August 28, 2008

Hot Pockets Pepperoni & Three Cheese Calzone

hpcalzone.jpgHow good can a frozen meal cooked in the microwave taste? When you only have three minutes to heat something up, you could certainly do much worse than Hot Pockets Pepperoni & Three Cheese Calzone. At 8.5 ounces, it’s a good size for either a large snack or a small meal. To cook it in the microwave, you use a crisping sleeve, which is supposed to give it a crispy crust. It didn’t work so well – the crust wasn’t soggy but it wasn’t very crispy either. Those crisping sleeves never really seem to work as well as advertised, do they? Anyhow, the pepperoni and cheese filling tasted good, and there was plenty of it. The herbed cheese crust was also very tasty, even if it wasn’t as crispy as I would have hoped. All in all, it’s a good choice when you want to eat in a hurry.

Phoood rating: Good.gif

Posted by Jim | Comments (4)

August 23, 2008

Rockstar Punched

rockstarpunched.jpg
I’m not sure why, but energy drinks almost never do anything for me. I think I’m immune to the effects of caffeine, guarana, ginseng, and all the other stuff that is in them. Every now and again, I like to have one just to see if it will have any effect on me. I recently drank a Rockstar Punched, which tropical punch flavored. I really liked the flavor of it, mostly because it didn’t have any of that odd “energy drink” flavor (I’m not sure how else to describe it…) that energy drinks usually have. It just tasted like a very good fruit punch. If I hadn’t have read the label, I would never have guessed that it contained 120 mg of caffeine, 1000 mg of taurine, 150 mg of ginko biloba leaf extract, and a bunch of other stuff that I’ve never heard of. And it’s effect on my body? Nothing. Oh well, maybe 16 ounces just isn’t enough. Next time, I’ll drink two cans.

Phoood rating: Good.gif

Posted by Jim | Comments (8)

August 19, 2008

Carl’s Jr. Monster Breakfast Sandwich

monsterbreakfast.jpgCarl’s Jr. gets reviewed here on Phoood a lot, not only because I tend to like their food but also because they are always coming out with something new. The folks in R&D must never sleep! They recently introduced the new Monster Breakfast Sandwich and I ate one for breakfast a few days ago. Like the name implies, the sandwich is on the large side and is perfect for people with big appetites. It has two eggs, two pieces of bacon, a sausage patty, two kinds of cheese, and toasted sourdough bread. The sandwich was tasty and big enough to fill me up, at least for a couple of hours. Actually, it may have been a little too big for it’s own good. There was a lot of eggs and cheese, which is mostly what I tasted when eating it. The poor little bacon strips were buried at the very bottom of the sandwich and were barely noticeable. Even so, this is a good breakfast sandwich that I recommend giving a try.

Phoood rating: Good.gif

Posted by Jim | Comments (9)

August 14, 2008

Taco Bell Cheesy Double Beef Burrito

tbburrito.jpgTaco Bell has a new “value” menu with a couple of new items, one of which being the Cheesy Double Beef Burrito. It’s made with ground beef, rice, nacho cheese sauce, and red sauce. Nothing fancy here, just four fillings that really go well together. The workers at TB must still be learning how to make them because all three times I’ve bought one it has been a little different. The first one had a whole lot of nacho cheese sauce and the last one was extra big, with a huge portion of ground beef. Who cares if it isn’t very consistent - at only 89 cents, it’s a real bargain. I think Taco Bell has a winner here. Hopefully, it will stay on the menu for a long time because it has quickly become one of my favorite items.

Phoood rating: Good.gif

Posted by Jim | Comments (19)

August 4, 2008

Cheez-It Reduced Fat White Cheddar

cheezitswc.jpgI’ve enjoyed Cheez-It original reduced-fat crackers for years. No, they don’t taste as good as the regular ones, but I got used to eating them and really like the fact that they have 40% less fat. That means I can eat 40% more of them, right? I often wondered by they only made one lower fat variety. Why not a reduced fat white cheddar cracker? Well, they must have read my mind because now on the supermarket shelves are Cheez-It Reduced Fat White Cheddar crackers. I should have been more careful for what I wished for, because they aren’t as good as I hoped they would be. The cheese flavor is not very good. In fact, I wanted to spit out the first mouthful I ate. After my taste buds adjusted, I was able to continue eating them, but they didn’t get that much better. OK, I ended up eating the whole box, but I only did it because loyal Phoood readers deserve to know the truth. I don’t recommend that you eat a whole box.

Phoood rating: Don't Waste Your Money

Posted by Jim | Comments (10)