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? 

"Ah, a duet of pleasures." - Strawberry + Dark Chocolate Kit-Kat Bars

Strawberry Dark Chocolate Kit-Kat Bar

The Kit-Kat Duos have become a trio. First we had Dark Chocolate Mint, then Mocha Chocolate, and now Strawberry and Dark Chocolate. The first fruity addition to the line-up.  

If the other flavors are any indication, this is going to be a winner...but strawberry can be hit or miss with Kit-Kat. Will this taste authentic, like the other two? Or will it taste too fake? 

Chocolate? For Oreos? Groundbreaking. - Ultimate Chocolate Oreos

Triple Chocolate Oreos

Here we have the legit, Oreo-branded, limited edition Ultimate Chocolate cookie. I was going to skip this one, because it's just chocolate, how different from the normal, year-round, chocolate could it really be? But then I had a rough day at work and went to Walmart for cat litter and next thing I knew, my cart was full of junk-food. Oops. Then it ended up in the blog back-log pile with all my other cookies. So, was this worth buying and is it different than normal?

A Duet of Duos

Kit-Kat Duos: Mocha & Dark Chocolate and Mint  - Aldi

American Kit-Kats are finally getting a steady stream of creativity and innovation! 

Previously, all my fun Kit-Kat reviews came from flavors that were sold overseas, like wasabi or bakeable Sweet Potato, but in the last four years we've had a healthy amount of American flavors. Seasonal offerings, like pumpkin pie, red velvet, and raspberry, a few local-flavors (like California Strawberry), and now stand alone packs of Apple Pie, Birthday Cake, and these Duos. 

The mint Duo came out over a year ago, and I guess it was successful, because it's stuck around and now the line is expanding with this new mocha flavor. So, why not check both out and see what they have to offer? 

Who's House? Cool's Haus!

Coolhaus Chocolate Molten Cake Ice Cream  - Aldi

I cheated on Aldi's $1.99 pints of ice cream (which are AMAZING) to give this a try. Hopefully it'll be worth the extra pennies....

I Mint to Post This Earlier - Dark Chocolate Mint Fudge Stripes

Dark Chocolate Mint Fudge Stripe Cookies - Ollie's $1.29

Good o'l Ollie's. Where all limited edition food goes to die. 

If you're not familiar with Ollie's, it's a bargain shop that gets closeout goods and off-season products and sells them are lower price points. I was there buying last minute Christmas ornaments (because all I own are Halloween decorations) and couldn't resist picking up a few snacks.

If you search the blog you'll see that in all my years of blogging, I've never reviewed a Fudge Stripe cookie, and that isn't an oversight. I'm not a fan, but I love the combination of chocolate with mint, and I love a bargain, so maybe these will win me over? 

7 Different Dark Chocolate Aldi Chocolate Bars!

Choceur 70% Dark Chocolate Collection  - Aldi

Did you know that Aldi and Trader Joe's are related? YUP! They're sister companies owned by the same German family. For the most part, each store releases their own items catering to different niche markets and trending flavors, but once in a while both stores will release the same product, with different packaging and price points. (Like these pumpkin scone cookies I compared and reviewed.)

Years ago, I picked up THIS beautiful dark chocolate passport gift item from Trader Joe's, and I completely lost it over the gorgeous packaging. Flash forward to now, when I see Aldi trying to release their own dark chocolate themed gift pack for the holidays. It's no-where near as cute as the Trader Joe's one, but this has something the Trader Joe's version lacked. Variety.

The Trader Joe's bars were all dark chocolates from various locations around the world, but they were just dark chocolate. No toppings, not mix ins, no nothing. They were pretty, but by the third bar I was bored and my palette was exhausted. I don't think I ever finished reviewing the box set, mainly because...my tongue just didn't care. I was craving some flavor, and (hopefully) Aldi will deliver.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes - Walmart

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes - Walmart $2.97

Even though Christmas feels like it was just yesterday, the world keeps on spinning, and stores have already moved on to Valentine's Day and Easter. Seriously, Easter. There are already pastel and Easter Bunny shaped sweets on the shelves as I huddle here clutching a cup of tea in my blanket cocoon for warmth.

