Foodie Friday With A Twist - Healthy Snacking From Kallo And A Nails Of The Day

Way back in the day when I was first diagnosed as being wheat and gluten intolerant, one of my saviours was the humble rice cake. Yes I know their a bit tasteless and boring on their own, but with a nice topping on them, they can make a filling snack or a light lunch. In the 8 or so years since I've been avoiding wheat and gluten though the humble rice cake has undergone a major transformation. Yes you can still get the plain ones, but you can now get a huge variety or flavours, from sweet to savoury, all of which are great to eat on their own. I was recently given the opportunity to try out some new products from one of the largest rice cake brands Kallo, so being a bit of a fan I jumped at the chance.

I don't know if you've been out shopping lately but the shops as you would expect for this time of year are full of gorgeous pastel shades and less surprisingly beautiful shades of nude and caramel. Inspired by these colours of Spring, in January of this year  Kallo added two new varieties to their popular Jumbo Rice Cake line - Blueberry and Vanilla, and Caramel.

Made with a combination of  brown rice and corn for added flavour, these rice cake are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. They contain no artificial colours, or preservatives, and they also contain no Monosodium Glutamate  (MSG). or gluten containing ingredients making them suitable for Coeliacs.


Kallo Rice And Corn Cakes - Blueberry and Vanilla

The first pack that I received were something a bit different to what I've had in the past. These were the first fruit flavoured rice cake based snack to hit the market

The first thing you notice about these babies is the colour - it isn't that easy to see on camera but these rice and corn cakes have a lovely light pink / lilac hue which comes from the natural blueberry extract.

They have a sweet vanilla berry smell, and a soft blueberry and light vanilla flavour. They aren't as sweet as expected and whilst you can taste the natural blueberry you can also taste the almost popcorn flavour of the rice and corn cake.

You could eat these on their own but because of the subtlety of the flavour I actually preferred these ones with a topping. These large rice and corn cakes only contain 36 calories each so you can be as naughty as you look or as good as you like when it comes to toppings. Some topping suggestion include yogurt, or ice cream and berries, but I went for the slightly lower calorie option and had mine with low fat cream cheese, and fresh blueberries.

Kallo Blueberry and Vanilla Rice Cakes, retail at around £1.79 for 131g pack.

Kallo Rice And Corn Cakes - Caramel

I am a lot more familiar with the next variety that I received - Caramel. There are a lot of caramel based rice cake snacks on the market but I wanted to find out what if anything made these ones different.

The first thing that you notice when you opened this packet was the smell - you get an immediate hit of burnt sugar, sweet caramel loveliness. The rice cakes themselves had a lovely caramel colour, which you can see a bit of here - more on the nails later ;)

The rice / corn cakes had almost toffee popcorn esq flavour, and again they weren't as sweet as I expected them to be, and again you could taste the corn / rice flavours. I've quite happily ate these ones on their own, but for only 40 calories each you could easily put some toppings on them and still have a healthy snack. That depends on the toppings of course, some of the serving suggestions for these ones include chocolate spread, and caramel sauce! Again though I've gone for slightly healthier option,, with low fat cream cheese and sliced banana.

Kallo Caramel Rice And Corn Cakes, retail at around £1.79 for  147g pack. Both varieties are available from most major supermarkets, and some health food stores.

I have to say me and Mummy Lou enjoyed both varieties of these rice and corn cakes. They made great, quick and filling snacks, with or without a topping, and they are really good calories wise, meaning you can eat quite a few without feeling guilty :) Oh and what about the nails you saw earlier? Well with my press I also received a gorgeous bottle of nail polish in one of spring key shades, a nude caramel.

Whilst it lacks the golden hues of the Caramel variety, Rimmel 60 Seconds in 500 Caramel Cupcake, embraces the huge trend for nude, mannequin hands. This polish dried super quick and perfect coverage was achieved in two coats.

What do you think of nude caramel nails? and more importantly are you a fan or rice cakes? Let me know in the comments and of course let me know if you have any questions xx

(Both Packets of Kallo Rice And Corn Cakes And The Nail Polish Were Provided For Review / Promotional Purposes)