Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Cheetos Redux: Salsa con Queso

Brand: Frito Lay
Style: Cheetos Salsa con Queso Crunchy
Origin: United States
Type: Cheese snacks
Flavor: Spicy, like cheetos dipped in salsa

Verdict: Approved




Yesterday's Burger King Mac 'n' Cheetos adventure had me craving some real Cheetos goodness, so I decided to meander down the snack aisle and grab myself a little bag.  However, seeing as I am the Snack Master, not just some mere snack apprentice, I couldn't pass up trying out this new flavor I found: Salsa con Queso!

A very, very long time ago, I found some enchilada flavored Cheetos, and I don't really remember what they tasted like, but I feel like these are pretty similar.  When you open the bag, you get a strong cheesy, Cheetos smell, and not too much of the salsa smell.  That made me a little worried that they might not be very salsa-y, but once I tried one, my fears melted away in a wave of spicy...well, not quite bliss, but they are pretty good.  They're not too spicy; I'm not crying over them or reaching for water, but they definitely pack a little punch.  The other main flavor I get is a bit of a vinegar taste, like hot sauce, and some lime aftertaste.

These are definitely good for what they are, although they don't really taste like any salsa con queso I've ever had.  I'm trying to put my finger on why they don't really taste like a good salsa con queso, but I can't quite nail it down.  I think the tomato flavor doesn't quite come through enough, to be honest.  Regardless, I'd still buy them again!  Thank you, Cheetos, for redeeming yourselves after yesterday's blunder.

Also...watch our LIVE video review from Burger King yesterday!!  Mac n Cheetos and Chicken Fries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_eXPYx1aRQ

Please comment and like and all that fun stuff, and let me know what other videos you would like to see! <3

Monday, June 27, 2016

Burger King Mac 'n' Cheetos and BONUS Chicken Fries!

Brand: Burger King
Style: Mac 'n' Cheetos
Origin: United States
Type: Fast Food
Flavor: A sad, sad letdown :(

Verdict: Not approved





After my last healthy review, I decided to swing the complete opposite direction and get my little paws on some of the new Burger King Mac 'n' Cheetos that everyone's been talking about.  I'd heard generally good reviews about them, and I had a friend that wanted to go try them with me - score!  Since they are full of gluten and other crap I can't really eat, getting a friend to taste them with me meant I could just try a couple of bites without having to eat a whole serving and causing myself endless internal pain.  Yay!

We actually ended up liveblogging our tasting to Facebook, and if I can figure out how to take that video and upload it to Youtube, I will definitely post a link up!  It was so much fun!  However, the actual food itself...not quite so much fun.

First off, the smell was terrible.  It might be because I'm recovering from a cold and my senses are still a little off, but I personally thought it smelled faintly of generic cheese curls and strongly of feet, but not in the good cheese-feet way...just...feet.  They look like weird giant fingers rolled in fish food, and ours arrived slightly burnt, much to my delight and my friend's non-delight.  I thought that the burnt parts gave dimension to what was otherwise a fairly sad flavor.  The insides tasted about as good as that one time I stupidly tried a mac and cheese frozen dinner from the Dollar Tree...more of a cheese-like food product than actual cheese, texture similar to wallpaper paste.  The outside tasted alright, but the Cheetos taste was pretty lackluster.  They really needed to be fried, then rolled in Cheetos powder to really give it that taste we all know and love!  

The texture was somehow simultaneously dry and mushy, which I still can't quite compute, but a happy medium would have been best.  I did like the crunch on the outside, though.  That was probably my favorite part, especially on the slightly burned bits.  However, I'm also the weirdo that loves the burnt parts of a good mac and cheese oven casserole, so naturally I liked those parts best.  All in all, we decided it would be way better to make a good homemade mac 'n' cheese in the oven and crumble your own Cheetos on top.

Also, pro tip - these taste way better dipped in BBQ sauce!

Bonus Review - Burger King Chicken Fries

We also tried the Chicken Fries, because neither of us had eaten them before.  I liked these better than my friend did, although they were also pretty sad.  Chicken Fries, for those of you not in the loop, are essentially very skinny chicken fingers, presumably for people who like breading far more than chicken.  To be honest, if I could eat gluten and soy without facing certain death, I would probably eat the shit out of these, even though they were, quite frankly, completely disgusting.  I think they might put drugs in the breading or something, because even though they were saltier than the Dead Sea and just as dry inside as a desert, I really wanted to keep eating them.  I had to try really hard to only eat my couple of bites, even though they were so salty!  Something about how crispy and seasoned the breading was just really made me want to take another bite.  However, I definitely was one of those kids that was way more into breading than chicken and also, I'm from deep fried country (Indiana), so...it all makes sense, I suppose.  The best part about them, actually, was the box, which had a really cute chicken face on it.