While I was out taking advantage of Christmas stuff being 50-75% off (or more), I picked up a few of the more interesting Valentine's Day sweets to review. FYI, you guys should really shop clearance Christmas stuff. It's a great way to get holiday placemats, napkins, dishware, decor and non-edible stocking stuffers for next year dirt cheap. It pays to plan ahead!

Okay, enough frugality, let's munch on some cupcakes!

OREO Chocolat Rich 70% Cacao #TBT

OREO Chocolat Rich 70% Cacao - Gift (I think) #tbt

You might have seen this little box in my celebratory National Junkfood Day haul. It's been in my stash for quite a while and I can't really remember where I got it. I'm 98% sure it was part of our Candyology 101 gifts from The Impulsive Buy when he sent us our little plaques, but I can't truly remember. (Food hoarder problems, am I right?) 
My haul photos showed only HALF of my food hoard and it really lit a fire under my butt to knock out these reviews a lot faster, so here we are! Let's eat some fancy dark chocolate Oreos!

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.) 

Meiji Marble Chocolate - Asian Food Market

Meiji Marble Chocolate - Asian Food Market

Meiji Marble, in a box? If you're unfamiliar with Meiji products, their candies are often sold in long skinny cardboard tubes with a matching cardboard cap. The only time I've ever seen Meiji Marble in a box, and not their signature tube, is when it's part of a mini-sampler, or a special flavor mix, but this looks pretty normal to me. I can't read much of the packaging, but from what I can see...this looks like normal marble chocolate. I guess we'll open it up and find out.

Dark Chocolate Honey Mints - Trader Joe's

Dark Chocolate Honey Mints - Trader Joe's

More stuff leftover from my Trader Joe's podcast haul? Yup, but I'm 99% sure this is the very last item! (Okay, maybe I'm only 75% sure, but that's because I didn't feel like digging through my giant food hoarding pile to double check.)

It took me a few months to get here, but you know what? Pretty much every product I reviewed was a winner, so it was totally worth it. These mints combine three of my favorite things, so I figured this should be a really good note to end on. (But you never know!)

Dark Chocolate Mints - Trader Joe's

Dark Chocolate Mints - Trader Joe's

Remember how I said I went overboard buying stuff for the Trader Joe's podcast for Candyology 101? Well, I think I finally made my way through that stash! It took months...but I did it! (Small victories, right?) Back when we recorded I bought these mints for the first time, and I absolutely loved them, and I even talked about them on the show. I meant to review them but...I ate them all. So I bought another bag to review. Then promptly ate that entire bag as well. So here we are, I don't even know how many bags later, but I'm finally able to review them for you guys to spread the word about how awesome these mints are. (What can I say, I have no self control.)

Uncured Bacon Ganache Bar - Trader Joe's

Uncured Bacon Ganache Bar - Trader Joe's

Here's another Trader Joe's chocolate bar that was good enough to revisit. Instead of a popping candy gimmick, this time we have a bar that's filled with bacon ganache! Because everything is better with bacon, right?

Fireworks Chocolate Bar - Trader Joe's

Fireworks Chocolate Bar - Trader Joe's 

For the record, I hate Katy Perry, but I love JonTron, so here's your obligatory Fireworks reference. Now that we've got that out of the way...

The first time I grabbed this chocolate bar was back when we were recording our Trader Joe's themed episode of Candyology 101 with the awesome foodies from What's Good at Trader Joe's. I did a lot of "homework" for that episode, which meant buying a TON of Trader Joe's sweets to eat and discuss, but I may have gone a little overboard... I bought way too much and I needed to consume it faster than I could blog about it! Some of those candies were good enough to warrant repurchase and their own write-ups, so I grabbed this today because it seems oh-so appropriate for the upcoming Valentine's Day season. (Dammit, now I have Firework stuck in my head. At least Jon does it better.)

