Celebrating National Sandwich Week with Num Noms

This year National Sandwich Week runs from May 20th to the 26th; a week to celebrate the versatility and deliciousness of this iconic, culinary British invention. I love a good sandwich, packed with a delicious vegan filling such as a meat-free BLT or a chickpea and cheese melt or hummus, falafel and salad. They are easy to eat and taste great! What's not to love?!

Num Noms, the super cute scented collectable, food inspired toys are celebrating National Sandwich Week, challenging us to come up with a Num Noms inspired sandwich creation. Their Series 4 Dessert Tray collectables include a range of Ice Cream sandwiches: Terry Berrywich, I.C. Sandwich and Wintergreen Creme, all fragranced with the scent of berry, chocolate or mint. Ice Cream Sandwiches are another great way to celebrate the sandwich this week. We like to make a vegan Oreo and Swedish Glace ice cream sandwich dessert. It is very indulgent, rich and delicious!

With Num Noms, you can create thousands of flavour combinations using the scented characters, stacking them together and making your own unique blends. Num Noms fans can also enjoy the official magazine, packed with fab free gifts. The Num Noms lunchbox is a great addition to the range and is perfect for packing up your sandwiches for enjoying on the go!

My own mini chef Freddy donned his Num Noms chef's hat and got busy in the kitchen to create his very own sandwich creation to celebrate National Sandwich Week. He chose the Num Nom "Mocha Frappe" as his design inspiration for an open sandwich made with vegan chocolate spread and chunky peanut butter on half and half bread.

Freddy had great fun spreading and cutting to make the shape and colour of Mocha Frappe and used blueberries for making the eyes, nose and bow. A slice of strawberry made the mouth and completed his Num Noms inspired sandwich creation. 

Freddy really enjoyed eating his chocolate spread and peanut butter sandwich, which was extra tasty on accounts of it looking like a Num Nom!

Look out for Num Noms at retailers such asSmyths, Amazon, Argos and find out more at numnoms.mgae.com.

A Vegan Recipe for Chocolate Cake Day with Num Noms

January 27th is Chocolate Cake Day and who doesn't love chocolate cake! Especially when it's a delicious vegan chocolate cake, perfect to celebrate the end of Veganuary.

Num Noms are celebrating Chocolate Cake Day by challenging us to create Num Noms inspired chocolate cakes with some Num Noms Series 4 flair! We were sent a Series 4 Sweets Sampler, which includes the cute little Hottie Chocolate. Scented with delicious chocolate fragrance, Hottie joins other Nums such as Confetti Crunch, Tia Tea-Time and Madelyn Macaron. Perfect inspiration for baking delicious treats at home.

Each colourful, scented Num is cute and quirky and bursting with personality. The Series 4 Sweets Sampler contains ten Nums including a surprise Mystery Num along with two Noms. The Glitter Lip Gloss Noms come in a variety of flavours such as Mint Swirl Gloss-Up and Lemon Drop Gloss-Up. They also come in individual blind pots, making collecting fun! Inside, there is a Nom lipgloss or nail polish and a sweet foodie flavoured Num. You can find limited special edition characters and there are 120 characters to collect.

Our chocolate cake recipe is made with 100% plant based ingredients and is rich, chocolatey and delicious. It has a rich chocolatey frosting and filling and is decorated with chopped nuts. The method is very simple, so that means it is great to get the kids involved with the baking. And because it is vegan, there is no danger when it comes to licking the bowl!

Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

10oz SR wholemeal flour

2oz cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

9oz caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

135ml rice bran oil

1 1/2 cups water

Frosting

2oz vegan marg

3 tblspns water

9oz icing sugar

2 tblspns cocoa powder

Method

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

Stir in sugar and vanilla extract.

Beat in oil and water.

Pour the batter into two prepared 7" cake tins and cook for 30 mins at 180 degrees centigrade until springy to the touch.

Allow to cool completely before turning the cakes out.

Meanwhile put the marg and sugar in a pan and heat until the marg is fully melted.

Remove from heat and beat in sifted icing sugar and cocoa.

Use to fill and top the cake.

Decorate with chopped walnuts.

Enjoy a big slice of Vegan Chocolate Cake to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day on January 27th! Delicious!

Find Series 4 Num Noms at Amazon, Smyth's Toys and Claire's. The Sweets Sampler is £16.99 and the mystery packs are £3.99. Find out more at numnoms.mgae.com.

Num Noms Surprise in a Jar - new plush, scented Num Nom toys

Num Noms have added an exciting new product to their range of collectable, scented toys. The new Num Noms Surprise in a Jar sees the brand introduce huggable plush toy versions of favourite Num Nom characters that come squished into a cute, reusable, plastic mason style jar.

