Eat Real Quinoa Chips - Sour Cream & Chives review

I have seen snacks from the eat real brand appearing in more and more places and so decided to see if their products would be any good. I started with these quinoa chips which are suitable for vegetarians, coeliac's and vegans. The packet states that these are a super grain snack and I chose the sour cream and chives flavour because I generally enjoy sour cream flavoured crisps.

I opened the bag and saw that the chips were quite large in size and were ridged in shape. They were rather thick and quite pale in colour. The packet shows that these chips should be square but due to the amount of deep ridges they were much more curly that the picture on the bag. I could also see flecks of chives on the chips and there was a subtle onion/chive like smell. I took a bite and found these to have a really tasty flavour. I could taste both sour cream and chive but the flavour was quite mild so these weren't overwhelmingly onion-y leaving an unpleasant after taste. There was also a noticeable garlic flavour and these were not massively salty. The texture was light yet crunchy and these almost melted on the tongue.

These were a really great snack especially considering hat they are one of the healthier options available. They had a great flavour and good crunchy texture. The fact that these can be enjoyed by people with dietary restrictions s just an added bonus as I would happily buy these again even though I don't suffer from any intolerances or have any vegan needs. These have only 165 calories per 30g bag and so are also an ideal choice for the calorie conscious. I am glad that I gave these a try and am looking forward to trying out some of the other products from the Eat Real range.

Marks & Spencer's Aromatic Spiced Lamb Pide Flatbread review

I look forward to seeing what the new spirit of summer products from M&S will be every year and one of the first things that caught my eye this year was this new spiced lamb flatbread. I am pretty sure that this is a Greek inspired product since Greece is infamous for both lamb and flatbreads. This flatbread comes with sautéed onions, red peppers, mozzarella, a spiced tomato sauce and ground lamb. I love lamb despite it being a slightly more controversial meat but I don't think that I have ever had it on a flatbread before, especially with spiced flavours.

This meal takes under 10 minutes in the oven and is ready to eat. The flatbread had a spicy smell and the proportion of all of the toppings looked pretty good. I took a bite and am happy to admit that this was delicious! The lamb was flavoursome and had almost a crumbled up kofta texture. It had also been well seasoned and had more spice to it than I was expecting without being too spicy. There was a relatively thick layer of creamy mozzarella which worked really well with the heat of both the lamb and the sauce. This sauce, although I couldn't actually see it was also delicious and had a lovely rich yet spicy flavour. The roasted onions and peppers were chunky and added a sweetness to the flatbread, making for the ideal combination of spicy, creamy and sweet flavours.  The flatbread itself was crispy and just the right thickness to make it slightly doughy around the slightly thicker edges.

This is a brilliant new addition to the M&S spirit of summer range and I already cant wait to enjoy it again. This flatbread seemed to have been made from good quality ingredients and tasted of a pretty high standard. I would highly recommended trying this flatbread as the combination of flavours used resulted in a delicious tasting meal and in my opinion, this is a great representation of Greek inspired dining.

ASDA Extra Special Banoffee Dessert review

Banoffee flavoured products seem to be a popular theme this summer and I for one am certainly not complaining about that. ASDA are another popular brand that have added a new banoffee dessert to their shelves and its even in the extra special range so I was pretty desperate to get my hands on it to try. This dessert is made up of a digestive crumb base, with banana puree, dulce de leche and white chocolate mousse topped off with toffee sponge cubes and chocolate shortcake balls. So basically... this sounded amazing and I was even more excited to see that this banoffee dessert included a white chocolate element and wanted to see if this would compliment the classic banana and caramel flavours.

