Let’s talk reusable bags…

For a while now we have been trying to roll in more reusable products into the house hold and dispense with the single use items. It has been an interesting process and one that has had some ups and downs. Nowhere more than in the humble sandwich bag.

I know, most of you are thinking that they make boxes for that and have for a long time. Do you think I could forget my Scooby Doo Lunch box so easily? However we have had a bit of a snag. You see, we rarely use regular sandwich bread. The boxes are usually designed to hold sandwiches made from regular loaf bread. They have issues with anything not shaped like regular square sandwich bread actually. And even when we did buy bread, we generally went with a bread that had more oblong slices.

Now of course I will either make a loaf of bread or make sandwich rolls. Often time it is more sandwich rolls than a loaf actually. I like rolls with dinner or with soup where as my babydoll likes to have a sandwich for lunch every day. I make the rolls a little bit bigger than I would normally make rolls and we have something suitable for both.

I know there is less of a bread shortage these days than there was and most people have stopped making bread like they did in 2020. We were actually making it before shortages arrived because of salt. My babydoll has blood pressure issues and while he is on a medicine that helps with that, salt is something we still have to watch. We read labels and cur it out of as many things as possible which means most pre packaged foods actually.

He actually cried when he read the back of the tater tots bag. And then he spend three days doing math to try to figure out how much salt he’d have to cut out to be allowed a giant bowl of tater tots once a month. The math was doomed to fail, but it was interesting to watch him try to bend the numbers in a way the Olympics gymnastic team would envy.

While we knew the Tater Tots were a doomed effort, I was surprised by how much sodium was in packaged bread. Its a lot, and I started making bread once the labels were written. i may grumble about the need to make it, but i have to admit, I really like the bread we make.

The one issue is transporting the sandwiches to his office. The rolls are round, or sometimes square-ish. They are often too puffy to fit in a box with the lid closed even if they can fit in the box without the lid. And many reusable bags don’t open wide enough for the sandwich.

Enter Keep Leaf. While they do sell lunch bags and other containers, they also sell reusable baggies. The smaller ones are great for snacks like carrots or nuts, but the larger ones are perfect for sandwiches. They have a velcro top and open like an envelope so there is no squeezing of the sandwich to get it in or squeezing to get it back out. The Large baggie is only $7 and it comes in many different textile patterns.

The outside is cloth and the inside is a waterproof material so if you put in something like freshly washed carrots the few drops of water on them aren’t going to leak through. It isn’t completely sealed as it is a velcroid flap at the top but we haven’t had any issues with leakage.

To wash them you turn them inside out and while you can always wash them in the sink, they can also go on the top rack of the dishwasher. Just put them in upside down and that mustard dribble from yesterdays ham and swiss will be gone without hiding in the crevices.

Thus far this is the best reusable bag we have tried. While my babydoll uses the big one for sandwiches, it is useful for a variety of things and in the three months we have been using it, it looks just as good as when we purchased it. I have been really impressed. If you are looking for a sturdy sandwich or snack bag that is reusable, i would suggest giving Keep Leaf a look. For us they have worked really well and we will be expanding our collection soon.

Unboxing the Piquant Post for April 2023

Even though today is May first we are going to unbox the last of the April subscriptions. For some reason all of them came in at the end of the month this time around so it is sort of a subscription bomb of posts, but these are the last for April. I suppose we will see when the May ones start to arrive.

This is a new to me subscription that I came across on cratejoy. I love poking around there for new things. Although I have to admit I did go in looking for spiced based subscriptions this time around. I went in looking for a subscription like this and found several. I may try this one for a few months and then switch to try out one of the others, Or I may fall in love with this one.

The reason is simple, I love to cook. It is something though that I have let slide a bit. I still make dinner but because of the dieting and meal planning I generally stick to a scope of recipes that fit well within the caloric range I am going for and have the ingredients I know will work well.

Which, while useful and practical, does take some of the joy out of cooking. Normally we have one day a week where we just eat something because we want to eat it and not because it is part of the dieting scheme. Lately my babydoll has taken this to mean that he can get take out on the way home from work. When it comes to take out, he is not the most restrictive.

