Takeaway Cheese & Tomato Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza (Iceland)

Apparently it's "National cheese pizza day". Honestly, who thinks these things up? I'm not complaining really; who wouldn't want to celebrate pizza? It's one of my favourite foods, and I even invested in a pizza oven in place of a normal BBQ this summer. Thanks Aldi for making them affordable. Anyway, Bert came home from work one evening a few weeks ago insisting that we try Aldi's hot dog stuffed crust pizza. The lads had all been discussing how great it was, and poor Bert felt left out*. I cycle pass Aldi every day so popped in on the way home to pick up said pizza.

Oh.

New York or BBQ: that was the choice. Now Bert is exceptionally fussy when it comes to food. The only vegetables he eats are sweetcorn and carrots (at a push) unless you count baked beans. If we go out for dinner then the restaurant must have steak (no sauce) or burger and chips (no salad, no dressing, no mustard, relish or ketchup, thank you). He'll eat pizza.. but only if it's deep pan or calzone and certainly not if it's got mustard or BBQ sauce on it - as both these pizzas had. Hmm. Back to the drawing board. Did anywhere else make Hot Dog stuffed crust pizzas? 

Yes! Iceland to the rescue. For £2, I bought the 531g cheese and tomato hot dog pizza. It also meant I could add red onion to my side and mini sausages to his. Win win. For the record Iceland, this pizza does not serve three adults. Who would just eat a third?

"A smoked hot dog sausage stuffed crust pizza base topped with tomato ketchup, mozzarella cheese and red Cheddar cheese."

I found that it took much longer than the suggested 15 minutes to cook - but my oven admittedly isn't the most reliable. After 20 minutes I was too hungry to wait any longer and retrieved the anaemic looking pizza. 

I don't think I was expecting the pizza to blow my mind, which was a good job really seeing as it wasn't particularly exciting. The base was a bit stodgy but nowhere near as bad as the cheapie frozen deep pan supermarket pizzas. The topping had a good covering though, and wasn't particularly strong - a plus point for mild cheddar loving Bert, but a downside to me and my affinity towards the smellier cheeses**. 

As for that hot dog crust, it was a cheap but cheerful affair that gives you that 'I really don't want to know what meat it's made from, or if it's even meat' thought. I did think though that it needed to be surrounded in cheese, or sauce, or something. Needless to say I had a handy supply of (ASDA's maple bacon flavoured) ketchup to dunk the crusts in, but I still thought it was lacking. Cheese makes for the perfect stuffed crust, but hot dog? I'd rather not, dog. 

6/10

*Please don't feel too sorry for Bert, I make him (from scratch) homemade Calzones on a weekly basis. 

**Munster is my favourite but I'm a sucker for Stilton and goats cheese. 

NEW! Savoury Cheese Hot Cross Buns (M&S)

Marks & Sparks' savoury hot cross buns have been gnawing away in the back of my mind since I spotted them six weeks ago.

What were M&S thinking? Had they created the new salted caramel and produced something so odd sounding that actually we'll all be living off in a few years time? Or were they just a disaster lying in wait for the poor sucker who dared to try them? Oh and how do you even serve them anyway? It's never a good sign to be thinking about something that much and not buy it, so I patiently waited to find one with the yellow reduced sticker at the end of the day.

Except that day never came, and so whilst my faith in the buns grew in line with their lack of clearance time rejection, my curiosity also surged. That was until I was perused Instagram on the train home yesterday and spotted a well-timed post from Marks & Spencer about their cheesy buns:

"M&S has launched the UK's first savoury hot cross bun. The Savoury Cheese Bun is made with a blend of two cheeses, just Turkish sultanas, onion, chives and of course traditional hot cross bun spice. It's said to be the perfect pairing of fruit and cheese and delicious stuffed with bacon for a gourmet bacon butty!  #hotcross17"

 I was hungry. I detoured. Oops. They were £1.70 each (I think) or 2 for £2.50.

 "4 savoury hot cross buns: a blend of 2 cheeses with Turkish sultanas, onions and chives with spices and a brewers yeast flavoured cross."

As someone who can't bear the sultanas in coronation chicken (or ham and pineapple for that matter) I wasn't sure how well I'd get on with these buns. Still I shouldn't moan considering I was only recently complaining about the lack of fruit in others.

I contemplated serving it with melted cheese (but I thought it might mask the cheesiness of the bun) then considered toasting it with butter and marmite, before deciding to roll with the serving idea suggested below the very instagram post that prompted my purchase in the first place. Bacon butty time it was!

The non-toasted bun was remarkably soft, with a strong cheesy chive scent. I couldn't help but nibble the corner whilst waiting for my bacon to cook and was oddly surprised at how odd the combination of the flavours was but also how much I enjoyed it.

