Which of the #NostalgicDelights Am I? I Make Snacks Molten on the Inside, with Crusts for Miles.

Molten on the inside with inches of dry, plain crust, why it's the Sandwich Toastie Maker, now over 40 years old and made world famous by Breville. Launched in 1974 they shifted over 400,000 'stacking sandwich' toasters in the first year alone. I'm sure if I could find stats, they surely by this point would have sold enough to stretch to the moon and back.

The toastie maker is such an institution that there are  entire websites dedicated to facts, models and trivia. If you should wish to know th history behind the invention, that blog is where it's at.

In the summer there I had hinted that I was going to do a run of nostalgic food blog posts, Crispy Pancakes, Vienetta Slice, Vesta Curries and the like, but only got as far as this retro sweets post about Curious Candy, so call this my second instalment.

We had bacon & cheese toasties for tea tonight, made with butter on the outside. 

How about these novelty toasters? Some double up as pancake or waffle makers too. 

So what was your favourite toastie filling? 

We Made Auntie Anne's Pretzels at Home, So How Did They Turn Out?

Smix & I are huge Auntie Anne's fans, from their pretzel wrapped cocktail sausages, to their classic cinnamon twist pretzel. We spotted them selling bake at home kits, so thought we should give it a go! 

Resting the dough for 30 mins

Not as pretty as store bought, but along the right lines. 

Coated with butter and cinnamon sugar. 

Result was a thumbs up. Tasted like the real thing. 

Yummy Nummies: The New Creative Kitchen Craze From Japan.

Yummy Nummies are little kits for kids to make teeny tiny replicas of full size meals. You'll find them soon in the toy aisle starting at £6.99, rather than home baking, as they are for novelty value rather than being designed to replace a meal. And they are a lot of fun. We were sent the cookie and pizza sets to play with, and found them easy, entertaining and quite tasty too.

We started with the cookie kit. Below shows everything that came in the pack. A very big plus is that you don't need to add anything else. Often I've promised to make buns from a kit with Michael, got home and realised the pack requires and egg, or milk and I'm all out. The only things you'll need that aren't in the pack are a pair of scissors, water and a microwave. Again a huge plus is you use a microwave to cook. No wasting energy and money heating the oven to bake six cookies. 

You have packets of dough and chocolate chips and a little scoop. The instructions tell you how many scoops of dough powder to put into the little mixing tray (another plus- no bowls to wash up after!) and how many scoops of water. 

We separated the dough mix into the baking tray ready for the microwave. Looking at the tray I thought, 'this is never going to work' especially as the cooking time was only 15 seconds in the microwave! 

But, they came out like this. One minute to cool then we scooped them out. They were tiny but tasted spot on.  We had enough dough powder left to make three batches.

Next up- mini pizzas! 

Again everything is included. You just need scissors, water and a microwave. 

Again the instructions are really easy for kids to follow, number of scoops of dough to a number of scoops of water. The pizza 'bases' go in for ten seconds. 

Then you measure and mix the sauce, and whizz for a further five seconds, then sprinkle on cheese powder. They are so so tiny, but they do taste like their full size equivalent. 

Great fun and an excellent treat toy for your budding baker or chef. The full range of Yummy Nummies will be on www.character-online.co.uk and www.toysrus.co.uk soon. The savoury kits include chicken nuggets, burger and fries and spaghetti & meatballs. Sweet treats are cupcakes, doughnuts, gummy goodies and a chocolate bar maker.  

I think I'd like to try the mini burger and fries. Yummy Nummies are super cute and easy, and not terribly messier either. A big thumbs up from Michael and me! 

Volpe & Volpe's Batty Dinner Plate

A creative collaboration between Volpe and Volpe Founder Trish Scorgie and renowned ceramic artist Robert Dawson, the Last series re-imagines traditional British china designs adding a curious and contemporary twist to create modern day collectibles.

Highlighting the fragility of nature and drawing on traditional British ceramic manufacturing techniques, the Last series of four preservation plates blend old natural history prints of animals and birds with a floral design from a long forgotten dinner service creating designs which make them relevant for today.

