Panda Cherry Licorice

Panda Cherry Licorice

Made from all natural ingredients Finland have produced some very tasty cherry licorice, the flavours are full and mouthwatering to which I am very impressed.

In my opinion Panda Cherry Licorice has some good and bad points which I will try to explain to you.

The good points are that the excellent cherry flavour is totally mouthwatering and makes you want more! Panda Cherry Licorice is fat free, contains no artificial preservatives, artificial colours and flavours and that they are suitable for vegetarians and vegans (plus they are kosher certified which is a bonus).

The bad are that although they state 'fat free' and 'no hydrogenated fats' don't be fooled each 200g bag still contains over 600kcals ... so don't eat the whole bag in one go!

My main disappointment is that yes the licorice is 'soft eating' but I found the texture 'too' soft, maybe this is how people like their soft licorice?? but I found that when I tried to chew each sweet it just fell apart into strands, got stuck in my teeth and generally floated around my mouth not really doing much.

I found that the only "Ooomph!" came from the sweet cherry flavour and not from the actual experience of eating the licorice pieces.

Panda are a top product and you can tell that they are expertly made, the information on the packet is in depth and relevant to the brand.


Everyone is different and prefers different textures, so if you like soft licorice try Panda Cherry Licorice as it is scrummy :) I am sure you will have a great cherry taste sensation.

Creatures Toddlers Hand Foam Wash

Creatures Toddler's Hand Foam Wash

Firstly do not do what I did .... I didn't read the instructions! This foam wash is meant to be rubbed onto dirty hands, then washed off - it isn't the rub it in and you are sanitised kind of wash, its real soap.

I suppose you can all now guess who pumped some lovely creamy Creatures Toddler's Hand Foam Wash onto her hands, rubbed it round while ooohing "Its just like luxury shaving cream!" then crying out "Uurgghh its all sticky!". Only after washing it off and cursing about the foam did I decide to read the instructions (clearly printed on the back of the bottle I might add) that states: Dispense foam onto hands, lather and RINSE with water.

Well I can't be perfect all the time .... but at least I have lovely clean and lightly fragranced hands.

Creatures products are free from nasty chemicals, they are paediatrician tested and hypo-allergenic. They contain natural ingredients and leave out nasty products such as fragrance and colourings.... the company are against animal testing and even the packaging is recyclable!

My favourite bit (apart from the products excellent cleaning ability) is the pictures of the animals of the label and mini product catalogue ... giraffe, zebra and an elephant, expertly drawn so that they look real and ultra cute :) they were created for Creatures by children's book author John Butler who is famous for his animal pictures.

All Creatures products are made in the UK and the company actively supports Cotlands, a children's charity.

Check out their full range at: www.worldofcreatures.com

Wikio Shopping Price Comparison

The first thing I noticed about Wikio Shopping is the clean light colours of the background and text.  The blue is very pleasant, giving the site an instant calming effect, there is no glare and the main front page is well laid out with a clear and consise contents table.

I decided to test their claims of being able to completely research a product with photos, customer reviews, price comparisons and even promotional codes if any are available.  Usually I have to wander around the web when buying something new so to have all the information in one place will save me a lot of time.

 The Iphone has had a lot of advertising since it was launched but different places tell different views on the product plus they all have different prices!  I typed 'Iphone' into the search box and started a search,

Almost instantly my results appeared.  First up came Iphone assessories but as I scrolled through from page to page I found some good prices and reviews from shops and stores in the UK (some online and some highstreet) that I know and trust.  I was impressed as some comparison sites give you results from unknown websites in other countries that you are unsure if you can trust with your credit card info ... no worries with Wikio Shopping as I was familiar with all sites listed.

 I was interested in the reviews and user opinions the most and so clicked to read what they had to say.  I find 'real people comments' far more interesting than companies who are trying to sell the product - if it doesn't work then someone somewhere will tell me from their own experiances.

There were a lot of reviews, some where interesting but others not - I would suggest that they have some kind of monitoring system to delete irrelevent reviews in the future, but overall the reviews were full of the user information that I was hoping for.

Deciding to possibly purchase the product I scrolled down to the 'Sellers' list, being on the same page was helpful as it saved clicking back and forth. 

Amazon, Ebay and Apple came up in the listing, each gave a direct link to the product and a range of prices including shipping costs.   This was also very helpful as sometimes when you get to the 'postage' page you get a bit of a shock!

I am impressed with Wikio Shopping Price Comparison, the information is laid out clearly and is easy enough for anyone to use regardless of computer experiance.

Currently Wikio Shopping is operating in 5 European Countries as well as the US, it offers products and reviews for more than 3500 vendors. Wikio also offers a cashback service to its users, called Wikio Deals.

