Breyer's OVERLOAD! Fried Ice Cream A Light Ice Cream Review

WOW! OVERLOAD is the right word at the moment. Fried Ice Cream is listed as "Cinnamon caramel light ice cream swirled with honey caramel with cinnamon tostada pieces". Let's just say I feel a little off right now. Granted it is very humid, and the overload was still warm from the trip back from Walmart ....and maybe I ate it a smidge too fast, but whoa, I'm on overload myself. I didn't even eat that much!

I love cinnamon, but in this case it's too much of a good thing, or maybe it's too much caramel, iunno. It is a light ice cream, but that's not what is getting to me ...something ain't right. I'm going to let it refreeze overnight and I'll second scoop it tomorrow.

On Second Scoop: I'm sorry, but this just isn't working for me. I'm wondering if it's the honey caramel swirl that throws this ice cream just a bit too far into sweet territory. The tostada pieces also do nothing for me. I just can't recommend this one.

2011 Update: Sorry, this one didn't make the transition to Breyers BLASTS!

Nutrition: 140 / 40-2.5 / 0 / 2

You can't make this stuff up...

Ok, so I drove by the local DQ on the way to get my oil changed. As always, I checked out the DQ sign to see what's new. Well, today's sign certainly tempted me to stop.

New Yummie A** Blizzard

How can you turn down this?? Apparently, someone is both angry ...and a bad speller.

Milky Way Ice Cream from Uhlman's

Oh man, I'm going to get addicted to Uhlman's as they go two for two. They've got about 40 flavors to explore, so which way to go? I went Milky Way and I was not disappointed. They don't mess with Milky Way bar chunks either, they go right for nailing down the flavor, and they pulled it off nicely. It's a great chocolate malt flavored ice cream with a great caramel swirl that was still fresh and melting out of the ice cream. When you go to an ice cream stand, you want fresh ingredients, a hard caramel swirl would have been totally disappointing. My only problem was the fact I ate it just a smidge too fast!

Doing a little research, and I couldn't really find a commercially available Milky Way flavor. The dreyer's corporate site does have this, but it's not listed at dreyers.com or edys.com, so I don't know if it's still out there. I have had Milky Way chocolate milk, which is good ....but this ice cream was better, especially on a beautiful day like today (it's rained like every day for over a week). Can't say enough about this flavor, fantastic!! Can't wait to try another flavor next week!

Happy Father's Day

After having talked about ice cream every day for a month straight, I guess I should have seen my father's day present coming a mile away. That's right, our family is now the proud owner of an ice cream maker. Reviews are pretty good so all should be well. The big tips I read were thoroughly freezing the mixing bowl and also chilling the mix before putting it in the machine.

My daughter is very excited and can't wait to sample some fresh ice cream. Now I just need to dig up some recipes that aren't a million calories.

Edy's Nestlé Drumstick Review

package design circa 2008 - frozen dairy dessert

Do you remember when I reviewed Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream how I said it reminded me of a Nestle Drumsticks? Well, Edy's was on sale at the grocery store this week. As I browsed, I was delighted to find that Edy's now makes a Drumstick flavor! Oh, I set my hopes way too high as I imaged it tasting just like Ben & Jerry's but at a 1/3 of the price.

So, I finally cracked open the container after 2 fun hours of mowing. Wow, I really set my expectations way too high. This tastes nothing like a Drumstick ...quite frankly, I'm offended. All I taste is cheap fudge. Sometimes you get a fudge covered peanut or a fudge covered waffle cone piece, but they both taste pretty much the same ...like cheap fudge. I'll finish the container, but after that, I'm putting down my spoon and never buying this again. Fun Flavor? I think not! (2008 Nutrition: 160/60/0/2)

On Second Scoop: Yeah, that cheap fudge is still ruining everything.

packaging design circa 2011- light ice cream

Topping of the Week: Pretzels

MMM, pretzels, my trusty friend, rarely does a day go by where I don't have some. For a long time, I couldn't eat a bowl of ice cream without chasing it with a serving or two or pretzels. If you've never had pretzels with ice cream ...well ...go buy a bag of pretzels!

