Starting the week with a handful of coffee - Espresso m&m's

Coffee and chocolate go together like peanut butter and jelly. The combination is a no-brainer, which must be why m&m's keeps revisiting it. 

We've had: 

• Pumpkin Spice latte m&m's - review
• Coffee Nut m&m's
• Crunchy Espresso m&m's - review
• Café Mocha m&m's - review
• Caramel Cold Brew m&m's 

And now these. What makes these any different from it's predecessors? 

Visions of Sugar Plums danced down my drain...

Continuing the trend of  knocking out seasonal stuff before it gets too late, I have this wintery kombucha I picked up at Lidl. 

I used to grab kombucha at Aldi, they had an in-house line with three main flavors and the Cherry Cassis was my favorite, but they've been MIA for a few years now. Thankfully Lidl keeps the kombucha coming. They have in-house brands, name brands, and rotating seasonal flavors. I could have sworn I had already tried this one, but it is no where to be found on the blog, so, here we go! 

Gingerbread Kit-Kats - Quickie Review

While I work on my destash video, let's keep the posts a' coming. 

Today I have a quickie, Gingerbread Kit-Kats. 

Cookie-bucha - Health-ade Holiday Cheers

Happy Almost New Year! I'm back! 

After my last post, I tested positive for COVID, and the symptoms hit me hard and fast. Much worse than when I had it before. Luckily, I had bought my cats a heating pad on Black Friday, because it came in clutch for the body aches. By day three, I lost my sense of smell and taste. (Which took all the fun out of my scented candle advent calendar.) 

It took five days for my sense of smell to return, but it was pretty weak, and my taste was definitely off. Garlic, something I cook with and eat all the time, tasted unnaturally sweet, almost like a caramel. And in every form! I tried powdered seasoning, fresh garlic, and some garlic infused olive oil just to make sure something didn't expire on me, but it was me. ("I'm the problem, it's me.") It took two and a half weeks for my body to bounce back.

So, I'm here to celebrate with some seasonal kombucha! 

When I spotted this, the gold and white made me think this was a New Years' item. So, I assumed this was like, champagne-themed or something. But, if I had bothered to read the label, this is vanilla, allspice, and cacao flavored? So, cookies? Cookie-bucha? I don't know about that...

Sweet & Salty Clusters...of lies!

Chocolate covered potato chips are sweet and salty, with the added bonus of a crispy texture, what's not to love? 

Well, unlike most consumers, I have been spoiled. Aunt Charlottes, a confectionary located in Merchantville, NJ, makes the best chocolate covered potato chips of all time. 

It's true! I have tried big-brand chocolate potato chip products, and even made some attempts at my own, but none of them compare to Aunt Charlotte's. 

The chocolate used for their chips is incredibly smooth and sweet, more like European style chocolate than when we're used to in the states, and the flavor blows brands like Hershey's out of the water. (Which is basically chocolate flavored wax at this point.) Their good-quality chocolate has a lovely mouth-feel, and somehow, even after dipping, the chip stays crisp and crunchy. It is the best of the best....that said, how do these "clusters" compare? 

Have Candy Cane Oreos been dethroned by Doodles?

Snickerdoodle is having a moment right now. We have these Oreos, a limited edition Pop-Tart, and a those new Little Debbie's Snack cake. 

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but Snickerdoodles are just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon, right? (It's how I've always made them.) If true, are these items just cinnamon flavored?

I guess we'll find out. 

Clearance Cookie Candy - Sugar Cookie m&m's

I pride myself on pretty good foodie-judgement, and I hate wasting money. If I think something sounds gross, or hyped, or scammy, I'll just skip it.

Like Swedish Fish Oreos. 

I like Swedish Fish, I like Oreos, I even like chocolate covered Swedish Fish, but when Oreo released a Swedish Fish flavor I skipped it. Knowing how they executed fruity flavors in the past...I just didn't think it would be a good time. Meanwhile other people bought them and tore them to shreds. Which is fun, because making jokes gets views, but sometimes I just rather not feed into the gross food-waste machine. Unless they go on sale. 