The dessert came in a clear plastic case with all of the layers showing clearly and it looked impressive. I dug my spoon in firstly hitting the mousse. This was light and tasty but I cant say that I would have known that it was white chocolate flavoured although it did add a light sweetness. The toffee sponge cubes were moist with a slight chew and a lovely toffee flavour. The shortcake balls also added another level to the texture and I enjoyed the crunchiness against the soft sponge and whippy mousse. The digestive crumb was (as you would imagine), very crumbly and it had a lovely buttery flavour. It was quite thick but not out of proportion for the rest of the layers of the dessert. The dulce de leche was sweet and delicious and worked really well all other elements of the dessert. This includes the banana puree which had quite a strong flavour but being a banana lover this didn't bother me. I would imagine that it may be a little too strong for some people but I really enjoyed it and it didn't have an over artificial flavour that a lot of banana products have.

Overall I am pretty impressed with this dessert and glad that I got to try it. It is very rich and sweet so I would only recommend this if you really love your caramel and banana flavours. The white chocolate mousse makes this a little sweeter than a typical banoffee dessert but the mousse element does make it a little less heavy on the stomach. The textures from all of the different layers also worked perfectly together. Despite not being the most luxurious dessert that I have tasted, I have to give some credit to ASDA for combining all of the elements of this dessert together to come up with a slightly different version of a classic. There are better desserts out there but this was still really enjoyable and I would probably buy it again when I get a sugary banana craving.

Las Iguanas NEW Sea Bass a lo Macho review

Despite hearing great things about Las Iguanas for months now I have to admit that I haven't rushed out of my way to visit sine Mexican food isn't my favourite. This week however I decided to finally give it a try and see if it lived up to its reputation. One dish that caught my eye instantly was the sea bass a lo macho which is a new addition to the menu. This dish is described as a fillet of sea bass along with muscles, crayfish & prawns served with spring onion rice in a paprika, spinach and cream sauce. Sea bass is often served in Mexican restaurants however a lot of the time it is dried out. I hoped that the sauce would make up for this and seeing as the dish cost £14.95 I wanted a decent quality meal. 

Our meals arrived promptly and it was a good sized portion. There were plenty of muscles, large juicy prawns and a fair few crayfish served alongside the sea bass. I took my first bite of sea bass and am pleased to say that it was cooked perfectly! Soft and falling apart just as sea bass should be. The sauce was delicious. It had a lot of flavour and there was some heat from the paprika but I wouldn't say that it was particularly spicy, just very flavoursome and tasty. There was also a good mount of rice which was well cooked and I enjoyed the addition of the spring onion to the flavour. The spinach also sopped up the sauce giving it a lovely flavour. I thought that I was going to find Las Iguanas overpriced and overrated but I am more than happy to admit that I was wrong. The meal was delicious and I would definitely consider going there again if the rest of their dishes are as delicious as this one.

Costa UK Coffee Banoffee Creamy Frostino review

As a general rule I love any type of banoffee product and having a slight addiction to coffee my eyes lit up when I saw that Costa had released a new banoffee themed drink as a part of their summer range. This is one of the creamy frostino drinks made by blending a fresh banana with milk, espresso, ice and caramel sauce. This can also be served with whipped cream and fudge pieces but I opted for my drink without these so I could experience the true banoffee flavour.

The drink was blended up in a matter of minutes and the result was as you see in the picture. The iced drink was a pale brown colour with generous drizzles of caramel sauce throughout. I tried to take a sip and realised just how thick this drink was. After waiting a couple of minutes for the ice to melt slightly this became slightly easier to drink. The banana was definitely noticeable and combined with the thick and creamy texture was pretty tasty. The caramel sauce was lovely and added a welcome sweetness to the drink. The coffee was very mild but still present and actually worked quite well with the caramel and banana flavours. The thick texture of this coffee meant that I was left feeling pretty full after it. In all honesty this is a very good idea but I probably wont get it again as the resulting product didn't quite live up to its potential in my opinion. It was very thick and creamy and I did enjoy the combination of banana and caramel with the coffee. For me, this is more of  novelty drink that's nice to try as a once in a while treat rather than a new go-to coffee but I will give marks to Costa for such an inventive drink idea.

