Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest

Sour Patch Kids are my favorite candy and I enjoy trying the different varieties (except watermelon...). Thus, I could not resist purchasing a bag of Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest candy when I spotted it at Lowe's Food.

Sour Patch Kids Apple Harvest features three different flavors of apple shaped chewy candy. The flavors are Cranberry Apple (red), Apple Cider (orange), and Caramel Apple (green).

Of the three flavors, I think Apple Cider was my favorite as it had a surprising (and good) spice flavor to it. The Cranberry Apple definitely seemed apple and other fruity, but not sure cranberry or just general berry seeming. The Caramel Apple was my least favorite as it was not very flavorful, although it did seem to have a subtle caramel flavor.

Private Selection Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Mason Jar Dessert

The Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie Mason Jar Dessert reminds me of my favorite cookies to make, which are peanut butter munchies (chocolate cookies with a peanut butter dough center).  I definitely enjoyed trying this dessert and there are other varieties that look appealing, but I won't be likely to try them for two main reasons.

The first reason is the price.  They are priced at $3.99 a piece making them a pretty costly dessert that really is not even big enough to share, although you could probably make it a small dessert for two.  Yeah, it is a somewhat fancy dessert, but seriously cannot get over paying the almost as much for a dessert to enjoy at home as a dessert at a restaurant.

What really gets me, though, is the packaging.  Now at first the concept of a mason jar for packaging was somewhat appealing, as it could be reused later.  However, the lid is just a piece of plastic making it not really recloseable more than a few times.  I guess it could be used for crafts or something, but would have been nicer if it came with the regular metal lids to be able to reuse for food storage.

Bottom line, though, is it seems it increases the price to be packaged this way and then it is just more wasteful, especially considering we don't even have curbside glass recycling.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Sour Patch Kids now Including Blue Review

As Sour Patch Kids are my favorite candy, I had to try out the new packaging that includes blue. Years ago I thought that they needed a blue with the regular, as it just seemed like a good fruity one to have with the others.  At the same time it is hard to see a favorite candy change.  However, no color was replaced, but with the added blue there ends up being less of each color and I actually only had two yellows in the whole box, but that could be totally random.

Overall I'm not sure I like the addition of blue to the regular Sour Patch Kids.  It is nice you still get your favorite flavors, but somehow the blue flavor doesn't go with the regular ones. Maybe, that's because I have had the berry variety and it fits better there.  Also, somehow the blue seems to not be as flavorful, but I am sure I'll get used to it if it sticks around as I still got to get my Sour Patch Kids somehow.

Fiber One Strawberry Greek Yogurt Meal Bar Review

After finding the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fiber One Mealbar to be rather tasteless, I did not expect much from the Strawberry Greek Yogurt flavor.  It certainly is more flavorful, but not necessarily in a good way.  I found it to seem very sweet without any actual flavor to it.  The yogurt tastes like yogurt which is not much of a flavor, though, but there certainly is no strawberry flavor.

Looking at the bar it does not even look like it has strawberries.  Investigating the ingredients list I found that is because it is actually strawberry flavored cranberries in it.  Even if they are flavored with strawberry flavoring or whatever its called, they still taste more like cranberries.  Not a bad thing in my opinion, as I like cranberries, but certainly misleading product name and they seem less flavorful than regular cranberries, which may be because the whole bar has some odd nondescript overbearing flavor (soy protein powder, perhaps?).

While the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor ones were disappointing, I would still consider buying them in the future if a good deal.  The Strawberry Greek Yogurt ones are definitely not worth it even if they were at the dollar store.  If the flavor aspect was not bad enough, they are also flimsy and fall apart way too easily and I did not even take them on the go, which I imagine would lead to them ending up very smashed and/or in pieces before you got to eating them.  Only good thing is they are filling with the 9 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Fiber One Chocolate Peanut Butter Meal Bar Review

I am not that big on bars, but they are convenient to have on hand for quick snacks. The ones I mostly like are Chocolate Peanut Butter ones, especially the Quaker Chewy Granola Bars.  Thus, I was really excited to get to try the Fiber One Mealbars as a BzzAgent.

One of the main appeals of the Fiber One Chocolate Peanut Butter Mealbar for me is that they have 10 grams of protein.  Not as much as protein bars, but certainly more than a typical granola bar and thus a good in between option.

The texture of the Fiber One Chocolate Peanut Butter bars is something I liked, as it was much like a granola bar, although it stayed together better than the Chewy ones I like.

