NEWS: Jones Soda To Release Au Naturel Sparkling Water In Plastic Bottles

Jones Soda has never been sold in plastic bottles.

Actually, that’s not quite correct. Jones Soda’s discontinued line of vitamin enhanced water did, but Jones Soda soda has never been sold in plastic bottles.

Well, that’s about to change with their new line of Au Naturel sparking waters. Of course, this disappoints me because if I’m drinking one at a picnic and a fight breaks out, I can’t smash the plastic bottle on someone’s head or on a tree to make a weapon to defend myself.

Jones Au Naturel is made up of carbonated water, natural sweeteners (organic agave syrup, stevia, and pure cane sugar), flavor essence, and green tea extracts to provide a little caffeine.

A bottle of Au Naturel contain 35 calories, seven grams of sugar, and five grams of fiber. So it has the same amount of fiber found in a bowl of this raisin bran. The sparking water comes in three Ben and Jerry’s flavor-sounding names: Green Apple A Day, Lemon Limelight, and Orange Ya Glad Its Mango.

Au Naturel has a suggested retail price of $1.79 per 16.9-ounce bottle and will be available on the Jones Soda website and natural grocery store.

NEWS: Burger King’s New Menu Items Might Confuse You Into Thinking You’ve Stepped Into A McDonald’s

IMG_1073

Burger King recently unleashed their new website (site was up and running while writing this, but it appears the old version of the site is up) and with it they also debuted a gastric bomb of new products. Many of the menu items will sound familiar because, well, McDonald’s did it. So here they are:

Chicken Strips

Available in 3 or 5 pieces, the white meat chicken is marinated and battered in seasoned home-style breading. The dipping sauces available include: King Kung Pao, BBQ Roasted Jalapeño, Barbecue, Honey Mustard, Sweet and Sour, Ranch, and Buffalo. A 3-piece Chicken Strips has 360 calories, 19 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1,400 milligrams of sodium, and 14 grams of protein.

Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps

Burger King’s Snack Wraps combine seven lettuces, white meat chicken, a three-cheese medley, and either Ken’s Ranch Dressing or Ken’s Honey Mustard Dressing in a white flour tortilla.

The Ranch Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap has 370 calories, 21 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,060 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein. While the Honey Mustard version has 390 calories, 21 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 990 milligrams of sodium, 37 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein.

Update: Click here to read our BK Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps review

Smoothies & Frappes

Burger King Smoothies are made with real fruit and low-fat yogurt, and come in two flavors — Strawberry Banana and Tropical Mango. The Strawberry Banana Smoothie has 310 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, 73 grams of carbohydrates, 60 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. The Tropical Mango has 330 calories, 1 gram of fat, 78 grams of carbohydrates, 63 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Update: Click here to read our BK Fruit Smoothies review

The frappes are topped with whipped cream, swirled with syrup, and, just like the smoothies, come in two flavors — Mocha and Caramel. Both Burger King Frappes have 510 calories, 22 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 72 grams of carbohydrates, 49 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Update: Click here to read our Burger King Frappe review

Salads

While everything else so far looks familiar, Burger King’s new salads don’t look like they’re from McDonald’s. The salads have the option of having either Tendercrisp or Tendergrill chicken and are available in three varieties:

Chicken, Apple & Cranberry Garden Fresh Salad – Seven premium lettuces, crisp apples, dried cranberries, bleu cheese, and Ken’s Apple Cider Vinaigrette. With Tendergrill chicken it has 520 calories, 35 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 100 milligrams of cholesterol, 950 milligrams of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 35 grams of sugar, and 35 grams of protein.

Chicken BLT Garden Fresh Salad – Seven premium lettuces (including romaine, spring mix, and iceberg), thick cut hardwood smoked bacon, tomatoes, red onions, a three-cheese medley, and Ken’s Avocado Ranch Dressing. With Tendergrill chicken it has 510 calories, 33 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 125 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,610 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of sugar, and 42 grams of protein.

