Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Subway Spicy Nacho Chicken Sub

Karen 5 Comments

In our house, Subway plays the role of the last line of defense before the tofu is deployed. When I’m all ready to make my famous (in my own mind) tofu and veggies stir fry for dinner, my husband will often say, with forced casualness, “Dear, you’ve had a long day. If you don’t feel like cooking tonight, you know, I could always just run over to Subway…”

Now, I should tell him that he will eat his gosh-darned tofu, and he will like it, but sometimes I give in to the lazy out he’s giving me. Then I watch as my family consumes subs heaping with cheese and deli meat that probably have more saturated fat than the entire Cheesecake Factory menu put together. I might be a bad homemaker.

Fortunately, Subway’s offerings are a little more extensive than just Italian Double Meat BMTs. It’s got some new offerings this summer, including the Spicy Nacho Chicken Sub. This fairly ambitious sandwich is made with rotisserie-style chicken, green peppers, red onions, jalapenos, cheddar cheese sauce, creamy sriracha, and “SubKrunch.” SubKrunch is a new option at Subway, little fried crunchy bits that add a nice bit of texture.

I was surprised by how much the SubKrunch added to the experience. They were generous with these little things, kind of like French fried onions, and the constant-yet-not-annoying crunch level was fun. You can supposedly add SubKrunch to any existing sub, and I’m curious to see what my favorite tuna sub tastes like with a bunch of crunch added.

Even though there are jalapenos and sriracha, the heat level never gets that high. I felt the heat from the jalapenos on the tip of my tongue as I ate them, but the spiciness didn’t seem to spread through my mouth that much. The cheddar cheese provides a nice contrast, but you don’t get it with every bite; it’s nice when it shows up. I found the chicken really savory and juicy, which was surprising because I haven’t been enamored of Subway’s chicken products in the past. The bread was, well, bread…it didn’t add much flavor, but the sandwich is so packed full of flavor it doesn’t matter. I’m curious if trying it with one of Subway’s other breads would make much of a difference. The veggies just add a bit of texture, I didn’t really taste them, but they added some vitamins, so yaaay?

On the whole, this is a really tasty sandwich. I don’t know if I’d switch out my classic Tuna Sub with veggies for this new guy, but I’d definitely at least consider it—which is saying something if you know just how many Subway Tuna Subs I’ve eaten in my life. But this is all irrelevant because I’m clearly going to start making vegan, home-cooked meals for my family all the time and not give in to the siren song of Subway take-out anymore…except for possibly Thursdays.

Purchased Price: $11.79
Size: Footlong
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 890 calories. (No other nutritional numbers for the whole sandwich are available on Subway’s website.)

REVIEW: Post Limited Edition Honey Bunches of Oats Salted Caramel Cereal

Julie Leave a comment

As Post continues its string of limited edition products, I am continuing my sweetened cereal spree.

After chocolate cake and fruity waffle-inspired cereals, Post is now gifting my morning sweet tooth with Post Limited Edition Honey Bunches of Oats Salted Caramel. The cereal adds salted caramel flavor to the line’s classic mix of crispy, light-as-air-flakes and crunchy clusters.

The cereal smells strongly of caramel, but the taste is less consistent. Some flakes taste pretty plain. Others have a uniform caramel flavor, buttery and lightly sweet, reminiscent of kettle corn. Every fifth or sixth spoonful, a much sweeter piece with a sharp hit of salt stands out.

The inconsistency is both a strength and a weakness. On one crumb-covered hand, the cereal is balanced—sweet, but never candy-sweet—with interesting, varied bites that are both appropriate for breakfast and highly snackable. Conversely, the flavor can be underwhelming. A little extra indulgence (glazed almonds or caramel-flavored yogurt drops, perhaps?) would have added a hint more excitement.

Most of the salted caramel flavor seems to be concentrated in the flakes, but the oats provide a wonderful crunch with a toasty, molasses-tinged sweetness. However, clusters of them are hard to come by. Rifling through the bag, I found mostly loose oats. This was a bummer because I am the type of person who will feel weirdly proud and satisfied when I excavate an especially large chunk of cookie dough from a pint of ice cream. (Read: I will take small thrills where I can find them. Also, I like cookie dough.) If you are the same, do not expect to replicate that sensation with this product.