So this is a two birds with one stone kind of subscription for me. I get a day where I can make something different, playing around with recipes that I wouldn’t normally make and I can break the habbit of take out on the cheat day.

So Piquant Post. It is $12.99 per month with a $1 tax fee added making the subscription a whopping $13,99. I think it may be my least expensive subscription at the moment.

Inside of this little brown envelope you get four recipes and four spice packets. There is a small informational card that tells you how each month works. It does have a code I can share with people for 20% off that is PAYITFWD. Feel free to use it. I gent nothing from it. I don’t think it is attached to any points system or anything.

There is a theme for each month with all of the recipes coming from one area. as all of these four are Indian Recipes I am guessing they chose India. While the individual cards do describe the dish and a little bit about it (as well as giving the recipe) there is no theme of the month sort of card. India is a large place with many diverse regions. I have o idea if they chose chose random dishes that are Indian or if they went for a specific area. it would have been nice to know that.

To be honest, that is the only flaw I am seeing. The recipes look good. The four I received are: Tandoori Beef Skewers with Coconut Rice and Riata, Chicken Chaat with Yogurt and Chutney, Paneer Tikka, and South Indian Fish Curry. I have ordered all except for the fish curry at restaurants before and I look forward to trying them out on y own to see how they can be made by me at home.

The recipes are straight forward when reading them through and they don’t look like they require any specialized equipment or unique skills. They are written for somenoe with basic cooking skills. I think they look like something that a beginner could do well with as well as providing enough interest for someone who has been cooking for a while. I like eating Indian food but my cooking of it is very limited so I find comfort in the easy to understand recipes when facing an unfamiliar cuisine. At least unfamiliar to my kitchen.

I also like that there are substitution recommendations. For example Paneer can be replaced with Tofu of you aren’t into cheese or can’t find paneer. It is over all well thought out. I’ll have more thoughs as I get into cooking each dish of course, but it is well set up.

The spices come in clearly labeled zip top envelopes so I don’t have to guess about which spice or spice blend is meant. There is no confusion. It will be interesting to see if all of the spice packets are needed and the bags are empty after I have tried all of the recipes or if there will be left over spices. The Piquant Post does have a website where you can order more spices if you enjoyed the ones you used.

Personally I think that this is a good kit for learning about foods you may not have tried to cook on your own and it is a reasonable price. I am looking forward to making all of the dishes and testing it out further. I may have to do a check in as I work through the recipes. Should be fun. Sometimes it is nice to break out of your comfort zone just a little bit. Hopefully this Piquant Post will bring a little more fun back into my kitchen.

Snack Time with Harvest Snaps Baked Red Lentil snacks Sour Cream and Onion Crunchy Loops

That’s right it is snack time once again. For me snack time is important. The right snack can keep me from overeating at dinner. It can also provide the thrill of having a treat.

Today the treat was all about the crunch. Somedays you just need to chomp down on something crunchy. And boy are these crunchy.

I picker up the Harvest Snaps Baked Red Lentil snacks crunchy Loops in sour cream and onion because I tried a harvest Snaps treat and really liked it. Those were the baked pea pod treats (various flavors, I’ve tried several and liked them all). So I decided to give the red lentils a try.

I knew from the bag they would be loops so I thought they would be like fried onion rings. Except baked. Which they sort of are. Somehow I expected them to be lighter and filled with air bubbles, which they aren’t. These are quite dense crunchy treats.

When opening the bag, the scent is very sour cream and onion potato chip. It is a very familiar scent. I was expecting them to taste a bit like Sour cream and onion potato chips because of the scent. They don’t, not really.

There is the onion powder flavor but then somehow with the red lentils and whatever provides the sour cream scent blending, it tastes kind of buttery. It is a very oniony and buttery extra crispy snack. I really enjoyed the buttery flavor once i got over the surprise. I found them quite delicious and as far as satisfying crunch goes, these are kind of aces.

The bag holds three and a half servings. Each serving is 22 loops and has 130 calories. That pile there is 22 loops measured out, which seems like quite the substantial serving. By the time I made my way through them my urge to crunch was satiated.

