Chewy Sweettarts

I went to Smart and Final the other day and was looking for a good allergen-safe candy I could treat myself to. I decided on a bag of chewy sweet tarts, since I couldn't remember how they tasted. Note to self: a lot like actual sweetarts, i.e., TART. Whoops. They're pretty good - sweet, too, I mean, and small and uniquely flavored to some extent. I ate quite a few, but then I developed a sore on my tongue from the sours! Yikes! OK, anyway, these aren't my favorite candy, but if you like sour stuff, I bet these are great for you.

At the same time, it's pretty rare to find allergen-free Wonka candy nowadays! So, if you want something different, maybe these are a good bet. You can get them for pretty cheap on Amazon.

Overall:
Taste: 6/10
Cost: 8/10

Laura says "Eek sour! Can I have a few more though?" aka 4/10

Vermont Nut Free School of (Chocolate) Fish

They swam into my heart, all right! These tasty chocolate fish are a little bigger than a Hershey's Kiss, in terms of cubic area, but way tastier! They're creamy and satisfying to bite into. Not much else to say, really. If you're looking for some smallish fish-shaped nut-free milk chocolates in a bag (and who isn't!) you should definitely check these out. Yum.



Cost: 6/10
Rating: 7/10

Laura says "yum! fish!" aka 7/10.

Amanda's Own Chocolate Hearts ~ Cello Bag

First of all, my name is Amanda, so the idea of a company called "Amanda's Own Confections" that sells allergen free snacks is basically the dream I imagined for my own future, so it's pretty great! Anyway, I got this cute bag of semisweet heart chocos for Valentine's Day, and it was very cute, all tied up with a little ribbon. The chocolates are decently sized and a perfect thickness for biting into. They don't melt in your hands, either! In essence, they're just semi-sweet dark chocolate, so there's nothing really unique taste-wise, but if you want a semisweet chocolate with no nuts, this is a fine choice!

Cost: 5/10
Rating: 6/10

Laura says "dark chocolate? in MY mouth? :/" aka 4.5/10

Domino's Pizza (& wings)

Domino's is a good nut-free option, since their only nut product is the chocolate lava cake, a simple "may-contain"! So, over the weekend, Laura and I ordered a regular pepperoni pizza, a thin crust mushroom & half-tomato pizza, wings, and salads. The online ordering system is pretty neat, and you can even track your order being made (and delivered, if you choose). Pretty cool.

Their new pizza recipe (new being post-2009, I think) seems to be basically "more seasoning and butter", but it's pretty delicious. Plus, it's still not quite as oily and bad-for-you feeling as Pizza Hut's pan pizza. The pepperoni, mushroom and tomato were all generous and tasty, and the salads were large and fresh too. The BBQ wings are moist and pretty good (but nothing amazing), and the mild buffalo wings are completely unseasoned and not very interesting! We still have to try the hot ones. Anyway, all in all I had a good meal and I'll definitely order Domino's again, so two thumbs up! I didn't even have a terrible stomach ache afterwards.

Pasta Bowl: This made me feel kinda bad, but that's because I have coronavirus and even though they said it's a no-contact delivery, the guy waited outside and when we picked up the food he said he needed a signature. Uh, OK?!?! Anyway, this is only 6$ and 600ish cals, so it made two reasonable meals. The noodles are good, the mushrooms are great, the spinach is decent, and the chicken is not great but it doesn't have soy in it.  I like the bread bowl but it's bad for you. Regular pasta is the way to go if you're on a business trip or in quarantine. 7/10

Cheeseburger and Taco hybrid Pizza: Yo, I ordered the new Chicken Taco Pizza, but they definitely got my order wrong (no peppers or chicken were on it for one thing) and I think they gave me the Cheeseburger Pizza instead. What I got has apparently no sauce, lots of cheese (yellow and white), and ground beef, onions, and tomatoes. This pizza made me feel like shit physically in addition to not being what I wanted, but I'll try to put that aside for taste evaluation... For one thing, the beef is soy-free, which is great. So no allergy issues. And the crust is the same tasty buttery crust. The onions are weird though, and the no sauce is weird too. This is supposed to have ketchup mustard sauce (???), so either mine didn't have that and that is why it's weird, or it's just super super subtle. The other reviews I've seen make it seem like it actually smells/tastes like a burger because of the sauce so I think mine just didn't have it, which sucks because I don't like this much at all and don't want to ever try it again to see. Maybe minus onions? There's an absolute ton of cheese, which is tasty, but I don't love the taste of the meat or the onions. This is a no from me, but it didn't have the sauce, so it might actually be better in many cases. But still. Update: on 3rd slice, I think what happened is the base is the taco base (cheese + taco seasoning!!) and the toppings are hamburger ones. Really fucked up. The onions are better now though, like little onion petals. Maybe 5/10