The decision to fill it with smoked bacon and ketchup was genius. My tastebuds enjoyed the complexity of flavours; with the spices, sultanas, cheddar and chives prevalent in every bite. I thought that perhaps one element would fight for dominance, but instead they seemed to work in harmony. The added salinity from the bacon was welcome, and I'm not sure if the bun would have have tasted too sweet without it. As for the texture of the bun, it was denser and moister than your normal cheese topped bap, but I found the soft chewiness to be extraordinarily comforting.

I think I may have found a new favourite lunch time treat, bravo M&S! Stay tuned for a review of their mini chocolate orange hot cross buns...

10/10

NEW! Balanced For You Prawn & Crab Macaroni Cheese Review (M&S)

The other day I popped into M&S to buy some Mud Pie ice cream (currently reduced to clear at just £1.50 per tub) when I spotted this intriguing sounding ready meal at the end of one of the aisles. A healthy prawn and crab macaroni cheese? That sounded both unusual and oddly delicious. I can understand the addition of ham or bacon -perhaps even chicken-  in the comforting pasta dish -but fish? Hmm M&S could've created an epic fail or had a stroke of pure genius!

At £4.25 for a single ready meal (but also currently part of a 3 for £10 'balanced for you' meal deal) I wasn't prepared to risk it. But then I found myself wondering about the macaroni cheese again and again before finally deciding to treat myself to it yesterday -I was home alone and neck deep in assignments after all! 

"Prawn & crab macaroni cheese topped with a Cheddar cheese & paprika crumb."

The meal comes in a foil dish, which M&S suggests popping into a 200c oven (180 fan) for 10 minutes, before removing the film and returning for the last 15. What a faff! Normally I cook my own meals so am used to being in the kitchen, but I bought this for the convenience! I was working on my assignment when I put it in the oven, and it was 15 minutes before I looked at my watch and remembered to pull myself away from the computer to remove the lid. Oops.

There wasn't a huge deal of 'crust' on top to crisp up anyway to be honest, but my dinner was bubbling by the time I retrieved it. It was an odd colour for a macaroni cheese, more salmon than pale yellow. 

What I hadn't realised is that the crab element actually comes from the sauce! I'd naively thought that the pasta would be in a cheese sauce with prawns and crab in, but if I'd have read the description I'd have realised that the dish is in fact 'cooked pasta with prawns in a creamy crab and lemon sauce, topped with Cheddar cheese and a paprika crumb.' Oh.

The resulting flavour was as odd as it sounds, a kind of fishy, very lemony sauce with a cheesiness lingering somewhere in the background. I mean, there was something quite yummy and very comforting about it (after all Mac & Cheese is the ultimate in cold evening's eating) but there was also something about it that just didn't quite sit right. Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming citrus flavour, or perhaps it was down to the rubbery prawns (25 mins in my furnace didn't do them any favours I can assure you). 

I can't say I'd part with another £4.25 to have this meal again, but I would pick it up if I saw it adorned with those tempting yellow stickers on at the end of the day.

6/10

NEW! Lindahl's Vanilla and Raspberry Flavoured Quark (Waitrose)

Happy New Year guys and gals! Have you woken up aiming to turn over a new leaf? Whilst I think that everyone can and should set themselves goals at any point during the year, January the 1st does present itself as somewhat of an opportunity to kick those dreams into motion. Sometimes it's the smaller goals that can bring us joy; for example one of my 2016 resolutions was to have peanut butter and chocolate every single day -simply because I love it- and yesterday I completed my little challenge (admittedly sometimes that meant sneaking Reese's peanut butter cups into my suitcase).

Other goals have been more significant -2016 was the first year since 2012 that I have completely avoided hospital admissions- and for that I raised a glass (or two) last night. I feel very fortunate for my life right now, and I'm super excited for what 2017 has to offer. Sure there's a mixture of resolutions and goals that'll be challenging, but that's what makes life interesting! 

For many people New Years diets will be coming into force from today. It's something that grates on me a little bit, but only because I think that healthy lifestyles should be a way of life and something that includes balance. As a snack reviewer it may look like I live on a diet of pure junk food, but most of the time (70% ish) I eat relatively healthily (certainly not clean though!), and I'm pretty active. One of my daily food staples is LIDL's Milbona Skyr pots -they're cheap, a brilliant source of protein and fat free. I flavour them using sugar free syrups to make them more interesting (Salted Chocolate Espresso, Tiramisu and banoffee are personal favourites) but I'm still always on the look out for new brands to try.

Cue Lindh's, which isn't Skyr at all, but Quark. Both Skyr and Quark are technically soft cheeses, although quite often they sit amongst the yogurt section in the supermarket. I buy Skyr because it's cheaper (at Lidl anyway), and the only sweet flavoured Quark pots widely available are the ARLA protein pots -which I don't particularly rate. So when I spotted these new Lindahl's Raspberry & Vanilla pots on offer at Waitrose for 70p (per 150g pot) I just had to give them a go!

