NEWS: Arizona Beverages Honors a New York Yankee With A Beverage That Probably Won’t Sell Well in Boston

The Mighty Joe

I know three things about Joe DiMaggio. He was a New York Yankee, he had a 56-game hitting streak, and was once married to Marilyn Monroe. And that’s without looking at his Wikipedia page.

Recently, I learned something new about Mr. DiMaggio. He’ll soon have a canned coffee beverage called Joltin’ Joe from Arizona Beverages, makers of Arnold Palmer’s half & half and Jack Nicklaus’ Golden Bear lemonade.

Joltin’ Joe is a carbonated, all-natural beverage made with espresso coffee. An 8-ounce serving has 80 milligrams of caffeine and 50 calories. It’s sweetened using RebA – a natural sweetener derived from the stevia leaf. Joltin’ Joe will be available in 16-ounce cans that highlight his 56-game hitting streak.

The espresso drink will be available in New York metro area in mid-September and will continue to roll out nationally throughout the year.

Image via flickr user Catchpenny / CC BY ND 2.0

NEWS: Arby’s New Turkey Roasters Are Gobble Gobble Gobble (Good Mood Food in Turkey Speak)

Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich

Update: Click here to read our Arby’s Grand Turkey Club Turkey Roaster review

I remember when Arby’s was only known for roast beef and curly fries? I. Am. Old. Turkey has slowly become just as prominent as roast beef on the Arby’s menu board.

QSR Magazine:

Turkey Roasters are served hot and feature oven-roasted turkey that is thinly sliced each day in the restaurants.

There are three varieties to choose from:

Grand Turkey Club – Sliced roast turkey with melted Swiss cheese, pepper bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a toasted harvest wheat bun

Turkey ‘n Cheddar Classic – Thinly sliced oven-roasted turkey topped with cheddar cheese and zesty Red Ranch sauce on a toasted onion roll

Turkey Classic – Thinly sliced oven-roasted turkey on a toasted sesame seed bun

A Turkey Classic has 290 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 grams of saturated fat, 1020 milligrams of sodium, and 24 grams of protein. A Turkey ‘n Cheddar Classic has 450 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 1480 milligrams of sodium, and 27 grams of protein. A Grand Turkey Club has 490 calories, 24 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 1440 milligrams of sodium, and 29 grams of protein.

Image via flickr user Steve Snodgrass / CC BY 2.0

NEWS: Live Más in the Morning With a Taco Bell A.M. Crunchwrap

Sunrise (Medellín)

Taco Bell’s new A.M. Crunchwrap is exactly how I imagined it in my greasy dreams. Sadly, only available at Taco Bell locations that offer breakfast, which is zero here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Lisa Jennings, writing for Nation’s Restaurant News:

The new breakfast version features scrambled eggs, cheese and a choice of bacon or sausage instead of beef. And in place of the crispy inner tostada shell, the A.M. Crunchwrap features a hash brown patty. Those ingredients are then wrapped in a soft flour tortilla and grilled.

I can’t wait see what I dream of the next time I eat a Taco Bell FourthMeal and fall asleep soon after.

Image via flickr user Hugo Quintero / CC BY 2.0

REVIEW: Planters NUTrition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter

Planters NUT-rition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter

I think Planters should consider renaming their NUTrition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter to NUTrition Elvis Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter in honor of the King’s love of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Also, to see if anyone calls the phone number on the bottle to ask what little men with pointy ears have to do with this peanut butter.

If Elvis was alive today, I think he might enjoy this peanut butter mixture that includes dried bananas, granola, and peanuts. And for those of you Weekly World News readers who think he’s still alive and living in a cabin in Montana under the name Sivle Yelserp, I’m sure he’s enjoying this peanut butter mixture with bacon…and sharing it with his aliens buddies from the Archon 7 galaxy.

To be honest, it’s refreshing to see a major company like Planters do something different with peanut butter. If you look at the peanut butter section at the grocery store, it appears not a lot of money has been spent on R&D. It’s just a sea of creamy and chunky. With its peanut chunks, crispy granola, and chewy dried bananas, I guess you could call Planters NUTrition Peanut Butter chuewyspy peanut butter.

