Costco Braided Apple Streudel

It's almost a crime if you hit Costco and don't pay a visit to the bakery section. Today the Braided Apple Strudel was one display. A nice sweet woman was giving two-bite samples of them. I found myself wishing she was my grandma cause she insisted on calling me "sweety" and "honey" with a wonderful grin on her face. See what not having a grandma figure around does to you?

I have seen them before. The Braided Apple Strudel look delicious and fancy. I was never into the flaky desserts, I mostly prefer the moist stuff so they never really caught true attention until they were given out. Taking a good look at them really made me crave some. Lucky for me the woman was offering them.

They were better than I expected, but still not that great. They weren't sweet enough for my liking. Although I bet they would have been better with vanilla ice cream; a popular way to serve apple strudel in this country.

The texture seemed to me as good as it could get for a flaky pastry. But for most I think it would be soggy. If that is a problem for you, you can place these in the oven for 12 minutes and they crisp up. There is a generous amount of apple filling with real apple chunks. There was also some sugar crystals sprinkled on top of it.

The smell was sort of like apple pie. Matter of fact, the taste was like an apple pie. Kind of like a portable apple pie if you can imagine.

They were a bit pricey as well. It was $6.99 for a box of 8 pastries, making each pastry just under $1. Granted they are a decent size, even for the calories.

It's one of the worse tasting Costco bakery products, but it has probably one of the best nutrition stats for the size

Nutrition Information:
1 large pastry
Calories: 390
Fat: 16g
Carbs: 58g
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 5g

This wasn't bad tasting if you like puff pastry type of stuff
Since I'm not into it much I give it 4 points
Don't get me wrong, it's not disgusting at all and perfectly edible.

Chex Mix Turtle

One thing that I really dislike about Betty Crocker is her Chex Party Mix recipes. Every single one I try comes out soggier than the next. I look back countless times to make sure I got the recipe and timing correct, and I did! Not working for me. I just gave up on those because I realized it was cheaper, more efficient, and tastier to just buy the pre-made packs of General Mill's Chex Snack Mixes.

This time I chose the turtle variety. In this mix you can find pretzels, chocolate chex mix pieces, caramel popcorn, honey roasted peanuts, and little chocolate M&M like candies. It's a nice combination of sweet and salty.

When I first opened it I had no idea that there were even peanut and chocolate pieces in it because they were all stuck at the bottom. Well this stuff smelled great and tasted wonderful. They sort of had the affect that peanut butter filled pretzels have: once you start you cannot stop. Once you open the bag, before you know it you have finished it. Don't be fooled by the "50% less fat that regular potato chips" on the package. These chex mixes generally have a small serving size so if you are on a diet, stay clear from these.

But honestly, although the serving size is small, they last pretty long because they are so crunchy and take a long time to chew. I would recommend not eating them in a quiet place though. They get pretty noisy.

Everything inside the mix tasted pretty good. The best things were the caramel popcorn and the honey roasted peanuts. The chocolate cereal had an artificial taste to it and the mini chocolate candies sort of just tasted like pure sugar. The pretzels could have used a little more salt too.

Another positive thing about this product is that it is made in the USA.

I rate this a 8/10.
It has room for improvement but it is definitely delicious.

Chex Mix Caramel Crunch

I think I was genetically predisposed to like cereal and anything to do with it. Chex Mixes go along those lines. The Caramel Crunch version is the one I wanted to try this time around. It has wheat chex, corn chex, pretzels, and little swirl cookies all covered in a light invisible coating of caramel.

I decided to eat it for breakfast. The instant I open the bag I fell in love. The smell was amazing. I couldn't resist but try the little swirld first. They looked the most interesting to me. They sort of had a shortbread taste, heavy in vanilla with a light caramel twist.

All the other pieces tasted wonderful too. This was considered a "sweet and salty" snack, although I didn't feel the "salty" part. I figure that was supposed to come from the pretzels, but the pretzels had no salt on them. They were just crunchy bread, which was tasty nevertheless.



This is the best Chex Mix flavor I have ever tasted. Up till now I've thought the Honey flavored was the best, but boy was I wrong. Even though I've only tried maybe about half of their varieties, I'm pretty sure this will be my favorite all the way through.

Once you start the bag you cannot finish. That's the bad thing about these. They pack on a lot of calories and are pretty much "junk food" all the way through. Ignore the 65% less fat than potato chips sign on the front. Fat has nothing to do with calories. There are plenty of carbohydrates in the bag to add calories. It's not exactly filling either.

