Hello Fresh: Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches

If you think you have to spend hours by the barbecue pit to make pulled pork, think again. We’ve done the slow cooking for you—all you need to do is add some sauce and voila!

Everything included, and prep was quite simple. But it seems like there should be more...

 Smelled nice while cooking.

Pork that I was sent was quite fatty and chewy. Sauce covered that up a bit. Seemed very redundant to have slaw on the burger itself, and also as a side item. Could have used another side, maybe sweet potato fries or something similar? Either way, it felt incomplete. 

Rating:

Barbecue Pulled Pork Sandwiches (Hello Fresh): ★★

[recipe]

Blue Apron: Baked Chicken & Mafalda Pasta

Baked Chicken & Mafalda Pasta with Honey & Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

 The kale bag was busted open when I received it, but everything seemed okay. The pasta was great (and I've made it a few times since), but the chicken dressing was much too tart.

Rating:

Baked Chicken & Mafalda Pasta (Blue Apron): ★★½.

[recipe]

Blue Apron: BBQ Glazed Turkey, Sweet Potato Fries, Collard Greens

02 January 2018

My last Blue Apron meal: Barbecue-Glazed Turkey, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Collard Greens. 

I had actually cancelled Blue Apron a month ago, but the cancellation "didn't take", and they sent me a box 5 weeks later. Customer service didn't seem sympathetic to me getting a box I didn't order or want, and refused to give me a refund. I gave away the first meal and decided to make this one so the food didn't go to waste.

The food packaging was actually intact for once, though the directions were a bit confusing. It was supposed to take 50-60 minutes to complete, but took me about 90. Tasted fine, and my kids even ate some. 

BIC® Velocity® Original Mechanical Pencils! :D

Recently I received some free samples of the BIC® Velocity® mechanical pencils to try out from Smiley360. The package came with a 2-pack of the pencils, a fun crossword puzzle, and some coupons to share. 

My daughter insisted on trying it first for drawing, and then with homework, and she grabbed the green one. She loved the big eraser, and said it made it a lot easier to clean up her mistakes. 

My son tried that one soon after her, and now insists on doing his homework with it, too. We've used mechanical pencils before, but they've often been kind of light and the leads break too easily. My son always presses hard when he writes, and he's not broken a single lead on the Velocity yet, in several uses. They both also find the thicker pencil a lot easier to grip in their hands, too.

I've been using the purple one for my crosswords, to-do lists, notes to teachers, and everything else, and I also love it. It's very comfortable to hold, the lead is sturdy, and the bigger eraser works so well. Will definitely be buying more whenever these run out (which will be awhile because it also came with replacement erasers and ink). Way to go, BIC!

Rating:
BIC® Velocity® Original Mechanical Pencils - ★★★★★

New Nestea!

I used my free product coupon that I received from the My Magazine program at Kroger recently to get a Nestea Black Tea, and also purchased a Tea With Lemon. 

Really enjoyed the black tea - cool and fresh without being overly sweet. It's a nice color; not too dark or too light. It also doesn't leave an aftertaste as many packaged teas seem to do.

The lemon, on the other hand, just wasn't for me. I don't mind a slight lemony taste, but it was a bit too overpowering for my tastes. The underlying Nestea tea was pretty nice, but I couldn't get past the tart lemon taste. 

In the future, I'll definitely be buying more of the black tea flavor, but not any of the others because I'm not a fan of peach or raspberry, and after having tried lemon, not that one either. 

Ratings (out of five stars):
NESTEA® Slightly Sweet Black Tea  - ★★★★ 
NESTEA® Lemon- ★★

Greetings and Salutations!

Hi, all!

This is the start of a new blog where I will review all sorts of neat, new products I'm lucky enough to get to try. I hope you enjoy. Here we go...