QUICK REVIEW: Taco Bell Watermelon Freeze

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Taco Bell Watermelon Freeze

What is it?

The latest flavor creation in Taco Bell’s Freeze line of slush drinks, this variation adds some candy “seeds” to the mix to give it a unique look.

How is it?

Gimmicky but good. The watermelon flavor is about as expected. It’s a bit milder than some previous Freeze offerings, like the Strawberry Skittles flavor, and it’s not too sweet nor too tart.

But what about the candy seeds? Well, they really don’t bring much to the table, other than slowing down the slush-making process. Your friendly Taco Bell barista must first open a little package of seeds, fill the cup about a third of the way with slush, sprinkle in some seeds, fill more of the cup, sprinkle in more seeds, and so on.

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Eerily, the result for my drink looked like some sort of weird candy seed face starting me down, just daring me to drink it. I took the dare, and while the watermelon flavor was nice, the seeds didn’t add much flavor at all. The black coating was almost flavorless, and the inside only had a faint sugary taste, like an unflavored Smartie.

Is there anything else I need to know?

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Nothing frustrates me more than a clogged straw caused by candy pieces mixed into an ice cream or slush drink, but there’s no need to worry about that here. The straw provided (in watermelon rind green) is of ample circumference to allow multiple seeds to easily travel from the cup to your piehole without fear of obstruction. Be forewarned though, the larger volume straw also increases the probability of brain freeze.

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And weirdly, the seeds seem to lose their coating after a few minutes of swimming in the slush, so by the time I got to the bottom many of them had a bit of a speckled egg look.

Conclusion:

Even though the candy seeds seem like a missed opportunity —imagine if they were kiwi flavored or something else to complement the watermelon slush — overall the Watermelon Freeze still a refreshing summer drink and quite a bargain if you score one during Happy Hour.

Purchased Price: $2.29 (or $1 during Happy Hour from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
Size: 16 oz.
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 220 calories, 0 grams of fat, 60 milligrams of sodium, 59 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 58 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

QUICK REVIEW: Krispy Kreme Strawberries & Kreme and Banana Pudding Doughnuts

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Krispy Kreme Strawberries Kreme and Banana Pudding Doughnuts

What are they?

Summer has arrived at the doughnut shop! The all-new Strawberries and Kreme Doughnut is a strawberry frosted yeast shell filled with both strawberry and KK’s signature Kreme. The returning Banana Pudding doughnut is a yeast shell filled with a mixture of banana custard and Kreme, topped with yellow icing and Nilla Wafer pieces.

How are they?

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Well, it looks like someone at Krispy Kreme didn’t get the memo because my Strawberries and Kreme Doughnut is completely devoid of any strawberry filling. I was really excited at the idea of a dual-filling and the way a jelly texture would work with a creamier one. That being said, it is BURSTING with Kreme and as a huge fan of the thick sweet stuff, I am still enjoying this immensely.

Krispy Kreme Strawberries Kreme Doughnut

The strawberry icing has a surprisingly authentic and slightly tart berry flavor that’s much more real and much less Nesquik than I was expecting. The yeast shell is soft and fresh and even though I’m a bit letdown, I’ll take Kreme over jelly any day, and even as is it’s pretty delicious.

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The Banana Pudding Doughnut came as advertised and the banana custard is AMAZING. It has the runny-ness of custard with the slight sugary grit of the classic Kreme and a big super delicious banana flavor that exceeded my expectations. It’s sweet, but rich and eggy and I can’t imagine any way it could be better.

Krispy Kreme Banana Pudding Doughnut

What could be better are the Nilla wafers, which are stale and don’t do much to elevate the experience, and kind of bring it down – making it taste and feel less fresh. Although it isn’t great, it’s easy to overlook, because once again the ratio of filling inside is damn fine.

Is there anything else I need to know?

What I got was essentially a Chocolate Iced Kreme Filled with strawberry on top and a fancy little Hostess-y squiggle. Since the Kreme filled is my number two favorite right after KK’s Original Glazed, I really dug it, but the potential for it to be even better is there.

Conclusion:

The Banana Pudding doughnut is a worthy returning flavor with an immaculate filling that’s up there with KK’s best. It may have been better with some sparingly placed white chocolate chips, but I can’t deny the necessity of wafers for the pudding profile.

