Review: Pepperidge Farm - Entertaining Cookie Collection

Merry Christmas and time for guests! That means Pepperidge Farm's Entertainment Cookie Collection around the holiday season for me. Mostly because they tend to go on sale a lot around this time of the year. The Entertainment Cookie Collection is a something-for-everyone set with 9 different varieties of the Pepperidge Farm classic cookies. They're pretty much the cookies I've always associated with Pepperidge Farm. The collection usually goes for anywhere from $6 to $8 at retail.

Frozen Friday: Hungry-Man - Roasted Carved Turkey Dinner

The turkey frozen dinner has been around for as long as I can remember and Hungry-Man's Roasted Carved White Meat Turkey dinner stays true to the classic formula with slices of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, and an apple cranberry dessert. Retail price on this one is $3.69.

News: NBC to Debut America's Next Great Restaurant

So NBC is debuting "America's Next Great Restaurant," a new reality show/contest on March 16th where the contestants pitch their restaurant concept in hopes of winning (and having the judges invest in) their very own restaurant chain based on their concept.

Review: Subway - Chipotle Chicken and Cheese Melt

Subway's new Chipotle Chicken and Cheese Melt is part of their current "Amazin' Melts" sandwich push. The main ingredients of the sandwich are your choice of bread, cheese, veggies, strips of grilled chicken, and Subway's Chipotle southwest sauce.

It normally costs $6 for a footlong and $4 for a 6-inch but Subway has a promotion where you can get any regular footlong (which is anything but the "premium" sandwiches) for $5 after 4pm (all day on Sundays) as long as you buy two or more so I ended getting one of these and a Subway Club for The Sister (she wanted a Cold Cut Trio but I upsold her!).

Review: Disneyland - Dole Whip Float

I was super excited to try this one because I was told that Disneyland is the only place you can get a Dole Whip outside of Hawaii. A Dole Whip Float is a swirled mass of Dole Pineapple soft serve floating atop a half cup of pineapple juice. You can get a Dole Whip sans Float for $3.29 or go for the whole shebang at $4.79.

Review: Fatburger - Homemade Onion Rings

California-based fast casual burger chain Fatburger makes one of the best renditions of the mighty onion ring that I have ever had the pleasure of plopping in my mouth. They call them Homemade Onion Rings and they cost a respectable $3.49 for a fresh made order served with a side of Ranch.

News: Taco Bell - New Volcano $5 Buck Box

After a brief hiatus, the $5 Buck Box is back at Taco Bell returning with the new Volcano Touchdown $5 Buck Box, a football-themed cardboard box filled with a Volcano Taco, Volcano Double Beef Burrito, a Crunchy Taco, and an order of Cinnamon Twists. A medium fountain drink is also included in the $5 price.

Not to be left out, Taco Bell's newest menu item, the Beefy Crunch Burrito also gets it own TouchDown $5 Buck Box, the Beefy Crunch Box, which contains the eponymous menu item, a Crunchwrap Supreme, a Crunchy Taco, Cinnamon Twists and a medium fountain drink for $5.

For additional fun, each Touchdown $5 Buck Box can be converted into a finger flick football field (you can fold one of the wrappers into a triangle for the ball). Picture after the jump.

News: Taco Bell - New Beefy Crunch Burrito

Like most new Taco Bell items, the Beefy Crunch Burrito features a combination of typical Taco Bell ingredients with a slight twist. This time around the twist is Flamin' Hot Fritos corn chips. The regular players are a flour tortilla, seasoned beef, seasoned rice, reduced-fat sour cream, and nacho cheese sauce.

The price is an easy 99 cents.

Review: Burger King - Cookie Dough Pie

Burger King's Cookie Dough Pie is a limited-time item of sliced cream pie goodness with pieces of cookie dough thrown in for good measure. I'm not sure if it's available at all locations but I picked up my slice for $1.49 at my local BK.

News: Dairy Queen Offering Free Blizzards to Reindeer?

In a rather odd promotion, Dairy Queen are luring fans to bring "a real, living, breathing reindeer" to any participating Dairy Queen location nationwide to receive a free Reindeer Bites Blizzard from 1pm to 3pm on Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24th.

Considering that reindeer aren't really commonly kept as pets and are only semi-domesticated in one state (Alaska) and this clearly becomes a promotion that few can participate in. In addition, you can't really bring pets into a restaurant unless they're service animals and I don't believe reindeer qualify.

I'd think this was a hoax or a call for DQ fans to dress up as reindeer but there's a press release and its subheading is "Free Reindeer Bites Blizzard® Treat for Those Who Bring an Actual Reindeer to Their Local DQ® Store" So, yes, it's a very strange but rather interesting promotion. Maybe you can trick them with a moose or deer?

Hardee's - New Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Wrappers

The BBQ version

Following similar options from McDonald's and Wendy's, Hardee's has arrived with new Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Wrappers.

Each Wrapper features a small (6-inch) flour tortilla with a Hand-Bread Chicken Tender, your choice of sauce (Buttermilk Ranch, Honey Mustard, or Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ), shredded lettuce, and shredded cheese.

They're available individually for $1.49, in a small combo for $3.49, or in a 2-wrap combo for $4.99 (prices may vary).

Perhaps we'll see them here on the West Coast at sister chain Carl's Jr. in the near term?

Review: Pick Up Stix - Orange Peel Chicken Dragon Deal

Pick Up Stix is a "woked"-to-order Chinese fast casual joint that has over 70 locations in California. It's like slightly fancier, slightly more expensive Panda Express with slightly healthier options but mostly made fresh when you order.

They have a "Dragon Deals Value Menu" which feature several dishes and bowls for $4.99 from which I tried the Orange Peel Chicken Special which features an individual order of Orange Peel Chicken, steamed rice, salad, and an obligatory fortune cookie. You can shell out an extra $1.50 for white meat chicken.