So it's that time again! Bulu Box is back for a April sneak peek. Its another thing to help me keep thinking healthy positive. I have a goal I want to reach and sometimes everyone needs a little something to remind them and help them along the way. Besides my wonderful husband who is on this track with me. I get this monthly reminder. There will be at least one more after this month. From there we will see what will happen.
Once again if you have no clue what Bulu Box is you can find that info here.This will explain what it is, and how fun this subscription box can be! For those of you tuning in for the second preview of this. I am hoping to see you join up to and start this with me! I highly encourage it because it is really something cool to look forward to each month.
So Aprils Bulu Box Sneak Peek. Just like last review of this I am going to use this to show you all what came in it. From there random reviews will pop up with items from this Bulu Box with reviews. Without further ado. Bulu Box April.
So this months paper pamphlets in the box were a couple coupons for helping with weight loss products (Which for some people whom are about using pills for weight loss can be a great thing to see. They can be pricey so I can see some people getting excited about that. I personally will stick with the good olde' exercise and walking route to loss my weight. ) There was the normal paper with info on the products included in the box. As well as what looks to be like a small card marked:' YES!' I am assuming said card is to help motivate.
In total with the 'Yes!' card and the other products this box this month came with a total of seven products. Apparently the idea of the 'Yes! Change is easy card' is kind of what I thought it was about. It is to help motivate as well as helo let you monitor if your making progress on a daily basis. Which seems to be a all over pretty cool idea and I can see how that could work. I know for someone like me it may not work as well. I can write down whatever I want but unless I physically have something in my hands to be a goal for me. I kind of after a couple days start to stumble with it. At the end of the day rather then looking at a card I prefer to be able to physically see my goal reason for the whole thing or at least one of the reasons in front of me. Sipping tea and relaxing at the same time.
This brings us to HELP R&R Tea. Everyone knows that feeling at the top of ones game can sometimes be a struggle. Though for my tea lovers out there. Whom are kind of against medicine or would prefer a alternative medicine. This Tea is for you. It is meant to help with better and a more sound sleep, help with your digestion, sinuses and health in general. So this will be interesting to try and I can't wait.
The third thing I happen to pull out of the box was a Berlean's Omega Swirl Mango PEach. This is suppose to be a alternative to pills for getting your daily dosage of Omega-3's. This could be a interesting concept if the flavor is not to faint or over powering. I am highly interested in trying it. They are made to be a on the go thing so you can grab it on your way out the door if your running behind. Which is always clever thing to do anymore. Everyone is always in hustle mode.
On to the fourth product to come forth from the box. Another Smarty Pant's Vitamin product. Now I liked the last product so I do have to say I have high hopes for these ones as well. These ones are suppose to help with weight management. Which I can always use help with. Specially since I am trying to lose weight and get my other levels that need to be up up and those that need to be down down. At first I will admit I was confused why I got a product from them again then I realized it was a different type of vitamin and then it started to make sense.
Then there was the fifth. Mestrength. This powder is suppose to be added to water and helps you with hydration and strength. Because of what is in it, I will not be taking this till sometime in August/September when I am outside sweating from the heat at the Ren Fair. This will go into my kit of try this when it is the right time. Type of thing. So though I am excited you won't see this one pop up for a while. Sorry guys.
Body Glove Surge Energy Gel. This one was a little weird to me I will admit. At first I couldn't tell if you were meant to take it as is or put it in water. We figured it out of course. It seems like a interesting concept and I will be trying this out here soon in the near future. Specially since I tend to get tired quickly (I have really low Vitamin D levels so I lose energy quickly. Very quickly) So this should be a interesting try out to see if it helps giving me that extra kick I need through out the day.
Last but not least. Mediterranean Snacks has come out with a Tapaz 2 Go. This is a to go portion size of non GMO mini meal of Humus and lentil crackers. Now personally I am picky about humus my husband on the other hand is not as much. So we agreed to try this together. Get a full rounded view on it. See if it is something we would be interested in purchasing in the future. Either way it should be fun.
So this month box's is filled with many fun little things that I look forward to trying even if not right at the front of the moment. Keep checking back. Stay healthy, Get fit. Go get your Bulu Box now!
Black Truffle + White Cheddar Popcorn by 479 Degrees Popcorn
Okay time to get a little honest here. I am not a popcorn fan. I hate the fact that kernels tend to get stuck in my teeth. The fact that occasionally they don't pop fully and you bite down and it hurts! Not to mention I just never really got excited over most popcorn. The flavor rarely does anything for me.
