Saturday, January 29, 2011

Stonyfield Farms Cookies & Cream Frozen Yogurt


[Discontinued] funny, when a product excites me, I want to write forever. When a product bores me, well, not so much... in fact, I tend to wander off and go watch TV. However, I just got through watching the craziness that is "Salt", so let me pin down a few thoughts on Stonyfield Farms frozen yogurt.

Let me start by saying this is the second pint of their froyo that I have purchased. Unfortunately, pint #1 was long forgotten in the deep freezer and has long since expired. I'm not even sure what flavor I bought, maybe vanilla. Sure, my wife eats their regular yogurt all the time, and we've had plenty of their organic milk, but for whatever reason... well, probably price... I never tried their froyo. Well, market basket has a pint for a mere $2.69 a container, so I think it's high time we get this stuff on the blog. Check out the stonyfield website if you are unfamiliar with their organic products.

As you can see, I started off with one of three low fat varieties they currently have. Cookies 'n Cream is creamy vanilla low fat frozen yogurt with chocolate wafers. The other low fat flavors are minty chocolate chip and creme caramel.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Oh the memories!!


Look at the picture my wife found!

Remember how I said me and my wife always use to buy two containers of ice cream back in college? Well, here's the proof! It's one of those things that you remember, but it's always so much funnier to see. I'm not sure which one of us took this picture, but I'll assume it was me for whatever reason. Man, I wish this photo had an exact date (but more on that later).

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Breyers FAT FREE Strawberry Ice Cream Review


2012 Update: Breyer's has ditched the "Smooth & Dreamy" nomeclature. Now there is just a mark that says "Deliciously Rich & Creamy". 

That's right, I purposely bought FAT FREE ice cream. I must be losing my mind! hehehehe. After two and a half years of blogging, I can't tell you how hard it is to just buy something. I think I may have lost the ability to buy something twice. It's a little scary actually, in a freeing your mind kind of way. I basically oppose fat free junk at every turn BUT this is strawberry, and if any flavor can pull this off, it's gonna be strawberry.

Oh, before we start, I will mention that no where on the container does it say "all natural" like pretty much every other Breyers creation. This disappoints me because this is Breyers, I trust them to keep it real, and I already see propylene glycol monesters, but I'm going to give this a shot anyway.

So here is the happy green container. It sure looks like ice cream, and ofcourse they taunt us with chunks of strawberries, but I am afraid. Do you ever wonder when companies went from strawberry ice cream to strawberry FLAVORED ice cream? ok, maybe it's just me.

Monday, January 24, 2011

When is it too cold for ice cream?


I ask you, does this make you not want ice cream?


I've been in the car when it's cold before, but this morning easily takes the cake. The fun part was watching the final countdown from 32  to -4 as I drove down the street.

Will this actually stop me from buying ice cream tonight? Ofcourse not!! It just means I'll load the car all that much quicker... before my fingers fall off. I don't know about you, but my fingers are necessary for the whole scooping of ice cream thing.

Hmmmm, gotta pick some good stuff tonight!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Worst Texture Ever
Brigham's Bordeaux Cherry Chip Frozen Yogurt


I hate to even mention this flavor because I'm so offended, but I need to throw a warning out here. Lucky for you this one's distribution is limited to just the northeast. I guess technically I should throw up a disclaimer that maybe somewhere along the line my pint was abused by warm temperatures but it wasn't me! (shocking, the branding on elan has been updated, and this flavor didn't make the cut!)

Back in 1994, Brigham's relaunched elan frozen yogurts after acquiring local company elan in 1993 and tweaking the product line. This particular entry is Bordeaux Cherry Chip which is cherry low fat frozen yogurt with cherries and chocolate chunks. Now you know a product is going to knock your socks off when they can't even be bothered with listing the various flavors on their website. I'm sorry, but that's unforgivable.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Turkey Hill Ginger Snap Ice Cream Review


[2011 was the last run] Yes, I've done it again! I've managed to forget about a container in the deep freezer. The good news is that I just checked and this flavor is still lingering, so if it sound good, you might still be able to find it.

