Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters - Product Review

We don't snack a lot. Even the majority of our holiday baking went to work with Harry - we love to make it, we just have one or two nibbles then we're done. But, every once in awhile I'll get this wanting - it might be a simple salt craving that a cracker will satisfy, or a single piece from the candy basket Elliot always checks to make sure isn't empty. (He's SO smart!) (OK, not gonna lie - I'm totally the passive-aggressive Gramma making sure there's something he doesn't eat very often in a low enough space he can see it.)

As a member of CrowdTap, I was given the opportunity to sample the new Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters in exchange for my unbiased review. I was familiar with the Brookside Brand and had sampled many of their chocolate and fruit blends during Costco trips. Competitive grazing - greatest date night invention ever!

I knew that the quality of Brookside was amazing. Their dark chocolate creations have the perfect blend of bitter and sweet that I want in a dark chocolate. I only had one concern in advance of receiving my complimentary sample pack. With my teeth, I prefer to not eat anything super crunchy - I broke a tooth on a corn nut a million years ago.

I gently bit into my first nugget of Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters, ready to stop if I had any concerns. This is the first "crunchy" snack I've tried in years that I didn't worry about breaking a tooth. The "crunchies" are more like crisp cereal bites - think along the lines of the crunch you get with a Krispy/Crunch bar (comparisons for both my Canadian and American relatives - but don't confuse it with a Krispy Krunch bar, because this is nothing like that).

Concerns alleviated, I sampled a few clusters with gusto! When you open the bag, you get a beautiful aroma of fruit with just a hint of chocolate in the air. The dark chocolate and fruit flavors, as with all of Brookside's products, are perfectly balanced. There is a nice balance of textures with smooth chocolate, chewy dried  fruit, and crispy multigrain nuggets.

Originally, when participating in pre-campaign questionnaires, I thought the Brookside Dark Chocolate Crunchy Clusters would be a great addition to a cup of yogurt. Maybe I would eat them alongside some popcorn. My first taste made me think of a wine tasting we went to at a vineyard in Indiana. The final tasting was a sweet wine and they made sure we had a little nibble of chocolate to go with the wine. THAT taste became my perfect pairing.

Shawn brought us a bottle of Marion Mead from Superstition Meadery. This is a nicely balanced mead and the dark chocolate and fruit flavors of the clusters were the perfect nibble with a small glass of mead.

I'm a fan. I haven't seen the Crunchy Clusters in the store yet, but I'll be keeping an eye out for them. The zip-seal package means I can nibble on a few pieces when the urge strikes, but they won't go stale

And the beginning of the challenge: Avocado!

Guacamole! Ole! Avocado!

I don't eat this yumtabulous treat very often. My hips don't need it and Harry doesn't really care for it - he says it tastes green.

I didn't take enough pictures the last time I made it. I was just so excited to make it I forgot the step by step pictures. I tend to plan this one a few days in advance so I can buy a rather firm avocado and let it ripen on my kitchen counter.

When I used to go to Scottsdale for the annual Sewing Circle parties, salsa and guacamole were always my contributions. I could pick up the ingredients at Fry's and throw it together. It was also a lot cheaper than trying to pack my KitchenAid in the suitcase. Do you know how heavy that thing is?

In the winter, the only fresh tomatoes I'll buy are cherry or grape tomatoes. Those rock-hard things they call tomatoes in central Ohio in January taste like paper and I won't subject my sensitive tongue to them.

Years ago, when I worked at Barley's Smokehouse and Brewpub, Thursday's lunch special was enchiladas. The kitchen guys who grew up south of the border made the guac and an amazing verde sauce. The verde was for staff consumption only and the guacamole was to die for.

I can't count the number of times I asked Adolfo for the recipe. All he would do is tell me what was in it. I had to kind of learn to wing it from there. But, at the rate it always disappeared in Scottsdale, I think this Midwestern gal got the hang of it.

I like my guacamole to be chunky, so I just kind of mash the avocado a bit with a fork and use a very gentle hand when mixing everything together. There's tomato, sweet onion, fresh garlic, fresh lime juice, minced jalepeno, cilantro and just a pinch of Kosher salt.

How much of everything? Remember what Adolfo said to me? Nah...follow the link to my recipe for Fast & Easy Guacamole

Vietnamese Egg Rolls...Harry's Way!

Without too many details, let me just say that Harry knows Vietnamese food! Last winter, we finally decided to really test our kitchen chops several times with Asian cuisine and the results were great. As usual, when we get into our "experimental research" phase, we will spend hours making dinner.

The difference is visible on the nights when we are making Vietnamese food - I chop a few veggies and sit back with a glass of wine while Harry takes control! This recipe for Vietnamese Egg Rolls doesn't really take long, we take a long time. We always make a full batch so we can have some in the freezer - even with great effort, we can't come anywhere near eating 30 large Vietnamese Egg Rolls in one night.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls differ a bit from the more common Chinese Egg Roll is the meat - our version contains salad-size shrimp and pork with some veggies and noodles thrown in for depth.

Still didn't have my new kitchen light - in the back are our two dipping sauces. I made a sweet lemongrass sauce and Harry's Nuac Cham is the light-colored sauce.

I chopped all the veggies - some shallot, garlic, sweet pepper, Napa Cabbage and Bean Sprouts.

Ready for the freezer. We freeze them on a pan to keep the Vietnamese Egg Rolls from sticking together. Then, we can just pull out a few at a time to fry when we get a craving.

The expert! Harry puts about two tablespoon of the egg roll filling on the diagonal wrapper...

Then, fold the bottom up, close in the sides and finish rolling. He dips in fingers in the little bowl of water to seal the edges of the finished egg roll.

 You can find the complete recipe for our Vietnamese Egg Rolls right here!