Year: 2012

REVIEW: Nabisco Chewy Chips Ahoy! Gooey Caramel Cookies

Marvo 11 Comments

Chewy Chips Ahoy Gooey Caramel

The Chewy Chips Ahoy! Gooey Caramel cookies are a lot smaller than the Chocofudge and Megafudge Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Cookies we reviewed last year.

What kind of size difference are we talking about?

In cookie terms, they’re slightly wider than an Oreo. For those of you who’ve never had an Oreo, I’m going to put it into terms that might help you understand. If you saw someone with areolas the size of the Chewy Chips Ahoy! Gooey Caramel, you’d think they’re normal, unless they had three of them. But if another person had areolas the size of the other Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey cookie varieties, you’d want them to put their shirt back on.

At first, I didn’t think the cookies were at all gooey, much like the other Gooey varieties, but it turns out they were. I just didn’t eat them properly. Instead of eating them like any normal human being would, I had to split the cookie in half in order to experience the gooeyness, exactly like what’s shown on the product’s packaging.

Who the hell would eat these cookies in a way that involves the same motions used to open a newspaper? If you’ve watched Sesame Street, you know the proper way to eat cookies involves grabbing a whole bunch of them, throwing them at your mouth, and allowing most of the cookies to fall to the ground while yelling, “Om nom nom nom!”

Chewy Chips Ahoy Gooey Caramel Closeup

You’d think a Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookie stuffed with gooey caramel would be awesome, like watching kittens yawn, but I can’t say that it is.

Each cookie is impregnated with a good amount of caramel, but the caramel flavor is lacking. It’s almost as if I’m eating regular Chewy Chips Ahoy! cookies, which isn’t bad, but there should’ve been more to it. If these cookies had emotions, I would buy a Twix candy bar, eat it in front of them, and then tell the cookies that’s how caramel should taste with cookies and chocolate.

I looked through the ingredients list and found most of the stuff needed to make caramel, but the list didn’t specifically say there’s caramel. It specifically says there are semisweet chocolate chips and lists its ingredients in between sad and happy emoticon mouths, but it doesn’t do the same for the caramel. I thought that was a bit strange.

Overall, the Chewy Chips Ahoy! Gooey Caramel cookies are disappointing. While they’re decent cookies and have a nice chewiness to them, I can’t say they’re addictive, which I think is a pretty good measurement of how good a cookie is. They don’t make me want to eat them faster than Law & Order can rip a story from the headlines.

(Nutrition Facts – 2 cookies – 140 calories, 45 calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 125 milligrams of sodium, 50 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.)

Item: Nabisco Chewy Chips Ahoy! Gooey Caramel Cookies
Price: $2.98
Size: 10 ounces
Purchased at: Walmart
Rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: Gooey, if you eat them a certain way. Chewy. Twix. Lots of caramel. Om nom nom nom! Watching kittens yawn.
Cons: Disappointing. Lacks good caramel flavor. Smaller than other Chewy Gooey Chips Ahoy! varieties. Not addictive. The wasteful way I eat cookies.

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt

Stephanie 3 Comments

Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt

Because I am a nerd and like to read about scientific things as much as I can while science is still legal in this country, I recently discovered an Oxford University experiment involving the relationship between food flavors and sound. Results showed that sweet-tasting foods tended to be matched with high-pitched tones while more savory foods tended to be matched with low-pitched sounds.

If that’s the case, then I would have to compare a spoonful of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt to a screeching serenade by a pod of whales. In other words, this frozen yogurt is sweeter than sweet, which was surprising considering that Greek yogurt tends to be tarter than tart. By the way, hyperbole also comes from Greece.

Make no mistake, I prefer sweet frozen yogurt to tart frozen yogurt, just like I’d prefer a friendly whale over any of the homicidal ones. And by “homicidal,” I don’t mean killer whales. I mean whales that commit premeditated murder. Like Moby Dick… or Monstro. Yeah, pretty sure Monstro swallowed his own weight in victims over the years.

However, with Greece being so close to Italy, I think the Mediterranean Sea-dwelling Monstro might enjoy Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen yogurt more than your typical whale would. (Science.) There’s even a chance I can use a fresh pint to lure him and finally pin a spate of horrific maritime swallowings on him. Better yet, we’ll film it and call it Law & Order: WSIU (Whale Swallowings Investigations Unit), and it will not only incorporate sketchy scientific techniques, but it will also be in Italian with English subtitles — “La balena inghiottì il capo!” Chun-CHUNG.

Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt Closeup

Unlike the potential ratings of an hour-long TV procedural starring ocean-dwelling mammals, Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the texture of their Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt. Bits of real strawberries and shortcake pieces really boost the flavor and add to the richness of the creamy frozen yogurt. An extra bonus is that it only has 180 calories per serving. Molto bene! I did wish there had been more shortcake pieces and that they had been bigger. Often, I couldn’t tell whether I’d even picked up any shortbread in my spoon.

