Review: Starbucks - Cinnamon Roll

Starbucks recently re-introduced Cinnamon Rolls to their baked goods display so I thought I'd give them a try. The new Cinnamon Rolls are pretty standard with pastry dough rolled up with cinnamon and sugar and covered with cream cheese icing.

Buying one cost me $2.45 at a local Starbucks.

News: Tastykake - New Kandy Bar Kakes

Tastykake teams up with Hershey's to offer you some of your favorite candy bars in "kake" form with new Kandy Bar Kakes.

A mix of candy and cake, Kandy Bar Kakes are available in the following varieties:  

- S'mores Kandy Bar Kake made with Hershey's Cocoa;
- Peanut Butter Kandy Bar Kake made with Reese's Peanut Butter and;
- Peppermint Kandy Bar Kake made with York Peppermint Flavor.

They each feature two pieces of cake sandwiching a creme center and covered in a chocolaty coating.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Classic Meatloaf

Healthy Choice's Classic Meatloaf meal features a meatloaf with brown gravy, whipped potatoes, a side of sweet corn, and an apple cranberry dessert.

A 12-ounce box retails for $3.99 at my local supermarket ($2.50 or so on sale).

News: Burger King - New Gingerbread Cookie Sundae and Shake

Burger King offers up the taste of gingerbread cookies this holiday season with new, limited time Gingerbread Cookie Sundaes and Shakes.

Leapfrogging the more mainstream pumpkin and egg nog flavors, Burger King goes with the lesser used gingerbread. I can't remember any of the major chains doing gingerbread really.

The Gingerbread Cookie Sundae features vanilla soft serve sprinkled with gingersnap cookie crumbles and topped with gingerbread sauce for a suggested retail of $2.49.

News: McDonald's - Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich

McDonald's new Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich is now available nationally for a limited-time. Previously tested in New York, the Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich comes with your choice of an third-pound Angus beef patty, or crispy or grilled chicken filet along with hickory-smoked bacon, caramelized grilled onions, two slices of white cheddar, and a creamy mustard sauce.

Around the World: Burger King Japan - New Pumpkin Burger

While pumpkin-flavored items are quite popular around this time of year, I've never heard of a pumpkin burger before... until now that is. Burger King Japan will be offering the BK Pumpkin burger for a limited time starting October 26, 2012.

The BK Pumpkin burger features two fried slices of kabocha (commonly known as Japanese pumpkin), bacon, lettuce, a beef patty and a creamy, savory nut sauce (with sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts). The sesame bun is meant to be pumpkin-shaped. The price per burger is 310 yen (~$3.90 US).

Review: Panera Bread - Pumpkin Cookie

Panera Bread's seasonal Pumpkin Cookie features a good-sized pumpkin-shaped shortbread cookie decorated with icing to look like a jack-o-lantern.

It's $1.69 for a cookie or discounted to $.99 if you buy a meal with a drink.

News: Little Caesars Offers Pizza Cones for Fundraising

Little Caesars now offers Pizza Cones nationwide, but not in any of their locations. Instead Little Caesars' Pizza Cones are only available for fundraising and are sold by non-profit organizations, including schools, churches, sports teams, etc.

The cones are available in four varieties (including sweet options) and come in kits for customers to assemble and bake the cones. Pizza Cone kits are available in: Pepperoni, Cheese, S'mores, and Apple Cheesecake.

News: White Castle - New Crave Pallet with 6,912 Sliders

For those of you throwing a really big party, White Castle now offers the new Crave Pallet of Sliders, a pallet (those things you need a forklift to move) with 6,912 Sliders.

You better hurry though because only two Crave Pallets are available. Each comes with any combination of  Original, Cheese, and/or Jalapeno Sliders. Not to worry about freshness though as the Sliders will be cooked onsite by White Castle and served fresh.

Review: Wienerschnitzel - Pretzel Bun Chili Dog

I've tried Wienerschnitzel's Chili Dog before, but not on a pretzel bun so on a recent stop at a Wienerschnitzel, I tried the Pretzel Bun Chili Dog.

The Pretzel Bun Chili Dog is simple enough: a pretzel hot dog bun, a turkey hot dog, and Wienerschnitzel's trademark chili. There's an upcharge of 40 cents for the pretzel bun so that my Pretzel Bun Chili Dog cost $1.89.

