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.

Julie's Organic Blackberry Sorbet Bars

A recent trip to Costco gave me the chance to sample some of these Julie's Organic Ice Creams, specifically the Blackberry Sorbet bars. They are a certified organic product and they are delicious.

I honestly walked down the aisle and saw the sample and took a lick. They had a wonderful flavor to them. I didn't even know that they were only 60 calories! The texture is smooth, not like shaved ice at all. In a sense it is creamy. The flavoring was perfect as well.

I didn't buy a box from them though. I went to the WinCo next door to get a smaller box for $2.99 for 4 bars. That is still a rip off, but at least it's not like the Baskin Robbins scoop I got for the same price. At least I get to enjoy this one for 4servings.

If I were on a diet, I would say these bars are perfect. Take a look at the nutrition info.

Nutrition Information:
1 bar
Calories: 60
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 16g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 0g

The ingredients include, blackberry puree, evaporated cane juice, tapioca syrup, pectin, and some stabilizers like locust bean gum and guar gum. All organic stuff.

It's a good snack. Very impressive
I give it a 7/10

Stride 2.0 Spearmint

Gum is a must have in my life. It is truly one of the miracles of the world. You can stick it in your mouth and chew chew chew. It will get rid of your hunger, bad breath, and sugar cravings. Many gums can also clean your teeth. Most gums are sugar free and less than 5 calories per stick. What's not to love?

Stride has always been one of my favorite brands of gum. The gums is, as they say, long lasting. I like both fruity flavors and minty ones. I have no preference for either, it just depends on my mood at the moment.



So I needed to pick up some gum and I got the new Stride 2.0 Spearmint flavor. If I choose mint gum I usually get the spearmint kind because it is truly the best. Before that day I had no idea that Stride even upgraded. Apparently they were reading our feedback and they upgraded their products so we can enjoy their gum more.

Part of the upgrade included the packaging. They claim it's "cooler" without the excess "mumbo jumbo". I really didn't really care for the package upgrade, but I did like the gum wrapper upgrade idea. They switched to foil wrapping instead of paper so that our gum won't sweat or moisten in humid conditions. This is a definite plus.

They also changed the flavoring a little. It's a subtle change, but a change nonetheless. The taste of the gum is the same as the original for the Spearmint kind. It starts off with a good strong, but not too strong that it burns, spearmint taste that quickly dies down to a sweet and delicious minty-ness. But unlike the original, the flavor wanes a bit after a half an hour and the flavor seems to begin to disappear and change at the same time. The delicious sweetness is going away and leaving it to taste like plain mint. I remember the original kind not doing that.

In addition, the original kind used to pop the best bubbles in the whole wide world. This one pops okay, but I miss the old one.

Overall, the flavor at first is still the same, and it does last long in the fact that it doesn't deteriorate in your mouth. The only improvement that I liked was the gum wrapper. I say keep the gum wrapper, and bring back the original gum.

I give it a 6/10

Baskin Robbins Nutty Coconut Ice Cream (+ other flavors)

Today was one of the more exciting days of my life. I went with a friend and her daughter to the local library to check out some books. I browsed the fiction section, looking for something great to dive into. We only had about 20 minutes to look because we had to go pick up her son from summer school. I only found one good book, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, the bestselling author who wrote The Secret Life of Bees. It sounds like a good story.

But I am not here to review a book. I am here to review the trip we took to Baskin Robbins after we picked up her son. I have not been to Baskin Robbins ever before in my life. Amazing right; considering they are so popular here in America. To tell you the truth I have only been out to ice cream a handful of times. And I've only been to two places:: Cold Stone Creamery and Thrifty's at Rite Aid. That is going to change. I need to get a life.

Anyhow, my friend chose the Bananas ‘n Strawberries, which I took a lick of. I must say it was delicious. There was a Neapolitan-like flavor to it, but better! The banana flavor was perfect and the strawberry ice cream was fresh and delicious. There was also a hint of strawberry syrup somewhere in there. This flavor has been served since 1970. It's one of the regional flavors so you cannot find it everywhere.

Her daughter got the bubble gum flavor and her son a chocolate ice cream. I didn't have the heart to steal a lick from them so I cannot tell you how theirs tasted.



I got the best of them all! Nutty Coconut. I sampled it at first to make sure it was fresh, it was. So I happily got one scoop in a cup. It was nice, thick, and creamy. There were nut chunks everywhere. It's a flavor that was added to the Baskin Robbins menu in 1967. It contains roasted almonds, walnuts, and buttered pecans. I am a HUGE coconut fan, as well as a HUMUNGO nut eater. I love all nuts. Lucky for me I got a scoop that had nuts all over it.

The flavor was fantastic. The coconut flavor was perfect, although I wouldn't mind if it was a little stronger. But it tasted like a creamy dreamy trail mix. It definitely would go good with their Banana Walnut flavor.