The Gourmet Popcorn Co. Sweet Chilli review

With all of the popcorn brands around, The gourmet popcorn company is one that has so far slipped me by. I decided to start with the sweet chilli flavour which happens to be a part of the sugar free range. This popcorn contains wholegrain, is gluten & wheat free as well as being suitable for vegetarians. With the word gourmet featuring in the company name, I expected this popcorn to be of a high quality and the packaging did seem a little more luxurious than some other popular brands.

There seemed to be a good amount of popcorn in the bag which had a very light coloured orange-y dusting. This popcorn uses sweet and salty popcorn as a base with added spices added to create the sweet chilli flavour. This actually worked really well and the flavour was great. There was a perfect combination of heat and sweetness that made these incredibly moreish. The popcorn itself was also exceptionally crunchy which was great because there is nothing I hate more than soft, stale textured popcorn.

I really was impressed with this popcorn and I have no doubt that any sweet chilli fans will be very impressed with these. I am now pretty excited to try some other varieties of the gourmet popcorn company range. There did seem to be something about this popcorn that made it seem a bit more special than a typical store bought popcorn and these sweet chilli flavour were really delicious.

Prezzo Goats Cheese Penne Al Forno review

I have heard great things about Prezzo but never actually visited the restaurant chain myself until this week. With a huge variety of Italian dishes I wanted to try it all but finally settled on the goats cheese penne al forno which is an oven baked pasta dish with mushrooms, peppers, spinach, pesto and pomodoro sauces as well as goats cheese. Goats cheese is my favourite type of cheese and I love any form of pesto and so I had high expectations of this dish.

Our meals arrived promptly and the portions were more than generous and its fair to say that we were more than stuffed when we had all finished. I could clearly see that there were plenty of large chunks of goats cheese and a thick topping of pesto. The pomodoro sauce was more underneath and was quite thin but had a lot of flavour and was actually a little spicy. There were perfectly cooked mushrooms, peppers and spinach throughout which were a lovely addition to the dish. The penne pasta was soft but not soggy and the perfect base for the rich and oily pesto flavour. The goats cheese was also deliciously creamy with that slight tang that all goats cheese has. Overall I was very impressed with my meal and would highly recommend it. Prezzo is not the cheapest of Italians around but if all of the dishes are as good as this one then I am happy to pay a little more for a high quality meal.

Angel Delight Banana Ready To Eat review

Having only discovered Angel Delight in adulthood, I became a little obsessed with these ready to eat pots a few months ago. Sadly, these 70g pots of ready made angel delight seemed to become unavailable everywhere so I begrudgingly forgot about them. However, when browsing the dessert isle I saw this week that they have reappeared with the addition of banana flavour! Being a massive fan of banana flavoured products I knew that I had to try this flavour as soon as I could.

The angel delight has a smooth top layer but once I dug my spoon in it revealed the bubbly textured dessert underneath. This flavour was pale yellow in colour and had a smell very similar to a banana milkshake. Banana desserts often have a strong artificial flavour that a lot of people hate and if I'm honest then this angel delight does have that slightly overwhelmingly sweet flavour. The flavour of this angel delight was almost identical to that of a foam banana sweet. Seeing as I quite like foam banana's, I actually didn't mind the taste and quite enjoyed it but I can imagine a lot of people finding the artificial flavour a little too much.

The texture of the dessert was exactly what you would want from angel delight. It was light and bubbly so ideal for when you've had a big dinner but just feel in need of something a bit sweet. These make for a handy little dessert to have in the cupboard as the eat before dates are pretty generous and I also think that kids would love these. Although this is not my favourite flavour of the Angel delight range, I am still pleased that they are now back in stores. Even if you think that this banana flavour is not for you, it is worth trying some of the other flavours available which are chocolate, butterscotch and strawberry ( previously reviewed) as these are a tasty and guilt free sweet treat.

Marks & Spencer's Cod & Minted Pea Pie review

As much as I do love fish pie I don't really count it as an actual "pie" since there is no form of pastry in the meal. M&S however have come up with the perfect solution to this by creating a limited edition pie with a cod fillet in a tarter sauce with crushed minted pea. This pie has a stamp on it from the British pie awards and since I haven't seen a product like this before I was excited to see how this would taste.

