Love with Food is a monthly subscription program that not only packs a lot delicious samplings, but also a good bang for your buck. I subscribed around the start of January for the February box. It was a Spicy & Sweet theme and you get to see what I received! You can sign up at www.lovewithfood.com/shop. They even included a cute list of the 9 items they included, and 10 if you add the extra Nektar packet. I paid a little over $2.00 to try the products because they had a promotion but even at normal price, they really deliver a box full of goodies and deliver it to your door on a monthly basis. You can cancel at anytime and each box purchase, means a meal for the homeless! This company not only delivers on top notch customer service but better their community!
Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle Piglet from Hagensborg Chocolates (www.hagensborg.com) (Twitter: @TrufflePigBar):
I had never heard of the company but just one chocolate embedded the piggy image forever in my head and taste buds. The company uses a European method that just makes you go crazy. I like peanut butter but I'm not a lover of it like my husband but we divided the piggy in half (I got the part with cute little tail) and I became a lover of PB! The peanut butter filling was smooth but not dry and perfectly roasted. I could taste the peanut and against the milk chocolate, it was better than any peanut butter cup I have ever had. My only question was, "do they make it with dark chocolate?" I looked on-line and seriously should have not because they have other flavors and I'm hooked. I loved these piglets so much, I am hoping to pitch them in the future because Hagensborg Chocolates deserves an entire article on them!
Naturally Flavored Cranberries from Funny Face (www.funnyfacecranberries.com) (Twitter: @FunnyFaceCran):
I usually purchase my dried cranberries at Trader Joe's because Ocean Spray's Crazins are just too soaked in sugar anymore that I have noticed they came out with a "less sugar" version. Glad to know it was not just me. I received the "Freckle Face Strawberry". I opened the package and you could just smell strawberries and it smelled like the real stuff, not just the perfume they seem to add to strawberry flavored foods that smell better than they taste. The berries are large in size, plump but not a sticky mess. Their color is vibrant but I noticed their cranberry had more fruit to it than the wrinkly ones I have been buying. I noticed 50% less sugar, so I turned the package around and the ingredients are so simple. You have Cranberries, Soluble Corn Fiber, Evaporated Cane Juice, Citric Acid, Safflower Oil, and Natural Flavors.....that is all! You do taste the strawberries and these would make a great cookie, I'm thinking white chocolate with these cranberries or even a dark chocolate one! You know they are good when you wish you got more of a good thing.
Pico de Gallo Bean & Rice Chips from Beanfields (www.beanfieldssnacks.com) (Twitter: @BeanfieldsSnack):
I have walked by these bags at my local Sprout's and I'm a huge fan of the brand "Food Should Taste Good" chips. I wondered how they were and after having the PopChips nacho version, I was unsure because some were great and some flavors were not that hot! You have long grain rice, navy and pinto beans that really create an awesome crunch. I shy away from tomato based flavors because many are just over powdered with tomato powder that just tastes like dried condensed soup or worst, ketchup. I opened the bag and noticed an herb like smell and picked up Bell Peppers. Okay, this seems interesting now. I put a triangle in my mouth and the spices with the chips were outrageous but in a good way! Not over salty with a perfect balance of spice and again the ingredients are so simple. You even have a natural smoke flavor that I could have sworn was a roasted pepper, but wait I see green bell pepper powder in the ingredient list. They also have 4 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein, plus they are corn free. You have what goes into the actual Pico de Gallo and the black beans just add that extra "umph" that I never get from chips. These babies are crispy and do not create mush in your mouth like many of these multigrained chips I see hit the market. I will be buying these and not that they needed to be better, but Beanfield's is also verified by the NON GMO project. I wish I had found them sooner and they are a family owned company too!
Original Nuts from Bobbysue's Nuts (www.bobbysuesnuts.com) (Twitter: @bobbysuesnuts):
The blend is dry roasted almonds, cashews and pecans that when you read their motto, "delicious nuts with a mission", I raise my expectations. The ingredients are the nuts I mentioned above, sugar, egg whites, water, salt and spices. No corn syrup and they taste like someone made creme brulee nuts! The coating is light so it preserves the natural crunch you get from nuts and sweetness was perfect and delicate. I kept looking for honey or some form of caramel. They had a very light cinnamon flavor that complemented the sugars well and I hope Bobbysue's comes to a retailer near me soon but Amazon can fill that niche because I found them there. Every nut dollar goes towards building a shelter for the homeless animals so they not only respect what they make for us humans, but they look out for the furry kind too.
