Degustabox - July

Whoop! Whoop! Another month, another free delivery from Degustabox so I can tell you all about the products in the shipment.

This one had a few things I was very familiar with, and a few others that were completely new to me. Here's the whole lot of 'em:

Karma Wellness Water - a special cap keeps the vitamins separate from the water until you peel, push, and shake introduce the good stuff to the water. It's only 20 calories and has 110 percent of 7 vitamins. I haven't actually tried this yet, but it sounds like a good supplement.

Vermont Smoke & Cure sticks - Mmm, beef sticks. I love smoked sausage products, and these make a nice little snack. No need to buy larger sausages that need to be refrigerated - these can hang out in the snack bowl for a quick nosh whenever I'm in the mood.

Kala beans - these little darlings are dried crunchy beans that look a little like peanuts. They don't actually taste nutty, but they scratch that same itch. The ones I got were curry flavored, but they weren't in-your-face curry - just nicely seasoned and perfect for snacking.

King Arthur Flour Essential Goodness baking mix - this is funny. They sent a box of the chocolate chip cookie mix, but I had just made a batch of the coffee cake from the same product line. If you don't like the sometimes-artificial flavors of many inexpensive baking mixes, this mix is different. It tastes much more home made. I haven't yet baked the cookies (it's been pretty warm here) but I know this will be as good as other mixes that I've tried. Even better, for every box of mix that's purchased, King Arthur Flour donates a meal to Feeding America.

Goya olive oil - made from Spanish olives, this is a relatively bold flavored oil. I go through a whole lot of olive oil, and this is one of the brands I buy, depending on where I'm shopping and what my mood is.

Mutti Tomato Sauce - I got a Mutti tomato product in a previous box. I use a lot of canned tomato products, so it's nice to know there's another brand that I like. I'm not sure I've seen this one sold locally, but I'll look for it.

Wise popcorn - I make a lot of popcorn, but when I do, it's practically a mean. Okay, sometimes it is a meal.I got little single serve bags of popped Wise popcorn and thought that a single bag was a perfect snack. I was skeptical about the Cinnabon flavor, but it was actually really good. Totally fun.

Mrs. Thinsters - Thin,crunchy cookies. What's not to like? These are made from the same sort of ingredients you'd use in your kitchen, so they're great for people who want an indulgence but also want to avoid preservatives and other additives that are common in commercially baked products.

Waffle Waffle - it's a little waffle! I set this one aside for a morning when I want something sweet with my coffee, but I haven't had that urge yet. Maybe I'll have it for dessert, instead. It's meant to be portable, and they say no syrup is needed. Sounds good to me!

RXBAR (coupon) - the box contained a coupon for a full-size RXBAR protein bar. I haven't shopped for it yet, so I can't tell you what it's like. But it's nice to have a coupon handy in case I want a snack on the run.

So there ya go. Lots of tasty stuff this month. For more info, check out Degustabox,who sends a box to me at no charge every month so I can describe 'em to you.

Fiona's Granola (and more)

Every month, Sprouts (a grocery store chain, in case they're not in your neighborhood) invites a bunch of bloggers to tour local food-related businesses. It's fun, I get to see some blogger friends, and it's educational, too.

And sometimes I find out about products that I didn't know about, either during the tour or something tucked into our goodie bag.

This time around, we met at the facility that makes and packages Fiona's granolas. The company is called Fiona's Natural Foods, but right now, it's mostly granola, along with some trail mix and oatmeal.

We got a tour of the whole facility - it's kind of a neat setup. There are a bunch of different food companies in a building that used to be a postal sorting facility. They're all relatively small companies, and they share a meeting space, the have a communal warehouse area, and they all have use of the docks for shipping and receiving.

We didn't get to go into the other company's space, we peeked in a few windows. We did get the see how Fiona's makes their granola. There wasn't anything running as far as production, but they showed us how the granola gets packaged.

And then we had snacks, including (you guessed it) granola and yogurt and add-ins. It was pretty tasty. And then we got our granola samples to go. Or, actually, full-size bags. I picked a few that sounded good, but once I got home I realized that a few of them had coconut in them. Oopsie. But that's okay, I like sharing.

One of the features of the granola is that it's particularly high in protein, thanks to the use of plant protein. For example, the almond cinnamon (one of my favorites) has both pea protein and lentil flour, along with the almonds.

