Weekly Graze Box

For the past six or seven weeks I've been receiving a Graze box and I love it. Don't know what that is? It's a weekly snack box which the UK have had for a while, but the US only got quite recently. It has a range of healthy and delicious snacks which you can get delivered to your door on whichever day of your choosing. I currently receive mine once a week, on a Thursday. You can choose to receive it more than once a week if you'd like to.

It comes in a very cute cupboard box, with your four snacks, a napkin, the nutrition information, and also codes for you to hand out to your friends to get a free box. It's displayed so nicely, and is all very secure so it doesn't get ruined during delivery.

As for the content of the boxes, there's lots to choose from. There's a range of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, olives, fresh bread, flapjacks and crackers. When I first joined I binned all the food I knew I definitely wouldn't eat straight away (olives) so that I knew I would like all the snacks in my box. So far my absolute favourite is the apple and cinnamon flapjack, but I'm very excited to try the new brownie they've brought out but lent has been stopping me!

You can choose to receive a nibble box with a variety of snacks, or else a nutritious box which is perfect for those who are dieting and want healthy, low fat/calorie foods.

As mentioned before, I binned all the food I knew I wouldn't like straight away. They have a rating system to let them know whether you liked, loved or want to bin something so they know not to send it. You can also request to receive an item soon if you really liked it or want to try.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you all this and think I'm being paid for this, but I'm not! I have decided to do a weekly post on the boxes I receive and whether I liked the snacks in my box. Just a little something so I can have a regular posts on my blog.

First was the ancient forest nuts which I wasn't a big fan of. I like almonds, but I'm not keen on hazelnuts and walnuts unless they're in chocolate. My mum and sister ate this so it didn't go to waste!

Next was the herby bread basket which is very tasty. It has garlic croutons, basil baguettes and rice crackers. Really nice, but I wouldn't advise eating in public because it smells quite strong because of the garlic and basil.

This week I received my absolute favourite, the apple and cinnamon flapjack. This is actually the nicest flapjack I have ever had and I wish I could buy them somewhere more often. Even after keeping it a few days before eating, it was still really moist and fresh.

Finally, popcorn with a hint of black pepper. I haven't actually tried this yet but I'll report back. I was so excited when I saw this because I've been really wanting to try the popcorn.

That's it for this week, if you'd like to try a free box for yourself then you can use my coupon code if you'd like! Its 6G77KHGD Sorry though, this is for the UK only. It costs £3.98 a box including delivery.

Have you tried a graze box already? What's your favourite snack?

Blogmas Day 21 - Christmas Party Snack Ideas

Last night I had my annual Christmas party where I had my friends round for some nice food and our Secret Santa gift exchange. Although it wasn't really secret since we all said who we had bought our present for and then opened them. I never usually open any presents until Christmas, apart from one from my nanny which is usually pyjamas for us to wear on Christmas Eve.

I love making snacks so here are a few photographs of the food we had (I love food photographs). I don't know if this is something people in America eat, or if this is just a British thing, but I actually love cheese and pickled onions on cocktail sticks. So good!

Then we had some lovely cranberry and white chocolate cheese with crackers. Also very delicious, and I do love some nice cheese at Christmas time.

Some carrot batons and a dip selection of Asda. There was also bread sticks and Doritos to dip as well.

If you follow Bethany (Macbarbie07) on YouTube then you may recognise these from her videos last year. She got salted pretzels and melted Hershey's Kisses on top of them, and then topped them off with an M&M. The combination of salty and sweet makes them absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, I left them under the grill slightly too long and the chocolate burnt a bit, I was not amused. Apparently they still tasted just as good though. I also couldn't get Hershey's Kisses anywhere so I had to just use some squares of chocolate. I highly recommend trying these if you haven't already, even as just a snack for yourself.

