Review: Dannon Light & Fit Greek Crunch Strawberry Cheesecake Greek Yogurt

I think it would be great to work at these major manufacturing companies.  I think their Research and Development departments mainly consist of sitting around and looking at their old products and then "developing" new and interesting ways to package them.  It's obvious Dannon is this way because today's review is of something I've reviewed before, albeit with a very slight twist.  With that, I snatched up this 5.0 ounce container of Dannon Light & Fit Greek Crunch Strawberry Cheesecake Greek Yogurt at Kroger for $1.29 and within it are 130 calories and eleven grams of protein.  So, it's definitely light and it's definitely fit.

Review: Don't Go Nuts Whitewater Chomp Nut Free Energy Bar

I was aimless strolling through my local Meijer recently (I'm not going to kid myself, I'm always aimless strolling) and I wandered through the nutrition bar aisle and noticed that there was an entirely new line of bars sitting on the shelf.  Curiosity piqued, I went in for a closer look and found this Don't Go Nuts Whitewater Chomp Nut Free Energy Bar on sale for roughly $1.50.  The world seems to be filled with people with allergies to something these days and in this case, this bar caters to those with nut allergies as it's nut free.  It's also gluten free, kosher and organic.  Packed into this 1.58 ounces are 180 calories and two grams of protein, although the website says there are three grams.  What a dilemma...packaging vs. website!

Review: Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple Peppermint Bark Bar

I find it exponentially amusing that even nutrition bar manufacturers get into the seasonal spirit and release limited edition products that are based on the season.  Zone Perfect has already done it once with a pumpkin-flavored bar that I reviewed previously, but now they are going with a peppermint-flavored bar that is focused on the...well, let's just say December traditions (call that my Starbucks red cup play).  Anyway, I picked up this seasonally influenced and limited edition Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple Peppermint Bark Bar at Kroger for $1.00.  It checks in at 1.41 ounces and has a modest 180 calories with ten grams of protein.  It's also gluten free.

Review: thinkThin Pumpkin Spice Protein & Fiber Bar

So I guess it's that time to roll through all the Limited Edition pumpkin-flavored bars since they are overloading the shelves of my local grocery stores.  I already looked at one pumpkin-flavored bar earlier this week, so now it's time to add another thinkThin review to the blog and take a look at this thinkThin Pumpkin Spice Protein & Fiber Bar that I was able to pick up at Kroger for $1.00.  It clocks in at 1.41 ounces and has a modest 150 calories with ten grams of protein.

Review: Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple Pumpkin Chai Bar

As I've lamented on the blog, it's that time of year for pumpkin-flavored products and why shouldn't Zone Perfect add to their review collection with a pumpkin-flavored product too?  It's only fitting since everyone else is doing it.  So, I saw this limited edition Zone Perfect Perfectly Simple Pumpkin Chai Bar on sale at my local Kroger for $1.00 and snatched it up to once again be over pumpkined.  This bar comes in at 1.41 ounces and has 180 calories with ten grams of protein.  It's also gluten free, so there's that going for it too (besides its seasonality).

Review: Quaker Chewy Birthday Cake Granola Bars

It must be new product season for Quaker Chewy bars.  Recently, I've noticed and reviewed several of their new Girl Scouts affiliated flavors, but today I'm going to be taking a look at a new product that is not really affiliated with anything except the anniversary of someone's birth and the dessert related to that.  Yep, it's a box of eight Quaker Chewy Birthday Cake Granola Bars that I stupidly paid the full price of $2.75 for at Marsh.  I say stupidly because they went on sale for $1.99 two days after I bought this box.  AARGH!  Anyway, each bar in the box clocks in at 0.84 ounces and has 100 calories.  Basically, it's a standard Quaker Chewy bar.

Review: Chobani flip Strawberry Summer Crisp Greek Yogurt

I think I've mentioned this before, but I remember the early review days of this blog when Chobani was the new kid on the block and the little engine that could.  Now, thanks to the Greek yogurt craze (which they helped start), they are a powerhouse!  Continually rolling out new flavors, new designs, etc.  They are everywhere.  It's another one of those new things that led me to pick up one of their limited batch products recently at Marsh when I grabbed this single serving container of Chobani flip Strawberry Summer Crisp Greek Yogurt for $1.25.  It's 5.3 ounces with 190 calories and twelve grams of protein.

Review: Millican Pecan Company Four Chocolate Gift Tin

I mentioned previously that I got some opportunities to review some free products from Chocolate.org (follow their Twitter @choctweets if you like!) and today's review subject is another one of those opportunities.  Today's product comes via Chocolate.org and the Millican Pecan Company, which is based in San Saba, Texas, which reminds me of something funny.  Throughout life, I've come across two pronunciations of the word pecan.  For people in Texas, I believe it is pronounced "PEE-can."  For me and a lot of others, it is pronounced "PUH-con."  I don't know why I find that funny, but I am the type that is easily amused.  Anyway, I received this Millican Pecan Company Four Chocolate Gift Tin recently and it was wrapped up in perhaps the most protective covering of all time.  It was insulated to prevent melting (I appreciate that considering melting has been an issue here before) and it was also padded to prevent the tin denting.  All I know is that it was wrapped up so securely that it took me nearly five minutes to get to the tin.  I found that amusing.  Anyway, the entire tin itself is sixteen ounces and is available from Chocolate.org for $16.00 plus shipping and handling.  There's not any nutrition information posted, which is actually probably a good thing.  I don't want to know how many calories I'll be ingesting as I destroy this.