In milk, the flakes stay surprisingly crisp despite their lightness. The cereal also flavors the milk nicely, leaving a smooth, honeyed sweetness behind. Move over, Cinnamilk—it’s Honeybunchamilk’s time to shine.

Overall, Post Limited Edition Honey Bunches of Oats Salted Caramel teeters on the boundary between subtle and forgettable. Its refreshingly restrained level of sweetness and interesting pops of salt are highlights, but more flavor or texture would add interest. It’s a solid offering from the brand, but it will probably not replace your favorite flavor. My rating lingers between 6 and 7, but I’m rounding up in hopes that Post will trademark Honeybunchamilk and give me a cut of the profits.

Purchased Price: $4.99
Purchased at: Giant Eagle
Size: 12 oz box
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 1 cup serving) 160 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein

REVIEW: Doritos Collisions Loaded Taco and Nacho Cheese

Marvo 1 Comment

Unlike the mosh pits at metal festivals with names like Brutal Assault, Hellfest, Sonicblast, Bloodstock, Deathfest, Aftershock, Full Terror Assault, Hellprint, Dark Troll, Metalhead Meeting, Metalyard, and Summer Breeze Open Air, there haven’t been a lot of collisions between Doritos flavors. Last year, Tangy Pickle and Cool Ranch slammed into each other, and Ultimate Cheddar crashed into Doritos Blaze in 2018. But, this year, we have Loaded Taco smashing into Nacho Cheese as a Sam’s Club exclusive variety.

If you haven’t tried Doritos Loaded Taco because it’s a Kroger-exclusive, here’s your chance to taste it…if you have a Sam’s Club membership, and if you can pick it out from the Nacho Cheese chips in the pillow-sized bag. To be honest, it’s not difficult to do because the black specks in the Loaded Taco seasoning make them easy to spot. So, there is no Doritos Roulette deception here. However, after you do that, I’m going to suggest you just eat these chips blindly. Don’t even look into the bag again. Let the photo below be the image you look at when you want to peer into Doritos Collisions Loaded Taco and Nacho Cheese bag.

I’m suggesting this because the two chips complement each other so well that eating them separately would do a disservice to both. To be honest, after opening the bag, I searched for the Loaded Taco chips because there are no Kroger stores near me, but once I tried them together, I decided I would not spend any more time hunting and pecking at Doritos. I will eat them the way the snacking gods intended by blindly shoving multiple chips into my mouth with reckless abandon.

The Loaded Taco seasoning has all the notes you’d taste with taco seasoning — garlic, onion, tomato, and chili pepper. There’s also a noticeable cheesiness that’s different than the Nacho Cheese seasoning, but when the two chips come together, the Nacho Cheese flavor overwhelms the Loaded Taco’s cheesiness. So it tastes like a taco with a Nacho Cheese Doritos shell. I’m not going to say these replicate like Taco Bell’s Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos, but I can’t but help think of that when I eat this flavor combination. However, if Doritos and Taco Bell decided to rebrand this as “Taco Bell Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos Doritos,” I’d be totally fine with that.

To be honest, the combination is the most sane of all the Collisions varieties so far. It’s also the one that makes the most sense, a natural pairing, if you will. The others seemed more random, like the folks at Frito Lay threw Doritos like ninja stars at a board, and the first two that stuck would be the two in the bag together.

Doritos Collisions Loaded Taco and Nacho Cheese is a delicious mashup, and I hope we don’t need to slam down a Sam’s Club membership to buy it someday.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 18 3/8 oz bag
Purchased at: (Available at Sam’s Club)
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (28 grams/about 11 chips) 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 180 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Sour Patch Kids Snapple and Swedish Fish Snapple Fruit Flavor Mixes

Marvo Leave a comment

Having only Snapple-flavored Sour Patch Kids would’ve been impressive, but the folks at Mondelez also showed Sour Patch Kids’ less sour fishy friends, Swedish Fish, some Snapple-flavor love. Both packs feature the same three Snapple flavors — Strawberry Kiwi, Fruit Punch, and Mango Madness.

Disclosure: I enjoy Sour Patch Kids more than Swedish Fish.

