Sometimes food and sports intersect, and as a fan of both, that doesn’t bother me one bit. So when I was asked to check out three new items from Gatorade, and plug Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton’s endorsement, it was hard to say no.
First off, the products–new Gatorade G Series Energy Chews; 28 oz. thirst quencher bottle; and G Series Protein Recovery Shake. The chews were orange flavor and came in a small sleeve with six chews. You squeeze the wrapper, making them easy to pop out and into your mouth, and a serving size is six chews/one package. Let me say that not only were they tasty like a big soft jelly candy, but I tried these on Thursday afternoon, and I literally felt like I was going to fly out the roof of my office. I think it has to do with the B-vitamins, but wow.
The 28 oz. thirst quencher bottle (they sent me this in orange as well) was regular Gatorade, or what they call the “perform” part of their new-ish “prime-perform-recover” mantra. But the bottle had an hour glass shape, making it easy to hold, and likely easier to hold with sweaty hands than the standard bottle of water or sports drink.
Finally, the G Series Protein Recovery Shake. Well, I had back surgery a few months ago and have not been able to work out beyond walking, so it’s not like I could test out the post-workout aspect. But I know the difference between chocolate milk and a protein shake. Protein shakes often tasty chalky or too much like health food. But the G Series chocolate flavor they sent was more like chocolate milk–no weird aftertaste, and delicious.
As for Cam Newton, here is a clip of him discussing staying ahead of the competition, including proper nutrition that now involves the G Series Energy Chews:
If you work out a lot, or even a little…or if you love Gatorade like I do, you should check this stuff out.
Since March Madness begins this week, it’s another great opportunity to break out some new and different snacks, or to make your own snacks to munch on during the games. And if you are looking for flat-out tasty and satisfying snack foods, log on to Nuts.com and see all of the great items they have on hand; order some up and then impress your friends who will no doubt want to know where these snacks came from. Trust me, I know this because the fine folks at Nuts.com were kind enough to send me some samples. Here are the items we tried:
Supreme Roasted Mixed Nuts–When they say supreme, they mean SUPREME. These were some of the biggest nuts I’ve ever seen (you can insert your own joke there), and they are way tasty too with just the right amount of salt, coming in a stay fresh zip-lock bag. The assortment contains brazils, pecans, almonds, filberts, pistachios, cashews and macadamias. The best part, in addition to how gigantic the cashews, pecans and macadamias are, is that there are no peanuts. It’s also just $10.99 for a one pound bag, which is an excellent value.
Cheese Pretzels–Cheese pretzels are one of those snacks that you don’t see very often. But when I see them, I buy lots of bags of them. This is a habit I have with snack foods that often drives my wife crazy. So when I found out that Nuts.com had cheese pretzels, I pounced and asked if that could be one of the products to sample. Ah, snack food nirvana. The pretzels are crispy with the perfect amount of that bright white pretzel salt–the kind that you only see on quality pretzels. And they have that malty pretzel taste with a nice cheddar finish–positively delicious and some of the best cheese pretzels I have ever tasted. (bonus: they are natural, with no ingredients I’ve never heard of). And the price on a jumbo one pound bag is just $4.49, which means I may have to stock up.
There are many other great products available on Nuts.com, and you can check them out at these various online communities:
It’s funny how yesterday I’m in a convenience store and notice the small bags of Combos, and think to myself how they have had the same boring flavors for years, maybe decades. And then, lo and behold, I turn the corner and notice larger bags of Combos–with TWO NEW FLAVORS. At least, they are two flavors I’ve never seen before–Buffalo Blue Cheese Pretzel, and Jalapeno Cheddar Tortilla. The one common denominator–spicier than the average Combos. And my wife will tell you I’m a sucker for new snacks–change the package, change the flavor, but most of all, give me a completely new product and I have to try it. So these Combos fit the bill. Here are my thoughts….
