Review: Tasty Image

Ever see a birthday cake with someone's photograph on it, and you wonder how it was done and what makes it edible? Tasty Image developed a method that takes any photo or graphic and prints it on chocolate. The best part is it is 100% edible. From a video I watched, it looks very similar to an inkjet printer but with edible ink.

I was contacted to try some samples. I gave them a blog logo and a picture of Murray. I couldn't stop laughing when I opened my box. So cute! I got a small coin, a lollipop, and a square. They taste great too (although I was hesitant in eating Furball). The actual photograph part tastes like a thin sheet of sugar, so TECHNICALLY it isn't printed onto the chocolate itself (but who's counting?).

I think printed chocolates would make a wonderful gift. The only problem I see is eating someone you know lol The items range from candy bars and lollipops to little bonbons and coins. There's even a chocolate business card, but unless you are going to include a paper copy in the case, eating it kinda defeats the purpose of giving out the card in the first place.

My rating? I would definitely use their services again, probably for party favors or a nice gift. You can order these cute little chocolate creations at Tasty Image.

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Duets by The Madelaine Chocolate Company

Last week, I was contacted on behalf of The Madelaine Chocolate Company to sample and review a new product - double-filled chocolate truffles known as Duets. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, of course I said yes.

A few days later, my package arrived. Inside, I found a cute little gift box ready to be opened, full of wonderfully-wrapped truffles ready to be eaten. There are four flavors - white and chocolate truffle, peanut butter and raspberry, peanut butter and caramel, and white chocolate and raspberry. The wrappers are conveniently color coded so you know which ones are which without reading. That can come in handy if you're grabbing one on-the-go and don't have time to read the little print.



The Madelaine Chocolate Company says on its site that "duets are the first double-filled chocolate truffles." They are perfect for any special occassion because they are elegantly wrapped to make the chocolate look and feel extra special.



The first one I tried was the white and chocolate truffle. Can't go wrong with double the chocolate, right? Next was peanut butter and raspberry. Tastes like a PB&J because the raspberry is more of a jam. The white chocolate and raspberry tastes like, well, white chocolate raspberry jam while the peanut butter and caramel tastes like a caramelly peanut butter cup. The PB and caramel is my favorite out of the bunch.

I would definitely recommend buying these truffles, whether as a casual snack for your candy bowl (which will empty rather quickly) or as a special gift. You can buy the Duets online or at most Wal Marts. Target doesn't have them yet, but I know the "fancy chocolate aisle" is going to be reset soon. Usually that means new products are introduced along with bringing back the best sellers. Maybe Duets will make it on the new planogram.

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The Lazy Baker Cookie Mix Review

First off, I would like to thank The Lazy Baker for letting me try their product for free. Second, I want to apologize for being incompetent when making chocolate chip cookies. You see, it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally realized I was using diet margarine (35%) instead of regular margarine (60%). Before this mistake, my cookies never came out right. Just scraps of really thin CCC.

Now, an amauteur baker would blame the product for not working. Actually, I partially blame my cookie scoop. DO NOT BUY YOUR COOKIE SCOOP FROM TARGET! I'm a horrible employee, I know! I bought a (plastic) cookie scoop from Target, which was new for the holiday season. The "metal" (aluminum?) part that pushes out your dough somehow shifted after three cookies and stopped working. Fixed it, then three more cookies later, it shifted again. Argh. Now I know why they are usually $10.



ANYWAY, I'm blaming my cookie scoop because it makes 1 1/2 inch balls. The Lazy Baker says it makes 2 dozen. I got 2 1/2 dozen. Sweet, I thought. Turns out the first two dozen spread too thin and had a horrible time keeping them in one piece, even with using a silcone mat. So my last six I made them 2 inches, and they were fine.



Now for my review of the actual product. The purpose of this mix is to provide all natural ingredients for those who are too lazy to bake or don't want to make from scratch. One thing I would change about the instructions is to specify 2 inch balls rather than saying small balls. When I made small balls, they spread too thin. Also, my dough was probably warm, but I wanted to follow the instructions because chances are, the audience intended wouldn't know that chilling the dough helps prevent spreading. Maybe state, chill dough for 10 minutes (or whatever). Or chilling dough will prevent overspreading and leaving it as an option.

Tastewise, they were yummy. A little weird to cream the butter and egg together as opposed to butter and sugar. Also, I didn't read the add dry mix gradually part, so that took a little extra time bc I dumped the whole thing in at once. Whoops.

