Carl's Jr. Strawberry Poptart Ice Cream Sandwich

Wooowee! I bet you're stoked that I got my grubby little paws on something that's only in California. Thing is, I didn't go to California, or even leave the state. Travel that far for an ice cream sandwich? Even I'm not that crazy. Carl's Jr doesn't cross the Mississippi, and his brother Hardee's doesn't venture into "new" territory (new jersey, new york and new england), so I'm out of luck... but not really. There is absolutely nothing stopping me from trying out this great idea at home.

Could something go wrong? Yeah probably. Pop-tarts aren't exactly known for their structural integrity, but there are so many possible combinations of poptart flavors and ice cream fillings that I can't help myself. I'm shocked that this has been hitting so many of us as a new idea (apparently in 2010 it was quite the rage). Carl's Jr has gotten themselves a whole lot of free press for this idea, so let's see if it pans out.

For starters, we're going with a room temperature strawberry poptart and strawberry ice cream. This should be straight forward... or a gigantic mess.

Boneless KFC and Episode 2 of The Nosh Show

Guess what time it is?

Episode 2 of The Nosh Show is up! Head on over to The Nosh Show website to listen and to see a complete rundown of everything we talk about. Please feel free to let us know what you think!

I don't know how long I can keep up the trend, but I'd like to throw at least a bit of a review in with each new episode announcement of The Nosh Show. Since we'll be starting the show with a followup to the last episode, I decided to make a run into KFC to check out the new boneless chicken.... unfortunately I picked a KFC / Taco Bell combo store that lacked a frozen drink machine (so no Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze for me to try, though that's probably for the best).

So here's what $4.99 plus tax got me (medium sized watered down fruit punch not shown). It's two pieces of KFC original recipe boneless chicken, one very dry biscuit, and a small spilt order of french fries. Grubgrade reported these new chicken things were bad, and they were right. It's chewy, over-processed, and lacking that true KFC burst of flavor... and that was the white meat part. The dark meat was just disgusting and seems to be more deep fried fat than anything else. I'm better off throwing some shake & bake on some boneless chicken thighs from the grocery store (kind of like the leftovers I have for lunch today). What a waste! At least the fries were decent. I enjoyed their unique shape and mild flavoring.

Enjoy the Show!

Cedar Crest Elephant Tracks Ice Cream Review

[By Nick] Back when I made my first order from ice cream source last year, I put two pints of Cedar Crest on my list. When my shipment arrived I was dismayed they weren’t in the box. After some interaction with their customer service team, I was told that they were all out of the missing items and that they would refund my money. Well that was nice and all but I was pretty disappointed that I wasn’t able to try those flavors. Well, in making my second order, I made sure to include those two pints as well as another to ensure that I would at least get one variety to try this time. This time all three of them came so let’s delve into one of those pint now shall we?

They were all equally tantalizing but I decided to try out Cedar Crest Elephant Tracks first just because when do you ever see a product with the name Elephant in it? Elephant Tracks consists of pieces of peanut butter cups and chocolate fudge swirled inside chocolate ice cream. If that doesn’t sound good to you then you need to get your taste buds checked.

Walgreen's Delish Moose Tracks Ice Cream Sandwiches Review

You know what keeps me blogging year after year? It's that magical moment when you find a treat that tastes even better than it sounds. Oh yeah my friends, I had one of those moments today.

These are good & deLISH Moose Tracks Ice Cream Sandwiches from Walgreens, nay, they are SUPER PREMIUM ICE CREAM SANDWICHES proclaims the box! It's premium vanilla ice cream with peanut butter flakes swirled with denali moose tracks fudge between two chocolate wafers. This treat is so cool, it needs to wear a scarf (WORD!)

Heath Klondike Bar Review

[By Nick] I say it’s time to take a look at one of my favorite Klondike bars.

The funny thing is, I’ve been eating Heath Klondike Bars for years but up until a couple of months ago I never actually had a Heath Candy Bar. Sure, I’ve had toffee candy bars mixed into ice cream and all that but I don't think I've ever had the actual candy bar. I was a little taken aback that the candy is actually quite salty. I guess the saltiness is tempered a bit when mixed with ice cream. So with my new found knowledge of what a Heath bar actually tastes like, I think I can now do a proper review of Klondike’s representation of it.

Blue Bunny Frozen Yogurt - Chocolate Fudge Brownie and White Mint Chocolate Chunk

[New for 2013] Blue Bunny is dishing up two new frozen yogurt flavors this year and they sent them both over for me to try. I've liked their all natural frozen yogurt since I first had it. Last year they improved their formula and started calling it Naturally frozen yogurt, and now they've changed the name yet again, this time to 100% natural frozen yogurt. Confused? Don't be, it's just semantics.