I really enjoyed these Red lentil Crunchy Loops from Harvest snap. My one complaint has to be with the bag. They have three and a half servings in them but there is no way to reseal the bag when you have taken your portion out You have to roll the bag down and find a clip or a clothes’ pin or something to keep it closed. It is a little thing, but it does kind of annoy me. It is the sort of thing that gets left off of a bag because the manufacturers expect you to eat the entire bag in one sitting regardless of the serving size on the back.

Which I have to admit, is very easy to do. Once it is open it looks like it should be a single serving because it isn’t designed to be closed again. Since my continuing diet and exercise plan requires me to look at the nutrition labels it was clear to see. A portion size is enough for me, I just have to remember not to eat from the bag. It would be far to easy to just gobble the entire bag in one sitting.

Other than that minor packaging annoyance, these are a fins snack and one I will indulge in again, especially when I am in the mood for a really great crunch.

Snacktime with Teriyaki Balboa from Righteous Felon

Snack time is one of those ways I keep my diet on track and so it is is very important to me. A small mid afternoon snack keeps me from over eating at dinner. And as long as I watch my calorie count I can often use that time to indulge in just a little treat that perhaps I shouldn’t eat a whole heaping bunch of.

I should also let it be known that I have a weakness for beef jerky.

Perhaps it was too much time spent on the road. I don’t know but it does hold a special place in my heart. And while I will occasionally flirt with the sticks it is the jerky pieces that I gravitate to the most. (Admittedly the Street Taco Sticks are now one of the exceptions.)

I also love Teriyaki flavoring on my beef jerky. So when I saw that Righteous Felon had a new Teriyaki flavor I added it to my last order to try out.

Righteous Felon is really good for minimally processed jerky that has only the good stuff that you want in a snack with non of the bad stuff. Which trust me there are many products out there really pumped full of preservatives and chemicals. I try to keep my intake of those to a minimum.

And if fabulous treats weren’t enough Righteous Felon is part of the Conservation alliance and a part of the proceeds from the purchase of this Teriyaki Balboa went to help protect North American Wild Places.

It is worth noting that the flavor description says Tangy Teriyaki with a punch of pepper. For me the pepper punched a little too hard. This starts out with that tang of teriyaki which goes so well with the earthiness of jerky, but then the pepper comes on a bit strong and overwhelms the tang that I really enjoy.

My babydoll who loves pepper crusted everything really enjoyed this and he did put it on the list to be ordered next time. I am not as big a black pepper fan as he is so when we do order the next box the Teriyaki balboa will be all his. I don’t mind as it does mean more Darth Garlic for me.

Not every flavor is going to be for every one. And what a boring world it would be if we all liked and ate only the same things. In the end this is a quality beef jerky it is just a little too pepper forward for my personal tastes. It won’t go to waste, but it isn’t gong to make my favorite’s list.

Snacktime: Righteous Felon Street Taco Inspired Craft Jerky

That’s right my darlings it is snack time once again. For me to stay on track and not reach dinner time starving and ready to eat far more than what I know my allotted portion should be, I need an afternoon snack. Now here is the thing. I always make sure there are minimal limitations on my snacks.

The one real limitation is that I try to stick to under 150 calories. I prefer around 130, but I don’t want to go over 150 at all for my afternoon snack. This calorie range makes me feel like I am getting something substantial, and when I start to make dinner I am not snacking on some of the ingredients as I cook and thus adding unknown calories to my plate.

Snacking is actually one of the most useful dieting tools I have come up with. One snack with 150 or less calories in it. That it my only restriction. I know some of you are thinking, well if those are the only restrictions then what’s to stop you from reaching for really bad candies and other empty calories?

Oddly enough, i did worry about that when I first started adding the snack in. Then I realized it is almost self regulating. Around Easter one of my favorite treats are marshmallow peeps. I don’t know if you have ever looked at the container but a box of five is listed as one serving and the calorie count on that is 140 cal. which means it technically fits. And there will be at least one time every spring where I will roll in a box of peeps and call it a snack.