So despite a few instruction changes, this product has some potential. No unknown preservatives. Just your flour, sugar, baking powder, etc. Great to have on hand when you are working and too tired to measure. Or you have kids and don't trust their measuring skills and don't feel like monitoring them. All you do is add butter, egg, and vanilla.

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Pom Wonderful Iced Coffee

A few weeks ago, the lovely people at Pom Wonderful asked me to sample their brand of bottled iced coffee. I know what you're thinking - pomegranate and coffee? As they told me and I can confirm, it does not taste like pomegranate at all. All you taste is the coffee and whatever flavor is added (i.e. chocolate).

There are three flavors - chocolate, cafe au lait, and vanilla. I was only sent the chocolate and cafe au lait, but they did give me a coupon to try the vanilla. These bottles are nice to buy because if you are on the go in the morning or want something cold, you can grab one of these bottles and run. Not to mention they have the same benefits as pomegranate juice without the pomegranate taste.

If you love drinking coffee, even if you are a coffee snob like me, you will enjoy these. If you are not a big fan of flavored coffee, you still might enjoy the cafe au lait because as the translation says, it is coffee with milk.

Thank you Pom Wonderful for the samples!

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Wild Mushroom Soup

I cannot express into words how much I love Marx Foods. For starters, how exotic and gourmet their ingredients are. Boar sausage? Who knew! But what really gets me is their staff. They tend to give away little samplers - spices, dried mushrooms, dried chiles - and when they do, I always receive a nice, hand-written note from whoever sent it. Even the emails seem personal because they would comment on one of my blog posts, letting me know that they actually visited and read my blog. Many kudos! Once I get a real job and pay off my loans (ha yea right), I will splurge on your products. It just might take five years XP

ANYWAY

Marx Foods was offering samples of dried mushrooms. You got to pick four types (except for dried morels because they were out when I read the post), so I chose porcini, oyster, black trumpet, and maitake. I knew immediately I wanted to make cream of mushroom soup. After searching, I finally decided on a recipe from Closet Cooking. For the herbs, I used fresh parsley because that's what I had. I have no idea if I used a pound of mushrooms or not. Doubtful, but eh it looked like enough. Also, I didn't have time to roast the mushrooms because I didn't plan ahead :X

The nice thing about dried mushrooms is you can rehydrate them and use in any mushroom recipe. You let them soak for about 30 minutes. Then you strain the liquid through a coffee strainer to remove the dirt particles (I guess it was dirt??). Tada! Now you have mushroom stock for soup.

There are some arguments as to whether this is cream of mushroom soup. Yes, there is cream but it's not thick like the kind from the can. I tried not to blend the soup too much because I wanted chunky mushroom soup.

Wild Mushroom Soup




1 pound mushrooms, any combination, cut into slices/chunks
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon parsley, thyme, or sage, chopped
4 cups soup stock (chicken or veggie)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream

1. If using dried mushrooms, place into bowl and cover with hot water. Let sit for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain liquid into a coffee strainer. Measure the amount, subtract from 4 cups, and use chicken stock for the remaining amount. For example, I had 2 cups mushroom stock, so I needed 2 more cups of chicken stock. Chop mushrooms if needed.

2. In a large skillet, saute onion in oil for 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and parsley and saute for 1 minute. Pour in soup stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Pour small amount of soup into a blender. Blend until desired consistency is reached (I let mine be a little chunky). Pour into a clean saucepan. Repeat until all of the soup is blended. Please be careful because hot liquid will expand and make a mess of your kitchen if you try to blend too much at once.

4. Reheat soup until hot again. Turn off heat. Mix in cream. Serve.

Makes: 6-8 servings

Source: Adapted from Closet Cooking

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Stoneyfield's Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt

A big thank you to Kristina and the Stoneyfield crew for letting me sample their Oikos Organic Greek yogurt. Also a big apology for not posting my review sooner. I've received the coupons a month or two ago, but I'm lazy like that lol I must admit I had trouble finding the yogurt at first. Most stores had the yogurt next to the non-organic yogurt while some stores had the yogurt in the dedicated organic section by the produce.

The first one I tried was with honey. Now if you remember my ice cream post a few weeks ago, I don't like honey. After trying this yogurt, I have a theory that there are honeys I do like and honeys I don't like. My goal is to figure out which kind to buy. I ate this yogurt for breakfast after mixing in some sliced strawberries. Now, I did like the honey but I felt there was too much honey in some spoonfuls. I think this is a matter of personal preference. If it was chocolate, it would have been enough, kwim? So this would make a great breakfast with some fresh fruit added. If you are looking for a recipe, check out Adam's blog for cinnamon buns.