This is the new 100% natural Blue Bunny Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frozen Yogurt. It's Chocolate Frozen Yogurt swirled with a fudge sauce and loaded with chocolate brownies. (it's the end of 2015 and this one is no longer on the blue bunny website)

McDonald's Strawberry Shake and the bestest food podcast ever

Did you hear the news? Marvo has started up a podcast called The Nosh Show and for the first episode it will be him, Eric the Junk Food Guy, Ryan the founder of GrubGrade, and yours truly. Sure I only blog about ice cream, but the amount of time I spend roaming the streets and grocery stores for new frozen treats will hopefully let me keep up with my very knowledgeable co-hosts.

Now this is the first official episode which hopes to introduce the basic concepts of the show as well as introduce ourselves to the audience. From there we do a interested/not interested discussion and then move on to some various topics. We finish up with some of our favorite recent reviews and hopefully leave you wanting another episode.

Here are your choices for connecting with the show: subscribe on itunes, RSS feed for your podcast program of choice, a blog, twitter, and facebook. Now the plan is to put out a new episode every other week. Please let us know what you think!

Not being 100% sure how the first show would work out, I tried to prepare by hitting up McDonald's for lunch. I had the rather enjoyable Crispy Chicken and Bacon Premium McWrap (that was suppose to be half off but wasn't), I tried one of my 2 for a dollar strawberry and creme pies, and I washed it all down with a small strawberry shake.

Perry's Movie Time Ice Cream

[Scoop shops for 2013, pints in 2015] Perry's Ice Cream (of New York) is rocking five new ice cream stand flavors this year and they were kind enough to send them all over as part of their ingenious #PerrysTasteTester project.

Breyers Blasts Chocolate Covered Pretzel FDD

[New for 2013, discontinued] If there was just one Breyers Blasts flavor that I had awesome hopes for, it's this one. Oh sure, my reality-based expectations are low, but part of me has hope behind hope that somehow this one works. With fingers (and toes) crossed, may I present...

Breyers BLASTS! Chocolate Covered Pretzel Frozen Dairy Dessert

chocolate flavored covered pretzel pieces and a fudge swirl

 in golden vanilla flavored frozen dairy dessert

Yoplait Honey Caramel Greek Frozen Yogurt Bars

[By Nick, new for 2012, discontinued]
So just like Dubba, I also received a free shipment of products from Wells. When I got the list of the products I would be receiving, the lady mentioned she would be including one of her favorite products in the shipment. I see no better way to start off this slew of reviews than by taking a look at that product. Without further ado, I give to you Yoplait Honey Caramel Frozen Yogurt Bars.

Nick received the 2012 packaging, but this is the 2013 I saw recently

I'd like to preface this review by saying I have a love/hate relationship with honey. I'm a fan of it when it plays a supporting role and isn't the main flavor. However, I am not Winnie the Pooh and I don't enjoy feeling like I'm sucking on one of those store bought honey bears either. We all know I love caramel though, so hopefully that will be the prevailing flavor.

Clemmy's Chocolate Fudge Low Fat Ice Cream Bars

[By Nick, discontinued / out of business] After my more than positive experience with Clemmy’s Vanilla Bean pint, I thought I would give one of their novelty bars a try. I love fudge bars so when I saw these in the store I knew what I would be trying them next.

Now I bought this box for $2.50 on sale and there are only 4 bars in the box. Now that’s fine because of the sale but the normal price was around $5 which would make the bars over $1 each. That seems a bit overpriced if you ask me.

Blue Bunny Cadbury Royal Dark Ice Cream Bar Review

[New for 2013, discontinued] Last year, Blue Bunny released 4 Cadbury ice cream bars that went over very well here at On Second Scoop. They are a well made treat that is somewhat smaller but much healthier than any magnum bar you might come across. They've got two new flavors this year, and Blue Bunny was nice enough to send me the Royal Dark version (Nick will be reviewing the English Toffee Bars later).

Here is a box of 8 Cadbury Royal Dark ice cream bars, each clocking in at 2oz a piece. These bars are vanilla ice cream dipped in Cadbury Royal Dark Chocolaty coating. I do love dark chocolate!

Talenti Gelato Belgian Milk Chocolate #5 Review

Never EVER in my life have I seen such a debacle in the express lane at a grocery store. Sure, on a rare occasion you see that one couple that breaks there 24 items in to two 12 item piles, but I was in line for... 7-8 minutes, give or take, as this family broke their two carts worth of groceries into 7 orders, each with coupons and questions and.... Now I'm shy, so I'll just boil over on the inside, but the gent in front of me and later the gent behind me, both blew their rather loud tops (keep in mind the fellow behind me missed 80% of the wait). Good thing I picked the most frozen pint from the back of the shelf, otherwise I would be preparing to review a milkshake right now.

