

Yesterday, my mom got me a key lime flavored one. It was the first time I had gotten one since starting this blog. This time, I had a reason to be brave and try it. Anything for Munchieland!

Here is what the top looks like. I didn't take a picture of the side, with the lime on it, so you'll just have to believe me about it being lime flavored.

I took a picture of the nutritional information too, for those of you who like to see that. You can see, its ingredients are more simple than traditional yogurt, with less fat and cholesterol,  and less sodium.

When I opened it, I saw that it had a creamy texture, but not thick like Greek yogurt. It reminded me more of Yoplait yogurt... the original kind, which my brother and I used to enjoy drinking out of the cups when we were little kids instead of using our spoons.

Finally, I actually tried tasting it. And it was... well, so delicious! It tasted like lime yogurt, with no weird aftertaste at all. The texture was also creamy, similar to yogurt. I ate every last bit.

I perused the So Delicious website, and I was excited to see that they also make cheese and ice cream alternatives. They even have ice cream sandwiches! I am hoping I can find some of these soon.

Has anyone else out there tried any So Delicious products?

I Tried Hot Cocoa M&Ms

I was at Target with my mom, and I had one goal in mind: finding something new to review. That is when I came across these.

As you can see, it didn't take me long to tear the bag open!

Hot Cocoa M&Ms came out for the holidays, and apparently were only available at Target. They may not be there anymore (I found them on sale) but you can still find bags of them on Amazon.

One interesting thing about Hot Cocoa M&Ms is that they do not come in lots of different colors, like most other varieties do. They come in dark brown, light brown, and white.

The other thing that makes these candies unique is that the centers are not chocolate. Instead, they are marshmallow... or some sort of white, marshmallow flavored composite. I carefully bit an M&M in half so I could show you! 

They taste different from regular M&Ms as well. They really do taste a lot like hot cocoa with marshmallows. The chocolate is somehow warmer tasting than regular milk chocolate. 

However, they still melt in your mouth and not in your hand!

Let me know if you try these. I'd love to know what you think of them. I'm looking forward to any new seasonal variations of M&Ms that may show up soon!