 A few Wikio Shopping statistics:

 

- more than 235,000 products, sorted into more than 220 categories. 

- almost one million product tests/reviews/subject forums concerning products

- more than 600,000 photos, and 475,000 videos!

- hundreds of thousands of offers within 9 main categories/themes

- all cultural (art, music etc.)  products via Amazon, and hotels in 6000 cities all over the world via Sprice

- about 400 new products are added per day

- more than 1000 new reviews, product tests and forums added per day

 

With statistics like that I would think that a lot of people will add this site as their homepage - its a site topped to the brim with information, a shoppers paradise!!

This is a  Sponsored Post of which I have personally visited and reviewed the site in question.  My views and opinions are my own.

Respect Organics Cakes

Respect Organics

Organic Cakes

Chocolate Cake

"Mmmmmm cakeeeee!" I drooled as I opened the box, inside the cake was wrapped in a plastic bag to retain freshness plus it had a cardboard ring to keep the cake in tip-top shape.



Made with the finest organic ingredients (supported by the Soil Association for Organic Standards) the cake was moist, chocolately, springy .. basically everything you would want from a chocolate cake.

The topping was like chocolate fudge cake topping, nice and thick, very gooey and suited the consistency of the cake. It wasn't too sweet either which was nice as sometimes the topping can spoil a good sponge cake.

Nutrition (typical values per 100g)
Energy 372kcal -1560kJ
Protein 4.4g
Carbohydrates 47.6gof which sugars 30.6g
Fat 18.9gof which saturates 4.2g
Fibre 0.6g
Sodium 0.2g

Carrot Cake

The packaging for the carrot cake was the same as the chocolate. The cake had survived transit and was very fresh.

Again the consistency was moist and full filling, you could taste the carrot which is brilliant as some carrot cakes grind up the carrot so much it is non-existent. Knowing also that the carrots were organic meant I could eat lots and lots of the cake without feeling guilty about my diet (OK I know that's wrong but I can kid myself). You can also taste spices like orange and cinnamon as an aftertaste which made the cake truly satisfying.

The topping was sweet yet sour like a proper carrot cake topping should be, I found it to be thicker on one side than the other .. but this could have happened in transit.

The carrot cake is also Dairy Free as the margarine contains non-hydrogenated vegetable oils {Sunflower Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Stearin, Palm Kernel Oil} all of which are organic.

Nutrition (typical values per 100g)
Energy 399kcal - 1676kJ
Protein 3.0g
Carbohydrates 47.8g of which sugars 32.7g
Fat 22.5gof which saturates 4.7g
Fibre 1.5g
Sodium 0.3g

Organic Banana Loaf Cake

With 20% banana's you can expect this cake to be bananary (is that a word?). As a loaf it hit the mark you can eat it like a cake or as a dessert with custard.

Again it is dairy free so people with dairy intolerance's can enjoy this cake without worries.

Nutrition (typical values per 100g) Energy 391kcal - 1641kJ
Protein 3.9g
Carbohydrate 48.6g of which sugars 28.5g
Fat 21g
of which saturates 2.7g
Fibre 1.5g
Sodium 0.3g

Organic Ginger Crush Loaf Cake

Just like the Banana cake you can eat this on its own or as part of a dessert. Packed with ginger it was tasty and filling, the consistency is moist but with a bit of a crumble (so its not chewy) ... great with a nice cup of tea.

Nutrition (typical values per 100g)Energy 1707kJ - 408kcal
Protein 4.5g
Carbohydrate 47.2g
Fat 23.6g
Fibre 1.0g
Sodium 0.1g

Dairy Free and very tasty, not like some other 'dairy free' ranges. My husband doesn't know that the cake is dairy free and he hasn't said a word ... so you can tell that there is no difference in taste quality.

Respect Organic Cakes are available from: Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons although please be aware that not all stores stock all variants.

Email: info@respectorganics.com for more information.

Harry's Nuts!

Harry's Nuts!

Harry Hill the legendary comedian from ITV has created a brand of Fairtrade nuts.

Harry's Nuts are working with Choose Liberation (Liberation Foods) to promote the sale of Fairtrade products, all the farmers who produce the nuts in Harry's Nuts have been paid more for their crops than what 'other' nut companies pay .. this gives the farmers more money for their villages, families, children, education etc... and works towards saving them from a life of poverty.



Harry Hill does not make any money from Harry's Nuts! He has lent his name and support to the cause as he feels strongly about Fairtrade.