At first I was going to make a recipe using the granola. I considered making some kind of fruit crisp with a granola topping, but I've done that before and didn't feel like I needed to do it again. I thought about using it in coffee cake, but I had a chocolate cake that needed to be eaten. Then I decided to use some granola to coat French toast. It was good, but the photos were ... well, hideous is a good description. Don't look too closely at the granola photo up top. Ha!

I really wanted to come up with a recipe, because that's what I do. But then ... I realized that granola is pretty much a perfect product without muddling around with it. There's no reason to try to wedge it into a recipe. I mean, if you want to sprinkle it on top of some yogurt, that's good enough, right?

So anyway, I sampled the ones that didn't have coconut (read the labels!) and I have to say it's pretty darned good. The granola is all sweetened with coconut sugar, but that doesn't taste like coconut, so that's perfectly fine with me. There are larger and smaller pieces, and it's appealingly crunchy without being tooth-breaking. It's a really good snack. If you're a granola fan and you haven't tried this brand yet, give it a try.

The oatmeal also sounded interesting since it has both rolled oats and steel cut oats. But since it had large flakes of coconut in it, I decided to pass it along to someone else who appreciated it more. They have another flavor that doesn't have coconut. I might give that one a try if I see it at Sprouts.

Also ... it has about the best packaging I've seen in a long time. There's an easy pull-tab that opens the bag on the back side - and it pulls neatly without tearing. Then it reseals. Easy peasy. I don't know why more companies don't have packaging like this.

So there ya go. Granola. Crunch crunch yum.

Thanks to Sprouts for sponsoring the event and to Fiona's Natural Products for hosting.

illy Coffee #Giveaway

The nice folks at Illy sent me coffee to make a cocktail - the recipe is HERE - Check it out! 

They're also offering coffee to my readers. It's really good coffee! You WANT to win this!

And, if you're in the mood for mixing your own cocktails, check out these mixology charts.

Illy supplied these, so you can mix your own creations. What would you choose?

Now, are you ready to WIN some coffee?

Anolon Cookware Set #Giveaway #FromScratch

It's your lucky day. I'm participating in the Anolon "Start From Scratch" campaign, where I created a barbecue recipe - sauce made completely from scratch - and, I have a giveaway for you.

I made a fantastic barbecue sauce and a pork roast that was used to make sandwiches. Go check out both recipes, hmmmm?

GIVEAWAY!!!

One lucky reader can get a set of Anolon Advanced cookware that you can find at Macy's right now for $299, if you're in a buying mood. The set includes: 1.5 Qt. Covered Saucepan, 3 Qt. Covered Saucepan, 8 Qt. Covered Stockpot, 8.5" Skillet, 12" Covered Deep Skillet, 3 Qt. Covered Saute. Bonus Items are: 10" Open Skillet, 3 Qt. Covered Sauteuse with swing lid.

I own several pieces of Anolon cookware from different product lines, and I have to say that the Advanced line is pretty sweet. It's nonstick, but it's also safe for use with metal utensils. But I have to say that with the advent of high-heat silicone spatulas, I seldom use metal utensils in any of my cookware. But it's good to know that if someone else decided to use a metal spoon to stir a sauce, my cookware would be safe.

I have a few different pieces from this particular line that I use ... maybe not daily, but really, really often, including a saucepan that almost ne ver leaves the stove zone. And, the color is classy, with the dark gray and silver. It just looks good on my stove, and it cleans up easily, both inside and out.

If you win this set, you're gonna love it! Or someone is gonna love you very much if you give it as a present. Christmas is coming.

For more about the recipe I made, go look at COOKISTRY. The complete recipe that goes with this post will be on Anolon.com. How cool is THAT???

Because you really do want this pork sandwich in your life.

Or maybe these nachos.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

About this campaign: Anolon sponsored the Start from Scratch campaign to encourage home cooks to consider making a wider range of foods from scratch From August 13-31, Anolon's Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest social media sites will promote the campaign, with opportunities for you to win Anolon cookware prizes. There is also a special 20 percent off promotion on Anolon open stock items available at Macy’s. I am a paid participant in this campaign.

Enter below. If the widget doesn't load, give it a few seconds. If that doesn't work, try reloading this page. The giveaway is also available on my Facebook page.