I will only do it once a year though. Not because it is a special treat, but because after that one treat my stomach really doesn’t want to take in that much sugar again for a whole other year. I don’t feel satisfied, I feel vaguely ill. After a while of snacking, i will find myself reaching for things that I know are good for me even if the junk stuff is available simply because that is the stuff that I want.

So snacktime is anything I want to eat that will fill me up in a way that makes me feel satisfied but has less than 150 calories. After a while of doing this you learn what falls into that category and what doesn’t and automatically reach for the things that have the right calorie count but won’t satisfy you until dinner. At least with me. it did take a while and occasionally something sneaks through but for the most part. Once I start paying attention I will crave an apple over a sugary sweet.

But sometimes, my body wants meat. We generally have one meal per week that uses meat (and it is usually a weekend thing and often it is in the colder weather, fish and chicken dominate the warmer months for our ‘meat’ meals). Occasionally though I just get a meat craving and when i do I want to make sure that I go with good quality items.

I have been ordering from Righteous Felon for a while. Their quality is top notch. I tend to stick to the pouches of meat snacks so I can measure out what I actually want to eat in that moment. This is my first stick from them. Even though it is only 100 calories per stick I generally find myself satisfied with only about half of the stick. But with the sticks I will eat the whole thing.

Recently Righteous Felon released some new flavors. I added a couple of them to my order this time and I could not resist the Street Taco Inspired Al Pastor and Pineapple Pork stick. It has 100 calories only 4 g of sugar and a full 8 g of protein. I generally find that protein really helps me fell fuller longer when I use it as a snack.

I know I could go the protein bar route, and sometimes I do, but a lot of the protein bars are just too sweet for me. This is not sweet. It does have a little sweet tang from the pineapple, but it also has a little bit of a spicy heat. the heat is mild. The spices don’t make it spicy, they make it spiced. and it is spiced exactly like a really good al pastor taco.

It is delicious and the only thing wrong is that it makes me look around to see where the chips and guacamole ran off to. It is fully flavored and tastes exactly like what it is, pork with pineapple and al pastor seasonings. It is a winner. The flavor is great, the protein is enough to keep me going and to let me prepare dinner without snacking on the elements as I cook and the calories are sitting at a lovely 100.will this unseat Darth Garlic as my go to Righteous Felon treat? Probably not, but it will be added to the list of Items I will purchase again on my next order.

Snack Time: Harvest Snaps Baked Green Pea Snacks Parmesan and Roasted Garlic

For me snacks are an essential part of my dieting journey. I think it is because when I make dinner, I often make enough so that we have left overs (especially ones that will freeze so that on days when I am too busy to cook we can just take them out and thaw). The trick with preparing more than one portion at a time though, is portion control

And quite honestly, portion control is my biggest dieting weakness. It is something I struggle with, but it is also something I have to balance with scheduling. Sometimes those left overs come in really handy.

Hence the importance of snacking. Having a small snack in the middle of the day (2-3 pm) really helps with reminding me to stick to my portion control and not get ‘just a little bit more’ simply because I made a big pan of whatever we happen to be eating for dinner.

My rules for snacking are fairly simple. I try to aim for as close to 100 calories as possible but try never to go over 150. It has to be tasty and satisfying.

And that is it. Really. it is the only limit that I put on the snack. And I know that sounds strange, but here is why. If I keep that calorie count in check, even if the snack is something more decadent than I would normally allow myself, it helps to keep me on track. It feels like I have been naughty. As a result I not only tend to work a little harder in my workouts, but I also have it in the back of my mind that I ned to keep a close reign on my dinner portion because of the decadent treat I had earlier in the day.

It is, in the end more of a mental thing which, the longer I work on building a healthy lifestyle the more i realize hw much of it is mental. (often in more ways than one). So I trick myself. But it only works if the treat is satisfying and feels like a treat. Choosing a snack that makes me feel like I am trying to be virtuous will actually backfire and make me feel like I ought to et more at dinner.

So did this ‘treat’ hit the spot?

Actually, it did.

The Harvest Snaps Baked Green Pea Snacks come in many flavors. As I love both Parmesan and Roasted Garlic, this is the flavor I went for. I also have to admit that I adore peas. I grow them every year and if I could get the entire garden planted in them, I would.