Review: Chef Robert Irvine's FortiFX Fit Crunch Cookies and Cream Protein Bar

I've mentioned many times on this blog that I really like the Food Network and on that network, one of my favorite chefs is Robert Irvine.  Not because he's necessarily the world's greatest chef, but because he's a charismatic and engaging personality and his shows are generally pretty good.  I took a look at one of his bars long ago and I liked it quite a bit, but I've had difficulty finding them since then, thus the absence.  On a recent sojourn to the Walmart Neighborhood Market, I was finally able to stumble upon a different flavor in this Chef Robert Irvine's FortiFX Fit Crunch Cookies and Cream Protein Bar that I grabbed for $1.99.  This one clocks in at 1.62 ounces with 190 calories and sixteen grams of protein, by the way.

Review: Boundless Nutrition Oatmega Vanilla Almond Bar

My last Oatmega review was kind of boring.  The bar was fine and got a BUY IT rating, but nothing about it was particularly memorable for me.  So, as I headed into this review of the Boundless Nutrition Oatmega Vanilla Almond Bar, I wasn't expecting to be particularly thrilled either since this had such a seemingly boring product name/recipe.  Still, these are new products and I want to try each of them out, so I picked this up at Marsh for $2.99.  The bar is 1.8 ounces and has 190 calories and fourteen grams of protein.  It's also part of the growing wave of gluten free products that I see slowly starting to take over the shelves of my local grocery stores.

Review: Mrs. Fields Double Chocolate Fudge Nibblers Cookies

I mentioned in my previous review that Mrs. Fields sent me a box of three different flavors of cookies that they'd be using for their foray into the grocery products industry and that review got a very positive results.  It was off of that positive result that I was anxious to dive into another review...wait...who am I kidding?  I was anxious to dive into another review because I LOVE cookies.  So, today I'm going to take a look at this box of Mrs. Fields Double Chocolate Fudge Nibblers Cookies.  Each box contains fifteen bite-sized, fudge-dipped and soft-baked cookies and a serving (two cookies) will set you back 120 calories.

Review: Kellogg's Special K Blondie Brownie Bites

I've reviewed my fair share of healthy and unhealthy foods on this blog and usually it is fairly easy to determine which of those categories a particular food product falls into.  The source of today's review leaves me kind of torn.  On one hand, I've looked at several Special K products in the past and those typically fall into the healthy category.  But, when you look at the product name of this Kellogg's Special K Blondie Brownie Bites, nothing about it says healthy and that's why I can't figure out how to group it.  So, I guess I won't worry about it and will just treat it as a review and that's it.  Not sure why I felt the need to describe my internal conflict there, but hey, it's my blog and my show I suppose.  Anyway, I picked up this box for $2.99 at Marsh.  Each box contains six pouches that come in at 0.74 ounces per pouch and each pouch has 100 calories.

Review: Private Selection Cinnamon Chocolate Ice Cream

When I started this blog, it was my intent to focus only on brands that were available for mass purchases and not on specific store brands.  I've mostly stuck to that intent throughout the two years that this blog has been exposed to the world, but I figured that I could abandon that now with the subject of today's review.  Private Selection is the house brand from the Kroger family of stores and since there are over two thousand of these stores spread across the United States, a house brand at a store chain as big as this is essentially a name brand, so that means it qualifies for the blog!  These are also labeled as gourmet products, so how could I resist reviewing something so fancy?  Introduction to Private Selection aside, I picked up this pint of Private Selection Cinnamon Chocolate Ice Cream on sale at Kroger on sale for $0.99 and each of the four servings is 230 calories of store brand goodness.

Review: Chobani flip Key Lime Crumble Greek Yogurt

In my last Chobani review of one of their new flip products, a reader recommended that I try the subject of today's review with this Chobani flip Key Lime Crumble Greek Yogurt.  She raved about how good it was, so with that kind of recommendation, I knew I had to try it out.  On a trip to Kroger soon after that, I saw Chobani products on sale for $1.00, so I went ahead and grabbed one to try.  This comes in a 5.3 ounces container and is 180 calories with eleven grams of protein.

