Skittles Littles

So cute! So these are exactly just skittles, but small and in a tube. Therefore they are fine but not amazing. 220 cals and a full day's sugar in one tube. However, they have the added bonus of making me nostalgic for the brief window in my life when M&M minis came out and there was no "may contain" warnings, so I loved those m&m tubes passionately for about 1 year until they were taken from me. Candy in a tube is way better than candy not in a tube. I hope skittles puts other things in tubes!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Cheez-It Puff'd White Cheddar Snacks

A weird thing about these is that they do not resemble Cheez-it (non-puff'd) at all! These are more like cheese puffs, but with a somewhat savory/umami/MSG flavor to them. It's weird at first, but also addictive. They are cheesy and very soft. Like cheesy puff'd chicken in a biscuit crackers, sorta. They're good and they have a may contain for non-nut things, which is reassuring.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Pepperidge Farm Newport Cookies

These are essentially a larger version of a chewy chips ahoy. Classier, though. Tasty for sure, but not particularly "fresh baked" feeling, you know? I like the crunchy salt bits in there too. These were scary at first, due to their nature. But it's Pepperidge Farm and I trust them. I ate the whole bag in a very short time!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Hershey's milk chocolate eggs

More nut free discounted easter candy for me! Thanks Acme and Hershey's. Alas, though these are fine, they are inferior to a normal Hershey's Kiss for the following reasons: a serving of these is only 5 and not 7; the foil is harder to take off without eating some of it; the shape of the choco is less dainty to eat. Otherwise it's normal Hershey Chocolate, which is, yanno, what it is. Still a nice sweet snack though!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Swanson White Chunk Chicken - Original

Chicken in a pouch?! I'm allergic to tuna, and I'm allergic to most canned meat in soups etc (due to soy), so I never ever considered that pouch chicken was an option. But the ingredients here are just chicken and water, no soy or bean juice. I was still scared, but it was fine. Well, the texture and smell is kinda gross -- gloopy like cat food. But it tastes like chicken, albeit wet, salty chicken. It's good to have a shelf-stable protein option though.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

homefree ginger snaps

Well well well, we meet again, surprisingly decent top-8-free cookie company! My place of work always has these as the "allergy friendly" option, and I've started taking them because I want to get my money's worth! Also, they're surprisingly decent. This variety was a little dry/crumbly/boring for my taste, but pleasant enough. Has that ginger spiciness, which is the best and most important thing in a ginger snap. Would take again.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Oreo Space Dunk

Whew, these are quite the sensory overload! They have Popping Candy in, but the poppers are so small that I can't even localize them, which is disconcerting. Maybe in the blue creme? There's also pink cream, which tastes a lot like cake frosting (not my fav taste). The oreo cookies are the usual tasty cookies, but the popping candy part is a weird flavor -- kind of artificial? Plastic-y? No big surprise there from the looks of these! They're wild and safe and visually interesting, but turns out I don't particularly want really long-lasting pop rocks in my cookies.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

norr organic strawberry & rhubarb skyr

I waited to try this until I wasn't alone, because it occurs to me I don't know if I've ever had rhubarb as an (allergy-having) adult. But it seems to have gone OK, at least in the short term! This was pleasant and sweet, but it basically just tasted like a normal strawberry banana yogurt or something. The aftertaste was a little tart, though! Glad to add this to my rota of possible skyrs, especially at a nonfat 90 calos.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Trix Loaded Cereal

 

These loaded cereals look so fun, but I've come to realise they don't scratch the cereal itch for me. They're just so soft and large! Anyhow, these are the colors of the bisexual flag, and the taste of one too. Just kidding, they taste like the other pillowy loaded cereals, but with a small element of fruity trix flavor. The fruitiness does make it less itchy and scary for me somehow, but it's still not an ideal cereal texture. Or, really, taste. I dunno.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Ragu Kettle Cooked Marinara Sauce

Growing up, my parents had a strong anti-Ragu prejudice, so I never tried it. They used only Prego, which I see as very similar (sugar added, thin), but whatever! Neither really did it for me. I'm a classico gal now. But this new "Kettle" line has no sugar added, which is promising. Even though marinara flavor bores me, I figured I'd give it a try. Looks pretty allergy-friendly. Tastes like sauce you'd get at a chain restaurant. That is, boring and nothing special. Weirdly thick, but maybe 'cause I added Parmesan, haha. It's fine.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Crisco Pure Canola Oil