Ok, so technically this doesn't classify it as a topping. Don't get me wrong, I've tried using it as a topping. With the thought of my long lost friend the pretzel cone, I have on occasion tried crushing pretzels and sprinkling them on top, but it's never the same. Sometimes I'll use them as a dipping stick, that works decent. Well, that was no deterrent to my daughter. She waited for her ice cream to melt and threw them in there, gave those pretzels a nice ice cream bath. Yeah......I hadn't gone quite that far, but hey, learn something new every day!

Grapenut Ice Cream from Uhlman's

The whole point of this blog is to expand our appreciation for ice cream. There's nothing wrong with picking up your favorite flavor from your favorite spot, but with so many flavors out there, we all need to try something new. And every now and then, well, we try something really different.

Before today, I had never even realized there was a grapenut flavored ice cream. To me, grapenuts are those great little crunchy bits I add to my yogurt (what can I say, I love crunching). But grapenuts in an ice cream? that can't be right ..can it ...could they ...are you sure? Well, my credentials as an ice cream reviewer were called into question today because I had never tried grapenut ice cream. Well, when challenged, I will step up! to the internet!

(photo is medium size grapenut ice cream from Uhlman's, circa 2019)

grapenut ice cream ...where are you hiding? I've never seen you at the grocery store, or Friendly's, and definitely not a DQ. Trombetta's Farm? Nope. Wait ...Uhlman's has it! And it's only 5 minutes from work... FIELD TRIP!!

So, for $3.75 I get myself a 'small' (if you can call it that) and start eating... and it's good! really good! It's not just grapenuts in vanilla ice cream, it's a great mild grapenut flavored ice cream, and the fresh soft grapenuts are everywhere! Wow, I'm really impressed. The great thing about setting your expectations low is that the pay off is that much sweeter! This is good, quality, homemade ice cream. Only rarely do you get a bite where the texture seems just a smidge off. Overall, it's really good. My only real complaint is that the glue from the sugar cone wrapper got stuck to the bottom of the cone so I couldn't eat the last 2 cone bites.

Not only did I taste a great new flavor, but I found myself a great new ice cream place to visit. Give this flavor a try next time you're out.

Turkey Hill Southern Lemon Pie Ice Cream Review

2 of our roving reporters have sent in a quick but very positive review of Turkey Hill's Limited Edition Southern Lemon Pie (regular version, not the fat free version). Technically, this was suppose to be January's flavor, so I'm not sure why there was a fresh delivery to their grocery store in June, but let's not worry about that.

The exact description is "Tangy lemon ice cream swirled with whipped marshmallow and shortbread pieces". Well, apparently the ice cream manages to land at the perfect taste, not to sweet, yet not to tart & tangy. The shortbread pieces are excellent. Overall, a great treat during this nasty heat wave! -M&J

Nutrition: 160/70/0/2

Note: This may say "Limited Edition", but I'm pretty sure it's come out every year since I started this blog in 2008.

Wendy's Twisted Frosty

Ya know what's funny? I can remember the first time I went to a Wendy's. That may not sound impressive, but it was about 25 years ago. I remember being in a part of Pennsylvania that I rarely visited, and it was lunch time. Up until then I had only know McD's (mmm, fresh hotcakes) and BK. I probably got a hamburger, but I also got my very first frosty. What a strange treat! I couldn't drink it! So, out came the spoons and I enjoyed my very first frosty.

Flash forward to present day and Wendy's has gone to great lengths to get to the top of the fast food heap. I'll admit, I'm a sucker for those great little double stack cheeseburgers. The frosty line has greatly diversified in the last year or so. First with vanilla, then with Fix n' Mix, then Twisted Frosties and now the brand new Frosty Shakes(which I need to try).

You can get vanilla or chocolate mixed with Oreos, M&Ms, or the new Cookie Dough (which I haven't tried). The Oreo tastes as you expect. I think the perfect combo is the Chocolate Frosty with the M&Ms. The M&Ms are always plentiful, well chopped, and well distributed. The Frosty was no match for the heat today, but it helped cool me down, and the puddle of M&Ms in Frosty at the end is still a respectable finish. So give one a try, you won't regret it.

