Drink Me Skinny Chai Latte

Good news for dieters.... Drink Me Chai have launched a skinny version of their popular chai latte drink. It has reduced fat and reduced sugar - it's made with skimmed milk power, and has only 62 calories per cup. This spicy, refreshing tea is 99% caffeine free.

It's usually made with boiling water, but with the summer just around the corner, it could be worth noting a recipe for a delicious iced chai latte: just put 4 teaspoons of the latte power into a blender with 300ml of cold milk and ice. Blend for 20 seconds and hey presto. Delish! 

Available from Tesco at £2.00

Schweppes Sparkling Juice Drinks

Schweppes has just added three mouth-watering variants to its range. These are 'juice drinks', as they contain mostly water and a little bit of natural fruit juice. This means that they have been branded as low calorie options; they have just 20 calories per 100ml.

The exciting new flavours are Grapefruit & Blood Orange (what's up with Blood Orange??!!... see previous Tango Blood Orange post), Orange & Cranberry and Lemon & Elderflower. The presence of citrus flavours in all three drinks suggests that these have been intended as a refreshing summer beverage, perhaps served best with ice.

The 750ml bottles are available at £2.25 from Asda. I think the cans will be sold individually at convenience stores.

Popchips Tortillas

Popchips have branched out from their potato crisps to bring us.... tortilla crisps. Just like their potato crisps, they use the heat and pressure-popping method instead of frying, which means that these have half the fat of regular tortillas. However, with the tortillas, they start with stone-ground masa which is the same whole grain corn used to make traditional tortillas.
They have three flavours currently in their brand new line; Cool Ranch, Crazy Hot, and Nacho Cheese. The fact that these tortillas are already flavoured in such a Mexican way suggests that they are designed to be eaten on their own as a snack, rather than dipped in guacamole or sprinkled with cheese and grilled as many people would with plain tortillas. I guess that they're more healthy this way!

115g sharing bags available from Sainsbury's for £2.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chi Coconut Milk and Coconut Water

Chi is a newcomer to the current 'Dairy Free' boom. But they're entered the market in spectacular style with these snazzy 300ml cartons of Coconut Milk in two flavours: Chocolate and Espresso. They're each £1.69 in Asda.

Chi also do coconut water in 1L or 330ml cartons, also available from Asda. £1.69 for the 330ml, and £3. 49 for the 1L. Once again, the packaging is rather funky, so let's hope they introduce some funkier flavours... 100% pure water just doesn't excite me.

Nature Valley Protein Bars

It seems as if Nature Valley has taken note of the current trend for peanut and chocolate products and delivered a Peanut and Chocolate protein bar, along with a Roasted Peanuts with Pumpkin and Sunflower Seeds version. Protein bars are a new venture for Nature Valley in the UK, but these bars stay true to the Nature Valley cereal bars in that they are chewy and packed full of oats and honey. Rest assured though, they're still lower in sugar than most other adult cereal bars, with the added bonus of 15% of your daily protein needs.

140 cal per bar and £2.00 for a box of 5 at Tesco.

Mars split pot desserts

Mars, Twix and M&M mix split pots

Look what I spotted at Sainsbury's. I can't believe that they snuck under my radar! They're currently on introductory offer for 50p each.
The Mars one has caramel sauce to mix in with the yogurt, the M&M one has chocolate sauce to mix in, whilst the Twix has crunchy little balls of chocolate-covered biscuit.

Kids Drinks

Limited edition: Fruit Shoot Peach & Mango

Another limited edition product, and this time it's one for the kids. Fruit Shoot have introduced a new summery flavour to their range; Peach & Mango.
It's sugar free, with just 10 calories per 200ml bottle.
Available in packs of 4 for £1.89 from Tesco,




Tesco Strawberry, Banana and Blueberry Smoothie

Apple and orange juices with banana, strawberry and blueberry puree. This sounds delicious!

£1.80 for a pack of 4 180ml cartons.

Limited edition: Innocent Perfectly Pink

I love a 'limited  edition'! And this one is pink! What could be better??!

The pink hue comes from beetroot, and this ingredient is partnered with the sweet taste of pear along with crisper apple flavours. Let's hope this sticks around for a while!

Spotted in Sainsbury's, but available slightly cheaper in Asda - £2.78 per litre carton.

New products from Birds Eye

Lightly Dusted Cot Fillets

Britain loves battered fish, but recently there has been a trend towards lighter versions. So here' Birds Eye's offering; a lightly dusted cod fillet. In fact, 3 new lightly dusted cod fillets: Lemon & Black Pepper, Sea Salt and Rosemary and Garlic & Herb.
£3.00 for 2 fillets from Tesco.