This is Talenti Belgian Milk Chocolate Gelato. It's nothing new, but with these free coupons about to expire, I figured why not fill in some of the missing gaps in our Talenti reviews.

Velvet Ice Cream Butter Pecan Review

Today, April 14, is National Pecan Day. Nick is a Butter Pecan addict, but I never paid much attention to it... ummm, ever. Well, the status quo just might change because Velvet Ice Cream decided to include a container of it with their shipment of free samples. Buckeye blitz was epic, so let's see how this stands up.

Velvet Ice Cream Butter Pecan & Cashew is butter pecan ice cream blended with butter-roasted pecans and cashews. It's been almost four years since I've had a butter pecan flavor so wish me luck!

Homemade Brand Cherry Cordial Ice Cream Review

[by Nick] Hey there On Second Scoopers! (I need to come up with a better name for you guys) I got you all a Valentine’s gift. Wait, what do you mean Valentine’s Day already happened? Are you sure it’s in  February every year? Well then, this is awkward. It’s the thought that counts right? I know the title gave it away but my gift to you is actually a gift from Homemade Brand seeing as they sent me this with all of the other products I’ve reviewed of theirs. Did I just admit to re-gifting something to you for Valentine’s Day? No wonder why I’m single… Forget what I said and let’s just move onto the ice cream.

According to Homemade Brand’s website, Cherry Cordial is their signature flavor. We all know I love cherries but when I think of cherry cordials, I think of those cheap chocolate covered cherries that taste as if a cherry drowned in sugar and was buried in “chocolate”.

Perry's Queen of Hearts Ice Cream

[Scoop shops for 2013, Pints in 2015] This may sound a little strange, but it's Friday, so bear with me. Sometimes the greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of not having to choose. Think about it. Choosing a gift for someone has become too complicated for our society, so we give gift cards. Problem is, you think you are helping, but you've just pushed the burden of choosing off to your friend. Ok, stick with me here. See, I have a freezer full of ice cream and I don't know what to eat next (I know, poor Dubba! so sad!). Well, Perry's has come along with this great free Taste Tester kit and it has a disclaimer. See, this ice cream isn't meant to last a year like something you buy from the freezer aisle. This is fresh packed ice cream meant to be eaten within a few days. I have no choice but to eat this first right? Well, quick eating challenge accepted! I wonder what flavor they'll announce next? Come on Queen of Hearts. Come on Queen of Hearts!

Woohoo! Today's facebook reveal is for Perry's Queen of Hearts ice cream. It's dark chocolate ice cream with a raspberry swirl and fudge filled hearts. Yay for dark chocolate!! Yay for raspberry!

Perry's Oh My, Cherry Pie! Ice Cream Stand Flavor

[New for 2013] How very awesome is it that earlier today I'm looking at this Perry's facebook photo and then a few hours later the exact same flavor is waiting for me on my doorstep? So Cool!

OH YEAH!! All the new scoop shop flavors are here, including Movie Theatre and Sponge Candy, but since today's announcement was for Oh My, Cherry Pie!, let's start there first.

Haagen-Dazs Gelato Vanilla Bean Review

[New for 2013, discontinued] Nothing crazy tonight, just some fancy looking vanilla.

This is the new Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean gelato. 14oz of just the basics.

DQ Choco Covered Pretzel Blizzard Review

Man have I been drooling over the DQ Choco Covered Pretzel Blizzard for past week. Well, the terrible weather has gone away and it's another nice spring day which means DQ is packed! (despite it being free cone day at Ben & Jerry's). As I patiently wait in line for my glorious treat,  I envision chubby hubby but in blizzard form. Oh the bar is being set so very high in my mind (never ever a good thing).

As advertised : Choco covered pretzel pieces,
peanut butter and choco chunks in creamy vanilla soft serve

As delivered : looks pretty good in the sun, doesn't it?

Sundae Sunday with New Orleans Ice Cream Company

Alright mes amis, it's time to get New Orleans Ice Cream Company back up on the blog. Now they've gone and done me the awesome favor of sending EVERY single flavor that I haven't tried yet, so it seems only fair to go big with their first return post.

This is today's trifecta of craziness. See, if there is one thing you need to take away from this post, it's that New Orleans ICC strives to be both adult and fun, much like the city that spawned it. They aren't aiming to get your kids' attention, they want the grown ups in the room to know what the city is all about. I just don't think anyone else really compares to them in that regard, at least not around here.

