A Few of My Favorite Things – 2021 Product Reviews

Image taken by Maria Densley in Olympia, WA
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I love nature and being out in it. The feature image above I took on a hike with my mother on one of our many explorations of nature. I will miss her for the rest of my life. Sadly, and somewhat happily, she passed away due to side effects that come with battling cancer in 2020, but she no longer suffers from those pains. What I will always remember is her love for music including the song “My Favorite Things” from Sound of Music. She and I also loved trying new items which sparked me to write some details about fun products I have tried.

In 2021 we showcased a lot of amazing items in our various gift guides here on Splash Magazines. Some of our editors, including myself, were sent many of the items in those guides. The following products are a collection of my favorite items that I received.

The Gobble Box was a fun surprise. They sent three meals that were ready to cook with easy-to-follow instructions. While I don’t have an oven-safe sauté pan, which many of their meals call for, I was able to make it work by heating up my square Pyrex pan in the oven while I sautéed what was needed and then transferred the stove top food to the hot oven pan and baked it for the called for time. It worked well, and all the meals were delicious. My favorite, by far, was the Teriyaki Pineapple Salmon with vegetable Fried Rice and bok choy. It was full of flavor and reminded me of restaurant quality food.  Watch the short video below to see the unboxing of the Gobble Box and the before and after pictures of the different meals I received.

image courtesy of Boxed Water PR company

Boxed Water came out with flavored water in 2021. I love the concept of the boxed containers, and their commitment to being Earth friendly, but surprisingly I’m not a huge fan of drinking out of the containers. I did however enjoy their flavors, with my favorite being the cucumber water and the grapefruit water. I enjoyed the refreshing taste without the extra sugar many flavored waters have. It was especially pleasant in the summer months when I tend to need more hydration, because I spend more time being active and playing outside.

Another fun drink to add into my hydration routine is the Salud powder packs.  Adding one to a glass of water, not only made it more enjoyable to drink, but also gave me an extra boost part way through the day. Among their flavors, I enjoyed the Horchata the best, though all of them had rich tastes. I have tried other enriched water packets that are supposed to help you feel more hydrated like Salud, such as IV to go packets, and while they both seem to have the same effect on my body, I would choose Salud. Other packets have a strong sugar flavor to them and taste of imitation flavors. Salud’s flavors are impressive and remind me of the freshly made drinks you can get in a mom and pop Mexican restaurant.

Flour & Branch Cookies – image taken by Maria Densley

While I generally love to bake my own homemade cookies, it is always exciting to try other delicious cookies. When Flour & Branch sent me a box of their different cookies, I couldn’t resist. What is fun about their cookies, is not only do they taste homemade, but they are also stuffed cookies with toppings!  They use natural, organic, and sustainable products in their baking, which shows when you bite into one of the soft cookies, and flavor bursts into your mouth. Two of my favorites of their eight cookies flavors were the PB & J stuffy and the Birthday Cake. These are good for any occasion, and they have variety packs if you want to try each flavor.

yeedi vac system – image taken by Maria Densley

As a preview on the rest of this article, to be updated in the next couple of weeks, check out this review I wrote about the yeedi vac system. I love using it, and it makes life just a little easier to be able to vacuum while cooking or reading a book!!  Other great products like this will be in this article as it is updated, so be sure to save this article and come back next week for more awesome products!

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