If you know me, then you'll know I love to bake, and no party is complete without me making some cupcakes. To get into the festive spirit I made some candy cane peppermint cupcakes. I'll not go into too much detail about these though as I plan on putting the recipe for how to make them up in the next few days. I also didn't have enough icing to put on the amount I usually do which made me quite sad, but they worked out okay! Apparently I wasn't having such a good baking day.

Some hot food was also made as you can see from the table. We had some mini pepperoni pizzas for the meat eaters, and also some cheese ones. Then there was loaded potato skins with cheese and onion, cheese and tomato, and cheese and jalapeno. Then there was also egg fried rice, and some cheese bites.

Please, please let me know what type of snacks you make if you're having friends over, or just when you feel like making something nice. I love getting new ideas, and snacks are my favourite!

Shopping Haul!

First of all, I would like to saw a big thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday! I got emails through on my phone as you commented on my last post and it brought a big smile to my face so thank you so much!

I have a few shopping hauls coming up because I haven't had time to upload any photographs recently! I've decided to start with this one because it was the longest ago, and then work my way forward. I'm so behind on my blogging recently!

This was from my shopping trip two weeks ago, I think I may have mentioned it in another post around then.

I'd been wanting to buy Lush's Angels on Bare Skin cleanser for a while so I was glad to finally get my hands on it as I'd read good things about it. Unfortunately I still haven't even got to try it yet, but once I do I will let you all know how I got on.

Next I bought Soap & Glory's Hand Food. This is the hand cream I've been using for a while now and I love it so I just needed to stock up on it!

I've heard/read that MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer is an amazing concealer and can also be used as a foundation. As someone who loves to hear this type of thing, I had to buy it next time I was near their counter. I've used it two or three times already and I know already that I'll definitely be repurchasing.

Just some basic hair grips next because I appear to loose these everyday I wear them.

I found this store in Belfast called City Picnic and it is amazing if you like American food and candy the way I do. I had been wanting to try this Swiss Miss hot chocolate for so long so i was absolutely delighted when I saw it and picked it up immediately. I also got two peppermint patties but they didn't make it to the photo shoot. I also love Uncrustables but I can never buy these online since they're frozen so I have now been able to make my own thanks to Smuckers Strawberry PB&J.

I'd not planned on buying any new clothes and I never shop in Pull & Bear but whilst in with my sister I spotted this cute striped tank top and tried it on and loved it.

I also picked up a plain burgundy/maroon coloured tank top in H&M to wear under the dress I also purchased.

Once again, I hadn't even been looking for any new dresses at all, but I saw this out of the corner of my eye and this is my favourite colour at the minute, especially for going into Autumn so I had to go and try it on. It's a nice floaty chiffon material that looks lovely with the thin black studded belt I also picked up a few days ago. I'm so excited to wear this dress, I just need a reason now!

I'll try and take some photographs for my birthday haul and post them in the next few days as I bought/received some nice things!

Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Review

I've had my eye on this for a while, so imagine my delight when I found it in a shop in Belfast on Saturday afternoon? Strangely, I had been talking about it the night before and was planning on ordering it online as it's not very common to find this type of American food in any of the stores I use. I'd had absolutely delicious hot chocolate whilst in Las Vegas in November (so sad that I asked for hot chocolate in the casinos) and I'd been thinking about it ever since. I looked online and this appeared to be the most popular brand so I made a mental note to make a purchase. I tried a sachet as soon as I was home that night and it was perfect. I usually make mine with hot milk, but you can also add water, just a matter of personal preference. I added a little bit of the powder at a time and stirred it in with milk. The sachet is pretty full, I'd say it's around 5 to 6 tablespoons. I like mine nice and chocolaty, but if you don't, then I'd say this one sachet could do about three people and it's still very tasteful. Fortunately for me, none of my family really liked it that much as they prefer their drink to be weaker, so I get the whole box (10 sachets) to myself! It has a malt taste to it, so if you don't like that then this might not be for you.

They also sell it with mini marshmallows already in the sachet, another with even more marshmallows, one with coloured marshmallows, french vanilla flavour, dark sensations, and mocha cappuccino. Quite a variety to choose from! Highly recommend.

