REVIEW: Shirley Temple 7UP

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7UP has given us a gift this holiday season. A brand spanking new limited edition flavor — Shirley Temple 7UP! Woo hoo! Santa finally read my letters. Opening doors for people and being a narc on folks who fart in elevators really paid off this year.

Wait a minute.

A pomegranate AND cherry flavored 7UP? There’s been a seasonal Pomegranate 7UP before, and Cherry 7UP has been around for decades. So this new Shirley Temple 7UP is just a combination of two previous varieties, making it a not-quite-a-brand-spanking-new limited edition flavor. Bah humbug!

It’s also available in a Zero Sugar version, and along with 12-packs, there’s a 2-liter version, so share this festive drink with your friends at your holiday party.

Full disclosure: I’ve never had a Shirley Temple. Call me sheltered. Call me unworldly. Call me Shirley. Or call me someone who has never purchased a bottle of grenadine. But I’ve never had an opportunity to try one. For those unfamiliar with the old-timey, non-alcoholic mixed drink, it combines lemon-lime soda or ginger ale with a splash of grenadine (a sweet syrup made from pomegranates) and is topped with a maraschino cherry. Yup, that sounds old-timey.

While my lips have never sipped on an actual Shirley Temple, I’ve consumed a few cans of 7UP’s attempts to honor the beverage named after someone some folks will have to Google, and it has put me in a festive mood. Shirley Temple 7UP is delicious. If I were to offer this to a Grinch, drinking it would make them smile.

But here’s the thing I find odd about this drink. Its flavor reminds me of an Orange Julius. If I think harder than I should when drinking a soda, I notice the cherry. But for the most part, I taste a mildly tart orange citrus flavor. Maybe my taste buds are broken? However, I’m not sure about that because they successfully determined this year’s Mountain Dew VooDEW Mystery Flavor.

But with that said, this Shirley Temple 7UP is a wonderful tasting soda and the most satisfying 7UP limited edition flavor I’ve had in a long time. It’s miles better than Pomegranate 7UP, which has attempted to be a holiday thing twice.

Does this have to leave? Can it stay around? Or at least, bring it back every holiday season, Keurig Dr Pepper. I’ll narc on more gassy folks in elevators if that happens.

Purchased Price: More than one should pay on eBay
Size: 12 fl oz cans
Purchased at: eBay
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 170 calories, 0 grams of fat, 40 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 45 grams of sugar (including 45 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: DiGiorno Thanksgiving Pizza

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It seems to me that in recent years, more food companies have been embracing Thanksgiving dinner as a collective meal to put in other foods. Sandwich shops have been offering turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwiches for a while. And this year, DiGiorno has pizza-fied the classic November meal!

DiGiorno’s version omits the stuffing, however, and combines turkey with the ingredients of a green bean casserole. The pizza features roast turkey, green beans, crispy onions, dried cranberries, and gravy. The non-Thanksgiving elements are mozzarella and cheddar cheese, all topped on a Detroit-style crust. Just bake for 23 minutes, and you have a warm meal ready.

Let’s start with the star of the show: the turkey. I was worried the turkey would be gristly or rubbery. But nope, it has a pleasant chew and flavor. It’s not quite what you pull out of the oven on Thanksgiving, but it’s close.

The green beans are fine. They’re slightly crispier than canned green beans. If you don’t like green beans, you will wish they weren’t there. For me, I could take them or leave them.

I don’t really notice the onion’s crispiness, but I can taste their presence. The savory flavor I associate with green bean casserole permeates the pie.

The dried cranberries impart a bit of sweetness to the otherwise ultra-umami dish. I’m glad cranberries got represented. But if you don’t like pineapple on pizza, maybe they’ll be too much for you. At least they’re tarter than pineapple.

The gravy has a nice texture, but there’s something about the seasonings in it that tastes a little odd to me. Not bad, just weird. Maybe my palate is just too unsophisticated. The oddness might also come from the crispy onions.

I’m picky about cheese, so I’m glad they opted for the tamer options of cheddar and mozzarella. That way, it can keep the feel and definition of pizza, even though it’s Thanksgiving, without being too tangy. And the crust might be the best part: soft, slightly chewy, just a little sweet.

I love to eat leftover pizza cold, and I’m happy to report that DiGiorno Thanksgiving Pizza is at least as good cold as it is heated.

I’m really happy this pizza exists. Your family will be mad if you serve it instead of an actual Thanksgiving meal (and it would break the bank to serve a crowd), but it’s a fun product to eat on a random cozy November night or bring to a Friendsgiving. It’s only available at Kroger-affiliated stores, but I hope it will expand to other retailers in the future.

Purchased Price: $9.99
Size: 20.6 oz box
Purchased at: Smith’s Marketplace
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/4 pizza) 400 calories, 21 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 480 milligrams of sodium, 40 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 5 grams of total sugars including 3 grams of added sugars, and 12 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Baskin-Robbins Brie My Guest Ice Cream

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Baskin-Robbins’ Flavor of the Month for November 2024 is Brie My Guest. It’s a cheeseboard-inspired flavor that features brie and burrata ice creams, almond slivers, pistachio pieces, and apricot swirls. I was a bit saddened it wasn’t a charcuterie board-inspired flavor, but there’s always future Flavors of the Month.

Pardon my lack of cheese knowledge, but I’d never heard of burrata before having this ice cream. It sounds more like a Taco Bell mad food scientist abomination, but it’s a semisoft Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. Thankfully, I know and have had brie before.