So when I saw this bag turn up in my love with food box I kind of shrugged it off. I tried it the other night with my husband though and I was rather impressed. It smelt heavily of mushrooms. Which would be nothing more then the truffle oil that was drizzled over it.
The truffle actually complimented the cheddar nothing was overly strong. It was light and airy. Never bit into anything hard nor did I have any kernel issues with this popcorn. I could easily sit there and get this and feel happy eating it. Specially since it is non GMO, Gluten Free and low calorie and not feel guilty about eating it while dieting.
My only one complaint with this popcorn was that the bag that it came in was not resealable. For me that is a issue because I peck like a bird at things. If I do not finish it in one sitting I do not want to be coming back to a stale pack of popcorn later. So that is my only real negative issue with this product. Something worth to invest and try. A nice fancy treat for those date nights.
TCHO Chocolate Review
Okay, okay I admit my house hold has a bit of a chocolate fixation that constantly needs a fix. My issue with chocolate is that most hurt my teeth. Dark Chocolate because of the lower sugar content does not hurt my teeth. So I am always on the hunt for a yummy dark chocolate to put into my snack bin.
I received four pieces of TCHO chocolate to try and was excited to do so. Since natural is better then the fake stuff anyway. The first one we tried was the "Mokaccino" Serious Milk + Blue Bottle Coffee. The taste of coffee was overwhelmingly present. Though it was creamy and rich. Smooth in texture and over all rather delicious. The undertones of the chocolate being able to be tasted as a small after taste of the coffee. This would be good for a quick pick me up through the day. Plus fill that sweet tooth need.
The second bar we tried was PureNotes Dark Chocolatey bars. This particular bar was rather bitter. Like pure dark cocoa typically is. It also had a chalk like texture and a little on the dry side. It was good but even in the small size of this bar I would only be able to eat this in nibbling type bites. It was good just need to be prepared to not pop this whole thing in your mouth at one time!
Dark Chocolate Covered Blueberries by Emily's Chocolate
I received these in my Love with food box. I have to admit I had never heard of the company or about any of their chocolates. So I was unsure about this product at first. Though if you haven't caught on yet I like trying new things anyway so this did not bother me to try out. I happen to like chocolate covered fruits for the most part. Though I have to admit I was a little curious about these.
The packaging was really cute and it is something that would probably grab my attention in a store if I saw it. These bags were easy to open with no real struggle. The chocolate pieces no one was the same size, though they all packed the same taste. The chocolate was smooth and creamy with just a tiny bitter bite. Now the issue I did have with this was the blueberries. You could barely taste them at all. It was more like eating a chocolate covered raisin then a blueberry. Perhaps if I was to eat more then two or three at a time I may start tasting the blueberry but right now it lacks it.
This wouldn't stop me from trying other products by them but it would stop me from buying THIS product by them. I feel they may have over dehydrate the blue berries to the point they lost all their flavor. That or they are using ones that don't have much flavor to begin with. Perhaps if they were to change to a different blueberry or juicer ones they would hold more of their taste. Needless to say I am not overly impressed with their product.
Restaurant Style White Bean Chips by Beanitos
Ever have that hankering for chips though with the fact of your dietary needs or wants you have a hard time finding something to fit you? Well thanks to Love with Food I found something I have fallen in love with. My husband and I are always on the search for healthier ways to snack. Without feeling like we are totally cheating on our dietary needs and wants.
So in my box I received I had to bags of Beantio's White Bean Chips. The bag was about snack size which is all I really need when I am trying new things out. So I was unsure about these because both my husband and myself our weird about gluten free things. Though I think I am a bit more open about trying things like that then he is. So I figured these weren't going to be all that great when I first saw them.
These chips texture wise were really light. Which I found odd for a chip to begin with. Then again one really does not realize how much wheat puts weight into a product. Not only was this chip light and airy. It was even crispier and crunchier then normal chips are. Which I like crisp and a nice crunch sound when bitting into a chip. The taste though...
WOWZER! I was highly impressed this chip was a nice and very pleasant taste. It reminded me a lot of navy beans with a sun flower seed follow up. Which after saying it to my husband I looked at the facts on the bag and saw they were both ingredients in this chip. So it made sense to be able to pull those flavors out the most. This chip also had just enough of a salt that it wasn't gross and overly salty making you need a drink every couple chips. It was actually a real treat to have such a grease free (Unlike most chips), savory and crispy chip.