Buffalo Blue Cheese Pretzel Combos–keep in mind that this snack is first and foremost a pretzel, and it’s the filling that makes it unique in relation to other Combos. Of course, they are crispy and tasty in a snack food nirvana sort of way, and there is a nice blue cheese tang and a spicy kick. But the only drawback is that the actual taste of wing sauce is faint, and being that I have this Pavlov’s dog thing to Buffalo wing sauce, I was kind of bummed at the lack of wing zing overall. But a really good snack nonetheless
Jalapeno Cheddar Tortilla Combos–this is the first Combos flavor I’ve seen with a tortilla as the base–usually it’s pretzel or cracker. And while it’s not much different in taste or consistency from the cracker, the snack itself kicks ass. And I mean it really kicks ass–in a “holy crap is that hot” kind of way, or at least hotter than most snack foods. For this one, the jalapeno taste is dominant, and the cheese taste is more in the background–the opposite of the Buffalo Blue Cheese version. But again, mighty tasty.
So while these two spicy Combos flavors are definitely worth trying, and as always Combos does what it claims to (cheese your hunger away, yo!), I still feel like they could use just a bit of tweaking in the test kitchen. And if they are looking for volunteers to help with that, I can be reached right here on this blog!
I’ve said this a million times, but I could live on wing sauce. I could drink it. I could eat it on every food known to man. I use it in recipes, I put it in my chili or in my soup. I douse food with it. I dip wings in it that don’t have wing sauce. And I love foods that use it, commercial foods or otherwise.
Such a food is Pringles Xtreme Blastin’ Buffalo Wing potato crisps (don’t call them chips, I think it’s illegal or something). I bought a stack of these today and they are true to the original flavor–that tangy, peppery, spicy, salty deliciousness. But it’s not doused–instead it’s kind of sprinkled and/or caked on each crisp. And so you get the flavor blast in addition to the subtle Pringle’s potato taste. This is good snack food–not necessarily good for you, but good tasting, good-with-beer, good-with-sandwich, good-with-late-night-anything snack food.
If you like Pringles and you like wings, why are you still reading this? Go buy a can/stack now and watch them disappear!
It’s that time of year again! We’ve been making it an annual tradition to post some snack recipes in advance of the Super Bowl, and this is the fourth year we’ve done that on Bullz-Eye’s Grub for Guys. This year, I made five new recipes that you can find on Grub for Guys on the Food & Drink homepage–queso meatballs; ham, avocado & corn tostadas; pizza potato skins; easier Italian beef sandwiches; and grill & chill Buffalo poppers.
It was way too much fun, as it always is, making these things and transforming our kitchen into a test kitchen. The poppers are the one gratuitous recipe I have to do every year with wing sauce. But the meatballs and skins were my favorites out of the bunch. Of course, everything is good…trust me, I wouldn’t steer you wrong with food like this. Hopefully you can try a few of these as you watch my Giants upset the Patriots again. Enjoy!
Yeah, you read that right. But I’m not talking about cracking eggs in a pan with tomatoes and mozzarella. I’m talking about the way I did it this past weekend–with bits of leftover pizza folded into an omelet. Something about it is very primitive, very college, very hangover. But mostly, it was delicious. Just ask my wife.
It started with some leftover pizza we had in the fridge. I used homemade pizza, like the one I posted here last month. But you can use any pizza you have left over from the night before.
Take out 2-3 large eggs. Heat the pizza (1 large or two small slices) for 30 seconds in the microwave or 5 minutes in the toaster oven at 350 degrees, just to warm it a bit. Cut the crusts off, then cut the pizza into bite size cubes. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Crack the eggs into a bowl with a splash of milk or water, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour the eggs into the pan, and swish the pan a bit to let the eggs cook and set evenly. When the egg is almost set, sprinkle with the pizza bits.
When the egg is almost entirely set, fold over half and cook for 30 seconds. Flip the omelet and cook for another 30 seconds. Slide onto a plate and cut in half. Serves two hungry and/or hung over people.
Bonus–try it with a Bloody Mary, like the one I posted here.