Purchased Price: $1.89
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Strawberries and Kreme, but could be 9 or better if made properly)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Banana Pudding)
Nutrition Facts: Strawberries & Kreme – 330 calories, 17 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 135 milligrams of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein. Banana Pudding – 360 calories, 19 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 24 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein..

QUICK REVIEW: Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats Vanilla Latte Cereal

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Kellogg s Frosted Mini Wheats Vanilla Latte Cereal

What is it?

It’s your basic bowl of shredded wheat cereal with a vanilla latte-flavored icing.

In essence, this is Kelloggs’s way of saying, “You’re welcome” to everyone out there that wants to double up on their morning cup o’ joe by eating and drinking it at the same time.

How is it?

Put simply, you’re going to want a cup of coffee on the side, because this iteration of Frosted Mini Wheats leaves all of its flavor in the box. Even though this cereal smells like the inside of a Starbucks, I couldn’t pick up on even the slightest hint of coffee or vanilla when I ate a bowl of it.

Kellogg s Frosted Mini Wheats Vanilla Latte Cereal 2

Oddly enough, even though this flavor supposedly has as much sugar as Original Frosted Mini Wheats, it seemed way less sweet in my opinion. It basically tasted like a bowl of regular Shredded Wheat with a sparse sprinkling of sugar on top, which is really just a bowl of mushy sadness once it gets mixed with milk.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Kellogg s Frosted Mini Wheats Vanilla Latte Cereal 4

Since the Vanilla Latte version of Mini Wheats don’t actually have coffee listed in their ingredients, I decided to try and make them taste more like sweet caffeine by replacing the milk in my cereal bowl with a Vanilla Starbucks Frappuccino drink. Even then, the Mini Wheats just seemed to cancel out all of the coffee flavor from the Frappuccino, and, in the end, I just had a bowl tasteless wheat gruel suspended in milky coffee.

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You know, I think that it’s the rough blandness of the shredded wheat in the cereal squares themselves that’s not allowing the icing to convey any kind of defined taste. Especially given how good the icing component smells, I feel that this flavor would do so much better in a medium where the texture isn’t distracting me so much, like in a puffed or flaked cereal.

Conclusion:

Despite the delicious-sounding premise, I’d pass on these in favor of Maple Brown Sugar Frosted Mini Wheats with a real vanilla latte on the side.

Purchased Price: $3.69
Size: 20.4 oz. box
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 3 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (21 biscuits) 190 calories, 10 calories from fat, 1 gram of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 0 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, 45 grams total carbohydrates, 6 grams of dietary fiber, 11 grams of total sugars, and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Chip off the Dough Block Ice Cream

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Ben Jerry s Chip off the Dough Block Ice Cream

TIL: Ben & Jerry’s was the first to make cookie dough in ice cream happen.

What?!

Mind. Blown.

When I worked there in high school, that fun fact was not on any training or marketing materials. Glad they’re tapping into it now because that’s some serious cred!

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For the summer, they’ve launched three Scoop Shop-exclusives that are chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to the nth power. The Chip off the Dough Block flavor is the most extreme of the three; its chipper description reads: “Chocolate Chip & Chocolate Ice Creams with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Chocolate Chip Cookies.” I for one don’t think there’s such thing as too much chocolate chip cookie ever and the Flavor Gurus clearly agree.

Before trying the new flavor, I sampled the OG cookie dough one to orient my taste buds. The small sample was enough to remind me of that tasty, raw cookie dough flavor. I went all in for the new flavor though! When the scooper was scooping it, it was visibly much softer than some of the other ice creams. I appreciate that he dug a little deeper into the carton to get the bits that were a little more frozen.

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The ice cream was light milk chocolate in color with visible caramel-colored streaks and studded with chocolate. I could see that they were bigger chunks, which fondly reminded me of the delicious chunks in one of my favorite flavors, Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz. Because there’s no caramel in this flavor, I speculated that the streaks were smeared bits of the chocolate chip cookies.

The first lick (yes, fellow ice cream lickers unite!) was distinctly cookie dough but with a milkier, almost muted taste. The raw cookie dough flavor wasn’t as pronounced. But, I liked that I got the same texture-y goodness – if not more texture-y goodness.

Ben Jerry s Chip off the Dough Block Ice Cream 4

As I continued eating, I noticed that there were also smaller chips like in Famous Amos cookies. I enjoyed both the chunk and chip. I didn’t see any real pieces of chocolate chip cookies though, which was disappointing. Bits of real cookie would have been a treat! The best textural element ended up being the chunks.

