Fresh & Easy Pumpkin Spice Muffin

Ho Ho Ho the holidays are finally here! Actually I felt like they were here in September because that's when all the stores put out their Christmas crap. Nevertheless, I love the holidays. Well, at least I used to. I used to feel excited, warm, and happy when I knew it was coming. But every since the depression and the technology boom (I'm talking all the iPods, iPads, iPhones that came out that everyone wants), the holidays have turned into the horrid time of the year where you empty your pockets for others. We lost the idea that the holidays are about spending time with the people you love, getting a couple days off work and school, and just being happy.

Well, despite the fact that the true holiday spirit is gone; stores, products, and restaurants still serve those holiday foods. My neighborhood Fresh & Easy just put out all their new holiday products including: my favorite pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin muffins(new), apple cider, and pumpkin pancake and waffle mix.

I wanted it all. But I restrained myself and just bought the pumpkin muffins because they weren't there last year and they looked delicious. I purchased four muffins for $3.99. Pretty much a rip off, but they looked good and I don't have an oven.

With 530 calories, these muffins aren't really the best choice for a healthy lifestyle, but we all need to splurge. My personal guilty pleasure is baked goods, but I hear most people are in love with ice cream.

The muffin is a little bit bigger than the average Fresh and Easy muffins. The smell honestly wasn't that strong or delicious. You definitely smell the pumpkin in the muffin, but I don't know where the spices are.

But once you take a bite, you're hooked. The muffin is delicious. Unlike the Blueberry Muffin, the Pumpkin Spice has no hole in the middle. It also has some strudel on top; the good kind that doesn't just taste like a wad of sugar on top. The coffee cake from Fresh and Easy has pretty lame strudel, but I guess they really improved their recipe on this muffin. There is definitely a strong ginger and nutmeg flavor to this muffin.

The muffin is very moist, almost cakey, but not quite. The texture was perfect. The moisture balance was equal throughout the entire muffin. I was sad that there weren't any nuts in there, but I still enjoyed this muffin. It was actually very addictive because I wanted another one right after I finished the first one.

Overall, it's a great product.

Quaker Dark Chocolate Cherry Granola Bar

Quaker used to be one of my favorite brand in the world. I used to be obsessed with their mini 90-110 calorie snack/ granola bars that came in a at least 20 flavors. But I do not know if it was my view on their bars that changed, or if it was their recipe that was tampered with, but I don’t like their bars so much anymore. They have too much of a rough edge to them compared to the other chewy bars out there that tend to have a little more moisture.

But I still have hopes for Quaker and I have not totally turned my back on them. For instance, the other day I bought a box of their Dark Chocolate Cherry Chewy Granola bars to throw in my purse for a snack.

As always I thought they were small for the calories. I always thought of them as candy anyways because they always satisfied my sweet tooth rather than keep me full. My mother agrees because she jokes about how she worries about me when I just eat snacks all day until I get home. Well I honestly can say that I do not like eating or taking meals when I go out to do my daily business. I feel like they are too much to carry, they do not stay fresh, and I just do not have time to sit and eat them when I am out. That is why I live off snacks all day and pig out when I get home.


So back to the Cherry Chocolate Quaker bars. They overall had a delicious taste. They reminded me fondly of those Hershey’s Cherry Chocolate Kisses that come around during the seasonal time of the year, that taste so wonderful. The cherry flavor was prevalent, but it was not that sour flavor nor was it that nasty medicinal flavor that you usually get from cherry products. It was delicious and quite delicious.

Overall I liked these and so did the people around me.

Fresh & Easy Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffin

I love muffins. If I had no self control I'd have a giant muffin top at the moment. I think I originally fell in love with muffins when I tried those giant Costco muffins. You know which ones I'm talking about...those GIANT decadent, moist, dense muffins that come in packs of six for only $3.

But those aren't the muffins I'm really going to talk about in this blog. The muffin I am going to talk about is the four pack of Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffins that I got from Fresh and Easy. Man that chain really exploded in my city because there are now 7 stores out there that I know of just in my town.

Well, knowing how much I love baked goods, I chose to get their blueberry muffins, mostly because they were the freshest thing on the shelf.