Harry's Nuts! are salted peanuts and salted cashews, I have tried the salted cashews and they are scrummy. Very moreish, be careful as it is easy to eat the whole packet ... however do not tip the bits at the bottom into your mouth as you will get a mouthful of salt!!! Its not nice.

Typical values for the salted cashews per pack are: 183kcal, 6.2g protein, 15.3g Fat ... so pretty high. Good for a snack, but don't live on them.

Visit Harry's You Tube page to watch Harry’s video from his trip to Malawi with Liberation http://www.youtube.com/liberationfoods

Harry's Nuts! are available in Sainsbury's and Waitrose stores and smaller outlets.

For more information on Fairtrade please visit www.fairtrade.org.uk

Waking Beauty - Julie Parrish

Waking Beauty is a modern day fairytale, I was a bit dubious at first as the blurb made the book sound a little 'twisted', but as it is a book based on the 'tweenage' market I understood the reasons behind the description.

From the first page I was gripped! The book is written for young girls, the plot, characters and speed of how the story develops are spot on. Princess Anna is 'Sleeping Beauty' and falls asleep for a hundred years, only to be woken by her 'prince' in modern day times. The book tells us of how she copes with modern day technology and how her family fit in with modern times. The main plot still keeps with the fairytale life with hidden fairies and witches.

The amount of content the author has introduced to Anna's life is amazing, everything from designer clothing, mobile phones, our obsession with the Internet (MyFace and SpaceBook!) and how young kids of today speak. Each change to Anna's life is described and has meaning to your own life.

The way the book is laid out is different to how I normally expect novels to be, there are no distinct chapters which is great as I hate it when you read down the list of chapter titles and they kind of ruin the storyline as you can guess what is going to happen ... in this book the author has sectioned each part by fancy dotted lines.

The sectioning is great if like me you don't have much time to read. I could pick up and put down the book as and when I liked as I didn't feel the need to read to the next chapter. This is also a great introduction to reading for younger girls (for example my daughter who is 9) as she reads small chunks at a time.

The characters are friends from the start, you feel like you know them and their surrounding from the amazing descriptive text the author has used. You can picture Anna's house and bedroom, what the characters look like (without using the front cover as a guide), the school they all attend etc....

I laughed out loud at some parts and got really worried for them during others - but at no point was the book scary or 'sexy' which was great. The author has catered for a range of hormones with the storyline, she has captured the lust and love of the characters without having to put naughty bits in, think High School Musical for the level of passion ... a kiss says a lot, books don't always need 'hanky panky' to create an effect.

I was impressed, this is Julie Parrish's first novel and it is brilliant. Not too long, not too short. Loads of content and a plot to keep you gripped. I hope Julie continues to write as a follow-up to Anna's story could be a winner - this could be the new Princess Diaries with an evil twist.

Available in all good bookshops and on-line
PUBLISHED by Matador 5 April 2010£6.99ISBN 9781848762879
Distributor: _Orca Book Services.
Tel: 01202 665432. Email: orders@orcabookservices.co.uk
BIC subject category: YFM – Romance & relationships stories (Children's/YA)
Paperback 264 PP 216 x 140 mm
Portrait www.troubador.co.uk

5alive Apple - Five Fruit Blend

5alive Apple - Five Fruit Blend

5alive has brought out a new flavour to add to their popular Five Fruit Blend range ... Apple.

The Five Fruit Blend range consists of Berry, Citrus and Tropical, so Apple was the next natural choice. The range has been shot into the limelight by an advert featuring a quirky dancing Dodo, the Dodo has since gained Facebook fans and is one of the most memorable adverts on TV.

5alive Five Fruit Blend isn't just 'apple juice', it contains a blend of apple 30% blended with grapes, pears, kiwi fruits and lemon.

Imagine biting into a crisp green apple, it tastes slightly like apple with a watery refreshing crunch ... that's what the juice tastes like. Its not strong like an 'apple juice' its more crisp, with an apple aftertaste.

Its very hard to describe the juice as it took me by surprise. I expected it to be boring old apple juice, then was taken back when at first it didn't taste like apple ... very pleasant and easy to drink.

I haven't tried the other varieties and so I cannot comment on their flavours, however I am impressed with the Apple variety.

Health wise the juice is pretty good too. A 250ml serving contains 65 calories, 0g fat, 0g saturates, 0g salt but 15.3g sugars (17% of an adults daily amount). This is a pretty high figure if you are diabetic or need to watch your sugar intake, be be aware.

Each carton contains 4 x 250ml servings, so one carton is easily enough for a family of 4. A great breakfast juice or refreshing drink, packed full of vitamin C goodness with no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.

5alive Apple Five Fruit Blend is a light refreshing juice drink, suitable for all the family.

Available from all supermarkets.