If these were full price, I never would have bothered with them, but post-holiday clearance? I'll allow myself a dud or two. So, sugar cookie m&m's: actually worth snacking on? Or just hyped up crispy-m&m gimmick? 

Still In The Festive Spirit? - Merry Mash-Up Mtn Dew

Merry Mash-Up Mtn Dew - Walmart

Can we take a moment to appreciate Mtn Dew, their marketing team, and their limited edition products? 

2020 Cookie Tray and Recipes

2020 Cookie Trays

For nearly a decade, I have hosted a holiday cookie swap, and every year was themed around a movie title. Like year three was Return of the Crumb (LOTR: Return of the King), or The New Batch (Gremlins 2: The New Batch), but due to...everything, that didn't get to happen this year and I'm pretty bummed out about it. As someone who is usually a Grinch during the holidays, I am having an extra hard time getting into a happy festive mood this year, but one things that helps is baking. I didn't put up a tree, or decorate the house, but I did bake a butt-load of cookies. (And fudge!) 

So here's everything I made, links to all the recipes, and what I think about it or would change next time.

Limited Edition Stars and Stripes Cranberry Ginger Ale -

Cranberry Ginger Ale - Dollar Tree

I was at Dollar Tree grabbing holiday giftbags, (because if you're paying more than a dollar for a giftbag, you're insane,), and I spotted giant bottles of soda. They're like 2.5 Liters and only a dollar, so you know it's not the best quality, but they'll do in a pinch when you're having cheap at-home birthday party in the 90's. Anyway, I was going to walk right by them, when I noticed a limited edition flavor.

Since when has that been a thing? I was intrigued, and it was only a dollar, so let's see if it's any good! (At the very least it should make for a fun season-appropriate post.)

Sugar Cookie Shakedown - Hershey Sugar Cookie Kisses

Hershey's Sugar Cookie Kisses - CVS

I don't get the appeal of all this "Sugar cookie" flavored stuff. With a few exceptions, like Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch or Sugar Cookie Pop-Tarts, I think most sugar cookie products are a sham. Especially when it comes to chocolates and candy bars. Brands just make a vanilla version of their product, throw some colorful sprinkles on it, and call it a day. 

Will these Kisses be the exception to the rule? 

Christmas in July #TBT - Benton's Egg Nog & Hot Cocoa Cookies

Benton's Egg Nog & Hot Cocoa Cookies - Aldi, #TBT

I said I'm sorry, santa!
I never meant to hurt you,
I never meant to make you cry,
but tonight,
I'm cleaning out my pantry.

As most of you know, I recently moved, and during the packing process I found a TON of old food I never got around to. Being the frugal foodie *cough**cough* HOARDER *cough* you all know I am, I figured I'd enjoy a bit of Christmas in July for today's #throwbackthursday, before I end up shoving these in a cabinet and forget they exist. (Again.)

QUICKIE: Holiday Sugar Cookie Cracker Jack

Holiday Sugar Cookie Cracker Jack - Walmart (.49 cents!)

Even though Christmas has come and gone, I'm a sucker for a bargain foodie find. I spotted these in the 2 for a dollar snack bin at Walmart, so instead of committing to a BIG bag of something that will likely sit around in my snacking cabinet for ages, I can snack on this itty bitty bag instead for a quick and easy quick one-and-done review.

Pigs N' Taters Chocolate Bar by Hammond's

Pigs N' Taters Bar - Target

There were a bunch of Hammond's bars in the Christmas section at Target and they just so happened to have a sale on buying three bars, and since I only had 2 stockings to fill this year, I treated myself to a little something sweet. And savory.

That's right! Not just a bacon and chocolate bar, but a bacon, chocolate and POTATO CHIP bar! And with a name like "Pigs N' Taters," how could I resist?