I popped the pie in the oven for about 20 minutes and this was the finished result. The pie had a golden brown top with a line of mint down the centre. The pastry itself was quite thick yet crispy and delicious. Cutting through the pastry revealed an impressively large chunk of cod in a creamy sauce. I can't say that the sauce had a lot of flavour and I wouldn't have known it was supposed to be tarter if I hadn't read the box but it added moisture and creaminess to the pie that I really enjoyed. The minted peas were crushed at the bottom and complimented the fish flavour really well. The mint was noticeable yet subtle and had quite a set texture which I was pleased about considering the tarter sauce was quite runny.

Overall I did enjoy this pie however if I'm completely honest I just didn't love it as much as I expected too. I think I now understand why fish is rarely put with pastry as the flavour was tasty yet slightly band. The minted crushed peas are the main reason this pie worked as they added the strongest part of the flavour but even so I cant say that I will be rushing out to get this again. This pie did seem as though it was made from high quality ingredients and I would recommend trying it to any fish lovers like myself. Having said that, I don't think that I will be too upset when this pie is no longer available but it did make for a tasty meal.

Starbucks Chilled Skinny Latte UK review

I love an iced latte in the summer and you cant really go wrong with Starbucks. I never buy ice latte's from the chilled section at supermarkets because I like to have a syrup in my latte and so I often find them a bit bland or not sweet enough. Despite this something urged me to pick up this skinny latte as a bit of an impulse. To make this all even more strange, I hate skimmed milk and would never order a skinny latte from an actual Starbucks store and so in all honesty, I tasted this drink with particularly low expectations.

This came in a 220ml bottle with a little straw and hole in the lid for convenience to drink on the go. On inspection of the bottle this drink contains lactose free milk and has no added sugar. This is therefore a great option for those who are lactose intolerant. It is also Fairtrade  and so ethically sound. I took a sip feeling pretty nervous and had to double check the packaging because this drink was soooooo sweet! Personally I absolutely loved it but still cant believe that it has no added sugar. I am not sure if the sweetness is from the lactose free milk or if there are just a load of added sweeteners but either way this is one tasty chilled latte. It still has that distinctive Starbucks coffee flavour but is particularly sweet and I am amazed that this is actually a lighter option. I would definitely recommend trying this if you like a sugary coffee drink and at only £1 its a lot cheaper that a fresh iced latte from  a Starbucks store. If you don't like your coffee sweet then you will probably hate this but I for one will be stocking up on these throughout summer and I am really glad that I gave this latte a try.

ASDA Seeded Multigrain Goats Cheese & Chargrilled Vegetable Pizza review

Goats cheese is probably my favourite type of cheese and I love seeing it as an option on pizza. This goats cheese and chargrilled pizza caught my eye in ASDA and I was particularly interested to see what the base would be like considering it's made from wholemeal flour sunflower seeds, millet seeds and linseeds. This is therefore probably a slightly healthier option than a typical pizza and this pizza is stonebaked for a traditional Italian style crust. The pizza was topped with roasted onions, mixed coloured peppers and courgettes as well as both the goats cheese and mozzarella.

I cooked the pizza in the oven and this was the result. It was slightly smaller than most frozen pizzas but it was still a good sized portion. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the portion of goats cheese but there were plenty of roasted veggies to make up for it. The flavour of the roasted vegetables was sweet and delicious and the peppers were particularly juicy. I really enjoyed the seeded base which was perfectly crispy around the sides if a little soft in the middle. The combination of mozzarella and goats cheese was tasty I just would have preferred a little more of both

I really did enjoy the overall result of this pizza and will definitely get it again. Its not the most indulgent of pizzas so if your after a real treat or something that feels a bit naughty then this probably isn't for you. If however you enjoy pizza, goats cheese and sweet roasted veggies and that pizza craving hits then I would recommend giving this a try. The fact that this pizza only costa £1.50 is even better so you don't really have a lot to loose.