Blueberry Quinoa BarkThins - Target

Blueberry Quinoa BarkThins - Target 

Is quinoa still healthy if it's coated in chocolate? No? Well this is dark chocolate, and there's blueberries in there too, so I'm going to call this health food anyway. Plus it was on the clearance rack, so I saved money on it to boot! Win-win!

Whenever I'm at Target I look at the clearance grocery section because...I'm cheap! (Hey, don't judge! I'm a daily food blogger with a full time job, a delicate injury-prone Pomeranian, and a smashed car to deal with. I gotta pinch those pennies!) That little clearance shelf is home to all kinds of unique goodies, I got those avocado oil chips, that amazing India-style meal kit, and a few pumpkin spiced items. Every single one of those products were great, and I got them for less than their original price. So just because it's on clearance, doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. Let's see if this is another successful clearance rack venture!

Hot Cocoa m&m's - Walmart (Exclusive)

Hot Cocoa m&m's - Walmart (Exclusive) 

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2016 is off to an amazing start! Sorry for the hiatus, if you follow my Twitter (that I'm trying to use more) you'll know that my car was involved in an accident right before the holidays and that my life has been pretty hectic getting all of that straightened out. I was able to buy a new used car a few days later to get back to work, and the second I got back into my old routine...I got sick. Really sick. My voice sounds oh so sexy right now, but I'm not going to let that stop me! The show blog must go on!

These Hot Cocoa m&m's were a Walmart exclusive, and they were the seasonal counterpart to the Target Exclusive Café Mocha m&m's. (Which I was a big fan of and reviewed HERE.) I was originally going to skip this seasonal sweet because, well...I thought it was a gimmick and nothing more. I mean, m&m's are already chocolate flavored, and hot cocoa is just a drinkable milk chocolate, so how are these going to taste any different than the normal candy? After talking to Cybele and seeing The Impulsive Buy's photos showing the layered candy inside, my curiosity got the best of me, and I grabbed a bag for myself.

Assorted Moser Roth Chocolates - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Assorted Moser Roth Chocolates - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Today has been one of those days. I woke up realizing I accidentally left two of my car windows partially down during the huge storm last night (passenger side thank goodness), I fell down the stairs while carrying my laundry to the basement, and to top things off, I sliced my right pointer finger open while trying to fix my noisy CPU fan. If there was ever a day to eat chocolate, it's this one.

I had a few different chocolate bars from Aldi's fancier line leftover from our Store Brand Chocolate Candyology101 podcast, so it's time to cram my face with candy and forget today ever happened.

Seattle Chocolates Dark Salt Caramels - Target: Marlton, NJ

Seattle Chocolates Dark Salt Caramels - Target: Marlton, NJ

It's not Valentine's Day until I review something that comes in a heart shaped box. Actually, Valentine's Day isn't until Saturday, but I have something special planned for that day's post, and this week is pretty much Valentine's themed on Sometimes Foodie, so let's just go with it.

I finally have something new to review! Well, not really "new", but new to me. I've never had this brand before, and out of all the heart shaped boxes in the aisle, this is the one that appealed to me the most. (And yes, I am going to add that link everytime I type "heart shaped box.")

Okay, on to the review!

Ghirardelli Strawberry filled Dark Chocolate Squares - Target: Marlton, NJ

Ghirardelli Strawberry filled Dark Chocolate Squares - Target: Marlton, NJ

As Cybele and I said in our podcast, there aren't too many candies that are exclusively available during the month of February. A lot of the candy companies are lazy, and their products fall into two categories, either they are wrapped in holiday-themed packaging, or they are now heart shaped. That's pretty much it. Reeses? Heart-shaped. Hershey's? Valentine's Day themed packaging for all products, Wonka Gobstoppers? Now heart-shaped. Sure, everything looks special for the holidays, but it's the same ol' candy you can buy year round. Thankfully, Ghirardelli has a little something different. (Although it honestly isn't that drastic a change.)