Despite that, I would highly recommend Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt. For now, this flavor is only available at grocery stores, so don’t go looking for them at a scoop shop. Even if your street contact says they’ve heard whales hanging out around there. It’s not whales, it’s the flavor. (Science.)

(Nutrition Facts – 1/2 cup (100g) – 180 calories, 45 fat calories, 5 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, 6 grams of protein, 15% Calcium, 0% Iron, 10% Vitamin C, and 4% Vitamin A.)

Other Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt reviews:
San Diego Sugar
On Second Scoop
Junk Food Guy

Item: Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake Greek Frozen Yogurt
Price: $3.49 (on sale)
Size: 1 pint
Purchased at: Ralphs
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Tastes like whales sound. 180 calories per serving. Light, creamy and sweet. The Italian language.
Cons: Not enough shortbread pieces. Monstro. Only available at grocery stores. Law & Order: WSIU, coming this fall.

NEWS: Jack in the Box’s Value Deal Includes New Chicken Nuggets and Jr. Jack

Marvo 2 Comments

Jack In The Box

Yes! Jack in the Box has chicken nuggets!

Wow. I used exclamation points. I must be really excited about Jack’s nuggets.

But, now that I think about it, I kind of regret using exclamation points because I’m not that enthusiastic about them, but I’m too lazy to hit the up arrow key to change them, and the more I type, the farther away they become.

Jack’s nuggets are available in six-pieces and in five-pieces, if you order the new Value Deal, which also includes a Jr. Jack, 16-ounce Value Drink, and Value Fries, all for $3.99. What’s a Jr. Jack? I think I can best explain it in the form of a SAT or GRE exam analogy — Whopper Jr. : Whopper :: Jr. Jack : Jumbo Jack.

A Jr. Jack without cheese has 325 calories, 15 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 716 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 5 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein. There isn’t any nutritional info for five chicken nuggets, but there is for six, which has 238 calories, 17 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 26 milligrams of cholesterol, 604 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, and 9 grams of protein.

Image via flickr user Matt McGee / CC BY ND 2.0

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 5/10/2012

Marvo 8 Comments

New products are released all the time and here are some we found on our most recent shopping trips. We may or may not review them, but we’d like to let you know what new items are popping up on store shelves.

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When I first saw these, I thought they were half baked potatoes in a bag, but these Ore-Ida Grillers are thick potato slices you can either prepare on a grill or in an oven. But Ore-Ida probably wants you to heat them up on a grill, since they didn’t call them Ore-Ida Oveners. I don’t know if the grill marks on the potato come pre-marked. It would be very weird if they did. I saw only two varieties at my local Safeway — Seasoned Thick Cut Potatoes and Golden Thick Cut Potatoes.

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The directions for the new Quaker Real Medleys Oatmeal are pretty much the same as a Cup Noodles. You can either pour hot water into them or pour unheated water and stick them into the microwave. The instant oatmeal comes in four fruity and/or nutty flavors: Apple Walnut, Cherry Pistachio, Peach Almond, and Summer Berry. Each contains 290 calories.

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Lipton Tea & Honey comes in six flavors: Black Currant Raspberry Iced Black Tea, Lemon Iced Black Tea, Peach Apricot Iced Black Tea, Mango Pineapple Iced Green Tea, Blackberry Pomegranate Iced Green Ta, and Strawberry Acai Decaf Iced Green Tea. The black tea varieties have 40 milligrams of caffeine per 16 ounce serving, while the green tea flavors, except for the decaf Strawberry Acai, have 20 milligrams. But all of them have 60 milligrams of flavonoids.

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If Greece earned royalties for every Greek yogurt product sold, perhaps they wouldn’t be in the financial mess they’re in. Also, if that was the case, Yoplait would be paying Greece a load of money that’s thicker than Greek yogurt. Yoplait offers regular Greek yogurts, Greek yogurt parfaits, and these Greek yogurt smoothies. I’m surprised there isn’t a Yoplait Greek Go-Gurt for kids.

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We wrote about the new limited edition Hot Pockets varieties the other day, but Lean Pockets also has a couple of new Pretzel Bread varieties — Mesquite BBQ Recipe Chicken and Spinach and 3 Cheese. Hmm…Mesquite BBQ doesn’t sound very lean. Also, what’s with the “recipe” in its name. It makes me suspicious. Random Dude Eats Random Food has a review.

Totino's Pizza Chips

This photo comes from reader Troy Kibodeaux via our Facebook page. I read about these a few months ago on a snack forum. After doing some research, it appears pepperoni is the only flavor. As someone who enjoys Totino’s Party Pizzas, except the trans fat in them, I’m curious about these. I’m also weirded out by them because if anyone’s goal is to recreate the flavor of a frozen pizza, then their goal is a bit low.

If you’re out shopping and see a new product on the shelf, snap a picture of it, email it to us at [email protected], and you might see it in our next Spotted on Shelves post.