Steamfresh Pasta

Following the  launch of the Steamfresh range in 2014, two new pasta variants are being added to the current offering: Garlic & Herb Penne Pasta and Pesto Vegetable Penne Pasta.  These new microwaveable bags are, apparently, chock full of crunchy veg (what about the pasta??!) designed to boost your 5-a-day consumption.

 

rrp. £1.79 per packet.

Wholegrain Fish Fingers

And to complete Birds Eye's health-kick:

£2.50 for 12 fingers from Tesco

Haribo new flavours

For a limited time, Haribo will welcome four new guests into its Super Mix bag – little Jelly Men in Cola, Blueberry, Cherry and Melon flavours, with consumers being invited to vote for their favourite flavour online. I'm really looking forward to trying the Blueberry and Melon!

They're currently becoming available in 160g bags until the end of May.

Water. H20. Aqua.

Volvic Juiced:  Sunny Orange and Lemonade

Volvic has launched two new flavours of its Juiced juicy water brand. Available in 50cl and 1l formats, Volvic Juiced’s new Sunny orange and lemonade flavours will join the existing flavours of orchard apple, strawberry and berry medley.
 

£1.15 for 1l at Sainsbury's or Waitrose

Perfectly Clear Orange

Perfectly Clear water already comes in Summer Fruits, Strawberry, Apple, Cherry, Blackcurrant and Lemon & Lime. So it was about time that an Orange variant was introduced.





Glacéau Vitaminwater Multi-v Zero
This new zero-calorie variant is a refreshing lemonade flavour, sweetened naturally from Stevia.

The zero calorie drink is available in 500ml bottles, RRP £1.45

One for the adults...

Bulmers Blood Orange Cider

Those of you who read yesterday's post about the new water products, or the post about the new Tango Blood Orange variant, will probably have realised that orange is a 2015 flavour trend. So no surprises that Bulmers has jumped on the bandwagon! It's launched the UK's first blood orange cider, which is their typically apple cider base with blood orange flavouring. £1.50 from Tesco for 568ml bottle.




Heineken has unveiled Desperados Red, a new tequila-flavoured beer with guarana and cachaça. Guarana is a plant in the maple family, and cachaça is a distilled spirit made from sugarcane. Apparently this combination makes for an intense and invigorating d

£4.99 for 3x330ml bottle from Tesco. 5.9% ABV.




Stella Artois Peach and Elderflower

Stella Artois has introduced two new flavours to its range: Peach and Elderflower. For those of you who fancy something deep and fruity, try the peach, which is combined with sprigs of lavendar for a balanced, rounded taste. The elderflower variant promises something a little lighter and more delicate. Bring on the summer!
Stella Artois Cidre Peach will be sold in single 500ml bottles alongside 330ml bottles in 4 and 8 pack formats. Stella Artois Cidre Elderflower will be sold in 500ml only.
The 500ml bottles are available in Tesco, currently at £1.50 each.





Pimm’s Strawberry with a Hint of Mint 

Pimm's have announced their seasonal limited edition flavour for Summer 2015. The new Pimm’s Strawberry with a Hint of Mint is the second addition to the Pimm’s flavours range after the launch of Blackberry and Elderflower in 2013.
The new flavour will be available next month, in both 70cl and 1L bottles. Apparently it will also be available in pre-mixed cans.




And speaking of pre-mixed cans...

Malibu Diet Coke

Malibu already has a line of 3 pre-mixed cans - Malibu Caribbean Rum with Coconut and a choice of Cola, Mango or Pineapple flavours. But those who are watching their waistline will be pleased to hear that they are bringing out a Diet Cole version this summer, so watch this space!

Cracker Skinny Juice

Guess what I've spotted....?

3 stonking flavours of 'Cracker Skinny Juice' new to the Tesco shelves; Blackcurrant & Blueberry, Pineapple, Coconut & Lime, and Pressed Lemonade. They're perfectly healthy as they're made with fruit, water and Stevia (a natural sweetener). That's it. Oh, and each flavour has no more than 30 calories per 100ml, so you can enjoy these rather original flavours guilt-free. Although you'll have to splash out £2.35 for a 1L bottle....

Starbucks Maple Macchiato

I thought that you foodies might appreciate knowing that Starbucks have just introduced a new Maple Macchiato. 
They say; "Layers of freshly steamed milk, sweet vanilla and our rich espresso. Topped with real Canadian maple". 
I say; "Yum!"

Review: Van Der Meulen Melba Thins

I spotted these in my local Tesco, and since they are new, I decided to get them instead of crisps as per usual (plus they looked a lot more healthy!)
Pictured here are the original, but I got the wholegrain ones. There are 10 individually-wrapped packets per box. Considering there are only 77 calories per packet,  I was pleasantly surprised to find 6 slices per packet. But... each slice is really quite small.