Lindahl's is the number 1 Quark brand in Sweden, and a quick glance at their website made me very envious of the selection that the Swede's get to choose from!The pots contain no added sugar and are suitable for vegetarians. 

Raspberry
First up was the raspberry, and when I peeled back the lid I uncovered a pale pink substance so thick that the individual peaks had remained intact.

Delving my spoon into the Quark revealed a dense mousse like appearance, which simply melted away in the mouth. Instantly I was reminded of the Petit Filous fromage frais pots I enjoyed as a child. Despite the lack of sugar the Quark was sweet enough (more so than the ARLA pots), and I enjoyed every last morsel. Delicious.

9/10

Vanilla
When it comes to Skyr, nothing beats Icelandic Skyr's Vanilla pots. I only wish I had more money so that I could buy them on a regular basis. My love of the vanilla Skyr made me all the more excited to try this Lindahl's Quark version.

The pot had the same consistency and creaminess of the raspberry, although it wasn't as flavourful. The vanilla was less pronounced, and sat delicately in the background. Still delicious, but just not quite as good as my beloved Skyr I'm afraid.

9/10

Summary
These are the perfect snack or light dessert for those looking to up their protein intake and/or eat healthily this January. At only 90Kcal per 150g pot* they're filling and delicious. They're also only on an introductory offer -so if you also like them then stock up pronto like I plan to! Also, if we all buy enough then maybe *just maybe* Waitrose will start selling Lindahl's white chocolate Quark. Please Waitrose?


*Macros P:16.5/C:5.3/F:0.3

NEW! McCain Nacho Cheese Ridged Wedges (Iceland)

Wedges: one of my favourite ways to eat potatoes. Oddly enough, it's not McCain who claim the stop spot in my book though, it's actually Tesco's own. Although, it is close. Over the years McCain have released different varieties -garlic & herbs, roasted garlic, Carribean, & American BBQ to name just a few- but nothing as exciting as Nacho cheese! Especially when they're different shaped wedges too... ooh the ridges... fancy! The new flavour is only available at Iceland, comes in a 600g bag, and is currently only £1, bargain. 

The ridges, although not particularly deep, were present and evident in every wedge. Even more blatant however, was the overwhelming stench of fake cheese, so much so that I could've been forgiven for thinking I'd just opened a large bag of Doritos! I say stench, but to me it was aromatic, and instantly made my stomach start to grumble.

Fortunately the wedges only take 18 minutes to cook, filling the house nicely with a cheesy pong in that time. They were hot and crisp when they came out, just as I hoped they would be.

Whilst the flavour might not have been quite as potent as the smell, it was still strong enough, and the ridges meant that the coating stuck better than would have on traditional wedges. The thickness of the potatoes meant that the cheese didn't become to cloying, and also meant that there was a fluffy centre in each. Imagine if cheesy Doritos had babies with wedges and you'll have a good idea of what to expect from these new McCain bad-boys. If you haven't guessed already, I loved them! They're the best wedge to come from McCain yet.

9/10

Despicable Me Minions Baked Corn Snacks

On one of my recent Poundworld visits I discovered this 12 pack of Minions baked corn snacks. I've not seen them in the supermarkets before so I'm not sure how new they are, but £1 for such a large multi-pack I couldn't leave them behind. The pack contains 4x cheese toastie, 4x salt & vinegar & 4x pickled onion flavoured bags. 

The 'corn snacks' are shaped like Wotsits, but they're not as crunchy nor as flavoursome. I'm not sure if it's because they're in plastic and not foil lined bags, but given the softness, they tasted borderline stale. 

The cheese variety has a much milder flavour than its branded counterparts but is still quite tasty. The salt & vinegar and pickled onion are much more pungent, which pleased me as I like my flavours to pack a punch.

If the snacks were crunchier I'd describe them as tasty alternatives to Monster Munch, Quavers and Wotsits; but for me they taste just like the poor man's version that they truly are.

6/10

Goodfellas Enchanted Chicken pizza

As I was cooking dinner for just me tonight I thought I'd try Goodfellas new offering to the Pizza Market, this 'Frozen' endorsed chicken pizza, priced at £1.50 from ASDA.

When I opened the box I was disappointed to discover this bland looking runt of a pizza:

I half debated not even cooking it. I know it's meant to be a healthy pizza as the box clearly states that the cheese is low fat, and that it contains 1 of your 5 a day (which I don't believe the topping is SO stingy. Even so I decided to stick with it, and it didn't look any better after cooking. 

The tomato taste is overwhelming.. But not in a good way, it just tastes like tomato purée on stale bread. I hate wasting money, and so felt pretty peeved that I'd wasted my money on this pretty inedible pizza.

I'd give this 0/10.. 

Stay clear!