Liebster Award :)

Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 random facts about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and make 11 new questions for the people you tag.

3. Choose 11 people and link them in this post.

4. Go to their page and notify them.

5. No tag backs.


11 Facts About Me

1. I like to buy stationery that looks nice, even though I'll probably never use it.
2. I can't go to sleep until I've checked my Facebook/Twitter/Instagram.
3. I hate walking to work by myself early in the morning because I'm convinced someone is going to get me.
4. I bought the Urban Decay NYC Book of Shadows about 2/3 years ago and have never used it because I don't want to ruin the colours. I take it out and look at it sometimes and put it away again.
5. I still love my Sweet Valley High books and like to read them sometimes.
6. I've wanted to get a third piercing in my ear for about 4 or 5 years now, but I'm too lazy to actually go and do it.
7. I have to check my whole room for spiders every night before I go to bed.
8. I can't throw away any of my magazines and have Cosmopolitans from 2007.
9. I like nuts, but hate nuts in chocolate and will pick them out before I eat the chocolate.
10. Whenever I decide I'm going to sell old clothes on ebay, I try them on and decide I like them too much and may wear them in the future, and end up keeping half of them.
11. I have at least 50 DVDs in my collection that are still in the plastic.

An-An's Questions

1. Favorite bands?

Muse, Radiohead and The Pretty Reckless.

2. What's your HG beauty product?

 I kept trying to figure out what HG stood for and I really can't figure it out haha. I'm going to go with it meaning something like favourite/most used? If so, I absolutely love my FAIRYDROPS mascara and I'm sad that it's not available in the UK. I also love my Berry Smoothie Revlon Lip Butter.

3. Would you rather shop at Forever21 or H&M? 

Forever21, but we don't have one in Belfast, and I don't like to buy from their online store as I need to try everything on. I just have to stock up when I'm away!

4. Favorite books?

Memoirs of a Geisha is one of my favourites, and I love the Harry Potter series, and have probably read all of them several times.

5. Who is your favorite youtuber?

This is a super hard question for me. For comedy value it has to be JennaMarbles, I also love EpicMealTime for all their food creations, beautywise I've found MissGlamorazzi to be too influential on me, as well as Macbarbie07, and I've also recently discovered Pixi2woo who is very good at makeup. I spend too much time on YouTube...

6. Do you play any instruments? If so, what?

Sadly not.

7. Are you neat or messy?

A very organised mess, I know exactly where everything is. Although my idea of a mess apparently is very tidy compared to a lot of my friends.

8. What are your favorite TV shows?

Gossip Girl (so sad it's ending next season!), 90210, The Vampire Diaries, The Lying Game, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Circle (hate that it's ended now).

9. Do you have a phobia? 

Heights and spiders.

10. Favorite fast food restaurant? 

If we had it, it would most definitely be In n Out burger, their animal fries and grilled cheese is so amazing!

11. Do you remember your dreams when you wake up?

Usually. Sometimes I remember them later on when I see or hear something that reminded me of it.

My Questions

1. If you could only use one make-up product for the rest of your life what would it be?
2. If there was a fire and you only had time to grab one thing (pets not included), what would you take?
3. Do you prefer sweet or savoury?
4. What's your favourite hair product?
5. What's your favourite season, and why?
6. If you could go away on an all expenses paid trip, where would you choose?
7. What's your favourite smell?
8. What would be your dream job?
9. Which channel do you watch most on TV?
10. What was your favourite concert?
11. Do you prefer milkshakes or smoothies?

Lovely bloggers I tag

http://tanesha-marie.blogspot.com/

http://ellielovesmakeup.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.frenchforcupcake.com/

http://nuckurucmakeup.blogspot.co.uk/

http://pablosangel.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.sadeestyle.net/

http://secondhand--news.blogspot.co.uk/

http://secretsofawannabecharlotte.blogspot.co.uk/

http://themodmermaid.blogspot.co.uk/