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:

Review: Entenmann's - Pumpkin Donuts

Entenmann's Pumpkin Donuts are new and made with real pumpkin. I'd never seen pumpkin donuts at any of my local supermarkets, so I picked a box of these up.

It's not cheap at $4.99 for a box of 8 donuts, but a sale knocked the price down to $2.50.

News: Jelly Belly - New Tabasco Flavored Jelly Beans

For those who like a lot of heat with their sweet, Jelly Belly has just the thing for you: new Tabasco flavored Jelly Beans.

Jelly Belly describes the flavor like this: "the pungent taste of red peppers, Avery Island salt and distilled vinegar, coupled with a subtle sweetness – but not too sweet – undertone from the jelly bean itself."

It sounds like "ow! my tongue is burning!" to me though.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Beef and Broccoli

Healthy Choice's Beef and Broccoli is billed as "a fresh take on an old favorite" and features chunks of beef with diced onions and red peppers over whole grain brown rice with a teriyaki sauce and broccoli on the side.

These normally sell for $3.99 at my local supermarket ($2.50 or so on sale).

News: Krispy Kreme - Pumpkin Spice Donut Returns Plus New Pumpkin Treats

Krispy Kreme returns the Pumpkin Spice Cake Donut this fall along with a slew of other pumpkin treats.

The Pumpkin Spice Cake Donut is an old-fashioned cake donut made with pumpkin flavor and spices, and glazed in Krispy Kreme fashion. It is available through November 22, 2012 at Krispy Kreme donut shops.

Also at participating Krispy Kreme locations, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is available hot or iced and topped with whipped cream.