When the bag is opened there is a strong parmesan and garlic scent to the bag. I was worried it would overwhelm the pea flavor, but it didn’t There was a distinct pea flavor to them. I would perhaps like a touch less garlic so that the pea flavor stands out more, but that really is just nitpicking.

I found these Harvest Snaps absolutely delicious. They are baked instead of fried, which I like and they do have only 130 calories per serving. I really like the fact that it breaks down how many peas are in a serving (about 22) While i do have a scale and weigh things out a lot, I do like knowing that if I am rushed then I can just count quickly and skip the scale.

For me it was necessary to measure out the snacks as I would happily sit and eat the entire bag. They are a salty, savory crispy treat and they really feel like a treat for the taste buds. I felt the same sort of decadence as I would eating my favorite flavor of potato chip. As I am not a huge fan of baked potato chips, preferring just the regular chips, I was a little surprised that they felt just as satisfying as the regular chips. I also like that they are available from a wide variety of stores, from Kroger to Publix to amazon and their own website. So I can easily pick them up no matter where I shop. there is a wider variety on line than at my store though, so I may be poking around to see what other delights are offered, taste wise. I dod really like the Parmesan and Roasted garlic though. it was quite yummy.

I very much enjoyed these Harvest Snaps and will certainly be getting more of them in the future.

Shop High Protein Snacks

Snacktime: Darth Garlic Biltong from Righteous Felon Craft Jerky

I am a big garlic fan. So when I saw this i knew I had to try it. And to be fair this is my absolute favorite flavor that I’ve tried. It is a biltong style rather than a regular beef jerky. To be fair that is the one thing that I would change, I would make this in the same style as the other jerkies Righteous Felon produces. I will still eat it as a biltong, but I prefer the texture of their other craft jerkies while still loving the flavor of this one.

For those who don’t know, Biltong is a little different from regular jerky. First of all it is cured with vinegar which is very different from regular jerky (and why I know I couldn’t actually get the same flavor if it were actual jerky, and really it is just a textural preference.). It is cut slightly thicker because it is air dried and it is never smoke dried so it doesn’t have that smokiness many other jerky products will have. I also find it to be a little drier and less ‘juicy’ I suppose you would say, compared to the Righteous Felon Jerky I’ve tried.

I know the process creates both the flavor and the texture. The texture is okay, I will certainly still eat it, but the flavor is fantastic so I will always order it. If that makes sense. It helps that I adore black garlic as well as regular garlic.

The ingredients list for Darth Garlic is very straightforward: Beef, red wine vinegar, salt, ground corriander, black garlic, rosemary, pepper and monk fruit.

It is a simple and very delicious list. My biggest problem is that because it is in smaller pieces, I tend to eat this one from the bag rather than measure my portions out so I almost always eat the entire bag in one sitting instead of breaking it into portions. Which as each serving of this is 80 calories it still ends up only being a 180 calorie snack when I do.

Actually what is fun, now that I’ve understood that once i open the bag, i am eating the whole bag, I tend to have this as a snack when i am having a smaller portion size dinner or one that is veg heavy when it is cold and I am really craving something much more high caloric than I am going to eat. The Darth Garlic not only leaves me feeling as though i had a decadent treat, but because I ate the whole bag I feel like I have over done it on the “treat” of the day and therefore I feel more satisfied with the lighter dinner.

I know, mental trickery. Sometimes it is the best way to deal with your brain when you are dieting. It is as much a mental game as it is a physical one.

As for taste, there is the tang of the red whine vinegar, which is both enhanced and sweetened by the almost balsamic taste of black garlic. The coriander and black pepper help balance out that tang. I am not entirely certain what monk fruit tastes like. I keep looking for it at my local grocery because I know it is often used as a sweetened in food products, but I would like to see what flavor it has on it’s own besides just sweet.

And that is primarily because of products like this Darth Garlic. I am fairly certain there is another flavor in there. There is a light sweetness to the back of the taste and I think that is from the monk fruit, but I think that additional taste is from the monk fruit as well. Mostly because I can’t place the flavor.