The Last series of four designs is available at £45.00 each or £160.00 for the set of four (one of each design).

Volpe and Volpe will make a donation of 5% from the sale of each plate to the corresponding supportive charities:-

Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats

Bat Conservation Trust www.bats.org.uk

The Last series of Preservation Plates also includes Cuckoo, Hedgehog and Wolf designs - available from www.volpeandvolpe.com

Donations from the Cuckoo plate will go to - B.T.O (British Trust for Ornithology) http://www.bto.org/uk

Donations from the hedgehog plate will go to - British Hedgehog Preservation Societywww.britishhedgehogs.org.uk

Donations from the Wolf design will go to - John Muir Trust www.jmt.org

Have You Got Your Referendum Snacks in Yet? Here's what I picked up in M&S for a Scottish-themed Feast.

Are you staying up late tonight for the results of the referendum coming in? I am. I'm so excited. Of course such an occasion requires snacks, and with their Lochmuir salmon in mind I headed off to hunt down some Scottish snacks in Marks & Spencer. 

Here is what I've lined up for snacking on tonight. Pop into M&S on your way home and pick up some treats too, if you see something you like. 

Shortbread £2.30 : Raspberry Presse £2.00

Oat & Walnut Biscuits £2.00 : Red Cheddar £3.00 : Scotch Eggs £2.20

Terrine £4.25 : Salmon Quiche £1.75 : Salmon Salad £4.00

Big, tasty sandwiches £4.00

Happy Birthday Bear Nibbles!

Bear are five! The natural nibble brand are celebrating by partnering with WWF in the Save Our Paws campaign.

My son loves Bear, he's a big Subway fan and loves getting the Bear snacks in the kids' pack. He also enjoys their alphabet cereal.

My Stellar Magic Wand, Breakfast Smoothies for Picky Back to School Kids

I have a very picky eater. Last year school day breakfasts consisted of two or three cereal bars, loaded with sugar. It was better than the alternative, an untouched bowl of soggy cereal. No matter what brand or type of cereal, Michael would be fed up of it after two days, and it would get thrown away. Cereal bars worked because at least he was getting some carbs in, which experts say are vital to helping kids concentrate in school, but I was aware the other health benefits are non-existent.

A quick way of getting some healthy fruit into him, as an accompaniment to his array of cereal snack bars, is to make a smoothie. My old stick blender, literally bought in a Woolworths, had given up, so I was delighted to test out the new, powerful Stellar Stainless Steel Stick Blender.

It's quite large, but it does screw apart in two pieces for dishwashing the lower half, and storage. There is a dial on the top which varies the speed and power, and even on the lowest setting it packs a punch.

My previous stick blender had nowhere near the power the Stellar does. There is also a button for a pulse of extra power, which could help with making soups. It's definitely a space saving alternative to a large, clunky juicer. It requires less clean up and with a two year guarantee you can be confident to give it a try.

My smoothie recipe was pretty simple, raspberries, plain yoghurt, skimmed milk & honey for sweetness. Now I've seen the power in the Stellar Stick I'd be keen to try a more dense fruit or vegetable to see how it blends that. Maybe banana and try an unpeeled apple next week.

You can buy the Stellar Stick Blender for half it's RRP at £36 here.

Marks & Spencer's Super Summer of Flavour

Have you been in Marks & Spencer lately? As usual they are pushing the boundaries of unusual culinary delights to be found on a supermarket shelf, with their Summer of Flavour. 

They've put coconut, pineapple, watermelon, chipotle or wasabi on EVERYTHING, and this is the BEST THING EVER. It's like a range invented by me, with all meats pulled, everything fruity & tangy and beautiful.  

You know where I do my big shop, but I'm no stranger to M&S either. Their food can be a little more pricey, but it's actually WORTH IT, so you don't mind. We aren't talking stupid prices either, and their Meal for Two for £10 is still one of the best value meals from any supermarket. 

We visited the Sprucefield Marks & Spencer, Lisburn, just outside Belfast. It's gigantic. It must have everything from the website and more. Stationary, clothing, food hall, then another massive shop of M&S Home.