Tomato Basil Sipping Broth from Millie's Savory Teas (www.milliessavoryteas.com) (Twitter: @SavoryTeas):
I was excited so much that I missed that this sipping broth has green tea in the ingredients. I like to taste items as-is without looking what is in them so I don't go with an idea of what I should expect. My first bite, I want it to be going into it with almost unknown expectations and the second one I take after, I see what has what. I will say that when I put the tea bag in the cup, the smell was not appetizing. The product advertises itself as a savory alternative to coffee or tea. I think it missed being a savory good tasting broth and also a good tasting tea. The green tea and basil were overpowering and after the second sip, which was smaller than my first, I had to skip in having more because I just could not. The idea is sound to a degree and I even had it on a cold night but the blend was just off. It was so off putting that if someone said it was medicinal, then maybe you can force yourself in having it if it made you feel better!
Nektar Honey Crystals from Nektar Naturals (www.nektarnaturals.com) :
Powdered Honey.....you got me. I saw powdered Maple Sugar the other day and wondered how it would be and then my mind began to think of ways to use it! I received two packets and I'm a fan. I mixed the Nektar with powdered sugar and used it to sprinkle my Lemon Bars and, "oh my"! These little bees at Nektar have gold in their hands. No sticky mess and the product dissolves well that I have been using the rest for my teas. I even made a hot tea and later added ice and this should have reached my hands sooner! Ingredients are granulated honey (natural honey and sugar). Simple and I am thinking of making honey biscuits when I purchase this and even a ham glaze. Yeah, I started thinking again and lets say my imagination can really get creative at times :)
Milk Chocolate Caramel Truffle Piglet from Hagensborg Chocolates (www.hagensborg.com) (Twitter: @TrufflePigBar):
This little piggy can visit me again all it wants! The caramel filling made this one my second favorite and wonder if this piglet makes anything bad. With all natural ingredients and having one of the best milk chocolates out there, I so hope to see this piggy in my area again soon!
Chocolate Madeleine from Donsuemor (www.donsuemor.com) (Twitter: @Donsuemor):
I dislike package cookies or any baked good because they always are dry and taste like the package they came in. The ingredient's list makes you wonder why the cookie does not glow so I usually bake myself at home. I love Madeleine cookies because they are the in-between cookie and cake treat that I can enjoy in small portions and always so buttery. This one came in chocolate and I liked already that the hue was deep color, so I expected a good amount of chocolate. The shell shape always makes me smile so that alone on how this little cake was presented, it made me smile. I had bananas so I decided to add some sugar to them and caramelize it with a torch, to create a nice brulee top. I pop the cake out and notice it smells like real food and then came that chocolate wave. I also noticed the edge crumbled so it was not a dry sea foam like I expected. The company has been around since 1976, so you know they must be doing something right! They are! This is probably the only "packaged" cookie I will eat. I will always try different brands and varieties but rarely finish a package but if I had these, it would be a dangerous territory for me because they tasted so good. I looked on their website and they have scones and biscotti......I'm in love! If you served this Madeleine to me, I would not be the wiser it came from a package.
Jer's Squares (www.jers.com) (Twitter: @JersChocolates):
I saw Toffee Break and this is the first item I opened from the box. I use to eat Heath bars until they stop tasting like they use to. Jer's uses Valencia peanut butter as the center, mixed with buttery rich toffee bits and covered in dark chocolate. This bar is made for me! It has everything my husband and I like but someone crammed it together and created AWESOMENESS! I loved the crunch from the toffee but the buttery flavor is really there so it goes great with the peanut butter. I already buy Valencia peanut butter but I want the PB that Jer's has. It does not taste like what I have in the fridge. The dark chocolate cover is not waxy and has a great taste, no bitterness like you get with some dark chocolate coatings. I want more!
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