Don’t tell your cardiologist about this one. Also, don’t tell my doctor, either. But I whipped this up this past weekend and it was too delicious not to share with you. And it’s real easy. It also was the perfect breakfast after I had a few beers Friday night.
First, take a generous handful of Frito’s and put then in a shallow bowl. Cook 2 slices of bacon in the microwave (or as you would normally cook bacon) for about 2 minutes or until crisp. Cut 3-4 slabs of Velveeta off a hunk and cut that into smaller cubes. Sprinkle over the Fritos and nuke for about 30 seconds. Crumble bacon on top of Frito mixture. Meanwhile, spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and warm over medium heat. Crack an egg (or two) into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the whites are set and yolk is still runny. Slide egg(s) onto the top of the Frito mixture and sprinkle with hot sauce. Serve with a big glass of OJ or big mug of coffee, and enjoy (trust me, you will!).
Last year I reviewed the Doritos Burn flavored super-spicy tortilla chips on the Bullz-Eye blog. I haven’t seen those lately, but yesterday I was stopped in my tracks (as Mrs. Mikey will attest, snack foods have this effect on me) by a new flavor of Doritos–Fiery Fusion “Sizzlin’ Cayenne & Cheese” chips. Just like the Burn chips, these are wicked spicy–not wimpy spicy like many snack foods tend to be. And while there is a distinct cayenne pepper zing and tangy flavor, these chips have even more taste with a bold cheesy flavor courtesy of buttermilk, cheddar and sour cream solids. That’s the technical term, but it tastes like Nacho Cheese Doritos that are, well, wicked spicy. And overall, they are also wicked delicious. So if you see these chips in the store this weekend, grab a bag or two and don’t forget to buy extra beverages to wash them down with.
You’ve probably seen those yellow delivery trucks that are essentially refrigerators on wheels. These vehicles carry Schwan’s Foods. What you may not know is that you can order these products online now to be delivered to your door, but not necessarily by yellow refrigerator truck.
Anyway, I have never tried anything that Schwan’s made but I have heard that their food is mighty tasty, something you can’t always say about frozen foods. So I wasn’t sure what to expect when I was pitched two new products from Schwan’s–mini meatball sandwiches and mini mozzarella bites–as the company tries to appeal to the football watching public. So I popped them in the oven (the meatball sandwiches require about twice the time so I put those in first) and ate them–you guessed it–on Sunday while watching football.
The mini meatball sandwiches are kind of like mini Hot Pockets, but with one difference (no offense to the folks who make the aforementioned pockets)–they taste really good. The crust is actually nice and flaky, despite being a frozen product, and still house a good amount of whole grains without being grainy tasting. The meatballs do not taste like mystery meat, and don’t even have a weird texture as some frozen meatballs do. The only thing I would have liked more of is the tomato sauce, but this can be easily rectified by nuking some spaghetti or pizza sauce and dipping the sandwiches.
In fact, you might want to nuke extra sauce to go along with the mozzarella bites. For some reason, I was expecting breaded cheese sticks, but these were more like tiny pillows of dough with mozzarella cheese inside. Just like the sandwiches, the crust was nice and flaky and these were nice little bites. These have no sauce–it’s basically dough and cheese, but still delicious and perfect dipping into warmed pizza sauce.
Psst, don’t tell your cardiologist about this one.
Last week, I saw Eggo French Toast Waffles, which are more of a waffle and less like French toast (the key is there is maple syrup baked in), in the freezer case at the grocery store. I thought our 4-year old would like these, so I picked them up. Then of course, I realized it’s bacon week and anything goes.
So this morning, I toasted two of these “waffles,” and scrambled some eggs. I cooked up two slices of thick cut bacon in the microwave. When the pillows of maple goodness were toasted, I put a slice of cheese down on one of them, then topped with the scrambled eggs and the bacon slices and put the other waffle on top. And there you have a breakfast sandwich that is every bit as tasty as it sounds, and looks (above).
