A Few of My Favorite Things — May 2013

by Dorothy Reinhold on May 20, 2013


Print This Post Print This Post Bestowed Box on Shockingly Delicious

1. Bestowed box: See that collection of tasty treats, above? Those came in a box called Bestowed. When you subscribe, you’ll get 5+  healthy, minimally processed items like nutrition bars, snacks, breakfast cereals and supplements, home delivered to your door each month. The items are curated and hand-picked by nationally recognized nutritionist and author Heather Bauer. Highlights of my sample box were Dark Chocolate Sun Cup, which puts Reese’s to shame, an apple turnover Larabar (not too sweet, nicely chewy), some California Olive Ranch samples, and Navitas Coconut Water Powder, a convenient way to let you mix up your own coconut water on the go. This would make a great gift for a health-conscious foodie you know, or perhaps a self-gift? $19 per month (this includes shipping), with a 3-month minimum. ShockD readers get $5 off a monthly or annual subscription when you use the code 5OFFBSTOWED01 at checkout. 

Roasted Baby Dutch Potatoes from Melissa's Produce2. Ready-to-eat potatoes: These Roasted Baby Dutch Potatoes by Melissa’s Produce are the cat’s meow, for breakfast or dinner. Cooked and simply flavored with fresh rosemary and a touch of garlic, these heat quickly either in the microwave or stovetop, and are very versatile. We used them to stand in for hash browns the other night when we were having breakfast for dinner (huge success!), and I look forward to having them alongside a pork chop or piece of grilled chicken soon. A 12-ounce package serves 3; $3.99.

Sambazon Acai with Blueberry + Pomegranate Juice3. New superfoods juice: Sambazon has a superfoods juice we’ve become fond of here in the ShockD house: Acai with Blueberry + Pomegranate. Tiny purple acai fruit is the darling of the superfood world, and combined with antioxidant-rich blueberry and pomegranate, this is a refreshing beverage that is good AND good for you. It is organic, GMO-free, and has ingredients sustainably sourced in the Brazilian Amazon. It retails for about $2.99 for a 10.5-ounce bottle (but can often be found on sale for $1.99). Try it!

4. New “sweet’ cheddar cheese: Kerrygold, the Irish cheese geniuses, have a new one just released in this country. Called Skellig Sweet Cheddar, it is not “sweet” as sugar is sweet, but has an Kerrygold Skellig Sweet Cheddar Cheeseintensely flavorful, high-umami quality. With a firm but creamy texture and complex flavor, we adored it on crackers, sliced with apples, and eaten alone as a flavor-packed snack. It’s already popular in the U.K. The cheese is made in Ireland with milk from grass-fed cows that are free of artificial growth hormones. The cows are raised on small family farms, with an average herd size of 60. It comes in 7-ounce parchment packages and I found it in the specialty cheese section at the grocery store.

Customized Fortune Cookies on Shockingly Delicious5. Personalized custom fortune cookies: Just about the best party favor I’ve seen lately is custom fortune cookies by Super Accurate Fortune Cookies. I told you about this company before, but now they have ramped up their offerings to put any fun, personalized fortune message in the cookies that you dream up. Think graduation, bridal show, wedding favor, big birthday (16th? 21st? 50th?), retirement, family reunion. The cookies come in great flavors and colors, too, unlike the usual cardboard-tasting fortune cookies.  And don’t let writer’s block stop you. Custom Fortune Cookie on Shockingly DeliciousCompany owner Ray Richmond, a Hollywood author, will help dream up the fortunes with you after a brief consultation about your intended recipient! Go snarky or go sentimental — your choice. Sweeet! For more incentive, Ray is offering 15% off to Shockingly Delicious readers! To snag that, send your email to info@smartestcookies.com and put “Shockingly Delicious sent me!” in the subject line. Oh yeah. I love a good discount.

Zyliss Smart Touch Salad Spinner on Shockingly Delicious6. Zyliss salad spinner: My aged salad spinner broke, and I decided that it gets such frequent use, I needed to find a good quality one to replace it. To the rescue came the Zyliss Smart Touch Salad Spinner, a well-designed, beautiful spinner that has a fast pump lever for smooth action. When your greens have spun dry, you simply press a button to put the brakes on, and it stops quickly. Another feature I like is the bowl is pretty enough to be used as a serving piece. So spin your salad dry, and then use the same bowl to serve it. The lids is flat and it also goes in the dishwasher. Nice! $29.99.

Karoun Greek Yogurt with Honey

7. Honey yogurt: One bite of this Greek Style Yogurt with Honey by Karoun and my daughter  murmured, “Best. Yogurt. Ever.” I grabbed a spoon and snitched some, and I have to agree. Super creamy, just sweet enough but not cloying, with a wonderful mouthfeel, this is deluxe yogurt made from California cow’s milk free from growth hormones or BGH/rBST. It has probiotic bacteria  for a happy digestive tract, and is produced by the family-run Karoun Dairies, in Turlock, Calif. I’m adding it to the grocery list right now.

The Hungry Games book on Shockingly Delicious8. Funny, fun foodie book: The Hungry Games” by Peter Sachs is a delightful, amusing, sometimes snort-out-loud book perfect for foodies and people who like word games and puzzles to test their food knowledge. Matching puzzles, searches, culinary anagrams, foodonyms, and stumpers like “is it a food or an opera?” and “food or typeface?” entertain. This is a kick in the pants for anyone with an appetite for fun! $10.95.

Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Bars9. Girl Scout candy bars: Nestle Crunch is bringing back the Girl Scout Candy Bars for a limited time only. These took the candy world by storm last year. Inspired by the three most popular flavors of Girl Scout cookies, these come in three varieties: Thin Mints™ (dark chocolate cookie wafers and mint chocolate crème, topped with airy crispies and a rich, dark chocolatey coating), Caramel & Coconut (cookie wafers layered with coconut caramel crème and chewy caramel, topped with toasted coconut and drizzled with caramel stripes), and Peanut Butter Crème (cookie wafers layered with smooth peanut butter crème, topped with airy crispies and a creamy, chocolatey coating). Can we just say OMG? Yeah, they’re as good as you suspect they are. They’ll be in retail stores from June through September, but those who can’t wait can buy them from a special pre-sale program on Facebook.

Sandwich bag art10. Sandwich bag art: The artist dad who does this every day is just one amazing guy. Don’t you agree?

Bestowed, Sambazon, Melissa’s Produce, Kerrygold, Super Accurate Fortune Cookies, Gigasavvy, Karoun Dairy and GolinHarris sent products for review. 

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Cathy @ She Paused 4 Thought May 21, 2013 at 9:26 am

I totally love the sandwich bag art dad! I bet his son could swap his lunch for anybody’s at school. Although, if his dad put that much effort into the art, he probably made a pretty good sandwich as well.

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