Month: December 2012

SPOTTED ON SHELVES (HOLIDAY EDITION) – 12/5/2012

Marvo 6 Comments

Here are some interesting new and limited edition holiday products found on store shelves by us and your fellow readers.

Sugar and Cinnamon Mission Tortilla Chips

Sweet sugar and cinnamon, Batman! Mission’s Sweet Sugar & Cinnamon tortilla chips are back this season! By the way, isn’t putting “sweet” and “sugar” in its name a bit redundant? Junk Food Betty and Junk Food Guy have reviews. (Spotted by Linda at Nob Hill Foods.)

Jet-Puffed PeppermintMallow

Awww. These mini Jet-Puffed PeppermintMallows look like the result of what would happen if two of these went out for a lovely dinner, to the theater to watch an R-rated film with a couple hot lovemaking scenes, and then came home to make real sweet, sweet love. (Spotted by Kayla at Walmart.)

Limited Edition Toll House Cookies

Oh, Nestle Toll House! How I wish you had cookie products that didn’t need to be baked. (Spotted by Kenneth at Walmart and Target.)

Limited Edition Toll House Morsels

Although your chocolate morsels make a wonderful snack while I wait for your cookie dough products to bake. Baking Bites reviewed the Dark Chocolate & Mint variety. (Spotted by Marvo at Target.)

Limited Edition Stacy's Pita Chips Simple Gingerbread

Limited Edition Stacy's Pita Simple Naked

Gingerbread is a common flavor this season and Stacy’s has been offering their Simply Gingerbread pita chips for a few years now. Spoil Your Dinner and Junk Food Guy have reviews. But it’s surprising to see the company also release a flavor that represents my Christmas tradition of spending it completely nude so I’m ready to try on any clothing I receive as gift. (Spotted by Marvo at Target.)

Thanks for the photos, everyone! If you’re out shopping and see an interesting new or limited edition product on the shelf (or really unusual), snap a picture of it, and send us an email ([email protected]) with where you found it and “Spotted” in the subject line. If you do so, you might see your picture in our next Spotted on Shelves post.

REVIEW: Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño

Marvo 10 Comments

Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeno

For years, Heinz ketchup has been my condiment of choice for French fries and to make my cooking a little more tolerable.

While Heinz ketchup has changed the flavor of my weak tasting food, the condiment itself has never really moved beyond the formula of tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavoring.

However, a few years ago Heinz came out with a Hot & Spicy variety that was flavored with Tabasco sauce. And last year they came out with a limited edition ketchup blended with balsamic vinegar that later became a regular addition. This year, Heinz has released another limited edition ketchup and this time it’s blended with jalapeño.

I’ve had a number of jalapeño products over the years and many of them have been disappointing because while they have the jalapeño flavor, they also have little to no heat. However, the Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño has the opposite problem.

I tried the spicy ketchup by itself, with McDonald’s fries, on a condiment-less Jack in the Box Jumbo Jack, and on top of my awful cooking. I was going to use it to make spicy sketti, but I didn’t want to find out if my horrible food was worse than a reality show star’s horrible food.

On everything I used the jalapeño-enhance ketchup with, all I initially noticed was the heat.

On a scale of one to ten, with one being the heat I would feel on the top side of a pillow that has just been slept on for eight hours and ten being the heat one would feel on a pan that has just been in an oven for eight hours, the spiciness of the Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño would be a four or five. It’s a nice kick that didn’t instantly shock my mouth’s nerves.

While its spiciness and tomato flavor was wonderful, it’s hard to notice the jalapeño flavor. Once in a while, I got a hint of it, but it’s definitely not as strong as I hoped it would be. Also, I don’t know if the heat was distracting my taste buds, but the ketchup’s vinegary flavor was slightly lacking. I wouldn’t have minded it so much if it had a jalapeño flavor to replace it with.

Overall, the Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño does make McDonald’s fries, a Jack in the Box Jumbo Jack, and my cooking spicier, but it does just a decent job at helping the awful meals I make taste better.

Disclosure: I received a free bottle of Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño from the fine folks at Heinz in order to review it.

(Nutrition Facts – 1 tbsp – 20 calories, 0 grams of fat, 160 milligrams of sodium, 5 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein, 2% vitamin A, and 2% vitamin C.)

Item: Limited Edition Heinz Tomato Ketchup Blended With Real Jalapeño
Purchased Price: Free
Size: 14 ounce bottle
Purchased at: Received from the folks at Heinz
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Nice spicy kick and tomato flavor. Heinz coming up with more limited edition ketchup. Regular ketchup makes my cooking taste taste better.
Cons: Doesn’t have a strong jalapeño flavor. Vinegar flavor is slightly subdued. My cooking. Does just a decent job at improving my cooking. Sketti.

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 12/3/2012

Marvo 4 Comments

Here are some new and limited edition products found on store shelves by us and your fellow readers.

Extra Dessert Delight Lemon Square

The list of Extra Dessert Delights gum has just gotten longer. There’s root beer float, apple pie, strawberry shortcake, mint chocolate chip ice cream, key lime pie, rainbow sherbet, orange creme popsicle, and now lemon squares. I wonder what they’ll come up with next. I hope it’s brownies or baklava. (Spotted by Cortney at Shoppers Food Warehouse.)

Frozen Greek Yogurt

Speaking of baklava, this baklava Greek frozen yogurt would’ve never happened in 1800s because of the strife between Greece and the Ottoman Empire and because frozen yogurt hadn’t been invented yet. (Spotted by Melissa at Giant Food Stores.)

Jolly Rancher Gelatin Mix

Hey, college kids or 40-somethings who want to relive their youth, Jolly Rancher has watermelon and green apple gelatin for you to make Jolly Rancher Jello shots with. Although, Jolly Rancher would probably want you to call them Jolly Rancher gelatin shots because their gelatin is not under the Jello brand. But that probably won’t happen because Jello has pretty much replaced gelatin in our vernacular, much like Kleenex has replaced facial tissues. (Spotted by Nadirah at Walmart.)

Blue Bell Rum Raisin

“Welcome to the rum raisin ice cream party, Blue Bell,” said Häagen-Dazs with sarcasm. (Spotted by Kenneth at Target.)

If you’re out shopping and see a new or limited edition product on the shelf (or really unusual), snap a picture of it, and send us an email ([email protected]) with where you found it and “Spotted” in the subject line. If you do so, you might see your picture in our next Spotted on Shelves post.