Stewart's Crumbs along the Mohawk Ice Cream Review

[By Nick] I think it’s about time I make all of you who don’t live in Upstate New York (and a small part of Vermont) jealous. Seeing as Stewart’s Shops are pretty much a local thing I’ll keep the background story short. They started out in the dairy business and then transitioned into opening up convenience stores. Starting out with just one store in 1945, they’ve grown to 328 stores throughout 30 counties. I have a lot of fond memories of Stewart’s, be it their policy of getting a free/reduce priced scoop of ice cream on Holidays if you did something specific, to the times when I’d be running behind in the morning and could pretty much get whatever I needed while filling up my gas tank. You also can’t forget their make your own sundae bar which led to my obsession with creating epic ice cream sundaes. Stewart’s is a major fixture in most of the communities around these parts. They’re also big on giving back and this year alone they'll donate $2.25 million of their profits to charities.

Now let’s move on to the ice cream shall we. Wait, one more thing about Stewart’s. They offer their ice cream in four different mediums. They come in half gallons, by the scoop, hand packed pints or in pre-made pints. I know it might seem uneconomical to buy the pre-made pints but they differ from the the half gallons because they’re more along the premium lines while the half gallons are more of your standard quality. Also with a normal price of $2.79, they’re still way cheaper than your typical pint of Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s.

Stewart’s has an array of flavors but one of my favorites has to be their Crumbs Along The Mohawk ice cream. Described as “Graham cracker flavored ice cream with a graham cracker pieces and a caramel swirl” what’s not to love about this flavor?

Hood Raspberry Granola Greek Frozen Yogurt Review

[2013-2014 (just a regular froyo now)] Ahhhh Hood Ice Cream. You may remember that when I first started this blog, I use to keep a box of their ice cream sandwiches in the freezer at work. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the grocery store and seen a couple or a family debating which Hood flavor they are going to pick up this week. Hood is an integral part of New England culture and they've decided to take the popular tactic of jumping into the greek froyo game.

There are four new flavors, they come in a quart, and this is the one that really got my attention. It's the Raspberry Granola flavor which is vanilla flavored low fat frozen yogurt with raspberry swirl & granola crunch. We've got the creativeness of a Ben & Jerry's flavor but in a low fat form.

2nd St Creamery Can't Tell Me No Cookie Dough Ice Cream Review

[New for 2013, 2nd St has closed up shop before the 2015 ice cream season] Now I haven't mentioned it yet, but Blue Bunny sent a big ol' free shipment of ice cream last week and I've been having trouble deciding which treat to dig in to first.... how about we dig into a 2nd St Creamery flavor that I've never seen before.

This is 2nd St. Creamery Can't Tell Me No! Cookie Dough ice cream. It's cookie dough flavored ice cream with cookie dough swirl and chunks of chocolate and chocolate chip cookie dough. Oh, and that's a spoon in the graphic on the left (in case you are like me and can't really tell at first).

New Weight Watchers Chocolate Smoothie Frozen Yogurt Bars Review

[New for 2013] Ok, I need chocolate, so let's dig into our stash of free weight watchers products again.

These are the Chocolate Smoothie Frozen Yogurt bars and they are the new variation of the Strawberry Smoothie bars that you've already seen on store shelves. 12 bars in a box with 2 to a serving.

Weight Watchers Giant Latte Ice Cream Bar half-review

[Updated for 2013] Look, I don't like coffee flavored anything, never had, never will. I use to complain to my mom when Arby's would mess up and give me a mocha shake. It's just not for me... but Weight Watchers was nice enough to include these in their free sampler pack, so let's take a quick look at them.

So we've got a box of 6 Giant Latte ice cream bars clocking in at a respectable 4 oz a piece. Notice the coffee beans holding up the bar. They are described as low fat coffee flavored ice cream and now have a new creamier texture with the same great taste. I never had the old ones, so I can't really tell you how much they've changed.

Ben & Jerry's Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt Review

[By Nick, 2013-2014] When Ben & Jerry’s first announced that it would be releasing a 30 Rock flavor I was pretty excited. Not because I’m a fan of the show (I’ve actually never watched an episode in my life) but because I found out one of the main characters is named is Liz Lemon. There aren't many lemon flavors out there and what kept flashing in my mind was Three Twins Lemon Cookie. Now Three Twins isn’t distributed in my area so I can’t try their flavor so I was really hoping Ben & Jerry’s would pull through for me.

Ben & Jerry's Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yogurt

Lemon greek frozen yougurt with a blueberry lavender swirl