Our unlucky lost specimen today is limited edition Turkey Hill Ginger Snap Ice Cream. It's spiced ice cream swirled with ginger snap cookies and is basically aimed at the holiday crowd that isn't in the mood for peppermint or pumpkin flavors.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Great Value S'mores Dessert Cup
A Frozen Dairy Dessert


Ok, I've had an early lunch and I'm off to visit the other office. As always, I'm already hungry for my early afternoon snack, but seeing as how I'm trying to resist the urge to head to DQ and grab a 600 calorie treat, I've convinced myself to go visit the freezer aisle of walmart. The selection varies from store to store, but hopefully I can find something decent.

Weird, this particular walmart has the freezer aisle way in the back. I make it there and overall it's the standard fair more picked over than usual. I make it to the single serve section and I'm not sure what to get. Hmmm, oh, I spy the Snickers Ice Cream Cones I've been meaning to try. Hmmm, 300 calories, 23% of my daily fat (35% sat fat), but not too bad compared to say a Choco Taco or Cherry Garcia pop. I guess I'll get that unless...

Wait, what's this? A Great Value S'mores dessert cup? Looks like ice cream! It says Graham cracker crumbs with layers of fudge ribbon, marshmallow flavored dairy dessert and chocolate flakes.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Rockin' the low fat shakes


Probably one of my favorites things to do with low fat ice cream is make shakes. If you want to go real hard core, just use some 1% milk and you'll be rockin' the low fat train to tasteville, hehehehe. Well, yesterday was yet another messy new england day yet I still had the urge for a milkshake. Being low on low fat ice cream flavors, I tried taking the Edy's Peppermint ice cream and then drowning it with Nesquick. Well the ice cream melted quick in the milk and came out to a dark, rich chocolate color, but all I could taste was peppermint! It was a total fail, not of the ice cream, but of my foolish attempt to try and cover it up. My chocolate trick is great on berry flavors, but not so much on the peppermint.

Oh, speaking of low fat, I would just like to say that I'm getting really tired of the rising fat content in the snacks that are available out there. I'm a snacker, plain and simple, and I've been trying to cut down a few pounds (ok, 12) but it's been too hard with minor adjustments. It's time to go all out and cut my food intake, i've got to cut my snacking down by about half. And when choosing those snacks, I gotta give up the high fat right now. The bigger problem is that I uneducatedly suspect that saturated fat is what drives my heart burn. Well, that and not being careful with chocolate, tomatoes, etc. Thing is, when my heartburn is bad, I don't seem to burn calories as well. This isnt scientific, it just my observations which I suddenly feel compelled to share.

Now I'm not talking about crazy bird food type diet, I mean fig newtons instead of chocolate chip cookies, pretzels instead of chips, baked instead of fried, and smaller portions too! No more eating from the bag, I gotta stop that!! I finally had enough the other day, it's time to man up. Sure I love donuts, but there's nothing wrong with a nice hearty piece of bread either, or maybe a nice cinnamon waffle without the butter (or one of those new Eggo Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Thick & Fluffy Waffles I just bought, mmmmm). Ok, I gotta stop this, I'm getting hungry again!!

Update: Don't worry, I'm still doing reviews, I just have to be smarter about it. When I started this blog, I had hoped it would remind me how to eat slow again, but it really didn't. I can admit it, I don't eat 1 chip at a time, or 1 cheez-it, or 1 wheat thin, and that kind of behavior leads to too many calories in one sitting. I can't just magically hope my weight will go back down like it has been, I'm passed a few pounds overweight. I was in trouble when I hit the +10 mark but I guess I just didn't want to admit it, or I was too lazy to change, but I'm hoping by saying it outloud it will keep my momentum going from the last several days of smarter choices. I have always been a firm believe you can have a cake and eat it too, just don't take that big a slice!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Sandwiches


Did you know Cold Stone made ice cream sandwiches? I guess one could assume they did, but... oh man, you know what I just realized? I've never actually been IN a cold stone creamery!! That's right, the dude who eats too much ice cream has never entered the sanctuary of super premium ice cream. It's always been my wife who goes in and the one time we both had the chance to go in they weren't open yet. Weird. We'll have to correct that at some point, but until then, I'll have to show you what she brought back from her latest trip.

I assume you can get a 4-pack with just one or two types inside, but my wife knew it would be best for all of us to pick up the 4-pack that had each kind of cookie sandwich that they carry (well, except for the Oreo ones which she didn't see). The problem is, this picture isn't really that flattering....