Review: thinkThin Crunch White Chocolate Dipped Mixed Nuts Bar

Previously on the blog (Did that read like a television show intro to "Lost" or something like that?  That's the way it sounded in my head.), I've tried a couple of thinkThin bars and found them to be average or boring and was in no rush to review some of the other favors in my local Kroger. But on a recent visit, I saw an entire new product line named "Crunch" and based on appearance alone, these looked right up my alley as they were filled with nuts, thus Crunch (DUH!). My love of crunch caused me to snatch a couple of these up for reviews and that leads to this review of the thinkThin Crunch White Chocolate Dipped Mixed Nuts Bar. This was $1.25, 1.41 ounces, 190 calories and had eight grams of protein. The wrapper dubbed this as "Wholesome Abundance", which means it was heavy on fiber, etc.

Review: Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream

In my previous Haagen-Dazs reviews, I dug into their limited edition and gelato flavors.  In this review, I'm going to hit up one of their core flavors for the first time in my entire life as I take a look at this container of Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream.  White chocolate?  Um, yes please.  I love, love, love white chocolate, so I'm hoping this is right in my wheelhouse.  I picked this up in a buy two, get one free sale, but it would ordinarily retail in the ballpark of $5.00 per container.  As for the container itself, it's fourteen ounces, which equates to 3.5 half-cup servings.  Each serving is a robust 280 calories.

Review: CLIF Kid Z Bar Iced Oatmeal Cookie Bar

I know I say this a lot now, but I'll spare the long intro again because it tires and just say that CLIF has a lot products and I've done a lot of reviews on them.  Trying their endless line of products leads me to another product from their Z Bar line of products aimed at kids with this review of the CLIF Kid Z Bar Iced Oatmeal Cookie Bar that I picked up at Kroger on sale for $0.75.  This organic bar is 1.27 ounces and has 130 calories and three grams of protein and particularly interests me because, on occasion, I would make the argument that oatmeal cookies are better than chocolate chip cookies.  I'm not saying that's always the case, but sometimes the wind blows me that particular way, so I was curious to see how this "cookie" related to the real thing.

Review: NOW White Chocolate, Fruit & Nut Energy Bar

So here we go with my second NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) energy bar review.  These bars are faced by Phil Keoghan, the host of CBS' Amazing Race, and are made with white chia seeds and New Zealand's own Manuka honey, which apparently is quite the bacteria fighter.  Like the last review, I managed to get my hands on this NOW White Chocolate, Fruit & Nut Energy Bar via a free sample and it's just a sample size (read:  tiny) representation of the bar, so the sizes and calories of this would not apply to what you'd find when purchasing this out in nature.  With that said, this sample is 0.71 ounces and has 80 calories with three grams of protein.

Time Waster: Candy Math Equations

Much like my post a while back about Cereal Math Equations, this could just as easily be applied to several candy products out there that have "kin" under the same brand name as well.  Some manufacturers make a wide variety of products under the same name like Snickers, M&M's, etc.  So, without further delay, here is another list of equations, this time focusing on candy.  Obviously I'm missing some flavors, on M&M's seasonal flavors especially, but one guy can only eat so much!

Candy Math Equation #1:  Mars M&M's
Peanut M&M's > Almond M&M's > Original M&M's > Pretzel M&M's > Peanut Butter M&M's > Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's > Dark Chocolate M&M's > Coconut M&M's

Candy Math Equation #2:  Mars Snickers Bars
Peanut Butter Squared Snickers > Original Snickers > Almond Snickers

Candy Math Equation #3:  Mars Twix Bars
Twix PB > Original Twix Bar

Candy Math Equation #4:  Reese's Peanut Butter Products (kind of a stretch, but bear with me)
Reese's Pieces > Reese's Sticks Wafer Bar > Reese's Fast Break Bar > Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Candy Math Equation #5:  Hershey's Kisses
Hershey's Milk Chocolates with Almonds > Hershey's Milk Chocolates filled with Caramel > Hershey's White Chocolates > Hershey's Milk Chocolates > Hershey's Milk Chocolates filled with Cherry Cordial Crème > Hershey's SPECIAL DARK Mildly Sweet Chocolates

Just like cereal, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to candy.  One thing you'll notice too is that all of these involve some sort of chocolate as I mostly only eat candy that has chocolate, nuts or both, so I kind of limit myself.  I'd love to see some other suggestions on chocolate/nut products and/or sweeter candies like Nerds, Twizzler, etc. if anyone wants to chime in.  I'd especially love to hear the thoughts of some of the candy bloggers out there as they are the subject matter "experts."

Review: SOYJOY Blueberry Baked Soy & Fruit Bar

As I start this review, I've got to admit that I was terrified to try this bar.  A "health" bar made of soybeans and fruit?  Ugh, not exactly a recipe for taste success in my mind, but I'm willing to try just about anything, even stuff I hate like bananas.  So, I picked up this Blueberry Baked Soy & Fruit Bar on sale at Meijer for $1.00, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.  The bar itself weighs 1.05 ounces and has 140 calories and four grams of protein.  It's also all natural, so that's re-assuring for people that prefer natural foods.  That's clearly not the case for me with all the processed garbage that I eat for this blog, but I know it is for others, so there you go.