The taste, however, was not appealing.  It was not bad at all, but it also was not exactly good.  Instead it was rather plain seeming.  It was not chocolatey nor was it peanut buttery.  It was a little peanutish, but mainly it was just plain (oat flavor, maybe?).

Overall I would buy Fiber One Chocolate Peanut Butter Mealbars, but only if they were on sale and/or I had a coupon that made them the most affordable option.  Even then I would probably only have them to have on hand for the every once and a while need for an on the go filling snack and not for my emergency kits like we mainly buy these type of products for.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Kroger Shrimp Lo Mein Skillet Meal and Garlic Bread

This weekend we tried the Kroger Shrimp Lo Mein Skillet Meal.  The frozen meal was easy and quick to make.  The flavor of it was also good and it had a good amount of shrimp per serving.  However, a serving ended up being rather small and even with a salad and garlic bread it was not really a full meal for the three of us as it lead us to believe it served.  It is also regularly priced at over $4, so since it really takes 2 packages to serve 3 it is almost the same to just get takeout from the place right next to our Kroger right down the street from home.

The frozen Kroger garlic bread also tasted great and easy to make.  The price of it is even good enough that I will probably buy regularly to have it on hand in the freezer for a quick side for meals or even as a snack.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Limited Edition Pillsbury Pink Lemonade Cookies

The Limited Edition Pillsbury Pink Lemonade cookie dough caught my attention when I was at Kroger early this week.  Making them was easy enough, although I have kind of gotten into the even more easy and convenient trays of break apart cookie dough.

The flavor of them ended up being pretty good.  They definitely seemed lemony, although whether actually pink lemonade I do not know, as it has sometimes seemed pink is just a color rather than an actual flavor for pink lemonade.  It does have a little flavor of something beyond just lemon, though.  According to my brother, they seemed kind of raspberryish and he did not like them because of that.

Overall I liked the Pink Lemonade cookies right out of the oven.  However, once they cooled they were not only crispy, but they ended up being very crumbly feeling.  Since I really only like my cookies soft, I did not much care for them after they cooled, but I would get them again and just make only how many as will be eaten right away at a time.

Kroger Pomegranate Greek Yogurt

First off I must admit that while I overall have no issue with store brands and actually prefer Safeways to brand name in some cases, I have often found Kroger to really exemplify the lower quality bad rap store brands tend to get.  That said I have also found some of the Kroger stuff to be decent, although usually it is the stuff that is not actually a better deal than name brand, such as their Private Selection.  When it comes to yogurt, though, I have almost always found store brands are just too thin and watery seeming.  However, seeing that the Kroger Greek yogurt actually has a comparable amount of protein as name brands, I thought it might actually be a decent store brand yogurt.

Sadly, opening the Kroger Pomegranate Greek Yogurt I found it to have more of a thin consistency than the Kroger Carbmaster style I had also bought.  While I still appreciate it actually has the protein I come to expect from a Greek yogurt, at the same time it is not Greek yogurt because it is not anywhere near thick like it should be.  Worse, though, is it is totally bland tasting.  I guess I should expect that, though, because pomegranate really is more of flavor better blended with others than a stand alone, but I have had plain yogurt seem more flavorful than this.  If the only issue was this flavor, I would try out other varieties of the brand, but the thinness of the yogurt makes me rather just pay more for true Greek yogurt or even just buy the regular store brand yogurt that is cheaper and basically just like this fake Greek yogurt other than having somewhat less protein.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Private Selection Montanara Robust Mushroom Sauce

While I am not much into having red sauce on pasta, the mushroom aspect made me interested in trying the Private Selection Montanara Robust Mushroom Sauce.  I ended up being kind of disappointed in it, though, as the mushrooms seemed almost not existent.  To some extent that was a good thing, though, as we used it for a family meal and my brother does not like mushrooms and he still enjoyed the pasta with this sauce.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Unreal77 Peanut Butter Cups

One of my favorite type of candy are peanut butter cups.  I especially like Dark Chocolate Reese's, but milk chocolate peanut butter cups are okay too and pretty much the only milk chocolate I enjoy.  Thus, the Unreal Peanut Butter Cups appealed most to me, as they do not have any dark chocolate varieties (or at least not at my CVS).


Overall, I enjoyed the Unreal77 Peanut Butter Cups.  I liked the more peanut butter seeming (i.e. not the more sugary partly peanut buttery Reese's filling) better than Reese's.  The chocolate seemed a little odd, but I kind of feel that way about all milk chocolate.  The chocolate shell was definitely thicker on the top and bottom than a Reese's cup, which is good to some extent, as sometimes it seems there is barely a chocolate coating on Reese's.  However, since it was not dark chocolate I kind of would still prefer a Reese's cup over this.