Ethics, Opinions, and Peace of Mind


When I started this blog, I wanted it to be all encompassing. Yes, I wanted to review all the hottest new frozen treats, but the actual world of ice cream is a gigantic multi-billion dollar industry that could probably be covered all day long if you really wanted. Just cover every mom and pop shop all the way up to the big guys like Unilever and Nestle and you'll be writing all day.

I was talking to my buddies last night and as always, at some point I mention ice cream. In particular, I speak of the review I'm about to post in the next few hours. Well, my bud chimes in and says he saw a chilling (sorry) expose on franchising, and part of the one hour show focused on cold stone creamery. I have not seen if for myself, but apparently it revolves around former Florida franchisee Cecil Rolle explaining just how terrible it is to try and run a Cold Stone franchise. Cold Stone has threatened legal action against CNBC and has used the argument that Mr. Rolle has already lost his lawsuit against Cold Stone. this is the webpage for that particular episode, though pretty much all mention of cold stone has been removed except for a link on the right hand side.

The question I ask is "do I (do you & do we) want to dig further into stories like this?" Part of me finds it terribly fascinating from both the simple prospect of owning a ice cream franchise to the more complicated matters of studying cold stone's business model and management style. I have no delusion that running a franchise is a simple task, and maybe cold stone is just a harsher version of your typical problems. I'm not really sure what to think at the moment, but I will mention that I stumbled across some pretty harsh comments on this new york post article talking about the possible legal action.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Also, please note that I am not saying they are the evilest people out there, there are plenty of others who I'm are also doing awful things. Ok, back to the happy stuff.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Blue Bunny Hot Cocoa Ice Cream Sandwiches


Well, I was home on Wednesday. Why? Well, I looked out the window and saw this!

Nor'easter 2011!! What's better to warm up from this mess than with some hot cocoa?

How about (limited edition) Seasonal Selections Blue Bunny Hot Cocoa Ice Cream Sandwiches? Remember I went rogue last time and tried the Christmas Cookie ice cream sandwiches first? Well, I went back before these were gone and used my other free coupon to scoop up these tempting looking treats.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Blue Bunny's Berry Me, Please! Ice Cream


I couldn't help myself when I walked by the cleverly titled "Berry Me Please!" from Blue Bunny. I've been in the mood for berry flavors recently, so that helped too, plus this is a "Critics Choice" Limited Edition flavor. I'm not really sure who exactly these critics are, but let's see if they know there stuff.

Blue Bunny Berry Me, Please! Ice Cream

See, how can you ignore a flavor that is screaming at you with a giant exclamation point?!?!?! hehehehe, but seriously, this limited flavor is "Luscious black-raspberry flavored ice cream blended with a sweet blackberry ribbon and loaded with Marion berry-filled chocolate mini cups". Funny it says cups and not trademark bunnies, but let's dig in to make sure.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

More of the NEW Edy's slow-churned shakes!
Chocolate and Cookies n' Cream


Well, I knew those new Edy's shakes wouldn't last long. I love new products and I love shakes, so I really wanted to dig in and see all that they had to offer... even though I found the vanilla shake ok, but it could have been so much better.

 Being one of those fancy schmancy people that can't be pleased with just chocolate or vanilla (hehehehe), I made Cookies n' Cream my second test subject on Tuesday. Oh how I love CnC milkshakes.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New to Me! (and the Mrs.)
Friendly's Lava Cake Sundaes


So the Mrs. and I got out for the shortest date ever today. After waiting several hours to discover she wouldn't be selected to be on a jury, I left for a late "lunch" and met my wife at a local Friendlys. Unfortunately we didn't really have time to wait for them to cook food, so we went straight for some quick desserts. I wasn't really sure what I wanted until I spied some awesome looking desserts on the menu: Lava Cake Sundaes? Oh yeah, we gotta try some of those!!

Now at the beginning of 2010 Friendly's released 5 lava cake sundaes plus the seasonal peppermint stick lava cake which is "A warm chocolate cake filled with hot fudge, surrounded by three scoops of Peppermint Stick ice cream, covered with more hot fudge, whipped topping, red peppermint candy pieces and a cherry". Basically that the gist of all of them: a warm, filled with something cake, 3 scoops of ice cream, whip cream, (sauce(s)), and a cherry on top. Ok, let's get to what we picked.