It always annoys me when i can’t place a flavor. This is also the reason i have the tendency to bring weird and wonderful things home from the grocery when i see them.

But that is another story.

If you are looking for a savory beef snack without heat but a deep and delicious flavor, I’d suggest giving Darth Garlic from Righteous Felon a try. it is one of my absolute favorites from all of the items i have tried. And it is the one I will reorder every time i place an order with them.

Snacktime with Habanero Escobar from Righteous Felon Craft Jerky

Today I am trying one of my babydoll’s favorite snack treats from Righteous Felon. It is the Habanero Escobar Craft Jerky. What is kind of funny is that this jerky has been in the box we order every time we have ordered from Righteous Felon. It was the first one my babydoll wanted to try once i told him i found a new potential beef jerky source I wanted to try.

Yet this is the first time I have managed to actually try a piece. As soon as the box is opened these disappear into my babydoll’s stash. even with this one I told him I was going to try a piece and he gave me this hound dog look as though I had stolen his treat. I promised him I would only try one piece.

And just so you know he made the shocked face when I took out two pieces for this picture. the largest one immediately went back in the bag and I handed the bag back to him. As you can see, there are pepper flacks on the jerky. It is the first warning that this is going to pack some heat.

Well technically the first clue is the package. This is the full ingredients list:

Beef, Water, brown sugar, soybeans, salt molasses, vinegar, black pepper, natural smoke flavorings, alcohol, habanero peppers, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper, paprika, cloves, chili powder

Now part of me just looks at the list and things, wow that isn’t a bad list. We often make jerky here at the house (when meat is on sale and not as expensive as it has been lately anyway). Much of the items on the list are things I would use for making our own jerky. Which makes me happy. Then I think about the heat that some of those items can bring. And I look at the flakes of spice on the meat.

And I brace for impact.

Actually it was an interesting flavor. And yes it does have flavor. It isn’t just a fire bomb in the mouth. There is sweet and spice and really good flavor. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of heat, but it builds slowly. There is a sweet smokiness to the heat that I really like. I am only likely to eat one to two pieces of this jerky though. While the heat isn’t a lot while I am eating it at the end there is a burst of heat. It is like it grows as you eat it and then when you swallow and open your mouth, the air rushes in and ignites the flame.

the heat blast doesn’t last a really long time. It is a nice pleasant heat and not a painful one. Here is the thing with me and spice. I like heat. I really do like spicy things, however I don’t like it when the heat takes over and the only thing that you can taste is heat. I like the heat to be an accompaniment to the flavor, not the only thing that i can taste. Habanero Escobar from Righteous Felon defiantly has the heat. It is not a mild tasting product. But it is a well flavored product. You will get the heat but you will also get flavor with that heat. And for me, that makes it a winner. Admittedly if i want it again I will have to order it without my baby knowing and hide it like contraband. Otherwise any package that comes in will automatically go into his special snack hideaway. Although truth be know I am okay with that. Getting him to eat a smaller portion of something like Habanero Escobar from Righteous Felon with all of its good ingredients in stad of some of his other snack choices is a win and I am am more than happy to cede the bags to him. I’ll just sneak a few here and there and maybe plan my own heist later.

Snacktime: Truffle-O Bill from Righteous Felon Craft Jerky

It is no secret, I love beef jerky. I don’t indulge a lot, or at least not as much as I used to, so when I go for beef jerky I like to make sure it is the best quality I can get. I came across the Righteous Felon Craft Jerky in my ever widening search for good products and I fell in love with the design of the bags and the tongue in cheek nature of all of the copy on their website.

For me, snack time is a huge dieting tool. i know that sounds strange, but a good quality, yet low calorie snack, especially if it is protein packed, can really help me not over eat at dinner. Each of these resealable bags has two portions which makes it easy to divide and easy to keep the second portion for a second day. And each portion is only about 60 calories.

While the snack does help keep me from overeating at dinner time, I do like to keep the calorie count low for my afternoon snack. My goal is to not really go too much over 100 calories. And truthfully if i go crazy with the portions and eat the entire bag it is only 120 calories so that too is still within an acceptable range. (I only really worry it is too much if I exceed 150.)