Here's what I think must have gone down in the M&S kitchen when they invented this product.

"Okay, chocolate covered... we've had coconut before... pineapple? ....watermelon? too messy I suppose... what other flavours have we included in our Summer of Flavour, Jim?" 

"WASABI. WASABI PEAS." 

"Oh, Jim. I don't think so" 

"MAKE IT SO." 

(I'll let you know on Instagram later in the week what I think of them).

They may sound weird, but products like this is exactly why I love M&S. 

So what did we pick up to try through out this week?

I'm giving coconut water a second chance. I've tried it plain and thought it tasted too much like sweat. But this carton has a whole juiced watermelon in there too, so it's bound to taste nice. Plus I picked it up on the 3 for £5 offer, so it's a bargain. 

If you look closely at the yellow carton you can see the pineapple juice has hints of lemongrass and jalepeno chilli in it! Another curious creation.

The fruit snacks are very summery, the Tropical Paradise tray includes little, yellow, coconut & pineapple flavour jelly shells. Tropical Triumph has mango sauce and a shaker of coconut flakes included. 

There's my Wasabi Peas again, and a bound-to-be beautiful, £3 coconut and pineapple cake. If you've never tried M&S's £3 round cakes, you are missing out. They are the moistest, most delicious cakes you can buy from a supermarket. Try the toffee one and it'll change your cake buying habits for life.

If you're a macaron fan there is a special summer version of their mini desserts for £5.50. 

The Summer of Flavour range has tonnes of picnic food to choose from, and buy four items and you get a free bottle of wine, or if you're teetotal like me, a non-alcoholic alternative. Rather than use these for a picnic, I chose them for some night when I want to make a 'lazy tea'. A little platter of tasty bits and pieces to share, and with 3 packs for £6 it's a good deal.

The Summer of Flavour has reached the takeaway sandwich aisle too. Marks & Spencer have caught onto the trend of all meat being 'pulled'. It's strange, meat didn't seem to be pulled before 2013, now it's like you can't buy pork without it being yanked first. It's like paninis. Before 2005 they didn't exist in the UK, now they are everywhere. See also pizza pre-1985.

Back to the point though, these soft baps are made from a sweet, brioche type recipe and I love them. The sweet, soft baps are available from the bread & bakery section, called Posh Dog Baps they'll impress the neighbours at your next BBQ.

More from the picnic range, these Firebreads are only £3 each, which seems like a great price to me. These do need cooked before you eat them, so bear that in mind if you are dropping into M&S for something to take to a park to eat 'now'. We are going to try these tonight, so again if you want to know what I think & how they look cooked, see my Instagram later.

We Smyths love a wee multi-pack of dips, and I'm looking forward to testing out this smokey selection. 

Another item I've tried before, but simply had to include because it's out of this world, their Wasabi Potato Salad. It's part of their 2 for £3 salad pots which includes a great Crunchy Mango Salad pot and a lovely version of Waldorf Salad.

Another wasabi fuelled Summer of Flavour item I've noticed in the past few weeks included wasabi popcorn. Annoyingly it slipped my mind to look for it when I was there today. 

The Grill collection is the BBQ type section of the a Summer Flavour menu, and there's lots to choose from. I went for three items from the 3 for £10 range. These sweet potato wedges would make a gorgeous BBQ accompaniment. Also good for making your own at home, pretend Nandos.

The coconut, lemongrass  & lime chicken should be amazing, and again the night we do cook and eat these I'll give my opinion on Instagram.

Finally, way-hey it's the pulled pork! My mouth is watering just looking at the picture on the front of the box. Apple BBQ sauce sounds like the thing dreams are made of.

This shop came in at around £45 and you can really make some good savings by reading up on the offers in store.

Oh, and I tried these cashews earlier in the week, coconut & chilli ones. Don't laugh, but the taste reminded me of sugared Shredded Wheat​ (descriptions like that is probably why I'm not a full time foodie blogger). They are totally yummy.

Check out the M&S website for recipes using their current ranges.​

This post was sponsored by M&S supplying the food for review. Thanks, guys!