Now if Unreal made a dark chocolate version I would totally be buying that as my only brand of peanut butter cups, though, as I really do like their peanut butter filling better.  Best of all their candy is unjunked!

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Celestial Seasonings Perfect Iced Tea Southern Sweet Black Tea

As a tea lover and with 100+ degree heat, I was excited to use my Kuerig machine to brew over ice and make iced tea with the Celestial Seasonings Perfect Iced Tea Southern Sweet Black Tea.  It turned out better than I expected in that it quickly was cool ice tea and was nicely brewed tea.  However, I did not really like the overall flavor because it was too sweet for me.  I guess I should of kind of expected that, as that is kind of what Southern Sweet tea usually is like, so if you like that kind of thing that this is worth trying out.  Also, it was better when the ice melted because it diluted it more and was not as sweet, but then you have the tea diluted more, too.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Private Selection Caramel Hazelnut Fudge Ice Cream

This flavor appealed to me because it sounded a lot like Phish Food minus the marshmallow.  I did overall end up enjoy the Private Selection Caramel Hazelnut Fudge Ice Cream, but I would have liked there to have been more truffles.  Part of the problem with the truffles is that half are hazelnut and half are fudge, so it is kind of a mix of what you get and I kind of thought they were all fudge and the hazelnuts were in the ice cream on their own.  However, even combined they kind of seemed few and far between.  Certainly does not meet a Ben & Jerry's Phish Food craving (I do not really care about the marshmallow, but I do care about the fudge), but since it is a store brand I certainly find it worth the cheaper price.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Sobe LifeWater Mango Mandarin with Coconut Water

I have long liked Sobe products.  I used to mainly enjoy the Sobe Energy, but I also have enjoyed the LifeWater products, especially the pomegranate flavors. Thus while I hated the one time I tried coconut water before, I still thought it was worth trying Sobe's version.

I found the Sobe LifeWater Mango Mandarin with Coconut Water at least palatable, which is really saying a lot because I could not stand the tiny sip of the other brand I tried a few months ago.  I did not really love it, though, and probably would not buy it.  However, the reason I did not like it was because it was too sweet, which is not surprising with the first ingredient after water being sugar.  If they came out with a 0 version, I would certainly give it another try, though.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Limited Edition The American Creme Oreo

I very rarely buy Oreos, but the Limited Edition The American Creme ones looked cool.  I did not really expect them to be different other than they obviously are not the typical chocolate Oreo.  However, it has either been just a long time and I do not properly remember having a Golden Oreo or the creme in these ones are way different.

First off, the American Creme Oreo filling kind of resembles play dough.  Maybe, it is just the colors, but it totally does look like play dough.  It does not taste as bad as play dough, but it is rather flavorless.  Thus, I found these Oreos not very good the way I typically twist them apart and eat the creme first.  However, if I eat them as they are they are not bad, but then you do not get to see the colors as much.

Pepsi Next - The Next New Coke?

I am definitely a Diet Coke person, but I am overall not opposed to drinking Pepsi when it is the brand served at a particular place or is only brand on sale when I want to buy more soda.  Usually I really do not mind Diet Pepsi other than it seems to get flat fast and I actually prefer the Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry to the Diet Coke with Cherry.  Thus I thought why not give Pepsi Next a shot.

Since I mostly like soda with artificial sweeteners because they tend to be less sweet, I knew maybe I would not like Pepsi Next with it having some sugar.  However, it actually does not seem too sweet, but from the first sip I did not like it.

The main issue I have with Pepsi Next is that it seems rather flat.  I thought at first it was because the can I got was mailed to me, but then I got a 2-liter bottle from the store and it was just as bad.  If you prefer less carbonation than Pepsi definitely is better than Coke, but the main thing I like about soda is carbonation so seeming flat right from the start is not good.

Beyond just the lack of carbonation, I also did not like the taste.  Not that the taste was bad, but it just seemed very bland.  I thought maybe it is because I am used to drinking Diet soda, so I had my brother try it without giving him my opinion first.  He said it was boring and while he usually drinks Coke he actually does like Pepsi the same or more.  At the same time he also dislikes some artificial sweeteners, so I would have expected him to say something more like this tastes bad rather than this tastes like nothing.

So not surprising that a Diet Coke fan like me is not into this new product, but I really expected my brother a fan of full calorie colas to at least think it was at least okay.  As it is, to me Pepsi Next is a failure like New Coke was.

Disclosure: I received a free sample from BzzAgent.