But it's delicious so what the hell.
9/10

Better n' Peanut Butter

Love peanut butter, but it's sabotaging your diet? Well Better n' Peanut Butter offers the best option for your problems. It provides peanut butter for half the calories. It's an all natural product by the Wonder Naturals Food Corp., and it is considered an official low fat food with only 3 grams of fat for a two tablespoon serving.

I first heard about this product from my old friend Hungry Girl. I honestly thought it was a miracle to find a replacement for peanut butter because at that time I was on my own diet to lose weight. I had to get my hands on this product, and the only place they sold it in my city was Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market. So I headed over there when I had the opportunity and bought myself a jar.

It claimed to have the taste of regular peanut butter so I was excited, although I did expect a different taste. So I ran home and opened the jar to spread some on pita bread. The color was a little bit darker than regular peanut butter as well as much thicker and pastier. It's also shinier.

It did not taste like peanut butter to me at all. It had a whole different taste on its own. It had some nutty-ness to it but nothing like peanut butter. It was sweet and it didn't pair with jelly or jam too well. I ate it with honey and bananas instead.

Don't get me wrong, it was delicious in its own way and I would buy it as a good spread. I loved it! But if you are looking for a direct peanut butter swap with this product, you're not going to get it.

But you can use it anywhere that you usually use peanut butter.

I give it a 8/10. It's a great product

It also comes in a Low Sodium and Chocolate flavor.

Captain Crunch Peanut Butter

Many say it is heavenly. Some are addicted to it. Others say they live off of it. It's kid friendly, adult friendly, and it can be found in my kitchen and probably yours.

Can you guess the riddle?

CAP'N CRUNCH PEANUT BUTTER!

Of all of the Cap'n Crunch products this is obviously the most popular. Stores cannot keep it on their shelves. It also is mostly found in gigantic boxes because people love it so much. It's been around since 1967.

An abundance of people love this cereal, but thousands also dis it. They claim it is the most unhealthy cereal you can find on the store shelves. Despite the fact that this cereal is fortified with 7 essential vitamins and minerals, and the website goes on and on about how important a healthy breakfast is.

It's obviously not the best choice of cereals but I think it's going a little far to say that it is the worst cerel you can buy. It's not too high in calories and it's actually a good choice when you crave something sweet. I just wouldn't call it a nutritious breakfast if you know what I mean. It's something I would eat as a snack or dessert.

Nutritional Information:
3/4 cup
Calories: 110
Fat: 2.5g
Carbs: 21g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 2g

If you haven't ever taken a sniff of this stuff, it sort of smells like peanut butter cookies. Not exactly like peanut butter cookies off course, but it is the best simile I can think of.

The texture is highly crunchy. The product may be untruthful about the extent of it's health benefits, but not the crunch. Infact, it's so crunchy that if you don't chew it properly you may rip your mouth. The good thing about it though is that it takes a long time before it gets too soggy and slimy. Even if the outside is soggy the middle seems to retain its crunch. This way you have a bit more time to enjoy your food.

The taste is favorable. I don't think I like it as much as many others do. I adore peanut butter as much as the next guy but I would prefer Cocoa Puffs to these. I just may have a huge chocolate addiction as well. What I can't get over is the artificial taste of this cereal. The peanut taste is also a bit light for me.

I honestly just prefer to eat this stuff plain. They taste like deliciously sweet chips to me.

In the end I give it a 6/10.

I know I should be ashamed of saying that for some of you, but I'm going to openly say that I prefer a lot of other cereal to this.

Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter

There was nearly a crisis in my house the other day when I realized that the peanut butter jar was half a serving from being empty. But then super mom came to save the day and happened to buy some on her trip to the grocery story. Phew! That was a close one.

There you go, that was my attempt at being funny. Not so much huh? So you may have picked up that I love peanut butter. I truly do and I prefer creamy to crunchy, but I would be happy with both.



Whatever. She picked up some Sunland Peanut Butter from Fresh & Easy. I think they are the only one near my place that sells that stuff. They also have other nut butters and flavored peanut butters like Banana Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Well I made a peanut butter jelly sandwich with pita bread for breakfast with my homemade mulberry jelly. So the peanut butter was just a bit pastier than the usual JIF or Skippy that I get, so I thought the taste would be significantly different.

It wasn't at all. It was way better than any peanut butter that I have ever tasted. It tasted just like JIF but with double the peanut taste! I fell in love. I ate it all day. I had it dipped with pretzels as a snack. I made it into a smoothie. I spread it on my grilled cheese sandwich. I was in heaven. I ignored the fact that peanut butter contains alfatoxins that could make me very sick and possibly die if I eat too much of it consecutively. It's worth the risk.

Thus, I will buy Sunland's products more often and you should too.
I give it a 10/10
Sunland peanut butter is peanut BETTER!
And this is just another day in the life of a nut butter lover.