Nutrition Information:
1 2.5 oz scoop
Calories: 190
Fat: 12g
Carbs: 18g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 4g

It is definitely a flavor worth trying. I will go back to try their many other flavors one day when money rolls in easier. But as of now, I am broke and I cannot go too often. They are way overpriced at Baskin Robbins. I paid $2.99 for a single scoop that I finished in 5 minutes. I could have gotten a whole bucket of ice cream for that. It's not like the ice cream was any better quality than the ones from the store.

Overall, I prefer Cold Stone Creamery. Their ice cream is exquisite! But that doesn't mean I will never go back to Baskin Robbins.

So to conclude, I give this ice cream a 7/10.
It's delicious, yet expensive. But treating myself once in a while is a good thing.

Simply Chex Mix Strawberry Yogurt

I LOVE cereal. I love it dry, I love it wet, I love it mixed with other stuff.
I usually make portable snacks by mixing a bunch of cereals, pretzels, and nuts that I have at home to make a wonderful trail mix.
I don't usually put dried fruit though because it tends to make the mix soggy.



Anyways, today I am reviewing Strawberry Yogurt flavored Chex Mix. Don't be alarmed if you haven't heard of this variety before because it's not easily found in your local area. It's one of those things that you have to order online or something.

It's called Simple Chex because, unlike the other Chex Mixes that contain pretzels/nuts and other things, this only has flavored chex cereal pieces.

Taking a look inside the bag you notice some chex pieces are lighter than others. You can also spot some chex pieces dipped in strawberry yogurt, hence the name of the flavor. You really do get the smell of very tart, but very sweet strawberry flavoring.




The chex pieces are very crunchy. You do not want to eat these in a place that other people can hear you crunch. I mean they are OBNOXIOUS! It's like someone put a microphone to you mouth so you yourself can announce to the world that you are eating Chex Mix.

One the bright side they are flavorful. There is a sort of unpleasant tartness to it that could definitely be improved. It's not a disgusting mix, but it is the worst of all the Chex Mixes that I have tried. If you know what I am getting at.

It is a decent size for the calories though. The calories can vary per package. I know that they most commonly come in 100 calorie packs. Mine was 120 calories for some reason.

I give this product a 5/10.
It wasn't that great.

Quaker Life Soft Baked Banana Walnut Bread Bar

Another trip down the snack aisle brought me to these bars. I have a thing for Banana Walnut Bread, so I grabbed them. They were on sale =).

They look exactly like a smaller version of Quaker's oatmeal-on-the-go. They are meant to be for adults; possibly because they have more fiber and protein in them.

The bar smelled good, looked good, and tasted good. The only thing was that the sweetness came as an aftertaste. Nevertheless, they were delicious and I would buy them once again.

I hope they still make them because I cannot find them on the Quaker website.

I give them an 80%.
8/10

Diet Dr. Pepper

I am not a big soda fan. I think it is because my dad refused to get me soda as a child. I guess I can thank him for that. I still to this day don't buy soda. If I were to buy soda though, it would only be Diet Dr. Pepper.

Dr. Pepper is the only tasty soda.
I love all the flavors I have tried so far:
Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper
Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper
Diet Berries n' Creme Dr. Pepper
Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper

Costco Cheese Pizza

Just the other day I was watching an episode of Desperate Housewives from their third season when Tom Scavo pursued his dream of opening is very own pizzeria. That episode and the ones following repeatedly brought to my mind the idea that I have not had pizza in months. Whereas most Americans eat pizza multiple times a week, I eat it a couple times a year.

Well after some light shopping at Costco, I decided to buy their single serving 2 slices of pizza. I chose the cheese kind because I am in love with cheese and I saw them freshly take it out of the oven. I happened to be the first one to get my hands on the pizza. Now usually if I come accross a pizza, I eat 4 slices. Costco's slices are so big that 2 slices = 4 normal pizza slices.

Anyways, there was more cheese on the pizza than bread. This is not a bad thing, granted that I loved cheese. All you could really taste was cheesy bread. I tasted no sauce, and I slightly tasted the bread.

It was fantastic as far as most pizza chains go. It wasn't the best pizza I ever ate, but it was pretty damn good. I will be getting it again.

Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownies

The Palmer House Hilton, a famous historical hotel in Downtown Chicago, held a contest at a fair to find the perfect dessert to take in boxed lunches. The brownie won, although it was not the same brownie that many of us think of today

A woman in Bangor, Maine shifted the recipe to the brownies that we are more familiar with, and it took on the name Bangor Brownies in 1907. This brownie has become one of contemporary America's favorite desserts.

What makes a brownie fantastic? Well the obvious answer is the rich chocolaty taste and the density. But who really knows the best recipe to make the brownie not too cakey, or not too fudgy. I think Betty Crocker's Dark Chocolate Brownie mix got pretty darn close. As for Pillsbury, nuh uh.