I don't think I'll be returning to Burger King again anytime soon, though.  It was pretty sad.  Afterwards, I was really wishing I had some water with me, I was so thirsty, despite only having taken about seven total bites of all the food combined.  My stomach also hurt for a bit once I got home, but now that I've had a nice dinner of fresh vegetable soup, things are pretty much back to normal.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Good Health Disney Mickey Shaped Veggie Chips

Brand: Good Health
Style: Disney Mickey Shaped Veggie Chips
Origin: United States
Type: Chips
Flavor: Savory, delicious, and only slightly healthy-tasting

Verdict: Approved!



I've mentioned a bit on here that I have some kind of intense food sensitivities.  Because of this, I like to try weird "health food" snacks fairly often, but I feel like most of you snackies out there are probably more interested in reading about the super weird, chemically, non-organic stuff, so I don't write about them too often.  However, today's snack is shaped like Mickey Mouse, so...I figured you could forgive me this time. ;)

I was at Target the other day, wandering aimlessly down the snack aisle, obviously not planning on purchasing anything (*ahem*), when I happened to see a smiling Mickey Mouse on a chip bag.  I might technically be an adult, but I'm perpetually about seven years old on the inside, so I get overly excited about this sort of thing.  I might have really loudly said, "Oh em gee!" and grabbed them off the shelf as fast as my little paws could get on them.  Maybe.

These are your regular "veggie chip" flavors - potato, spinach/green, and tomato/red, but they were actually quite better than most I've had, and not just because they happen to be shaped like one of my favorite cartoons.  That only *slightly* improved the taste.  Of the three flavors, the green ones were my favorite.  The green comes from parsley, green pepper, celery, spinach, and broccoli, and tastes like instant soup, but in the best way possible.  I could eat a giant bowl of just this flavor, seriously!  The red ones were the second best, and are made of tomato, beet, and turmeric.  They taste faintly of tomato soup.  The white ones just taste like potato, like a less greasy and salty Pringle.  Still good, though.

They are a little smaller than I thought they would be from the "enlarged to show detail" photo on the package; they're about the size of a slightly enlarged quarter and two dimes.  The texture is similar to a Pringle, but thinner and crispier.  Very pleasing to eat!  I had to try really hard to stop myself from eating the whole bag all at once and I will definitely be buying these again.  The other bonus is that they actually do have a fair amount of vegetables and vitamins packed into them, so I can feel better about eating them than a bag of Lay's.  Yay for "health food!"

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Lay's Kettle Cooked Cream Cheese & Chive

Brand: Lay's
Style: Kettle Cooked Cream Cheese + Chive
Origin: United States
Type: Chips
Flavor: Unsurprisingly similar to sour cream and onion, but slightly better somehow?

Verdict: Approved




Hi snackies!  Sorry for the radio silence.  I was promoted at my job recently, so I have unfortunately had less time to tell you all about the glorious (and less glorious) snacks that I've been eating lately.  I've got some goodies to tell you about though, it will just be a little bit slow going.

To start things off, here's a quick review of some new Lay's I picked up.  These are from the Kettle Cooked line, which I actually hadn't tried yet, believe it or not!  I tend to stray from anything marked "low fat," because why would I want low fat when I can have high fat, right?  However, the flavor called to me, and I couldn't resist picking one of these up!  What can I say, I'm a sucker for anything creamy and herby!

I wasn't expecting much from these.  I figured they would be dry and have the faintest taste of sour cream and onion, but I was wrong!  Sort of.  They are less greasy than the regular Lay's chips, but in a really good way!  Yes - you heard it here first, folks - I am actually praising the benefits of having a lower fat chip!  What is this world coming to?!

Aside from being less greasy, the texture of the chips was also better than regular Lay's.  I get a bit sad eating them sometimes because the regular chips are so thin and sad.  These, being kettle cooked, were nice and thick and crunchy!  Yeah!  Taste-wise, yes, they were nearly identical to sour cream and onion, but I love sour cream and onion, so...no problems there.  Ironically, sour cream was listed higher in the ingredients than cream cheese, and onions were listed higher than chives.  Go figure.

In conclusion, these were like a super awesome leveled-up version of sour cream and onion.  Yeah!  *insert Mario mushroom noise here*  Highly recommended and good(er than the regular kind) for you!