I also tried the plain. This is not recommended to eat for breakfast with mixed fruit unless you add some kind of sweetener (honey, sugar, etc). This yogurt is meant for cooking and baking because you add other flavors to it. I also made a cake with this, but it fell apart. It was a jelly roll cake, so it was the cake that fell apart rather than the yogurt messing up the recipe. I have another cup plus a larger container of vanilla yogurt, so I'll have to try more recipes with those.



Not only did Kristina and gang send me coupons, they also sent me a resuable grocery bag. Instead of the usual cloth bags, this bag is made 100% with old plastic bottles. Talk about recycled! Plus it's cat-approved.

If you would like coupons or find out which stores carry Oikos, please visit Oikos' web site. I would recommend this product to those who wouldn't mind spending a little extra for a great organic product.

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Review - Mix My Granola

A big thanks to Raoul and his Mix My Granola team for letting me try their granola and for being patient as I get this review up! This past few weeks have been extremely busy with me finishing up school and going on vacation. I am still unpacking a little from moving back home, but at least now I only have one kitchen instead of two. I hated trying to figure out what ingredients and supplies I needed when visiting home for the weekend or a break.

Anyway, Mix My Granola is a terrfic concept because you get to pick what goes in your granola. No more picking out stuff you don't eat! There are some pre-mixes available if you simply can't decide or in a hurry to buy granola. First, you pick your granola base. I chose the organic granola, but you can also pick french vanilla granola, organic muesli, and low-fat granola. Some come with mix-ins already. The organic granola is just granola. Then the fun begins.


Your choices are dried cranberries, dried apples, dried strawberries, dried raspberries, banana chips, dried apricots, dried blueberries, dried mangos, dried melon slices, dried pineapple, dried cherries, dates, dried papaya, dried plums, raisins, goji berries, dried blackberries, almonds, peanuts, cashews, pecans, brazil nuts, pistachios, soy beans, walnuts, sesame seeds, pepitas, amaranth seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds, yogurt pretzels, sesame sticks, wasabi bears, gummy bears, jelly beans, rice crispies, oatbran flakes, honey smacks, coco shreds, choco espresso beans, peanut butter bites, candy corn, pomegranate cordials, chocolate raisins, tiramisu caramels, crystalized ginger, peanut MnMs, fruit loops, mini morsels, and cocoa crisp bites. Phew! Please don't tell me they don't have anything you like!



How the mix-ins work: you pick as many as you like as many times as you want. You pay per ounce of each ingredient you want. Shipping is a flat rate of $4.99, no matter how many containers you order. What's nice is you can name your mix for future reference and a personalized gift.



I decided to get dried apricots, dried papaya, sunflower seeds, pomegranate cordials, chocolate raisins, sesame seeds, and wasabi peas. The granola makes an excellent snack for vacation.

I definitely recommend Mix My Granola to all granola lovers. My favorite part is customizing your ingredients. How many sites let you do that?

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See's Peanut Brittle Ice Cream

A few weeks back, I mentioned See's Candy offered me a sample of anything from their company if I agreed to make a recipe with it. Originally, I had asked for Awesome Peanut Brittle Bars, but I received an email from their lovely staff and was informed that they sent me regular peanut brittle instead. They even offered to send me the bars along with the regular brittle. As tempting as it was, I figured both would be good in ice cream, so I stuck with the peanut brittle.

Honestly, I expected a small sample. When I went home Easter weekend, I was being nudged, both by my cat and my dad, to hurry up and open the giant box. Inside was a 1 1/2 lb. box of brittle. 24 ounces!! I better get to work! I already had in mind a peanut butter ice cream with brittle thrown in. I was debating on adding a fudge swirl, but I decided not this time because I didn't want to cover the brittle flavor. While I was getting everything ready, of course I ate a piece. Mmmm, yummy! Definitely high quality. It reminded me of pecan pralines except peanut and more crunchy.

I definitely endore See's Candy, not only for excellent peanut brittle but for awesome customer service. The guys who emailed me seemed down-to-earth and not stuck-up sales people. Go buy their candy now!



The ice cream turned out really well. The peanut butter base came from Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream book. I was skeptical because it only calls for 1/3 cup peanut butter, but it's enough without overpowering. Now, I was a little concerned because they don't cook their eggs. After a discussion on Live Journal, salmonella is found mainly on the outside of the egg and doesn't affect that many people. As long as you don't drop shell into the mix, it should be fine. Unless you have someone with a poor immune system.