So I ate it the moment I got home. Man they were so moist. I was licking my fingers the whole way through. That's how I eat a muffin. I noticed everyone eats their muffins differently. Some prefer forks, others spoons. Most like to just dive in and take a bite. I myself like to pick at them with my fingers. It just makes the experience more fun.

The first bite you get out of these you taste the orange zest that they through in. The cake part taste like plain white cake with a little bit of vanilla. What bothered me though was the giant hole in the center of my muffin. Yes, a hole filled with air and coated with sour blueberry filling. The same thing showed up on my second muffin too. I'm pretty sure it was just the blueberry filling that ate the middle of my muffin, but I want it back.

The muffin overall was fantastic. With 310 calories, 11 grams of fat, 48 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein; this muffin makes a pretty decent snack or breakfast. I myself shared on and ate two, then saved the last for breakfast. But it ain't the best muffin on the block, nor is it worth $4. Go to Costco, cause their muffins have double the goodness, are double the size, and half the price.

Panera Bread Carrot Walnut Muffin

Hey guys. It's been almost a month since my last post because I've been so busy lately. Today was actually one of the first days I got a good break from life.

So basically I went out shopping and around lunchtime I decided to drop by Panera Bread to get a pastry and some coffee. The Carrot Walnut muffin happened to catch my eye and they just happened to be placing fresh baked ones on the plate.

I was sort of reluctant to try it because I tried their Apple Crunch Muffin and I was not satisfied at all. That stuff had the nastiest apple filling that I have ever tasted in my life. Did I just get a bad one out of luck, or does everyone agree that it sucks?

Well anyways I got it along with some plain Hazelnut coffee. I sat at one of their nice, quiet, dark tables in the back with a good book and enjoyed.

The coffee was smooth, fresh, and had the quality of Starbucks coffee. I enjoyed every bit of it. The muffin itself was fantastic! I actually ate half of it before I took the picture cause it was so delicious. It has tons of walnuts on top and you can see the little carrot slices in the muffin. I'm pretty sure there was some apple in it as well as some plump raisins. The outside was a little tough, but it was perfect. The inside had a muffin-worthy moisture. In other words, it was not as hard as bread nor as soft as cake.

My only complaint would be that the walnuts were only on the top. I would prefer them to be within the muffin as well. A little more spice in the muffin wouldn't hurt either.

Calories: 500

Fat: 21g

Carbs: 72g

Fiber: 4g

Protein: 8g

Costco All-American Chocolate Cake

We all know that when it comes to a celebration there has to be a delicious dessert that waits for you and your guests at the end of that wonderful meal. If you don't know that, well then you gotta learn that a celebration is like writing an essay. You start off with the Introduction (some nice little appetizers that WOW them), then comes the Body (where you stuff them with all the good stuff), and then the Conclusion (where you leave them with popped out eyes and drooling mouths). IBC people IBC!

Even if you don't like the people who are coming over, impress them anyways. Believe it or not there are ways that you can easily show your guests a great time with less physical effort.

So one of the best "conclusions" you can get for your party is the 7-layer All-American Chocolate Cake from Costco. You know that when it comes to cake, everybody loves chocolate. Even the people who say they hate chocolate secretly like it (Yeah I saw you eating that chocolate bar behind a wall).

This cake is amazing in many ways besides its taste:
(1) It's huge
(2) Only $16
(3) Chocolate inside, and chocolate outside
(4) Stays fresh long
(5) Has a definite WOW factor

It looks gorgeous as it is in the box, but once you slice it, it looks even better with all the layers of chocolate. One of the best things about this cake is the frosting. It is nice, thick and creamy. Usually the cakes I try have some sickening wad of gloppy icing on top that I have to scrape off so I won't throw up, but this stuff is just perfect. It's decorated on the sides with shaved chocolate pieces that taste so fresh and add the perfect touch to this cake. It's like eating a giant brownie. The actual cake part is most and delicious. It sort of tastes like the Costco Chocolate Muffins, but without the chocolate chips on the inside.

This cake leaves such a good taste in your mouth as well. Only a couple bites and you feel satisfied with it because it is so rich. Quality not Quantity guys. It's the true diet cake cause you can only eat so much of it.

Fun tip, this cake tastes way better refrigerated. It reminds me of ice cream.