At this time of year i tend to order a lot because they are not only fantastic for during the work day snacks, they have become one of my favorite road trip snacks. Plus my babydoll and I each have our own favorites. And while i will be reviewing my favorites as I work through my recent stock up stash, today’s bag is a first use for me. I have always seen the Truffle-O Bill and liked the image and wanted to order, but then I always go for the flavors I know I love. This time I added in the bad to my order so I could try it.

And yes I justified trying it out by saying “I can review it, yeah that’s why I’m getting it…really…”

I know, sometimes I just lie shamelessly to myself.

As you can see the jerky comes in natural looking strips which I really like. The strips are soft and easy to chew. I know that sounds like a strange thing to say but I have tried several strips like this that are either like chewing on leather or shatter into meat shards in the mouth. This has the perfect amount of chew. It feels like you are eating something solid and tangible (which helps with my snacking to help with dieting plan, it feels satisfying to eat). It also feels like i am consuming way more than 60 calories worth of food which adds to the satisfying feeling.

I will admit i was worried that the truffle flavor would be too intensely truffle but it is just an flavor enhancement. This jerky has a nice smoky flavor with a slightly sweet tang and a sort of deeper meaty flavor that is brought out by the truffle. Which is one of the best features of truffle flavor. Too often people can go just truffle crazy instead of using it as an enhancement. This was the perfect enhancement. The molasses and brown sugar in the curing ingredients list is where the sweetness comes from and it is just enough of sweeteness without being too over the top.

I added this into my order this year because i wanted to try it out. I wasn’t sure about it because with me truffle can go either way. But this Truffle-O Bill was fantastic. And now I think I may have a new favorite to add to future orders. And I also want to branch out and try all of the flavors I haven’t yet gotten to. Luckily they have a bit of a discount on right now. I’ll list it below. It is well worth taking advantage of if you are stocking delicious, high quality snacks.

Free Bag of Biltong or Jerky If You Spend $5 with code BAGONUS2022

Holiday Gifts: Righteous Felon Craft Jerky

This may seem like a bit of a strange gift suggestion idea but for my family it actually works really well. First off Righteous Felon Craft Jerky is really good quality Jerky. If you go to their about pages you can not only read about how they source clean ingredients with no added hormones. In addition you can also check out the 44 Roseda Farms where their beef is sourced. I am a big fan of knowing where things originate, especially with food.

In addition to being well sourced, it is absolutely delicious.

Beef Jerky has always been one of my favorite snack items. I know, it is kind of amusing since as a rule I don’t actually eat a lot of beef. I like it, but it is a once in a while treat not an everyday or even every week sort of meal for me. It never really has been.

But I love my beef jerky.

During the week I will have a bag and portion out a few pieces here and there as an afternoon snack. It has great protein and it really takes so little to make me feel like I had a really big snack.

At this time of year though, i stock up for road snacks. While the gas station stop is inevitable because no matter what people snacks I take with me, the car still needs to fuel up too. But having good snacks in the car means that i am not stocking up on some not so great for me snacks when we pause to feed the car.

And as my family is scattered, I am not the only one with a road trip both before and after a holiday. These make the perfect stocking stuffers as I can order a large pack and split it out depending on who likes what. There are flavors to suit pretty much every taste. I am partial to the Darth Garlic and the Habanero Escobar. My babydoll loves the Voodoo Chile (that one is slightly too spicy for me which means he gets the bag to himself which makes him happy).

If you are going on a road trip or have family that is traveling for the holidays this is a great addition to the holiday gift giving, or personal stash. It is also great for those who just enjoy good quality Beef Jerky. While the image here is from the large variety pack that lets you sample all of their varieties, they have many different packs this year, some single variety for those who know exactly what they like. And for those who don’t want the beef jerky party to end, they offer subscriptions as well. That’s right jerky that arrives like magic upon your doorstep for all of your snacking needs.

Well, maybe the subscription isn’t magic. but it kind of feels like it.

For me, it is a great high protein weekday snack and a fabulous road trip supply to stock up on. At this time of year, Righteous Felon also becomes an amazing stocking stuffer.