What was better is my husband Mr Anti Gluten Free stuff couldn't stop eating these! He loved them as much as I did! These chips are all around amazing and let us guilt free eat them! We will certainly be looking for these in the future.
Gavottes Dark Chocolate Crepe Dentelle
These actually have a interesting background. The company alone was founded in 1920 in the Loc Maria District in Quimper France. This is where they hand rolled each crispy crepe for decades. It wasn't until four decades later that they became a industrialized factory. Twelve years later finally the rest of the world got to get there first taste of these delectable tasting crispy crepes. With the start of such a large tempting treat came into demand they were determined to keep up with the times. Keep their customers wanting more and being pleased with the product. From this in 1978 they started coating their Brittany Crepes in chocolate. Which as we jump forward to today is only one of the many products they make.
With that quick history lesson about the company, I will jump over to a little noting before getting into the review. I first got these this past Christmas (2013.) My father and Step mother had gotten my husband and myself these as part of our present. They were something different and new to us. She was thrilled about these things. So I have had these in the past, though at the time it was just the plain milk chocolate. I received seven to eight of these things in my Love with Food box. (Not sure what Love with Food is? Check out the blog entry on Love with Food. For all you foodies out there!)
These were slightly different from the ones we got on christmas. These instead of milk chocolate were covered in dark chocolate. Which I won't lie I was thrilled about. I love dark chocolate. So these little treats are very brittle and easily break at the slightest bit of tension. So these can get messy fast if you are not careful with them. Several in my box were smashed to pieces.
When you bite into these and start actually chewing you realize this is a very light and airy type of treat. It is a interesting and yet new kind of texture in the way it is so smooth. The taste was amazing, just enough sweetness that it is in no way disgustingly sweet but not overly bitter from the dark chocolate either. The chocolate compliments the crunchy crepe that it covers. I can see how quickly these could become in high demand. The issue I do find with them is that because of how light it is, one can easily get carried away with eating these.
This for someone like me who is on a diet would not be a good thing. None the less these things were amazing. Compared to the milk chocolate ones I like these better as did my husband. The milk chocolate was a little to sweet and if you have sensitive teeth like myself it makes eating them hard to do. All in all these are well worth the money and amazing! I can't wait for the chance to try more from this company!
Mario Camacho Pitted Green Olives
I tend to have a love for olives. I like the bitter bite they tend to carry with them. I will even go as far as buying olives just to eat them out of the jar. I got these two delectable treat in the Love with Food box. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical. Even more so when my husband made the comment that typically these things weren't very good. So I put off trying these and put off trying these until I could not anymore.
So looking at Mario Camacho's store website apparently they sale six different types of these. The two I received was Savory Pepper and Garlic. A bit of a spike interest but still very skeptical. So the other night we sat down and tried these after dinner.
The Savory Pepper was up first. The packaging on this one was hard to open and in fact required me to use scissors. So suddenly these on the go packets have already became something that unless you unnaturally carry a pair of scissors with you are no longer on the go friendly. So once I finally got into the packet the aroma was pleasant. Which was a plus in the pro side about these since for the start was already a con. They were kind of smashed up a little which I a, not really looking to eat smashed up olives, though it was expected after all they are in a small packet.
This was a sign though that they were soft. Which for myself and my husband is a likable thing we are not big on the firm olives to much. So the softness was a nice surprise for these. This can also be a good attribute for people whom have issues with there teeth or other dental issues in general. Now the taste of these at first it tasted nothing like pepper on it. Which made me recheck the package to make sure I read these right. They were over powering in the taste of what a natural green olive taste like. After a couple of olives though you could pick up that pepper taste. It was just a small hint of it though and was more like a underlining tone.
The Garlic olive packet on the other hand was easy to open. This takes me back to the fact that it being a on the go snack. This was much more friendly towards it. Perhaps nothing but a fluke with the first one? None the less, Same stance in the way the olives were smashed in the packet. Kind of flattened. The aroma on these though were strongly of garlic. The thing I did not like about that is the fact it wasn't even a fresh garlic smell but almost like a old or artificial smell.
The taste was not much better, at least not to me. My husband seem to like them. I found them to over powering in garlic. I think the smell got to me more then anything though. None the less not something I would buy for myself.
All in all with these its hard to make a good judgment call. Based on the fluke package of the first one and they only come with eight to a packet it really is hard to tell if they are something I would put money out for. Perhaps just not those flavors? I would be willing to try the others before fully writing them off. They weren't bad but they were not something to write home about if you get what I am trying to say. Try it for yourself don't just take my word for it. After all everyone's tastebuds are different.