This flavor has all the qualities of great Ben & Jerry’s ice creams – smooth, creamy, scoop-able with fantastic texture – but it’s not worth a trek out to a Scoop Shop. I was able to achieve a close enough flavor experience with a Milk & Cookies pint from the local grocery store.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 scoop – 210 calories, 110 calories from fat, 12 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.)

Purchased Price: $6.50
Size: Small
Rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: Great texture-y goodness from both the chocolate chunks and chips. You might enjoy this flavor if find regular cookie dough ice cream too raw tasting!
Cons: Where are the pieces of chocolate chip cookies? Not worth the trek – similar in taste to Milk & Cookies.

REVIEW: Snickers Salty & Sweet, Espresso, and Fiery Intense Flavors

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Snickers Salty Sweet Espresso and Fiery Intense Flavors

When Snickers announced back in October that they would release three new varieties – “Intense Flavors,” I was intrigued. Salty & Sweet, Espresso, and Fiery sounded interesting. But that was crisp, cool autumn. Now it’s sweaty June, the Intense Flavors are here, and it seems like a curious move. Who wants melty chocolate all over their hot fingers? I’m guessing this release might have been timed to defeat the summer chocolate slump and tear us away from our ice cream cones. Could be a smart move – it got me on board at a time when I’d be more likely to reach for the freezer.

The Snickers Intense flavors packaging is a subtle shift from the usual Snickers wrapper – so subtle that in a bin of bars, I had to dig around to locate each flavor. They looked like a pile of the same product. But this similarity did effectively communicate one thing – these are essentially Snickers bars with flavors added.

Snickers Salty Sweet Espresso and Fiery Intense Flavors 2

Also, they’ve stuck with the “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” themed logos. The Sweet & Salty bar says “Indecisive?” instead of “Snickers.” The Espresso says “Irritable?” and Fiery asks if you’re “Wimpy?” I hate this particular gimmick – the visual of all the different words offends my sense of graphic cohesion – so that definitely made me “Irritable.”

Snickers Salty Sweet Espresso and Fiery Intense Flavors 3

Snickers Intense flavors are slightly smaller than the basic Snickers. Now .04oz lighter doesn’t sound like much, but when I lined them up next to the Snick OG, it’s noticeable. The silver lining is that they’re 10 calories less than the original!

Snickers Salty Sweet Espresso and Fiery Intense Flavors 4

Aroma-wise, only the Snickers Espresso had a unique smell layered on top of the usual choco-nuttiness. The unmistakable scent of coffee.

Snickers Salty & Sweet tasted like a basic Snickers with a pinch of salt. That was the only difference I detected, but it was a welcome addition. It makes so much sense that I questioned for a hot second whether original Snickers had a salty kick all along. I had to go back and sample one to make sure. It may not be revolutionary, but it was delicious. Like a Snickers+.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: What can’t be improved with a pinch of salt? Just make this the default Snickers flavor already.
Cons: It’s so right, it should have existed already…so not surprising at all.
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) 240 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 26 grams of total sugars, 25 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

Snickers Salty Sweet Espresso and Fiery Intense Flavors 5

Snickers Espresso was the biggest departure. Coffee isn’t a new or risky flavor these days, but it’s done well here. The espresso was richer than the usual coffee flavor products. It was present from the first bite but didn’t smother the original Snickers combo that I love. This was my favorite of the three and I would definitely buy it again.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Great espresso flavor that works well with the basic Snickers formula.
Cons: Makes me ashamed of how much I hate coffee (the drink).
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) 240 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 27 grams of total sugars, 25 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein.

Snickers Fiery was disappointing. It felt like ages until the chili pepper heat hit me. I’d finished chewing and started swallowing when the back of my throat lit up and stayed that way for longer than I’d have liked. The heat level was about 3, which is fine for me, but it felt out of place. It didn’t have the fun flavor whiplash of the

Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: I ate it, so I must not be wimpy, as the logo implies.
Cons: Implying I’m wimpy. Heat that shows up to the party late, then refuses to leave – even after you’ve turned the music off and yawned loudly.
Nutrition Facts: (1 bar) 240 calories, 12 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 26 grams of total sugars, 24 grams of added sugars, and 4 grams of protein

Purchased Price: $1.25
Size: 1.82 oz. bars
Purchased at: CVS
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