Chicken Taco Pizza: Aha! Happy day, I believe I finally got the real thing here. And I think it was pretty good, gave off a "chicken fajita pizza" vibe for sure. Chicken, onion, pepper, mild taco seasoning, lots of tasty creamy cheese. The best part taste-wise is the very buttery and seasoned crust; however this is very filling and bad for you compared to the also-tasty thin crust pizza options! 7/10

Buffalo Chicken Pizza: This is very similar to the Chicken Taco pizza, just without the seasoning! It has no red sauce (or any sauce?), just cheeses, onions, chicken, and perhaps some buffalo sauce baked on top.  The chicken was a little "bag chicken" ish but otherwise fine, and no allergy issues. Cheesy bread is of course always tasty, but it's not quite "pizza" to me. I didn't sense any buffalo flavor at all when I was eating it, but after the fact I do notice a little hot sauce spice lingering so I guess it's there. Maybe too barebones for me, but not bad. 6/10

Italian Sandwich: Sandwiches at Dominos?! I guess so. This was a tasty one, it's cut in half and I only had half, which is a tragedy. It has cheese, italian peppers, onions, and roni-type meats. Oily for sure, but good, like an Italian sub at Arby's but with crispier bread. (That's high praise if you know me and Arby's.) 7/10 

Bread Bowl (with pasta): Listen, this obviously tastes good, it's a buttery garlicy breadsplosion full of cheesy sauce (typically). But it's also super oily and guaranteed to give you a massive stomach ache, so don't eat on the road! Also too much food for a single meal; should be 2 meals if possible. 6/10

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Habenero Sandwich: This was surprisingly good! I don't typically like "buffalo" things, but this was very buttery + spicy and the pineapples were good. I enjoyed it but it's probably so bad for you. 7/10

Pacific Veggie Pizza: I got this with the thin crust because that's what it showed in the picture, I guess to make it healthful. But thin crust is actually my favorite crust, so I enjoyed it. However, I also ordered "no olives" because I freakin' hate olives, and yet it arrived with olives. I think my local Dominos is kinda bad at accuracy. Anyway, ignoring the olives, the toppings (tomato, mushroom, pepper, onion, provolone and mozz?) were fresh and good, the cheese was pleasant, and it felt not too heavy. The seasoning is a little spicy, but subtle. Tomatoes and mushrooms were the highlight, but honestly I think I like my default 'za better. 6/10

Classic Garden Salad: This was fine -- boring, but safe. It even comes pre-packaged! 6/10

Wisconsin 6 Cheese Pizza: Why do people like cheese pizza? This was so boring: it's just cheese! Sure, there are different cheeses, so it's a slightly tangier oily mess than normal, but this definitely did not impress me. Wouldn't repeat. (At least they didn't botch the order, lol). 6/10

Chicken Parm Sandwich: Eh, this was OK. A bit boring. The chicken tastes like filler, even though it's soy-free, and the sauce isn't enough, and it's weird that it's not breaded! The cheese and bread are good though. 6/10

Parmesan Bread Twists: These were surprisingly good; very moist, garlicy bread knots. However, a lot of mine tasted like cinnamon too, so there was some weird mixing at my local resto. Oops. But otherwise, nice. 7/10

Ranch Dip: This was just fine, a bit too sweet/thin for my preference as a dip, though. It served its purpose but I could imagine it might be a better dip for breads (i.e. pizza crusts) than for veggies, which is how I used it. 5/10

Italian Sausage Marinara: I got this in a bread bowl -- sadly I also ordered an alfredo pasta and it turns out their alfredo has soy protein in it! So there's a lot riding on Marinara. Well, this was very dry -- as always, the bread was tasty, the sauce and saus' are decent, filling and fatty on the whole. 7/10

Overall:
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Laura says "I'm not saying I want Domino's, but do you want to order Dominos later???????" aka 8/10.