You know I've reached the end of the line if I'm reviewing canola oil! But oil can be stressful -- there's peanut oil and probably other nut and seed oils, and I don't want to mess around with that. This is 100% canola oil, made in Canada, and I've been using it for a long time and never had an issue. It holds a lot and lasts a long time and has no ill effects. Thanks, Crisco!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Gatorade Lemon-Lime

As Gatorades go, this is probably one of the best flavors. It basically just tastes like really sweet lemonade. Has a tartness to it.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

2020 Matt Iaconis Delta California Chardonnay

I can't make the food pairing, so I'm reviewing this right away. Out of the bottle, it's a pretty standard Chard -- tropical fruity and a little sweetness and tartness. But it's also got a little water to it, which I personally like. Pretty drinkable, and a cute and beachy bottle. Good vibes.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [15$]
Taste: 7/10

2022 Castelo de Terena Red

Sorry for the multi-day break from bloggin', food fans. Nothing terrible happened to me, I'm just in a funk! Work stress, friend stress, car trouble. Adulthood, am I right? Anyway, this is a fine wine. Pretty sweet, cherry notes, and not too tart or sharp. Kind of a weird yeasty vibe at first, but it mellowed with time. No complaints, but nothing revolutionary either. 

 The same is true of the Beef Short Rib stew -- not crazy hard to make, but really fatty! Yikes! There must be a better meat for this. Also the potatoes needed more time to cook. But I actually used the wine in the recipe, which was neat. And as promised, it was better the second day. I froze some too, so hopefully that's not terrible. Good comfort food, anyway, which I needed.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [15$]
Taste: 6/10

DeLallo Ditalini Rigati

Unlike other DeLallo stuff, I don't live in fear of the Plain Pasta, because there's only one ingredo (wheat) and website is very clear that this is made in a nut free facility. So, huzzah! I never loved Ditalini, at least as a plain noodle, but they are mighty compact which is convenient for storing and measuring. And the cook time is 9min, which is less than the bigger shapes. These are definitely less weird tasting than the whole wheat pastas (although of course less healthy too). I enjoyed it! They were RIBBED, which made them more substantial than other ditalinis I've had. Decent even with just oil + cheese + tomato, yay.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

DeLallo Original Crostini

These are really cute and (supposedly) don't contain nuts, but I was terrified so I waited until my parents were visiting to try one. So far so alive, but it's only been 30 minutes or so. Anyhow, these are very cute. Little toasts! And they're individually wrapped into their serving size of 6 toasts, which I like. The taste is a bland crunch. Similar to stale bread, I guess, which is of course what toast is. Not super scary tasting, but not special either.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Sargento Off The Block Mozzarella

I thought this was quite good -- above average for shredded cheese, for sure. The shreds are soft and big pieces, and mozzarella is among the tastiest cheeses. So, yeah. Good cheeser.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Vanilla Spice Cheerios

This is a huge box, and it expires in less than a week! Freakin' Target burned me. These are fine. They taste like cheerio -- sort of a mix of the apple cinnamon cheerios (but less sweet) and the multigrain ones (different shades of brown, a bit boring). Not much vanilla, really. They made me a bit nervous due to the appearance, but it reads safe and I lived. It's OK, but there's better cereals!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

2020 Château Riviere Minervois

These French wines might be too fancy for me. I like the sample US/AU ones with pretty labels. Anyway, it's got a really strong flavor when you first open it, whew. I was worried the cork was too porous and it went bad, even. Tart, complex, like a pear smoked jerky or something. Maybe not my favorite. It does mellow after a few days, but it's also very acidic then. So, a big meh from me! 

The pairing of Eggplant Parm was attempted, but I clumsily and tragically dumped my whole baking sheet of breaded eggplant slices to the oven floor. So I only had the scraps of eggplant left to work with, which threw off the whole recipe and my mood. Life is pain, friends. At least it saved me some calories, I guess, IDEK. So, there was a lot of sauce and only a little eggplant, which was very sparsely breaded. Also cheese. It made my mouth burn and made me very itchy and nervous, which is stupid 'cause I've had all the ingredients before except the dried basil, which is, yanno, basil. I guess heavy tomato sauce and cheese will do that to you. It tasted fine and would probably have been really solid before I dropped it, but not worth it for the stinging mouth and possible heartburn maybe.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [25$]
Taste: 5/10

Hershey's Solid Milk Chocolate Bunny

This is gonna sound hella ungrateful, since a nut-free chocolate holiday snack is so rare and special, but I wish this were hollow!!! Ha. My parents got me this, though, which is very sweet. He has the look of an elegant bunny. And the taste of an inelegant Hershey's Bar. Not the greatest choco, and it's just so thick. Therefore my hollow wishes. But he's fun all the same.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10