I freeze my ice cream by hand because I don't have room for an ice cream maker. Hasn't failed yet! I included those instructions below.


See's Peanut Brittle Ice Cream


1 egg
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup broken peanut brittle chunks

1. Beat egg until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Beat in sugar, little at a time. Beat 1 minute more. Pour in cream and milk. Beat in peanut butter. Place in a freezer-safe bowl and freeze 45 minutes.

2. After 45 minutes, bring out ice cream. Beat for 1-2 minutes to break up any ice crystals forming. Repeat every half hour for 2-3 hours. When it looks almost firm, stir in peanut brittle. Freeze for another 30 minutes then serve if ready. If not, keep freezing.

Makes 1 pint.

Source: Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Dessert Book

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POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice

A special thanks goes out to Diana and the POM Wonderful team for sending me a case of their pomegranate juice! POM Wonderful is 100% pomegranate juice - no sugar, no preservatives, just juice. Because there are no preservatives, POM Wonderful must be refrigerated to guarantee long-lasting freshness.

I love the shape and size of these little 8-oz. bottles. Before receiving this juice, I've only had the actual fruit once back in high school. I was a little weirded out by eating just the seeds, but I don't remember much else of the taste. Since then, I've had pomegranate blueberry juice and applesauce, which is ironic because blueberries and my stomach do not get along. Since I couldn't really tell you what pomegranate alone tastes like, I didn't know what to expect. I must say it is definitely an acquired taste. My dad and I, who eat almost anything, liked it but my mom and brother, who are picky, did not. It's not to say anything against the juice. It's either you like pomegrante or you don't. And since it's 100% juice, there are no sugar or preservatives to hide the pure taste.

Overall, I would recommend this juice to pomegranate lovers (obviously). If you are unsure about liking it, as long as you are open to new tastes and are not picky, you should like this juice. If you don't like "exotic" flavors, you may want to pass on this.

My next step is cook/bake with the juice. I did find a nice white chocolate pomegranate mousse recipe somewhere. That probably won't happen until next month though. Maybe I'll try something quick, like muffins.

Will I buy this product once I'm out? Yes, as long as I can afford it. I honestly don't know how much a bottle goes for at the store, and student loans will be due soon...

Side note - I will be in Washington, D.C. Thursday - Sunday, so all comments and emails will be answered upon returning. Have a wonderful weekend!

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Thank You!

Thank you for everyone who gave me positive comments! It's very difficult to think positively when you are in a slump. Sometimes you just need those that care to give you that little push. There are still things going on (my cold, roommates, etc), but I'm starting to get over it.

I wanted to tell you about my trip to Savannah! My friends and I made an effort to eat locally, and I'm glad we did.

The Pirate House


We had lunch at The Pirate House when we arrived. They are famous for their honey pecan chicken, so I tried it in their lunch buffet. Mmm! The chicken itself is good, but add it with their famous honey pecan sauce, and damn it's amazing! I want to find an imitation recipe online when I get the chance. Even the rest of the food is good. They had your southern stuff - sweet potatoes, corn, squash casserole, etc. Apparently the buffet came with dessert, but the waitress brings it. If I would've known that, I would've saved room for some peach cobbler. And I didn't even think to ask to take it with me because our hotel room had a fridge. Also, The Pirate House is supposedly haunted, and I believe they give tours of the place. We didn't take a tour though.



A singing yeti haha


Locos


For dinner, we ordered in sandwiches from Locos. Coincidently, I got a sandwich called The Moose because it was roast beef with horseradish and coleslaw on the bun (not unusual for us Pittsburghers) and a bag of potato chips. I could've gotten fries or veggies, but I wanted chips. Glad they delivered to our hotel.



Paula Deen's Restaurant


Paula Deen's nephew (Uncle Bubba's son)


No trip to Savannah is complete without visiting Paula Deen's restaurant. My friends and I didn't eat there, but I know some people who did, and they said the food was great. When our trolley tour went past the restaurant, the line for dinner reservations was huge. Apparently you put your name in a raffle and hope you get picked. Two girls got their reservation at 9 pm. Another two girls managed to get in for lunch. And I learned Uncle Bubba's son is the manager of the gift shop.

I should also mention that if you have a large group or you take the Paula Deen tour, I believe you can get a reservation without the lottery.



Vinnie VanGoGo's


A security guard told two of my friends who told me where to get the most amazing pizza ever - Vinnie VanGoGo's. Not only are the slices bigger than your face, they use fresh ingredients. Ingredients that extend to artichokes, broccoli, feta cheese, spinach, and roasted tomatoes. We went here twice to eat.