The plush toys have the same delicious, food inspired names and fragrances as the original Num Noms. We received a jar containing the lovable Sadie Seeds, the pink strawberry scented Num Nom who wears a silky, green bow in her foliage! The plush toys are visible in their packaging, peeking out through the jar, so you know which one you are going to get, making it easier to collect the ones you want.

Once the plush toy is out of the jar, it's surprising just how big and cuddly it becomes. (In fact I'm not sure you could never get it back inside the jar!) The toys are well made using soft materials and have the same detailing as the original Num Nom toys. With button eyes and nose, embroidered lashes and seeds, velvety leaves and silky bow, Sadie Seeds looks very sweet and her strawberry scent is very fragrant. Children will love to hug them and sniff these plushies!

They will make ideal Christmas presents for Num Noms fans this year. The sweetly scented toys are perfect for little ones aged 3 and up or are a lovely, novelty gift for grown ups too. Num Noms collectors will enjoy adding these big cuddly Nums to their Num Noms collections. For play or display, these toys are an exciting addition to the ever growing range.

As the jar is reusable, children can use it as a storage container. There is a coin slot on the front of the jar making it a lovely money box  to encourage children to save their pennies. It would also be perfect for using as a sweetie jar or for storing treasures. However, it made perfect sense for Freddy to use it as storage for his favourite little Nums!  I really like that the packaging is completely reusable rather than something that just gets thrown away. That is a real plus.

You can find the Num Noms Surprise in a Jar toys at The Entertainer, Claire's, Toys R Us, Tesco and Amazon retailing at around £10.  Other plushes available in the Surprise in a Jar range include Sara S'Mores, Sprinkle Donut, Bella Bubblegum, Pinky Puff and Mint Cream.

Num Noms Series 3 Lunch Box

Num Noms are the collectable little toys that kids just love to play with. The new series 3 scented Num figures come in fruit, veggie, candy, marshmallow, Fiesta and donut designs, which can be combined with eraser, stamp and lip gloss Noms. There are just so many combinations that can be created by stacking, mixing and matching the Nums and Noms.

We received a Lunch Box set that comes with thirteen pieces including nine colourful, scented Nums, two Erase-It Noms, a Stamp-It Nom and a mystery piece. With delightful characters such as Victor Vines, Peyton Peppermint and Carrie Corn, the Num Noms are perfect for creative play. The packaging can be used as a storage case and features a decorative, mauve, spoon shaped handle.

Also available in blind packs, the series 3 Noms introduce a whole host of brand new figures to the collection and include some special edition pieces including Coolie Cucumber and Rainbow Pop. We discovered Paula Pumpkin and a two flavoured Orange-Pina Gloss-Up in our pot. Each Num Nom has its own personality and quirky detailing.

Num Noms continue to be a really fun collectable toy with so many foodie scented combinations to create. We love the colours and the smells and the characters of the pieces. Having the useful Noms that double up as erasers, stamps and lip glosses adds an extra element of interest to the collection.

Num Noms Halloween Fun #SpookySenses

This Halloween, Num Noms have come up with a fun Trick or Treat Game and a Num Noms inspired spooky recipe, perfect to keep little ones entertained this weekend. 

The Num Noms Trick or Treat Game is a blindfold guessing game where the kids get to eat mystery foods, some delicious as a treat, some slightly more gross or unexpected as a trick. When you are blindfolded it is always a bit nerve wracking putting unknown food into your mouth. Use food such as sweets, crisps or fruit as the treats and use things such as olives, cold beans or pickles as the tricks. You could even award a prize to the person who correctly guesses what they have eaten. The Num Noms blind packs make great little party prizes. Tasting games use the senses of smell and taste and are a fun sensory experience for little ones.

The Num Noms Crispy M Mallow Brains recipe is a spooky take on the classic puffed rice and marshmallow cake, inspired by the M Mallow Num Nom, which is shaped and decorated like oozy brains! They are a no-cook recipe which can be done under adult supervision. Younger children will enjoy helping to mix the rice pops into the melted marshmallow mix, shape and decorate the brains.

Inspired by the collectible, scented, stackable, mix and matchable Num Noms toys, both activities will add to the spirit of the season for any party or Halloween get together.

Just click on the image of  the activity sheet above to open it up and print off.

Fun at the Num Nums Bella Italia Event

Freddy has always enjoyed playing with little collectible toys, the kind that come in mystery blind packs. This includes his latest favourites, Num Noms, the cute collection of stackable, scented toys. Now on Num Noms Series 2, there are so many different varieties and flavour combinations available, the fun just keeps growing!