Both of us instantly went for the Hunka Chunka PB Fudge Lava Cake Sundae which is suppose to be "Peanut butter-filled warm chocolate cake, framed by 3 scoops of Hunka Chunka PB Fudge® ice cream, topped with peanut butter, dark Belgian chocolate curls and a Reese’s® Peanut Butter cup". You may notice it doesn't look -exactly- like that for my wife's came out with chocolate chips instead of curls & no pb cup. Now that being said, she still made the right choice. This looked awesome, it smelled awesome, she loved it and I was jealous the whole time.

Rather than listening to my belly that really wanted the PB lava cake, and being unsure of whether or not I wanted the Nuts over Caramel lava cake, I decided to be the faithful blogger and go with the Forbidden Chocolate lava cake which is "Hot fudge-filled warm chocolate cake, framed by 3 scoops of Forbidden Chocolate® ice cream, Swiss chocolate topping & Swiss Miss® cocoa powder". The cocoa powder is that light brown stuff to the right of the cake and basically tastes like soupy chocolate mousse.

My big problem with this sundae is that I was overpowered by the smell of peanut butter from my wife's sundae. It was so immensely distracting that I simply felt silly for not ordering two of the same thing. Actually, we probably just could have split one since these are a good size treat (neither of us finished). Overall I liked the multiple chocolate combo, but I think the chips wound up detracting from the sundae. I'd much rather see some chocolate graham adding some crunch to the whole mix.

If I get super picky, I'd really like to see the cake be hot, or at least hotter than it was. I mean, it's called LAVA cake. Yes, I know that the "lava" is just the warm-ish filling inside the cake, but if you say "hot fudge" to me, that stuff better be hot, like melt my ice cream hot. I know, I'm being picky, just be careful how literally you take the term lava.

Recap
Hunka Chunka PB Fudge lava cake was awesome  (last to go)
Forbidden Chocolate was respectable  (gone)
Nuts over Caramel was almost tried  (gone)
Mocha Java is almost identical to F.C., but with Vienna mocha chunk ice cream  (gone)
Mint Chocolate Chip was skipped  (gone)

Sonic tried something similar in the summer of '09

Sunday, January 2, 2011

NEW!! Edy's Slow Churned Shakes and Smoothies!
Vanilla is up first!


Hey everybody, can I vent for a second? I'm feeling kinda cranky, but I really, really want to complain about how easy it is to buy the opinion of a blogger. Hey, I claim no immunity here. If someone sends me something free, I'm going to go the extra distance to try and at least find some redeeming quality about what I've been given. No, I don't have to love it, but if a company takes the time to send something over, I will try to at least be positive about something. Now, that being said, go ahead and try to look up these new shakes on the internet. You're going to stumble across several sites talking about how hard and complicated it is to make a milkshake? really? It's milk and ice cream. I mean, come on, you don't even need a blender. You get a big plastic cup or container, fill it with some ice cream, pour in the milk, and let it sit for 7-10 minutes (higher fat content will melt slower). Now stir it up and away you go! Sure you have to wait a little, but that just makes it taste all the better, and you are even saving the planet by not wasting electricity... Ok, now you just think I'm being crazy, or just a jerk, but at the very least, can we all agree that flavor should be the selling point here, not the overall ease of the product? It's not that easy isn't a selling point, but at a $1.50, this thing better be extremely good since I could feed an entire family milkshakes with a $3 half gallon of ice cream.

Ok, let's go back to the beginning. I'm at Walmart and about to leave when I see something brandy new! Not just that, but it's a complete assortment of 3 shakes and 3 smoothies! Oh I'm excited! I love new products and more importantly I love milkshakes. I'm trying not to get my hopes too high, but I have to bring home more than one.

I picked up my first container and the first thing I noticed is that this doesn't feel (or sound) like those ice cream ball milkshakes. Hmmm, I wonder what's inside? Let's grab a chocolate, a vanilla, a cookies & cream, and for good measure, a mixed berry smoothie. The smoothies I skipped were strawberry banana and tropical,  and no, I didn't try one on the way home, but don't think I wasn't tempted.

Edy's Coupon Winners


Ok, I slacked, I said I would have this up before new years, and well, it's a "smidge" past that. My bad, to make up for it, I rounded up the winners to 10. Winners, stay tuned for an email asking for your address!

Winners: Michelle, Malika, Santiago, Adamarie, Anne, Donna, Laura, Heesa, Heather, and Erin.

Again, thanks to Edy's ( Dreyer's ) for the free coupons!