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Snackle Mouth!

My name is Marianne, and I’m a snacker. I’ve been snacking my entire life, and I have no intention to give it up. They’re going to throw me out of Snackers Anonymous. But not before I tell you about a great new product we tried recently. It’s Snackle Mouth’s Bacon Maple Granola Nut Clusters. Naseem and I each had a box of it in our respective offices, and neither of us could leave it alone. Totally addictive.

Clusters!

I had originally been hoping it was a crunchy granola I could put in yogurt, which is my morning routine. But I was in no way disappointed to find it was more like a box of almonds, each coated in a maple-bacon-granola crust. Not so much a cereal as an irresistible, can’t-stop-grabbing-a-handful treat. When you first open the package, you’re wrapped in the warm, comforting aroma of maple syrup. I assume it’s the key to holding the clusters together. This means they don’t have the crunch of, say, a dry-roasted almond, but I’m not complaining. You’d enjoy these if you’re a fan of honey-roasted nuts.

Now to the important question: can you taste the bacon? Not a lot. There are definitely little bacon bits well mixed into the clusters, and if you’re looking for the flavor, it’s there. Someone who didn’t know there was supposed to be bacon might miss it. What I do appreciate here is that they didn’t make the mistake of adding artificial smoke flavor to try to bacon it up. That’s my least favorite gimmick. Like with any maple and bacon combination (including a plate of pancakes and bacon), the maple is the prominent flavor, and that’s okay. More than okay, it’s really how it should be. I can honestly say that we would both recommend this to our friends.

This is a new product and is currently not listed on Snackle Mouth’s website, nor is it available through Abe’s Market yet, but shoot them an email if you’re interested. Once they hear that the bacon community is excited, I’m sure it’ll help get this new flavor up and running.

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Our lovely friends at Baconery are having a Tax Day Sale, just for us bacon lovers! So take those refund dollars and treat yourself to something special. Or, if you’re like me, drown your Tax Day sorrows in salty, chocolately bliss. Go to their website now and check out all the wonderous creations!

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Looking for the zaniest of bacon products this lovely spring weekend? We’ve got you covered, and then some. This year is even better than last. Let’s begin with our friends at Green Works, a product I personally use and love. (This is not a paid endorsement, I’m just a fan.) I didn’t think their cleaners could get more delightful, but oh how wrong I was.

Dammit all, I want to jump on a trampoline with a piglet. For more information, check out the Green Works blog. Big ups to reader Elizabeth for this one!

Next we have a product for our faithful friend, the cat. Fresh Step is a trusted name in kitty litter, so of course they’re thinking of its users’ happiness and sensory pleasure. Litter is, after all, about covering the worst of odors. But why not go a step further, and make the litter box a boon to the whole household?

Want to learn more? Check out their website and find out how you can get involved in the campaign to make kitty litter tasty again. I know Naseem and her feline overlords have already placed their order.

And finally, no product round-up would be complete without a big surprise from our friends J&D at Bacon Salt. I love those guys. And this time they’ve really outdone themselves. For the person who wants to say, “Dear Bacon, you may have killed me, but I still love you,” we present the Bacon Coffin:

This is the end all, be all. Literally. Couldn’t you just die? Okay, enough of that. Check out the full story at their blog. And thanks to my good friend and bacon enthusiast Genna for always being on the lookout.

We hope everyone is having a great weekend, full of fun surprises!

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In case you were looking for something to do this weekend, and in case you happen to love motorcycles and bacon, we have an event for you! The First (and hopefully not last) Annual Bacon Run starts in San Diego and ends up right here in Santa Barbara’s backyard at the beautiful El Capitan campsite. If the Level 12 Biker Wizards are to be believed – and what could be more trustworthy than motorcycle nerds? - this event will have prizes, bacon, a jacuzzi, and biker dudes in skimpy thongs. Or something like that. I’ll probably have to go up there just to see what a real ‘olde tyme vintage motorbike clube’ looks like.

Thanks to the Chop Cult Forum for this important announcement.

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This absolutely blows my mind. My good friends Chrissy and Smiley went to a taping of The Price is Right for their 4-year anniversary, because they are awesome like that. To my utter delight, Smiley was picked and yes, he was wearing the Bacon Freak shirt he won at Bacon Day 2008. Because we all know that a great t-shirt is the way to get picked on The Price is Right, and what could make better TV than a pig and a pithy phrase about bacon? Drew, of course, had plenty to say about it and, well, I won’t give away the end…

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Blogging is hard work, you know? Eating bacon. Writing about eating bacon. Thinking about eating and writing about bacon. It wears on a girl.

We recently got a beautiful package in the mail from Leigh at Naughty Bits Brownies. And then we had to EAT BROWNIES. Geez. What more do you people want from us? And keep in mind that these were no ordinary brownies. These were Shiksa Bars, topped with maple-smoked bacon and bits of toffee. There was a lot of arm-twisting involved, but finally Naseem, Husband and I gathered round the table to fight over share these fudgy treats. All for your benefit, The Internet. You’re welcome.

The first thing we noticed about the individually wrapped brownies was their weight. These are some hefty squares; we were a little intimidated. The very next thing that drew us in was the amazing, chocolatey aroma. This is what you want your whole house to smell like all day, every day. Our taste buds started screaming for their turn. We decided, based on what we’d experienced so far, that we better split one. It turned out to be a smart decision.

I’ll start with our favorite thing, which was the incredibly rich, almost fudge-like density. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to brownies, but all three of us loved this one. Moist, super-chocolatey…better than eating my favorite candy bar. What’s not to love? And now here’s where our tastes diverge. I’m not a huge fan of frosting or extraneous toppings on my cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. (Ice cream doesn’t count as a topping, Husband! Ice cream lives on the side.) So as I was saying, I probably would have preferred the basic Man Catcher (a la mode). Naseem and Husband, on the other hand, loved the toffee and thought it enhanced the brownie experience. Who are we kidding…I didn’t exactly scrape it off mine.

Now for the thing we’re all here for: the bacon. Unfortunately, this was our least favorite feature. It had the extra-chewy consistency of bacon jerky, which hasn’t scored high marks with us either. I thought it also lacked the saltiness I was looking for. I completely get it; crispy cooked bacon doesn’t exactly have a long shelf-life. Finding just the right bacon product for retail sweets is no easy task. That said, the toffee pretty well dominated the topping region, keeping the bacon from being too troublesome. And it certainly didn’t stop us from completely devouring that baby. By the following mid-morning, all three brownies were gone. I’m not saying who ate them? I’m just saying…

Naughty Bits Brownies come in six different, unique flavors, and you can order them in cutely packaged boxes of 6 ($21) or 12 ($41). You can get all one style or mix and match…heck, try them all! I’m imagining each would fit just perfectly in the toe of a stocking.

Don’t forget to check out the Bacon Store for more stocking-stuffer ideas. It’s December 1st people! Those presents aren’t going to buy themselves!

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