Limited Edition Happy Tate’s Bake Shop Chocolatey Chip Latte

Even though I’ve known about this product for a while now, I didn’t intend to buy it because I didn’t want to spend the time writing 400-500 words about it. There are bigger fish to review. But starting these posts that review several products in one, along with its $1.99 price tag, changed my mind.

After trying it, I’m glad I started these posts with mini reviews because this is pretty gosh darn good. It’s a coffee drink made with arabica coffee, but it’s difficult to believe because it totally tastes like some fancy chocolate chip cookie-flavored chocolate milk. I don’t notice any coffee flavor, but I do notice chocolate and notes of brown butter. 

Does this make me happy? Yes.

Kirkland Signature Combo Calzone

I wasn’t planning to try this after Vin’s review, but my wife ended up getting one. Since it’s large enough for two people, she let me try some of hers. 

Its exterior reminds me of Costco’s Chicken Bake, which is my least favorite item on the food court menu because my taste buds find its filling bland. This calzone has a filling that tastes like a supreme pizza (although I wish it had more cheese), it’s cleaner to eat than a pizza slice, it’s filling, and I like its flavor. However, at $6.99, it’s one of the priciest options on the menu, which always gives me pause since I can get three pizza slices or four hot dogs for the same price. I think it’s good enough to order once in a while, but I really wish Costco would bring back its combo slice.

Protein Pop Blue Raspberry Clear Protein Drink

The name Protein Pop makes you think this is soda (or pop, if you live in specific regions). But it’s not. It’s a non-carbonated, clear protein drink. 

Protein Pop comes in four flavors: Watermelon, Peach, Pina Colada, and Blue Raspberry. I picked up the Blue Raspberry one from a decimated end cap with a whole lot of Blue Raspberry, a little Watermelon, one Pina Colada, and no Peach. A can has 22 grams of protein and, thanks to stevia, zero sugar. 

It has an aroma that brings blue raspberry candy to mind, and a taste that reminds me of raspberry or mixed berry Greek yogurt. I’m not sure if that yogurt-like tanginess is coming from the fruit flavor or the whey protein isolate that gives this drink its 22 grams of protein. However, I do absolutely know that the whey gives the beverage a texture that lets you know it has protein in it. It’s not gritty, but it’s not smooth like drinking juice or something similar.

Now, I’m not sure if it’s the flavor or texture that’s responsible for this, but I didn’t notice the stevia at all—thumbs up.

While I’m not sure I like the name Protein Pop because it’s not a soda, I do enjoy its flavor enough that I might give the other varieties a try, if that end cap gets restocked.

Progresso Pitmaster Sausage & Beer Cheese with Potatoes Soup

It just dawned on me that Progresso’s Pitmaster line has an appropriate name for what it’s competing with. It’s being pitted against Campbell’s Chunky soups. Both soups eat like a meal, with generous portions of meat and vegetables in cans that are as hearty as the soup inside them. I received this, and a few other Pitmaster varieties, from the folks at General Mills and ate it with a turkey melt sandwich that General Mills did not provide. 

Since my wife shared her Kirkland Signature Combo Calzone with me, I shared this soup with her, and she said out loud what I thought in my head when we first tasted it: “It kind of tastes like queso.” But with the sausage and potatoes floating in it, it’s more like a chunky queso. The sausages give it a tiny peppery kick, and the plentiful potatoes were pleasantly soft, but not crumbling when I chewed on them. It was a tasty soup to dip my turkey melt sandwich into.

RXBar High Protein Strawberry Peanut Butter Bars

I did not enjoy my first go around with this protein bar. I was halfway through it when I decided I was done and offered the rest to my wife. My taste buds were not getting any pleasure from eating this bar. The only pleasure I ever really got from this bar, and every other one with around 20 grams of protein, is knowing that I’ve taken a shortcut to getting double-digit amounts of protein without much effort. It’s like a lifehack.

With every one of them, I wouldn’t say their flavors are good, and I also wouldn’t say they are horrible, but my mouth has never said, “Mmmmm” when eating a high-protein bar. Sarcastically, it has. Even the Oreo one I tried weeks ago couldn’t muster a yum.

However, I did give it another try and, um, enjoyed it? No. “Enjoyed” is too strong a word. I powered through the whole bar and thought it was tolerable. The peanut butter tastes and feels like dried-out natural peanut butter that hasn’t been mixed with the oil that comes with it. There’s a natural strawberry flavor from real berries, but part of me wishes it were a fruit spread instead, or something with a bit more moisture, because this bar is dryyyyyy. I mean, that’s the case with most of these high-protein bars, but this one seemed particularly so. I don’t know if that’s the peanut butter or the pea protein. With every bite, my thirst seemed to get stronger, and when I eventually finished, I had to chug a lot of water.

Maybe it’s time to stop eating these high-protein bars and just consume meat chunks or non-carbonated clear protein drinks instead.