Quinn says "5/10 I guess. It exists, it's fine, I'll eat it."

Rice-A-Roni (Chicken)

Is it just me, or is Rice a Roni just not very good? I keep buying it, of course, because it's cheap and very easy to add meat or vegetables to. What's more, there's 3+ cups of rice in those little boxes, so it's a filling, sensible choice when it comes to a Reasonably Healthy Dinner For Two.

At the same time -- no matter how I follow the directions, this rice comes out either mushy or burnt. There's no middle ground. And if I ever decide NOT to add chicken or veggies to it, this rice is seriously bland, flavorless mush.

But I guess for 1$, I can't expect culinary perfection. So I'll probably buy it again - although I think the Fried Rice is a little better (though awfully similar) than the chicken flavor.

Taste: 5/10
Cost: 9/10

Laura says, "tastes fine to me! 7/10."

Lean Cuisine - Chicken Chow Mein

I don't know exactly how "chow mein"y this is -- there aren't any noodles in it -- but since I love chinese food, I take all the non-allergenic opportunities I can to sample it, even if it's a laughable imitation.
Anyway, this is a pretty small dinner for hungry people like myself, but I guess that's the point, isn't it? And for a healthy meal, it tastes pretty good. Not too flavorful, but it's not completely bland. There's a fair amount of chicken per rice and the sauce is pretty good. The vegetables are good as well - I like the carrots and waterchestnuts. No mushroom or bamboo though! I buy this pretty often, so I'd recommend it!

Cost: 6/10
Rating: 7/10

Laura says: "I don't like vegetables". Thanks, Laura.

Vermont Nut Free Truffles (6 flavors)

Mmm, nut-free truffles, a dream come true! These guys really don't disappoint, they're packed attractively in a little box and for the most part, they taste great. My flavor breakdown is as follows:
Dark Raspberry Truffles - These are dark chocolate with 3 lines of dark chocolate on top. I really like this flavor, although it's very rich and dark-chocolatey overall, so definitely don't eat the whole thing in one bite!
Mocha Truffles - These are milk chocolate with several lines of dark chocolate drizzled on top. I'm not a huge mocha fan, but given that, these were very good and I'd never turn one down. The inside is a dark chocolate/mocha filling, and it goes nicely with the milk choco outside. If you actually LIKE mocha, I'm sure you'd love this truffle.
Milk Chocolate Truffles - these are GREAT! Probably my favorite flavor. They're milk chocolate with a spiral of milk chocolate on top. The inside doesn't taste like regular chocolate, though - it's very very soft and creamy, and I originally thought it was supposed to be caramel flavored. It reminds me a little of a Cadbury caramel egg, only tastier. Highly recommended!
Dark Chocolate Truffles - Pretty tasty! These are dark chocolate with a dark chocolate 'X' on top. They're also quite rich, but a little less so than the raspberry ones. Pretty straightforward - smooth dark chocolate in a truffle.
Black Forest Truffles - A million 'yum's! These are dark chocolate with white chocolate stripes, and the inside is a cherry/milk chocolate/creamy delight. Not too fruity or saccharine like straight up chocolate covered cherries (which I also love) but sweet, and, again, a bit caramely. Very good, definitely one of my favorites.
Orange-Apricot Truffles - these are kind of odd. they're white chocolate with a bit of dried apricot on top and a small 'x' of milk chocolate - they look very cute, but the inside is a strange combo of white chocolate/orange flavor with bits of dried apricots throughout. I think the white chocolate has a strange aftertaste (not just a fluke, then) and the bits of apricot don't exactly class up the truffle. Maybe I just don't like apricot as much as I thought, so if you like dried apricots this might be good for you. Personally, though, it was by far my least favorite and I would not eat a whole one again!

Overall:
Cost: 4/10
Rating: 8.5/10

Laura doesn't like fruit flavors, so she couldn't fairly rate these. But she said they looked good! :)