Now, I didn't get a picture for these last two places, but if you want the best pralines ever, then you must stop at Savannah's Candy Kitchen. They have a store on River Street and a store right next to Vinnie VanGoGo's. They even give free samples. Supposedly their taffy is amazing too, but I don't eat taffy.

I had the best peanut butter ice cream at Leopold's Ice Cream. The staff is so friendly, and the girl gave us a sample of whatever we wanted. I tried lavender ice cream. Not my favorite, but very interesting. The ice cream was so creamy, I would take it over Ben and Jerry's any day! Plus it's a cute little ice cream parlor.

If you have a Facebook account, let me know because I have my pictures uploaded there. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for the rest of the pictures to be uploaded to somewhere public.

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Review of Real Player Plus

I received an email last week about receiving a free copy of Real Player Plus, as long as I agreed to do a review. After doing a bit of research to make sure it wasn't a scam, I replied back and agreed to review it.

There are two versions of Real Player. You can download the free version, or you can pay a one-time fee of $39.99 for the advanced version, otherwise known as Real Player Plus. Now, I bet you are wondering - why should you pay $40 for a program when you can get the free version?

From what I understand, although the free version does let you download videos, Real Player Plus saves the videos to your hard drive, which allows you the view the video at any time, even when there isn't an internet connection.

Why was a food blogger asked to review a program that downloads videos? There are plenty of baking and cooking videos out there, You Tube, Metacafe, Nestle, and Kraft, just to name a few. Since Real Player Plus allows you to save the videos to your hard drive, this means you do not need an internet connection to play them back. For those of you who do not have internet access in or near your kitchen, this tool is very useful.

I tried it with the four sites I listed above. You Tube, Metacafe, and Nestle worked fine. When you roll your mouse over the video, a box with appear that says "download this video." You click it and soon you have the video saved. Now, for some reason, it wouldn't play back the Kraft videos. I'm not sure if it's in a weird format or if Real Player Plus only downloads videos from certain sites. This is disappointing because Kraft has some pretty good videos for beginners.

Another feature that seems promising is the ability to put these videos onto your Ipod. Now, I do own a MP3 player that supports video, but it is not an Ipod. I decided to connect my device and see what happens. Although the device was recognized, when I clicked on the media, the program froze. Maybe it's only compatible with Ipod?

I give Real Player Plus 4 out of 5, meaning it is good but isn't something that you must own. If you are someone who learns better from seeing a visual presentation rather than simply reading it and have no internet access in your kitchen, or if you want to put last week's episode of your favorite show on your Ipod so you can watch it while working out at the gym, then Real Player Plus is for you. However, if you are like me and have a laptop with wireless internet in the house, your computer is within easy reach of the kitchen, or your MP3 player makes the program freeze up, then this program isn't necessary.

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Review: Kraft Food and Family Magazine

Finals week, how stressful. Normally I would be baking to relax my mind from studying, but since I don't have the necessary equipment or ingredients, I look up recipes I want to bake and save the recipes in Word. Ah, my personal computerized cookbook *pets laptop*

4 finals down, 1 more to go. 2 weeks from today I fly back to the states. Since I probably won't have any interesting recipes to post until June, I decided to do a cookbook review.

Kraft Food and Family Magazine



These magazines have to be one of my favorites for several reasons:

1. I enjoy receiving mail that has nothing to do with credit cards.
2. A pet peeve of mine is recipes without a picture. If I remember correctly, all or at least most of the recipes should have a corresponding picture.
3. They're FREE!!

That's right - subscription to this magazine is free!! All you have to do is register at Kraft Food's website. Click here to register. If you don't want to receive magazines in the mail, you can always opt to receive the emails.

To get an idea on what recipes the magazines offer, you can visit here.

Since I'm in Ireland and my magazines are back in PA, I can't give an accurate review. I do remember going through the magazines I had and used sticky tabs to mark the recipes I wanted to try. After I was done, my mom asked why I just tabbed every single page LOL Come on now, there were a few pages I skipped, like recipes for meatloaf or something with blueberries. I don't eat either.

I got excited this morning because when I visited the website to do a review, the magazine cover changed. That means Summer 2007 version is in the mail and should be on my bed (or under the cat) when I fly home.

Not a very informative review, but I promise to be more detailed in the future!

Rate:


Forgot to mention Chocolate Moosey now has a tagboard, so please leave me (nice) messages. You can find it in the side column under my contact info. Cheers! <3

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