We were invited to attend a Num Noms event at Bella Italia in Cheshire Oaks and we were delighted to go along and join in with the fun. Aside from a mountain of Num Noms toys to play with, Freddy had a wonderful time getting Num Noms painted onto his arm, taking part in a 'smell' challenge, designing his own Num Nom and making his own yummy pizza and ice cream sundae.

He spent a lovely few hours immersed in all things Num Noms and had a great time! The wacky craze is so cute and colourful, bringing the scents of different foods to life and Bella Italia was an awesome venue to showcase Series 2 that includes the Pizza flavoured Num Noms.

If you have yet to discover the world of Num Noms, prices start at just £2.99. The little toys can be mixed and matched into tonnes of wacky flavour combinations across the ranges, including brunch, cupcakes, ice cream, pizza, freezie pops, diner and fruity.  The Nums come with motorized bases or lip gloss, eraser or stamper Noms to add to the enjoyment. Play sets, starter sets and party packs are all available to add to your collection.

Find out more at numnoms.com and find them in good toy stores, Argos, Amazon and Tesco.

Num Noms Series 2 - unboxing and review

The second series of Num Noms, the stackable, scented, crazy and cute collectibles have hit the UK! The range includes some savoury scented characters such as pizza, sushi, diner and brunch Num Noms, alongside some brand new fairground foods, ice cream, cup cake, jelly bean and freezie pops flavoured Num Noms. Each soft, squidgie Num pairs up with a Nom, which can be an eraser, a scented stamp, a lip gloss or a motorised base. Perfect for mixing and matching to create your own wacky flavour combinations. There are now over 5000 mix and match scented combos to make!

Mystery Blind Packs are £2.99 and include a mystery scented Num and either a stamp or lip gloss Nom. Num Noms Starter Packs are £8.99 and include three Nums and a motorised go-go Nom plus an accessory and a menu card. The Deluxe Pack contains six Nums (one is a mystery Num), two motorised Noms, a food container, accessory and menu and costs £14.99. Playsets such as the Lip Gloss Truck and Art Cart are available for £24.99. Some special edition items are available in each collection.

Freddy got to try out two blind packs and a freezie pop flavoured starter pack. The new Freezie Pop characters have scents such as Strawberry Pop, Tropi-Cali, Grape Soda Pop and Icy Berry and are made of a colourful, see through material that looks frozen. They come with a freezie pop container and a spoon for added fun.

The blind packs contain a mystery Nom and a Num. We got M.Mallow from the Cupcake Nums collection and Sugar Puffs from the Fair Food Nums collection along with a cherry and S'mores gloss-up. Freddy was hoping for a stamp-it Nom, but will at least now have very moisturised scented lips!

Num Noms are colourful, quirky and fun collectibles, each with a unique mix and match scent for some flavour combining fun. You can find out more at www.numnoms.com.


                             

Num Noms - scented, stackable and collectible!

Num Noms are the latest collectible toy to hit the UK market. The colourful, mix and match squishy Nums are cute little characters, based on ice creams or cup cakes, that are stackable and scented. You can get both motorized Noms and Lip Gloss Noms, which are again cute and scented and combine with the Nums to make fragrant treats. The motorized Noms whizz around at the press of a button with a Num on their back adding an element of fun to the toy. The lip gloss Nom contains a scented balm, which is nice to use. Cone, spoon and cup accessories are also available, allowing you to stack your Nums and Noms in a combination of fun, flavoursome creations. The fusions of fruity, chocolatey and sweet flavours, allow you to make your own perfect recipe.

Freddy was sent some to try out and he had some fun making this video showing him unboxing and playing with an assortment of Nums and Noms!

  

                        

You can get blind mystery packs, which contain a Num, a lip gloss Nom and a collector's menu. Deluxe party packs and play sets are also available containing a variety of Nums, Noms and accessories. There are over 60 flavours meaning you can create over a thousand flavour combinations. Recipe cards give ideas on how to combine the scents to create new flavours, such as combining Lemony Cream and Orange Sherbet Nums with a Razzberry Go Go motorized Nom to make Rainbow Sherbert. Some of the Num Noms are special editions, adding to the collectibility of the range.

You can find out more about Num Noms on the website numnoms.com and look out for Series 1 Num Noms in Tesco stores now. Prices start at £2.99. Num Noms are suitable for children aged 5 and up.

Pick a Num, add a Nom, add a cup or cone and create your own wacky flavour combos!