Let’s start with Strawberry Kiwi (the pink one). The Swedish Fish version had a nondescript fruitiness that made it hard to convince me it was strawberry or kiwi-flavored. But that wasn’t the case with the Sour Patch Kids, thanks to the sour crystals. They kind of acted like salt in that they helped enhance the flavors, and their sourness made the taste more convincing because strawberries and kiwi can be tart. The Swedish Fish one wasn’t a complete fail. After all, sugar is sugar, but after tasting them, I found myself preferring to fish out the other two varieties.

The Fruit Punch Swedish Fish (the red one) had a taste that was instantly recognizable as the sweet red beverage. My taste buds picked up on more of a tropical fruit vibe with the Swedish Fish. But, again, the flavors stood out more with the Sour Patch Kids due to the sour crystals. While I still noticed tropical fruits, the sour sprinkles made my mouth taste more cherry. Both ended up being my second favorite in the packs.

Finally, we have Mango Madness (the orange one), my favorite in both mixes. However, that might have been influenced by the actual fruit being top-tier to me. But, unlike the two above, I slightly prefer the Swedish Fish version more than the Sour Patch Kids one. Maybe because they taste truer with them being sour. But sour mango, not so much. So, having that tang there was different and kind of took away from the mango flavor. But again, both are my favorites in their respective packs.

Both Snapple mixes are great, but, not surprisingly, probably due to my bias, I prefer the Sour Patch Kids one. But for you, I guess deciding which one to pick up depends on whether you’re Team Sour Patch Kids or Team Swedish Fish.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 8.02 oz (Sour Patch Kids), 8.04 (Swedish Fish)
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Sour Patch Kids), 7 out of 10 (Swedish Fish)
Nutrition Facts: Sour Patch Kids (12 pieces) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar (including 23 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein. Swedish Fish (5 pieces) 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 30 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar (including 22 grams of added sugar), and 0 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Cheez-It Hidden Valley Ranch Crackers

Ann 2 Comments

I grew up in the Midwest, where ranch is synonymous with ketchup and mustard in most quick-service restaurants. It’s almost everywhere and used on almost any food. I know this isn’t specific to the Midwest, but I think there are certain parts of the country where this is NOT common, and people abhor ranch with as much passion as most folks in my neck of the woods adore it. If you fall into the former category, perhaps skip this new product mash-up. If you fall into the latter, Rejoice! Cheez-It and Hidden Valley Ranch (HVR) have launched a limited-release collab, Cheez-It Hidden Valley Ranch Crackers!

This particular mash-up feels like a no-brainer. In fact, several Pinterest-style recipes out there show you how to douse Cheez-Its, oyster crackers, or whatever little crunchies in powdered HVR seasoning as a DIY seasoned snack. But this officially licensed version got me excited because it meant the real Original Ranch seasoning would be used on my oh-so-beloved Cheez-Its.

I could smell the ranch immediately upon opening the box. The seasoning is visible and distinctly speckled in a way you’d expect from Hidden Valley Ranch. The Cheez-It base cracker is the white cheddar cheese flavor. This differs from their inverted collab, the Cheez-It Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, which is orange and, therefore, strangely off-putting. Yes, they made the Cheez-It white and the dressing orange.

Anyway, back to these crackers, the ranch seasoning is not too overwhelming on the white cheddar base, and they’re very snackable. Some crackers have a heavier coating, so as I went through my taste test, I would occasionally be delighted with a little extra kick of flavor.

What I realized pretty quickly, however, is that ranch powdered seasoning and powdered Cheez-It seasoning are not incredibly different. The main powdered dairy components are either powdered buttermilk or powdered cheddar, and these just really aren’t THAT different when you’re downing snack crackers with salt and other flavors. If I were tasting these blind, I’m not certain I would pick them up as distinctly ranch or just an onion and garlic-flavored Cheez-It. Still delicious.

To summarize it directly, these Hidden Valley Ranch Cheez-Its are subtle but great. I think the power of this collaboration is the ubiquitous success of onion and garlic flavors mingled with white cheddar and the powerhouse brand mash-up of Cheez-It and Hidden Valley. Available for a limited time, I’ll likely buy them again and again until that time runs out.

Purchased Price: $4.99 (sale)
Size: 12.4 oz box
Purchased at: Jewel Osco (Albertson’s)
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (30g or 25 Crackers) 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 240 milligrams of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.