Released: 2008   Retired: 2011

Nutrition: 560/170/1/10 (the M&Ms make this the frosty with the most calories)

So Early ....but So Tasty

Ok, so we're smack dab in the middle of a New England heat wave. I don't know how people live in places with temps and humidities in the 90s all the time, it's awful. So, it's early, the temp is already in the high 70s and the air feels supersaturated (wow, haven't used that term since thermodynamics, it means over 100% relative humidity). Anyway: hot, sweating, suffering and running for the car, I grab myself a fudge pop and head out. It may not even be 8 AM, but mmmm, perfect timing. It's kinda of like having a super cold glass of chocolate milk with your breakfast ...you do eat breakfast don't you?

Moral of the story: You've been on this planet long enough to make your own breakfast ...and if you want to have a fudge pop for dessert with your breakfast, then go for it, it's SUMMERTIME!

Don't Waste

Have you ever gotten to the bottom of a half gallon and wished there was just a smidge more ice cream for your bowl? Oh, if only you hadn't wasted the lump of ice cream on the lid of the container. Who wants it now though? it has melted and refrozen at least a half dozen times by now.

So, next time you crack open a fresh container from the store, the first thing you should do is scrape the tasty goodness off the lid before it goes bad. You should get 2 or 3 scrapes, but it's fresh, so it tastes just as good as the rest of your ice cream. Don't Waste, your belly will thank you for it!

Breyer's English Toffee with Heath A Light Ice Cream Review

mmmmm, Heath, my nutty little friend, how I love you in my DQ blizzard. Our friends over at Breyer's had the good sense to mix you into an ice cream, and overall, I'm not disappointed, though this bad boy is going to need a second scoop review tomorrow. Now this is one of Breyer's low fat ice creams, so it's not all natural, but to be honest, you won't really know. The Heath is strong enough to override any imperfections. For whatever reason, the ice cream wasn't frozen solid, but in this case, it's ok. This is one of those flavors that's quite good slightly melted (basically, reminds me of the blizzard again). So the toffee ice cream is mild, the caramel swirl is nice, and the heath chunks are small and tasty. There seems to be a trend here, the best mixed ice creams seem to build on a mild base. I'll have to keep this in mind for future reviews. I guess my only real complaint is that this is one of the shrunken specialty flavors, so you only get 1.5 quarts.

On Second Scoop: oh, I really do like Heath, and I really like this ice cream. My only fear would be that people might find it a bit to heathy, it could definitely be a smidge more mild. For me, maybe 5-10%. To have a wider appeal, maybe 20%. If you like Heath or caramel, give this one a try.

Nutrition: 160 / 50-3.5 / 0 / 2

Update: This flavor went on to become the Heath Breyers Blasts flavor.

Meola's Monster Mash

It's a nice warm day, well, a smidge too humid ....I'm really hungry ...time for ice cream! I'm working in our other facility today, so no DQ, instead, time to hit a local joint. The first place you hit going north on Route 12 in West Boylston is Friendly's on the left, but go just a bit further and you will see Meola's Wayside Ice Cream on the right. Central Mass people might remember Meola as the dairy that use to supply all our lunchroom milk containers. They were bought in 1998 by New England Dairies, Inc (NED) who then closed the Meola's plants and added the business to their own plants. Anyway, I digress.

Ok, so this is your typical local dairy spot with a nice variety of treats and delights. Milkshakes, Frappes, Sundaes, Ice Cream, soft serve, etc. They do mix in their own added ingredients to make a bunch of funky flavors, though I do not know if they still make their own ice cream base for their creations. I decided to try "Monster Mash". The picture said it was vanilla ice cream with Oreos, M&Ms, and malted milk balls. I think it also said there was a (caramel?) swirl, but I detected no swirl of any kind. The color from the M&Ms ran and gave my cone a very polka dotted appearance, but that just adds to the mystery of what it is going to taste like.

Overall, it was decent. There was something not quite right about the ice cream. The texture was off, which makes me think that they buy some ice cream, let it melt, mix in the ingredients, and then refreeze. The M&M's and cookies were in a decent ratio, but there was only one lone malted milk ball and it was still whole. Basically it tasted like cookies & creme with M&M chunks. The sugar cone was nice and fresh which is always a bonus.

Ok, so the ice cream wasn't perfect, but the break it gave me was. Picked a nice bench spot in the shade of a tree, enjoyed the cool breeze, and just enjoyed my ice cream. Is there a more relaxing treat? I think not.