The cheese-flavored ice creams give this a cheesecake-like vibe. There’s some savoriness, but thankfully, it doesn’t go too far that it gets weird, like Van Leeuwen’s pizza flavor. The sugar and cream are doing their job of helping balance the savory with sweetness. I thought the flavors would be a little odd, but they were surprisingly tasty. They also paired nicely with the apricot swirls, which added a pleasant fruity tartness. My favorite spoonfuls were those with just the bases and the swirl.

Disrupting my enjoyment of the sweet, cheesy bases were the almond pieces, which provided a slightly crunchy texture but also a bit too much nuttiness that gets in the way of the ice creams. Maybe they should’ve been chopped a bit more instead of slivers? But I had a much better experience with the smaller pistachio pieces, which provided enough of their flavor that they let the headliners shine but also contributed some of their nuttiness.

The idea of eating brie and burrata-flavored ice creams may seem weird, but I enjoyed it and would’ve like it more if it weren’t for those almonds.

Purchased Price: $4.39
Size: Single scoop
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 260 calories, 13 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 45 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 25 grams of sugar (including 18 grams of added sugar), and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: McDonald’s Dulce de Leche Frappe

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It’s been a minute since I’ve had a McDonald’s Frappe. My usual heavily masked with sugar and dairy coffee drink from the fast food chain is its iced coffee. Tasting this new McDonald’s Dulce de Leche Frappe reminded my sweet tooth of what it’s been missing, and it’s sugary enough that it won’t ever forget it.

The limited time coffee drink features a caramel coffee frappe base, dulce de leche flavored syrup, and ice blended together. It’s then topped with whipped light cream and crunchy caramel pieces. I thought McDonald’s might’ve used the crunchy pieces from its Grandma McFlurry for streamlining purposes, but what tops this is different.

The caramel coffee base and the dulce de leche syrup combined created a drink that tastes like a McDonald’s Caramel Iced Coffee that’s been pumped with caramel syrup with reckless abandon. Did it have a coffee flavor? You’d have to ask my taste buds after they wake up from being carpet-bombed with caramel and sugar. I should mention that this was even before I mixed in the caramel pieces and whipped topping. The base has a nice texture; it is not entirely Slurpee slushy, but it is also not completely melted. There were ice crystals to satisfy my molars’ desire to crush them. Yes, my dentist hates me.

I also enjoyed chomping on the crunchy caramel-flavored pieces, which kind of crunched like ice crystals, so if yours ends up melting too much, the sugary pieces can still give you an ice-like texture. The candy pieces with the Frappe base gave my mouth a double drubbing of dulce de leche. Not a hint of coffee could be detected. As I quickly drank through this to make sure those ice crystals didn’t completely melt, I felt my mouth coming close to the point where it would think it was too sweet. But it never crossed that line. However, I imagine some people will think this tastes too sugary.

McDonald’s Dulce de Leche Frappe was a delicious, nice change of pace from my usual iced coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed its sweetness and texture from beginning to end, although some of that delight was interrupted by a bout or two of brain freeze from consuming it swiftly. Because of its sweetness, it’s definitely a sometimes drink, so it’ll be another minute before I have another.

Purchased Price: $5.29*
Size: Medium
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 630 calories, 20 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 420 milligrams of sodium, 106 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 97 grams of sugar (including 85 grams of added sugar), and 9 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: KFC Original Recipe Tenders (2024)

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The press release for these new KFC Original Recipe Tenders begins with: “The chicken wars began five years ago with the chicken sandwich, but that’s old news. Today, the chicken tenders battle begins as KFC introduces new Original Recipe Tenders.” Um, it appears someone forgot about the Fast Food Chicken Strips/Tenders Battle during the late 2010s that it also participated in?

I guess it’s difficult to remember since most of the strips/tenders ended up being replaced, limited time offerings that come back every other year, or discontinued, never to be fried up again.

But KFC has had chicken strips/tenders for years, and these new Original Recipe Tenders have a description that sounds like it could’ve been used for previous versions. They feature chicken breast strips double hand-breaded with the chain’s iconic secret blend of 11 herbs and spices and then fried to golden brown. I mean, what could be different from previous iterations? More secret spices? Single hand-breaded?

I ordered a three-piece meal deal that comes with Secret Recipe Fries and two dipping sauces. In the app, I picked the new zesty Comeback Sauce, but my order didn’t come with it. Instead, I was given the KFC Sauce. I went back to the counter to swap them but was told they had yet to receive their shipment. Aw, ship! So, I guess I must come back to try the Comeback Sauce.

The double hand-breaded chicken wasn’t as crunchy as Popeyes’ offering, but the poultry inside was meaty and juicy. The familiar flavor of KFC’s world famous blend of 11 herbs and spices is present in every sauceless bite, making these fine to eat sans sauce. Despite being double hand-breaded, I thought the breaded exterior appeared a bit thin in places when compared to Popeyes’ even-coated tenders.

While I didn’t receive the Comeback Sauce, I was glad I finally got to try the KFC Sauce. The tangy and sweet sauce is delicious, and I tried to scrape up every milliliter I could with the rest of the tenders and some of the Secret Recipe Fries.

KFC Original Recipe Tenders are good enough that I’m sure they’ll survive the fast food chicken wars.

Purchased Price: $7.99*
Size: 3-piece combo
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (3 tenders) 510 calories, 18 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 90 milligrams of cholesterol, 1200 milligrams of sodium, 60 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 0 grams of sugar, and 33 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. The advertised price for the Tenders Box is $5.

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