I just love this cake all around and I think I'm going to have some now for breakfast =]

Trident Layers Orchard Peach and Ripe Mango

You know how how fruit is so delicious? Especially in the summertime when all the best fruit come out like melons, berries, figs, peaches, and other galor. Now there isn't a fruit out there that I don't like and I cannot choose a favorite either. However, I do have some stop favorites and one of them is peaches.

So boy was I excited when I saw this Orchard Peach and Ripe Mango gum at Rite Aid. They even had it on sale, so what more can you want? I've tried Trident Layers once before and didn't think they were anything excelent, just okay. Maybe it was because of the flavoring, I don't know. But this looked good. I actually saw the Sweet Cherry and Island Lime flavor first, but then I asked myself why I would get that when I can get peach and mango?

So I ate my dinner and decided to have this piece of gum for dessert. Boy did it smell good when I ripped open the package. The package itself looks super cool by the way. If the package is cool it must be good right?

Well the moment I bit into it I fell in love. This is definitely one of my new favorite gums. It was so sweet and juicy, yet tangy and refreshing as well. Why didn't anyone make this before? Despite the tiny period of sticky-ness at the beginning it was absolutely perfect!

It even pops great bubbles!

Trident has always been my favorite gum brand. There hasn't been a product that they have made that I am not satisfied with.

Panera Bread Cinnamon Roll

Sometimes I dream about cinnamon rolls. Do you? =)

I know, I'm lame, but they're so good. With their moisty-yeastness and their cinnamony-sugaryness. "A taste of cinnamon and sugar in every bite!" as Cinnamon Toast Crunch likes to say.

Well unlike the cereal, actual fresh baked cinnamon rolls are better. I'm talking about the ones that people mix with yeast, eggs, flour, and such and roll it together themselves. NOT that Pillsbury crap that actually comes out like a cinnamon blob.

Well I'm probably dreaming about ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls cause I haven't had one in ages. Well that changed the other day when I hit Panera Bread with my mother to get my free hot beverage. I just wanted the free beverage and didn't care so much for the food, but them my mama's eye caught the fancy cinnamon rolls and she asked if I wanted to share one. I <3 my mommy! So, I got one.

And we sat in a nice booth, drank our coffee, and split our cinnamon roll.

All I gotta say is, it ain't like a cinnamon roll, but it's damn good anyways. Why isn't it like the usual cinnamon roll? Well cause it wasn't exactly ooey and gooey. But it was damn soft, moist, and delicious. I got an orangy taste from the glaze which was a good touch. The spice filling is delicious aswell. I'm pretty sure they have another spice besides cinnamon in there. I can't put my finger on what it is, but it's good. Only 620 calories for the giant thing. Share it with a friend if you're on a diet.

It's a different cinnamon roll experience. Baked fresh every morning, it is definitely the best thing I've tried from Panera Bread so far. Usually if I were to get a baked good from Panera Bread I would get it from Starbucks. Starbucks tends to have better tasting goodies to me, but they don't have giant, delicious, unique cinnamon rolls.

I think Panera Bread is only in California, but I could be wrong. Anyways, if you are near one, hit it up and get a cinnamon roll. Their coffee is pretty damn good and fresh too. If you ain't into that, then they have tea and soda.

Check out this cliff bar giveaway!
http://healthnuttxo.com/2011/08/21/clif-crunch-peanut-butter-white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-granola-bar-giveaway/

Carmel Coffee & Co. Chocolate Honey Nut Bar

For my little summer vacation I headed over to Carmel with my aunt and my mother. It truly is a beautiful place if you have never been. The weather is always cool which was a plus because it's boiling where I usually am. We walked around he shops, went window shopping, ate at this restaurant called Portabella. It was a great experience.

Around the late afternoon we needed a little snack from all that walking so we hit the coffee shop. Carmel Coffee & Co. is what they called it. I got a coffee, but I honestly have to say it didn't taste very good. Their 100% Arabica coffee did not taste very fresh, and it has bizarre flavoring to it. I did not like it. I usually drink my coffee black, but even after cream and sugar this stuff didn't taste good at all.

But I did get this Chocolate Honey Nut Bar thing that they had in the little baked goods section. I'm not sure of the exact name of it, and the girl who worked there had no idea herself. All I thought was that it looked pretty damn good.



