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.