I was excited about making these brownies, especially because the mix was twice the price of other brownie mixes at Target. Yes, I know perfectly well that just because things cost more doesn't mean they don't necessarily taste better; I lived off of off-brand food for most of my life. But mostly, if the price is higher, the flavor is as well.

I cannot explain how disappointed I was with these stupid brownies. I followed the box recipe exactly and put it in the oven. I baked it for the minimum time that they gave me and when I checked it with a toothpick, the edges came out clean, as if I didn't even stick the toothpick in. I immediately took it out. There was this giant UFO circle in the middle of the tray. The top wasn't flaky like traditional brownies either. At that moment I wasn't too worried about anything because usually the dry parts of the brownies are just chewier and more cookie-like, which is fine with me.

I waited an hour for them too cool and cut myself a slice. I couldn't get it out of the tray properly. That was the first downer of these brownies: they were way too fragile. Well I took a bite from the middle-side and it was too much like fudge to be considered a brownie. It was too moist. I am a lover of moist cakes but this was overly moist. Too much of anything is bad. I went to the corner piece and, granted it was chewy in the middle, but the outside felt like layers of hard sugar crystal. Even in the middle part of the cake the top layer felt like sugar crystals overpowered by watery moistness.

It did taste good while it was in your mouth. It tasted more sweet than flavorful. I prefer the rich chocolaty taste of the brownie rather than the sugary-ness. After you swallowed it didn't leave a wonderful brownie-aftertaste in your mouth like it should. It didn't even smell that wonderful.

I am a perfectionist, and these brownies were not perfect. I did everything in my power to make these brownies nice and they weren't!
I give this a 1/10, for effort.

Don Francisco

Coffee has been a staple in my daily diet since I was in the 5th grade. No lie, I really did start drinking it every morning since then. Even as a little girl, I would bring my plastic tea set to my mom and dad and ask them to fill coffee inside of it so I could sip it from there. Many people joke that coffee is what stunted my growth; but that's no doubt my short parents fault. =p



Well anyways, I usually drink the coffee from the bulk aisle at Winco because it's the cheapest that I could find for decent taste. But I was visiting my cousin and she had the courtesy to get me some coffee. Knowing that my favorite is the hazelnut blend she decided to buy me Don Francisco's Hawaiian Hazelnut Blend.

I've never tried Don Francisco's coffee before, nor have a tried a Hawaiian Hazelnut brand. I was very curious of the taste. I brewed it the moment I got to her house. It released one of the most wonderful smells in the world. The smell of coffee is something I and many other people enjoy very much. I wouldn't mind if more air fresheners and perfumes smelled like coffee. It's an idea somebody should pursue.

The taste was fantastic. She got me medium roast, which was a little light but still had lots of flavor, which was the key to this coffee. It has the most exotic taste and smell. I got sort of a coconut taste in there as well, even there is no evidence of coconut flavoring.

It's just a wonderful coffee. I give it a 9/10.
It's a must try for coffee lovers.

Trader Joe's Dried Fruit Chile Spiced Mango

Known worldwide as the 'king of fruit', mango is a fruit with origins in India. It was first brought to California in 1880. Mangoes can actually be very sacred. For instance, the Hindu culture hanging fresh mango leaves outside the front door during Hindu New Year and Deepavali is considered a blessing to the house. In India it can also be a symbol of love, and the tree is believed to grant wishes.

Don't feed your mango leaves to cattle or livestock because it is poison to them. Distant relatives of mango plants include the cashew, pistachio, Jamaica plum, poison ivy and poison oak. Mangoes are high in vitamin C and vitamin A; but they also contain other health benefits.

Most dieters say that you should stay away from mangoes and bananas to lose weight; I disagree. An average whole mango that I buy is 100 calories for the whole thing. It tastes better than candy and it is a very healthy dessert.



On my last trip to Trader Joe's, I hit the fruit and nut section on my visit because dried fruit and nuts are the perfect on the go snacks. I like to pick up different things each time I go, and this time I chose the Chile Spiced Mango. Putting spices on fruit is a popular tradition started in Mexico. One of the best fruits to spice is mango; fresh or dry. These particular mango slices were covered in paprika, sugar salt, and cayenne pepper.

The mango pieces were very fresh and generously covered in spices. I love spicy food but hey could have put a little less; the spices overpowered the fruit. Nevertheless it still tasted good. It wasn't as hot as Hot Cheetos, but still spicy for those who don't like spicy food.


Nutrition Facts:
¼ cup (30g)
Calories: 110
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 27g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 0g

So taking a look at the nutrition facts, it's not exactly the healthiest dried fruit option, but the spices did keep you full. It is a great pre-workout snack; which is usually when I would consume these.

Overall, they were pretty good. They could cut back on the spices a little. In the end I would prefer the plain dried mango (actually I would prefer fresh overall). But I would consider trying them out because trying new things is fun. It adds spice to life.

I give these a 5/10. They weren't anything memorable. A little overpriced too, but good.