I'm pretty sure the bottom was an oatmeal cookie base, topped with a thick layer of rich chocolate mixed with coconut and walnuts, topped with another layer of cookie and drizzled with chocolate. My mouth is still watering.

This was about the best dessert I've eaten in a long time. It beats brownies in my book. Up till this bar, brownies were my favorite. This bar surpasses any granola bar that I've ever tasted. It has everything that I can possibly want in there.

The bar itself was so sweet. The texture was moist and chewy. You felt the delicious coconut pieces crunch under your teeth and melt with the chocolate flavoring. The walnut pieces were a perfect compliment to it all. The cookie was so moist, fresh, and delicious.

I can't stop raving about this bar. I wish Starbucks had something like this. I am seriously thinking about driving out to Carmel to get a barrel of these or something.

M&M Coconut

By now everybody has heard of these coconut M&M's, which have come out years before for a limited time only. Once again they were to be a limited time offer a couple months ago, but people liked it so much that M&M's have made it part of their permanent collection.

I was excited about these because I knew how much I loved coconut and chocolate.

They come in a nice white package with Ms. Green reclining in the front and Mr. Yellow Peanut hanging off a coconut palm in the back.

They only come in nice 1.5 oz individual packages, with only 210 calories per pack. There are specifically 23 M&M's in each package, making each M&M about 10 calories. This is a good deal and perfect portion. 23 may sound like only a little bit, but actually you'll feel very satisfied after finishing the pack. The size of each M&M is between a regular M&M and a peanut M&M. They come in brown, green, and white; also containing some little tropical pictures on each M&M.

It's sort of disappointing that they don't have little coconut flakes floating around these because that would have just made these so much better, in my opinion at least. The coconut flavor basically comes from the sugar coating that covers a pure milk chocolate center. It's not a heavy coconut flavor at all. To me it tastes just like coconut extract. I think they put too much of it though because there is a slight bitterness to this candy that does not come from the chocolate.

I expected more out of these, but they were delicious nevertheless. I feel like they tasted much better halfway through each package. They different, but I prefer peanut M&Ms.

Stride Mega Mystery

Stride is not the first brand that came out with this "guess the flavor" type thing and it won't be the last. It has been around for a while now, but I barely got my hands on a pack a week ago.

Although Stride has updated some of their main flavors, that update does not apply to this product in particular. I'm honestly only bummed out about the fact that the gum is not wrapped in foil so that it won't get damaged in humid conditions.

By just smelling this gum you know that it has a fruity flavor. As you masticate, the flavor that will most pop out is this citrus flavor, pineapple is what it reminded me of specifically but others say orange. I also tasted strawberry somewhere in there and possibly some mango. It's basically like some fruit punch mix in a stick of gum. So this stuff is not necessarily Mega Mystery. But overall, it does taste pretty good.

The texture of this stuff is perfect for popping bubbles, but unfortunately, it's flavor does not last as long as other Stride varieties.

I think it's a good product. I'm pretty sure it has become one of Stride's permanent collections because it has been around for a while. I would give it a go because it does have an interesting flavor.

Gloria Jean's Pomegranate Berry Fusion Tea

My mother was the one who showed me what the Keurig was. It honestly looks like an amazing product. No matter what you want to drink you can have it fresh instantly. I don't actually own one but my friend bought one. I took a visit to her house and she made me some Pomegranate Berry Fusion Tea, claiming it to be one of the best teas she have ever drank.

I reluctantly accepted her offer and asked for it to be iced. The moment it came out it released a wonderful aroma that filled the room with a strong berry scent mixed with fresh brewed black tea.

The tea itself was very smooth and was a nice deep black tea color with a reddish tint. It was a bit light for me, but my friend said she thought it was perfect. You definitely taste the berries and pomegranates in this, making it almost like a unique fruit juice without the calories. I did add a packet of Splenda to this for taste. No doubt the keurig did make this tea taste fresh.

This is no where near my personal favorite tea. I myself prefer "chai" spiced tea. I put quotes around that because in my mother language, and most of the neighboring languages, "chai" means tea in general; not just the spiced American version. But the spiced American version is my favorite.