News: Papa Murphy's - Jack-O-Lantern Pizza Returns

The pizza with olives for eyes is back at Papa Murphy's. The novelty Jack-O-Lantern Pizza is once again available for the Halloween season.

The pumpkin shaped pizza is decorated with fresh-grated cheese and pepperoni slices to form the jack-o-lantern's face and, like most Papa Murphy's pizzas, generally takes 12 to 18 minutes to cook in your home oven.

Review: Boston Market - Meatloaf Market Bowl

Boston Market's Meatloaf Market Bowl is a limited-time item that seems a bit gimmicky. It's just a bowl filled with your choice of two sides and either meatloaf, turkey, or chicken plus a sauce. It's basically what they normally give you on a plate, but in a more portable bowl.

Regardless of what you choose, each bowl is $6.99. I went with meatloaf, the vegetable medley, and vegetable stuffing. For sauce, I went with tomato sauce.

News: Starbucks - New My Starbucks Rewards Changes

Starting today, Starbucks introduces some changes to their customer loyalty program, My Starbucks Rewards. Some of the perks are gone, but there are some new improvements as well.

 Here's a quick list of the changes:

News: Burger King - California Whopper Returns to the West Coast

Burger King's California Whopper is back for a limited-time, but only at participating BK locations in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and, oddly enough, Colorado.

The Whopper variant features a ground beef patty, guacamole, thick-cut, hardwood-smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sliced onions and mayo on a toasted sesame seed bun for a suggested retail price of $4.49.

Review: Wendy's - Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt

Wendy's Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt is a kinda new, limited-time burger ("kinda" because it just adds an extra slice of cheese to a previous limited-time offer). It features a quarter pound beef patty, two slices of American cheese, three slices of thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, and portabella mushrooms in a cheddar cheese sauce.

My local Wendy's offers them for $4.39, but I received mine for free courtesy of Wendy's.

News: KFC - New Dip'ems

KFC offers up new Dip'ems. Except, similar to Popeyes, the only new thing is three new sauces: Creamy Buffalo, Orange Ginger, and Bacon Ranch.

The actual chicken strips are the same standard Extra Crispy chicken strips (they're calling them "tenders" now) that KFC has been serving for a while now.

In sum, Dip'ems is the combination of Extra Crispy chicken strips tenders plus six dipping sauces: the existing Honey BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Creamy Ranch plus the three new ones.

News: Jamba Juice - BOGO Free Smoothie in NY and CA

Jamba Juice is doing another buy one, get one free coupon deal on their smoothies. It's valid at participating locations in California and New York (but also a few select locations in Washington D.C., Maryland, and New Jersey).

The deal is good through Sunday10/21/2012 and offers a free smoothie or equal or less value when you buy any smoothie.

Review: Fresh & Easy - Iced Pumpkin Scones

Iced Pumpkin Scones are new to Fresh & Easy this fall. They usually only have blueberry and orange cranberry scones.

The scones typically go for $3.99 for a pack of 4. They go on sale for $2.99 every once in a while, but I usually get them off the bargain (i.e."sell by today") rack for $2.69.

News: Chipotle - $2 Burrito for Dressing Up on Halloween

Chipotle is once again bring back their Boorito promotion this year. Remember when they used to give away free burritos? Nowadays, it's a $2 burrito, bowl, salad, tacos, etc., but the money goes to a non-profit: the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation (up to 1 million dollars anyway), which promotes "sustainable agriculture, family farming, and culinary education."

Sunday Funny: Snoop Dogg Parodies Himself for Hot Pockets

In a marketing coup that's sure to generate buzz, Snoop Dogg shills for Hot Pockets with a parody of his hit song, "Drop It Like It's Hot," entitled "Pocket Like It's Hot." Instead of Pharell Williams, the parody, which comes complete with a music video, features comedian/rapper Andy Milonakis and Youtube personality/rapper DeStorm (pronounced "day-storm") Power as well as the Funkasaurus, WWE wrestler Brodius Clay (who used to work as one of Snoop Dogg's bodyguards).

The video plays up on some of the sparse aesthetics and motifs of the original version. Check it out below: