Review: Fiber One 90 Calorie Pumpkin Soft-Baked Bars

Yet again, the world is over-pumpkined.  As I was browsing through Kroger recently, today's product jumped up on me as I was rounding the corner from one aisle to the next.  Sitting innocently on the end cap of one of the aisles were several boxes of Fiber One 90 Calorie Pumpkin Soft-Baked Bars and being that I had never seen these before since they are limited edition, they were on sale AND I had a digital coupon (the most important part), I knew that I had to grab a box of six for $2.79 (before coupon) to add to the ever-growing Fiber One review collection.  Each bar in the box is the obvious 90 calories with less than one gram of protein, which is kind of funny.  On a positive note though, this 0.89 ounce bar does contain 20% of my daily fiber intake (or what would be 20% if I actually ate a 2,000 calorie diet).

Review: Chobani flip Pumpkin Harvest Crisp Greek Yogurt

I believe that I've lamented on this blog about "Christmas Creep" before and perhaps even what I'm now going to dub as "Pumpkin Creep.".  Christmas Creep is when Christmas products start making it into the store WAY BEFORE Christmas.  Pumpkin-flavored products are starting to become that way too as some of them are starting to pop up before September 1st.  That's crazy to me.  Fall doesn't officially start until September 23rd.  I, like I'm sure a lot of people, don't really think about pumpkins until October due to Halloween.  Anyway, Chobani has joined this creep by rolling out a pumpkin themed Greek yogurt in a limited batch.  I got this container of  Chobani flip Pumpkin Harvest Crisp Greek Yogurt in early September, but I don't know how long it had been on the shelf before that.  I do know that this is the first time that I've noticed that their flip line of products has been shown as "flip" on the packaging, which is orange by the way to reflect pumpkin (Note:  upon perusal of prior Chobani reviews, I learned that this "flip" has been in effect for a bit and I'm just an unobservant moron).  I picked up this 5.3 ounce container at Meijer for $1.09 and packed within it's orangeness is 210 calories and 12 grams of all natural protein.

Review: Chobani Cinnamon Pear Blended Greek Yogurt

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't had a lot of experience in my life eating pears.  Not because I dislike them or anything, but because it's just one of those fruits that never has really been in my house as either a child or adult.  So, when Chobani released a limited batch Greek Yogurt that included pears and cinnamon, which I have eaten a ton of, I was kinda curious to add another review to the Chobani collection.  So, I picked up this single serving container of Chobani Cinnamon Pear Blended Greek Yogurt at Meijer for $1.09 and each 5.3 ounce cup is made up of 140 calories and twelve grams of protein.  It's also got 2% milkfat and is all natural, gluten free, kosher and vegetarian, so there is all that as well.

Review: Chobani Plum Blended Greek Yogurt

Bizarrely, I've decided to crave yogurt, Greek or otherwise.  Since I write this blog, I tend to not to like to eat the same flavor twice since it seems like such a "wasted opportunity" for me, meaning that I'm not going to eat a flavor of yogurt unless I can get a review out of it.  I've only got so many calories I can consume!  So, I love the fact that Chobani continually rolls out products for me to review and another one of those roll outs has led today's review of a limited batch product in this Chobani Plum Blended Greek Yogurt.  Now, I don't eat a lot of plums and quite frankly, when I think of them, I think of old people.  Not exactly a great start, but I'll try just about anything once.  Anyway, this single cup of Greek yogurt was picked up at Marsh for $1.25 and clocked in at the usual 5.3 ounces and packed in 140 calories and twelve grams of protein.  It's also 2% milkfat, so it's a bit fattier than the typical zero fat yogurt.

Review: Chobani Concord Grape Greek Yogurt

I've done a lot of Chobani reviews in the past and some of them have focused on limited batches.  Most of those limited batches disappear fairly quickly because they truly are limited.  The source of today's review must not have been too limited because I've seen it on the shelves of my local grocery stores for quite some time.  Since it had been there for a while and I figured it could be at least somewhat still timely, I grabbed a container of this Chobani Concord Grape Greek Yogurt via a free coupon at my local Marsh.  It would typically retail in the $1.25 range.  This 5.3 ounce cup packs 140 calories and twelve grams of protein, so it's not a true belly buster, which is nice.  I love snacking on grapes too, so I was quite curious about this one going into the review.

Review: Chobani Pumpkin Spice 2% Blended Greek Yogurt

I had this conversation on Twitter several weeks back, but at what point do we say that the pumpkin spice flavor profile has jumped the shark and become overplayed?  I like the pumpkin flavor profile as much as anyone have certainly eaten A LOT of pumpkin products (beer, smoothies, ice cream, etc.), but even as a lover of that flavor, I'm starting to get a little tired of seeing this stuff all over the place.  One could almost argue that pumpkin is becoming the new vanilla because it's popping up everywhere.  Anyway, Chobani is another one to fall victim to the craze as today's review adds to my review collection as I take a look at one of their limited batch offerings in this Chobani Pumpkin Spice 2% Blended Greek Yogurt that I picked up at Marsh for $1.09.  Each 5.3 ounce single serving cup has 130 calories and twelve grams of protein.

Review: Chobani Watermelon Blended 2% Greek Yogurt

I remember when I first started this blog nearly three years ago (three years at the end of this month!) that Chobani was kind of the little engine that could of the Greek yogurt world.  They were getting write-ups in various business magazines like Bloomberg, Forbes, etc. about how they were this small company trying to take on the monsters of the world like Dannon.  Just knowing that background made my reviews of them that much more interesting (to me).  Now, nearly three years later, they are no longer the little engine that could and are one of the leaders of the Greek yogurt industry as the big guys have started lining up to compete with them and also some other little guys have joined the fray to become the next Chobani.  Anyway, they've gotten so big now that they've introduced limited batches and today's review is another one of those summer-related limited batches (which means it'll be gone soon) in this Chobani Watermelon Blended 2% Greek Yogurt that I found at Target for $1.19.  This 5.3 ounce cup is all natural, gluten free and has 140 calories with twelve grams of protein.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Candy Bar Pie Ice Cream

So, I like candy bars, I like pies and I like ice cream.  When I see something that combines all of those, it would seem like it would be the best of both worlds and something that I would absolutely pick up, right?  Well, on the other hand, I don't like my waist line expanding and as I mentioned in my last Ben & Jerry's review, I've been trying to stay away from their products recently in order to maintain a semi-healthy diet.  But, as I also mentioned in that review, every now and then I just can't resist when I see a sale combined with a coupon and that's what Kroger did to me and that led me to pick up this pint of limited batch Ben & Jerry's Candy Bar Pie Ice Cream on sale for $3.99 (plus a $1.00 off coupon).  This pint is the standard four half-cup servings and comes in a decidedly unhealthy 300 calories per serving.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Ron Burgundy's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream

I will be the first to admit that I enjoy movies that are really stupid (in a funny way) and the Anchorman movies definitely fit that bill.  As part of the publicity of Anchorman 2 coming out in the past several months, Ben & Jerry's released a limited batch flavor called Ben & Jerry's Ron Burgundy's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream that is clearly based on the little ditty sung by Ron Burgundy in the first Anchorman movie.  I picked up this pint to add to my Ben & Jerry's review archive for $2.49 in a killer sale at Kroger and each half-cup serving in this pint clocks in at 280 calories.  I've come to become a lover of butterscotch later in life, so I was very curious to see how this one would turn out in the end despite the fact that I'm a little late to the party in getting to review this one, but that's not entirely my fault.  I love living in Indiana (this past winter notwithstanding), but one of the drawbacks of living here is that it sometimes takes a while for products to make their way to our local stores.  This flavor is one of those products as I've been looking for this for the past few months but FINALLY saw it pop up on a visit this past weekend.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Limited Batch Cannoli Ice Cream

Several months ago, as they are prone to do, Ben & Jerry's introduced another limited batch flavor to add to their expansive list of flavors.  This Ben & Jerry's Limited Batch Cannoli Ice Cream was so difficult to find that they even started a social media campaign called #FindCannoli that allowed people to post where they had found a pint in their local stores.  I had been checking that page and my stores periodically and had never been able to find it, but while stumbling through Meijer the other day looking for something to quench my absurd ice cream infatuation, I was stunned to find a pint of this previously unseen Cannoli ice cream staring me in the face in the freezer case.  Since I'd been looking for it for months, I quickly gobbled up even at the non-sale price of $3.99, which I rarely ever do, and brought it up to add to my Ben & Jerry's review series.  As always, this pint container contains four half-cup servings of ice cream and each serving comes in at a belt-busting 280 calories.  Unhealthy and calorically heavy ice creams are nothing new for Ben & Jerry's, so there's no surprises there.  I'll be the first to admit that I haven't eaten a lot of Cannolis in my life, but I have had enough to know that I know what they taste like and I like them.  The fact that they are trying to put this into ice cream form is more than intriguing for me, so I was anxious to try this out after my long and arduous search.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Limited Batch Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream

In honor of today being National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, I feel it is my duty as an American to cancel the previous review I had scheduled for today and do this one instead!

First things first, I'm a Ben & Jerry's addict.  I shouldn't be an addict, I don't want to be addict, but sometimes in life you just have to admit something, accept it as fact and move on.  The fact that I'm a Ben & Jerry's addict is one of those things.  Now, you should also know that due to Culver's and their annual fall roll-out of pumpkin flavored shakes and concrete mixers, I'm also a pumpkin ice cream freak now as well.  When I saw that Ben & Jerry's was rolling out their Pumpkin Cheesecake flavor as a Limited Batch this fall (surfing the web, I see that they do this seemingly every fall too), I knew this one had my name written all over it.  It's 290 calories per serving and each pint includes four servings (I've never really been able to figure out how or why they get four servings out of this) and I picked up a pint at Walmart for $3.39.

Review: Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls Ice Cream

I promised comfort reviews on this blog from time to time, so what better way is there to kick off those occasional reviews than a post about one of the most comforting, yet fattening foods there are?  Yep, it's time for Ben & Jerry's ice cream and since I've been reading about all the so-called controversy over the Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls Ice Cream limited batch offering, I was anxious to head to the store to try this one out.  Unfortunately, it took me about two weeks before I could find a store that had this in stock.  While at Walmart this past Sunday, I was finally able to find a pint of Schweddy Balls for $3.29.  Now, the name of this ice cream is quite sophomoric since it is based on a Saturday Night Live skit, so me sliding in the occasional sophomoric joke into this review will probably be unavoidable.  I'll TRY to act like an adult, but there may be an attempt at a joke that bounces in from time to time.  Just a word of warning.

For your reference, Schweddy Balls is "Vanilla Ice Cream with a Hint of Rum & Loaded with Fudge covered Rum & Malt balls."  Also, it should also be written before this review that I HATE rum in general, so I may be a little biased toward negativity.  Still, that's why I taste test these things...sometimes they surprise me and overcome my initial prejudices against a particular taste.  Also, at 270 calories per serving (four per pint), it's not exactly a health freebie, but hey, it's "premium" ice cream, so you have to expect that.