The box recommends eating them with cheese, pate, salmon or ham, cucumber, avocado or jam. But the individually wrapped packets lend themselves to popping them in your handbag and eating on the go, surely contradicting the cream/jam/avocado recommendation??! As I would with crisps, I took them to work and ate them plain, straight from the packet. I liked the crunch/snap that they had, but they weren't nearly as tasty as flavoured crisps. They were bland and tasted too much like eating plain wholemeal toast. Perhaps I will follow the recommendation and eat them with some cream cheese when I finish the remaining 9 packets! 

On the positive side, they were more filling than expected (they are pretty small really), but I won't be buying them again.



£1.29 for a box of 10 packets.

Wakey wakey!

Here are some of the latest breakfast products to get you out of bed in the morning!

Up & Go Breakfast drinks

Specially created for busy mornings, allegedly this drink provides all the benefits you would otherwise get from a bowl of cereal and milk - the protein, calcium and fibre. What's more, it's fortified with vitamins and minerals, for that added boost! It's a smooth drink, best served chilled, and ingredients include skimmed milk, oat flour and soy protein.

It's currently available in Tesco, in 3 flavours (Chocolate, Strawberry or Vanilla). £1.39 for 250ml carton. Approx. 175 calories each.



Nature's Store cereal

Here are a couple of newbies on the gluten-free shelf in Tesco.
The honey-flavoured puffed rice is £2.00 for 275g and the swiss chocolate muesli is £2.50 for 300g.




Rebel Kitchen Mylk

Everything about these new additions to the Tesco shelves is alternative. They are a dairy alternative (made with coconut milk instead), feature alternative flavours (chai, green tea are stocked alongside chocolate), and they even have novel packaging and spelling (mylk.... have you noticed?!!). Oh... and there's no added sugar; they're sweetened with nectar. Each flavour contains around 50cal per 100ml, in case you needed any more convincing.

£1.69 for a 330ml carton.

Twinings Chai Teas

Chai started in India, by infusing spices and tea leaves in milk. Across the country, villages, communities and families developed their own unique recipes, and so here's a few from the Twinings family, so take your pick.

Twinings Spicy Chai Tea Bag Envelopes
If you're after a simple chai tea, try this. It has underlying notes of a familiar tea, but with the added warmth and punch of cinnamon, clove and ginger. £2.50 for 20 teabags at Sainsbury's

Twinings Loose Leaf Pyramids:  Bollywood Chai Latte

What's Bollywood about tea, you might ask. Well, the flavours of traditional Indian spices and almond are paired with a full bodied Assam tea. Sweet, but not too sweet, this exotic and heady combination is Chai Latte as it should be. £3.50 for 12 teabags at Sainsbury's.

Twinings Loose Leaf Pyramids Velvety Vanilla Chai Latte

Vanilla Chai Latte is a classic, as the sweet vanilla mixes are likely to work well with the combination of spices. £3.50 for 12 teabags at Sainsbury's.

 

Review: Sainsbury's Mexican Bean Grain Pot

As promised, I eventually got around to trying out one of the new Grain Pots from Sainsbury's . I chose Mexican Bean variant. It contains bulgur wheat and couscous, together with dried red kidney beans in a chipotle sauce.

 

When I took off the lid, I was rather surprised by how empty the pot was, and by how small the Chipotle sauce packet was. Nevermind, I said to myself, thinking that when I added water, the grains would swell up massively and produce a nice filling meal. I was wrong. I added the prescribed amount of boiling water, and in fact waited longer than suggested (I had to run an errand or two!). However, the pot still barely half full:

 

 

I decided to tip the grains onto a plate and eat with a side salad. They are a good sauce of protein, and in fact rather filling. Also, the flavour was pleasant (and quite hot - it had a '2 chilli' heat rating!), and I was impressed by the amount of dried red kidney beans and sweetcorn that were provided.

Overall though, I don't think I'll be getting another one.

 

£1.00 from Sainsbury's. 283cal per pot.

Good news for gluten-free!

Geobar has extended its range with 4 new gluten-free bars!

There are 2 new 'Fruity' bars...

Cocoa and Beetroot -  raw fruit and nut wholefood bar, packed with Fairtrade dates, raisins, cashews and cocoa, all sourced from fair trade farmers.


Carrot & Stem Ginger -  Fairtrade dates, raisins, cashews and ground ginger, and contains almost 70% fruit.

These bars are available in boxes of three (£2.40) and count as one of your five a day. Both bars contain 112 calories.

And 2 new 'Trail' bars...

Cocoa Crunch is a raw fruit and oat wholefood energy bar made with Fairtrade dates, raisins and cocoa – with added protein from soya crispies.


Banana & Walnut is a raw fruit, nut and oat bar and is also crammed with Fairtrade dates and raisins, as well as Fairtrade bananas, walnuts and soya crispies.

These bars are a higher source of energy (approx. 150 calories) than traditional Geobars and are being sold singularly at 99p each.

The 4 new additions are available in some of the larger Tesco stores.