Update: Click here to read our BK Chicken BLT Garden Fresh Salad review

Chicken Caesar Garden Fresh Salad – Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, Parmesan croutons, shaved Parmesan cheese, and Ken’s Citrus Caesar Vinaigrette. With Tendergrill chicken it has 490 calories, 28 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 100 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,620 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of sugar, and 41 grams of protein.

NEWS: Dial For Men Speed Foam Body Wash Foaming Gel Has A Long Name For A Body Wash

Dial For Men Speed Foam Body WashUpdate: Click here to watch our Dial for Men Speed Foam video review

Dial for Men’s Speed Foam Body Wash Foaming Gel has been available for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t notice it until I saw a coupon for it in the Sunday newspaper.

Ever since I learned about it, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the idea of a foaming gel. So does it work like Edge Shaving Gel, which starts expanding and turning into foam once it’s dispensed?

According to its bottle, it proudly boasts, “No shower pouf needed.” So I guess with Speed Foam, I don’t need any kind of shower pouf or wash cloth to create foam and to clean my body. Instead, I just use my hands.

But without the pouf, how am I going to exfoliate my skin? Also, if I’m using only my hands, how am I going to wash that one spot on my back I can’t quite reach? What about my butt crack? That means I have to wash my butt crack with only my hands. I don’t feel comfortable with that.

With Speed Foam, Dial claims men will reach the ultimate clean faster and easier than ever.

Dial Speed Foam is able to dispense enough foaming gel for 40 washes and comes in three scents: Active Sport, Arctic Refresh, and Ultra Clean. It’s available nationwide for a suggested retail price of $5.99.

NEWS: Attention! Now There’s VitaminWater Attention!

VitaminWater Attention on shelf

Update: Click here to read out VitaminWater Attention review

VitaminWater Attention is the latest not-quite-as-bad-as-soda-but-significantly-worse-than-regular-water beverage from the folks from Glacéau. It’s fuji apple and watermelon flavored, hence its red color.

According to the slick marketing copy found on every VitaminWater bottle, Attention is supposed to help drinkers focus. I find that strange since VitaminWater already has a flavor that helps with focus called Focus. Sounds like Glacéau is running out of deficiencies to help us with.

To help you focus, VitaminWater Attention has 87 milligrams of caffeine in every bottle. It also provides 15 grams of glucose. To be honest, I didn’t pay attention in biology 101 in college (I passed with a C), so I have no idea what glucose does in the body. I really could’ve used a VitaminWater Attention back then.

After a quick Google search and reading a site with a .org domain name, I learned glucose helps boost a person’s cognitive performance. I started to read the Wikipedia entry on glucose, but got quickly bored, like I did with biology 101.

A bottle of VitaminWater Attention has 120 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 32 grams of sugar, 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Burger King BK Chef’s Choice Burgers (Bacon & Bleu and Bacon Cheddar BBQ)

Burger King Bacon & Bleu BK Chef's Choice Burger

I shall begin this review with the true story of how I ordered the new limited-time-only Burger King Bacon & Bleu and Bacon Cheddar BBQ BK Chef’s Choice Burgers.

When I ordered the new varieties, the employee who rang me up didn’t know what burgers I was talking about, even though on the large LCD screen behind her there was an image promoting all three BK Chef’s Choice Burgers. Unfortunately, the image was part of a slideshow of Burger King’s latest products and the new burgers weren’t anywhere else on the menu board, so when I pointed them out on the screen behind her and she turned her head to look, the image changed to something else. She then gave me a look that I’ve only seen when I ask people to pull my finger. She called over the manager who verified the new burgers and pointed them out on the register.

And that’s how I consumed almost a day’s worth of saturated fat and sodium in one meal.

As for the burgers themselves, I have to say they are the best looking major chain fast food burgers I’ve seen in real life. Okay, they still look nothing like their promotional photos, but they don’t look like the smashed blobs of meat, cheese, and bread that other burgers look like in real life. Of course, my burgers could’ve been made by the slowest and most careful BK employee in the company, so yours may not look like mine.