Lean Pockets Pretzel Breads Spinach & Three Cheese Sandwiches

My local Fry's tends to have a really limited selection of Lean Pockets to the point they did not even carry the only vegetarian option of Four Cheese for awhile.  Thus, I was pretty darn excited that when I went to stock up on some Lean Pockets there was a new meat free option to try.  I was extra excited that the new option is a Pretzel Bread one, as I love pretzels and have been hoping for a meat free version.

The Lean Pockets Pretzel Breads Spinach & Three Cheese did not disappoint for the most part.  I like that it is more than just cheese inside.  It kind of reminds me of how I like the broccoli and cheese ones better than the four cheese pizza back when I could find the broccoli ones.  The pretzel bread part is pretty tasty, too, although I would have preferred it to taste more saltier.

This new variety of Lean Pockets has definitely become my first choice one to get.  Hopefully, it sticks around and my local store continues to carry it, as it would be hard to go back to having just the boring Four Cheese Pizza again.  Although, they do still have the Limited Edition Four Cheese Garlic Pasta Bake ones, which do not feel so limited with them being around for at least 7 months already.

Private Selection Margherita Napolitana Pizza, Spanakopita, and Belgian Chocolate Lava Cakes

The Private Selection Margherita Napolitana pizza is okay.  I like the choice of toppings including grape tomatoes and mozzarella.  It is rather small, though, and does not really have 3 servings like it says.  Also, not really into the whole thin crust thing.

The Spanakopita from Private Selection was quite good.  It ended up being a big frozen mass that I could not break apart, so I baked it as one piece and broke it apart after baking.  This ended up being not that good of an idea, as they cooked extremely unevenly.  However, they still tasted great.  I would get again, but I gotta figure out how to break them apart to bake.

The Belgian Chocolate Lava Cakes were a total disappointment.  I expected to like them like I love the ones from Dominos.  However, these are extremely cakey and I do not usually like cake.  Also, thought it had way too liquidy chocolate filling.

Disclosure: I received these items free from BzzAgent.

Cinnamon M&M's

I felt pretty disciplined not buying any Lindt's or Andes special holiday chocolates in the holiday section of Target last week.  However, I could not pass up on purchasing the Cinnamon M&M's since I had never heard of them before.

The M&M's are bigger sized than regular M&Ms.  The Cinnamon M&M's are more like the size of peanut butter M&Ms.  The flavor, though, is not much different than regular milk chocolate M&Ms.  At first I seemed to be able to tell that there was a hint of cinnamon, but after a couple they pretty much just taste like regular M&Ms and I do not really like plain milk chocolate M&Ms.

Kroger The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies

I do not often buy cookies at the grocery store because I prefer soft cookies as in sort of undercooked.  Pretty much the only ones I like are the Pepperidge Farm soft baked cookies, but I have now discovered that the Kroger Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies are actually pretty good.

Straight out of the box they do not seem all that different than some other packaged cookies, but they do seem to taste more like homemade cookies (probably because they have no added preservatives or artifical flavors).  Just out of the box hey are too hard for my liking and actually quite a crumbly mess.  However, they are quite awesome when microwaved for about 30 seconds.  This makes them soft and really does seem sort of like they just came out of the oven.

I certainly will be looking closer at the cookie aisle for when these are on sale.  Now if only they had peanut butter chips or a version of peanut butter cookies than they really would be truly awesome in my book, but if you love just plain chocolate chip cookies this is one awesome store brand to try out.

Disclaimer: I received the cookies for free through BzzAgent.

SuperPretzel SoftStix Review

I have long been a fan of the frozen SuperPretzel Soft Pretzels.  My favorite way to eat them is to sprinkle shredded cheese over them so it melts while microwaving the frozen soft pretzel.  The SuperPretzel SoftStix have sounded good to me, but I had never been able to find them at my local grocery store.  I finally happened upon them yesterday at Target.

The SuperPretzel SoftStix are basically pretzel bites with a Kraft cheese filling.  They are little, but they are oh so good.  The only problem I have is that the cheese always seems to squirt out of at least one stick when microwaving and I only ever do the initial 30 seconds and have never needed to do the additional 30 the directions tell you to do.

I totally love them, but with only about 4 real servings (2 sticks is not enough) they are not as economical as buying the pretzels and shredded cheese, since I can get 25 pretzels in bulk at Fry's and even when not getting shredded cheese in bulk size the serving amount goes much farther for cheaper.  I would still buy the SoftStix again, especially since I have a coupon for them, but I will stick with the regular pretzels because it is just as good and cheaper for me.