Having different textures is one of the reasons why I enjoyed Planters’ NUTrition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter. But I also enjoyed it because its flavor made me want to put on a sequined jumpsuit, greasy my hair, gyrate my hips hard enough to be censored on a 1950s talk show, and say with a lip snarl, “Thank you very much.” That would’ve happen, but my Bedazzler is out of commission because I overworked it while attempting to put the word “voluptuous” on the back side of a pair of yoga pants, instead of the much shorter “juicy.”

Planters NUT-rition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter Closeup

If you enjoy bananas, I have good news; there’s a little bit of banana flavor in the peanut butter itself. Thankfully, it’s not artificial and it’s not the dominant flavor. I was expecting the added dried banana to be crunchy like banana chips, but was surprised when my molars discovered they were chewy like raisins. As for the granola, well, it’s not really granola. It’s just rice flakes and rice crisps; there aren’t any oats. I’ve eaten enough Nature Valley products to know those two ingredients don’t make granola and I’ve consumed enough Kellogg’s products with cartoon characters on the packaging to know those two ingredients make a breakfast cereal.

With all the mix-ins, you might expect NUTrition Peanut Butter to not be spread-friendly, like chunky peanut butter. But because there wasn’t a dense amount, I found it to be quite spreadable.

Besides not having real granola, another disappointing thing about this peanut butter is that it comes in a 12-ounce jar, which looks dramatically smaller next to the 16- and 18-ounce jars of regular peanut butter. Also, I don’t understand why adding bits of dried banana and rice cereals make the peanut butter an Energy Mix.

Overall, the flavor of Planters’ NUTrition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter was a nice departure from plain ol’ peanut butter. It’s quite good and has gotten me curious about the other two Planters NUTrition Peanut Butter flavors — Cinnamon Raisin Granola Nut and Berry Nut.

(Nutrition Facts – 2 tbsp – 190 calories, 120 calories from fat 15 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat*, 4.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 7 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 130 milligrams of sodium, 9 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, 7 grams of protein, and a bunch of vitamins and minerals.)

Item: Planters NUTrition Energy Mix Banana Granola Nut Peanut Butter
Purchased Price: $5.19 (on sale)*
Size: 12 ounce jar
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Pleasant combinations of peanut butter and banana. Easier to spread than chunky peanut butter. Nice departure from regular peanut butter. Elvis would like it. Elves would like it too. Bedazzlers.
Cons: Including Elvis references when half the readership doesn’t know who he is. Come in 12-ounce jars. Not sure why it’s called an Energy Mix. Granola isn’t really granola. Broken Bedazzlers.

*According to the press release, a jar of Planters NUTrition Peanut Butter retails for $3.99. I paid more because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

SPOTTED ON SHELVES – 8/29/2012

Here are some new products found on store shelves by us and your fellow readers. We may or may not review them, but we’d like to let you know what new items are popping up. We’ll also occasionally throw in an unusual product.

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I’m disappointed these weren’t called Sun Chips Mix. What can I say? I’m a sucker for names that rhyme (I’m also a fan alliteration). I find it a little unusual these Sun Snacks Mix-Ups come in sweet flavors since Sun Chips are mostly savory flavors. Although, they did make a mean Cinnamon Sun Chips a few years ago. Thanks for the photo, Adam!

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Ball Park is known for their franks, and now they have a line of frozen products that don’t involve many franks. Frankly, I find that awfully fascinating. (See, I told you I’m a fan of alliteration.) They take minutes to prepare, so if you’re watching a baseball game at home, you’ll have something to do that will help prevent you falling asleep while listening to television baseball announcer banter. Thanks for the photos, Adam!

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Twenty-five percent of my daily value of fiber? Is that the best you can do, Kellogg’s? Most Fiber One snack bars provide 35 percent. I need more fiber to help my digestive Tiber. But not too much fiber because if there’s too much, these bars might also be known as Farty Delights.

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Thanks to baking reality shows, I know what fondant is. Thanks to Betty Crocker, I can pretend to have my own baking reality show and have fondant problems.

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Oh, Guy Fieri. I thought your over bleached spiky hair was the most shocking thing about you. Well, it turns out I was wrong.

If you’re out shopping and see a new product on the shelf (or really unusual), snap a picture of it, email it to us at [email protected] with “Spotted” in the subject line, and you might see it in our next Spotted on Shelves post.