Racine Dutch Almond Kringle - Aldi

Racine Dutch Kringles (Almond) - Aldi $4.99

It's a Christmas Mira-kringle! (Boo!)

What's a Kringle? Well, it's a large halo-shaped pastry made with layered dough and various fillings and toppings. They're the official state pastry of Wisconsin, they have Danish roots, and here on the East Coast, seasonal Kringle offerings are often sold at Trader Joe's. When Trader Joe's does get a shipment of Kringles in, they never last long. People go crazy for these things!

A while back I reviewed the seasonal Pumpkin Caramel Kringle from O&H Danish Bakery, but before that I tried the O&H Almond Kringle (my first ever Kringle) and it was the absolute BEST! Since it's the holidays and they're in HIGH demand, it's hard to get my hands on one from Trader Joe's, so I decided to try this version from Aldi instead. Will Racine Danish Kringles taste as good as O&H? We shall see!

Chocolate Meringue & Almond Creme Cookies - Aldi

Specially Selected Cookies (Chocolate Meringue & Almond Creme) - Aldi

Three Aldi reviews in a row? Repetitive, I know, but I'm about to buy a house, so the food blog budget is tight! I swear I have something non-Aldi lined up next, but be prepared to see a lot more budget food in the following months as I hopefully finish the home buying process and get settled.

Winter is right around the corner here in New Jersey, and that means it's cookie season!
I just wrapped up my 6th annual cookie swap, and even through my kitchen is filled to the brim with homemade cookies, I just couldn't resist some fancy Specially Selected seasonal offerings.

Choceur Peppermint Meltaways - Aldi

Choceur Peppermint Meltaways - Aldi

Bah, Humbug. I may be a Scrooge-y old Grinch when it comes to the winter holidays, but even I can't resist the allure of yummy chocolate mints.

I picked these up on a recent trip to Aldi and thought it'd be a good idea to hurry up and review them while they're relevant, plus once photographed, I can share them at my annual cookie swap. This is my 6th year hosting a swap, and each time I model the party's theme after a movie franchise with that year's number of sequels. This year?

I went with the cinematic classic, Leprechaun 6: Back 2 tha Hood. I'm a big fan of bad horror franchises like Leprechaun, Puppet Master and Demonic Toys, so it's my way of working a little Halloween into the Holiday spirit.

Honestly, I'm starting to run out of ideas, so if any of you have some fun bad movie theme suggestions for next year, be sure to leave them down below. If I can't think of something I might just have to "reboot" next year's theme.

Okay, enough about future party planning, time to stuff my face with some chocolate!

Wild Ophelia Chocolate Bars (TBT Holiday 2016) - Target

Wild Ophelia Chocolate Bars (Holiday 2016) - Target

Oh, Ophelia, you've been on my mind girl since the holidays.

Christmas goodies went on clearance back in January and I took advantage of some awesome sales to stock up on these Wild Ophelia chocolate bars. I'm no stranger to this brand, back in 2013 I reviewed two flavors, and I really enjoyed them but, due to food blogging, I rarely find the time to repurchase products for my own consumption. Even if I really like them. Since 2013 this company has made quite a few changes, so I'm happy for this excuse to revisit them and see what they've been up to. (Plus they were on clearance, which is always awesome.) 

Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints - Target? (I think...)

Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints - Target? (I think...)

One more day until the weekend. Just one more day. We can do this...I can do this.

It's been another really intense week with my day job and side-work, for a closer look at all the stuff I do besides food blogging check out my personal/art blog HERE, but for now, let's dig into my giant food-stash for a minty, Christmas-y, #tbt review!

Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch - Target (TBT)

Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch - Target 

Originally I wasn't going to check this cereal out, because I figured it was just Cinnamon Toast Crunch without the cinnamon, but my fellow foodies over at Junk Banter gave it a glowing review, and we tend to have similar tastes, so I decided to check it out before this seasonal treat disappeared. Then I let it sit in my to-be-reviewed pile for a few months, but now it's finally time to see what all the fuss is about.