Burger King Bacon & Bleu BK Chef's Choice Burger Closeup

The Bacon & Bleu BK Chef’s Choice Burger consists of a 5.5-ounce flame-broiled premium ground chuck patty topped with naturally smoked hardwood bacon, Wisconsin buttermilk bleu cheese, romaine lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, and mayo on an artisan-style bun. Maybe it’s the addition of the bleu cheese, but this burger sounds more deserving of the title “Chef’s Choice” than the Bacon Cheddar BBQ one.

The bleu cheese wasn’t crumbled cheese sprinkled on top of the burger, it was more of a chunky bleu cheese spread. I prefer this since the crumbles fell out of other bleu cheese burgers I’ve tried. Although the layer of bleu cheese didn’t look like much, it did pack quite a punch, so much so that it taste bud-blocked almost every other ingredients. The thick bacon slices tasted like bleu cheese. The lettuce, red onions, and tomatoes tasted like bleu cheese. A little bit of the beef patty’s flavor hit my taste buds, but it was mostly bleu cheese. The bleu cheese also made the burger taste really salty. I know. I know. Fast food burger = salty. But, it made this burger taste especially salty. In order to finish it, I had to scrape off the bleu cheese.

Burger King Bacon Cheddar BBQ BK Chef's Choice Burger

My taste buds had a much better experience with the Bacon Cheddar BBQ Chef’s Choice Burger, which is made up of the same beef patty, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onions, mayo, and bun as the Bacon & Bleu, but also includes two slices of cheddar cheese and a BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce is the same stuff found in BK’s Western BBQ Topper burger, which I found tasty. Speaking of ingredients found in the Western BBQ Topper, I really wish the Bacon Cheddar BBQ BK Chef’s Choice Burger also had onion rings.

Burger King Bacon Cheddar BBQ BK Chef's Choice Burger Closeup

I’ve complained several times on this blog about flavorless bacon in fast food burgers and cheese being used more as a glue to keep the burger together instead of flavor enhancement, but the thick hardwood bacon slices and mild cheddar cheese in this burger surprised me since I could actually taste both. The beef patty was dry, which is par for the course when it comes to fast food burgers, but I just like with the regular BK Chef’s Choice Burger I enjoyed the flavor of the patty. Overall, it’s a really tasty burger, thanks to the BBQ sauce, meat, cheese, and bacon combination, and it’s my favorite of the three BK Chef’s Choice Burger varieties.

While I didn’t really care for the Bacon & Bleu and enjoyed the Bacon Cheddar BBQ, there’s something that really bothered me about both burgers — the inclusion of mayonnaise. It’s completely unnecessary in either burger when both contain a topping that provides a lot of flavor (i.e. bleu cheese and BBQ sauce). The mayonnaise’s flavor is nonexistent in both burgers, so why include it? Is it there to make sure the lettuce doesn’t fall out? If not, all it really does is include more fat and sodium to burgers that already have a lot of both.

I don’t know if you can still have it your way at Burger King, but if you can, I’d suggest getting the Bacon Cheddar BBQ BK Chef’s Choice Burger without mayo and the Bacon & Bleu BK Chef’s Choice Burger without mayo and less bleu cheese.

(Nutrition Facts – Bacon & Bleu – 760 calories, 51 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 115 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,310 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, 17 grams of sugar, and 38 grams of protein. Bacon Cheddar BBQ – 820 calories, 56 grams of fat, 22 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 125 milligrams of cholesterol, 1,800 milligrams of sodium, 45 grams of carbohydrates, 12 grams of sugar, and 40 grams of protein.)

Item: Burger King BK Chef’s Choice Burgers (Bacon & Bleu and Bacon Cheddar BBQ)
Price: $6.99 (sandwich only)
Size: N/A
Purchased at: Burger King
Rating: 4 out of 10 (Bacon & Bleu)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Bacon Cheddar BBQ)
Pros: Tasty BBQ sauce. Tasty beef patties. Nicest looking fast food burgers I’ve seen in real life. Awesome sources of protein. Thick slices of bacon. I could taste the cheese and bacon!
Cons: Pricey. Dry beef patties. Bleu cheese overwhelms all other ingredients and makes the burger super salty. Dear Lord that’s a lot of sodium and saturated fat. Mayo was unnecessary. The number of times I typed “blue” instead of “bleu” while writing this review.