Review: Arby's - 'Shroom & Swiss

New to the southern California market and with limited availability regionally, Arby's is serving up a 'Shroom & Swiss sandwich featuring their trademark very-thin-sliced roast beef with roast seasoning, Swiss cheese, crispy fried onions, sliced mushrooms, and a savory spread on a toasted specialty roll.

The sandwich is currently being offered at my local Arby's for $3.59.

News: Wendy's - New Wild Berry Shakes and Parfaits

Wendy's has expanded their frozen dessert menu with new Wild Berry Shakes and Parfaits. In addition, they're also serving up a new Caramel Apple Parfait and Caramel Shake.

The Wild Berry Frosty Shake takes the classic Vanilla Frosty and spins it with a blend of real strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries and tops it with whipped cream.

The Wild Berry Frosty Parfait takes the same mix but blended a little less and tops it with fresh-sliced strawberries, and blueberries.

The Caramel Frosty Shake is simple enough: just Vanilla Frosty blended with caramel syrup topped with whipped cream.

The Caramel Frosty Parfait is a little more complicated with a caramel swirl in Vanilla Frosty topped with all-natural brown sugar granola, fresh red and green apple slices, and real caramel.

Brand Eating Contest: Free Smoothie at McDonald's

I have coupons for "One FREE Small Real Fruit Smoothie" including the new Mango Pineapple Smoothie provided courtesy of McDonald's. 

Instead of the usual random drawing, I decided to do a little bit of a quiz contest for this one. So basically, there are five coupons to giveaway and five questions to answer. There's a free coupon to the first person to answer each question correctly but you can only answer one of the questions (i.e. you can only enter/win once).

Just comment below and jot down the question number you're answering with your answer.

Review: Tostitos - Artisan Recipes - Roasted Garlic & Black Bean

Tostitos Artisan Recipes tortilla chips are an "artisan" take on the common tortilla chip with various ingredients  mixed into the chip itself. The Roasted Garlic & Black Bean Artisan Recipe Tostitos Chips uses dried black beans and a 9-grain blend to create a fairly interesting tortilla chip.

A 9.75-ounce bag retails for about $3.99 with a sale price ranging from $2.00 to $3.00.

News: Taco Bell - 99 Cent Burrito Supreme Until August 6th

Looks like it's the summer of even cheaper at Taco Bell: After previously offering their Crunch Wrap Supreme for a limited promotion at 99 cents (and at 88 cents before that!), Taco Bell is now offering their Burrito Supreme for 99 cents from today until Saturday, August 6th.

The Burrito Supreme features a flour tortilla wrapped around seasoned beef, refried beans, a red sauce, shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese, diced onions, diced tomatoes, and reduced-fat sour cream.

International Weekend: Bergen - Nutty Cookies

Bergen's Nutty Cookies hail from Poland but only cost me $1.00 for a 100g package at Big Lot's International aisle. They're actually hazelnut cookies which is something I've never encountered before.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Pumpkin Squash Ravioli

An all-natural, vegetarian option for the health-minded frozen food types, Healthy Choice's Pumpkin Squash Ravioli frozen meal features pumpkin-filled ravioli with butter-sage sauce, asparagus and butternut squash.

Review: Taco Bell - Cinnabon Delights

One of the more interesting on Taco Bell's current breakfast menu test, Cinnabon Delights feature donut-hole-like balls filled with a sweet cream cheese frosting and dusted with cinnamon and sugar.

An order of four Cinnabon Delights costs $1.49 and are about 50 calories per ball.

Feature: Visting Taco Bell's Breakfast Test Restaurant

By far the nicest Taco Bell I've stepped foot in, the Taco Bell in Fountain Valley is one of Taco Bell's ongoing breakfast test restaurants. I stopped by recently one morning to try some stuff out. Keep an eye on this post over the next couple of days for reviews of the items I tried.

News: Starbucks - Buy Starbucks Via Iced Coffee and get a Free Tall Drink

Starting today until July 17, Starbucks is promoting its Via Iced Coffee by offering a free tall drink of your choice when you pick up a pack of Iced Via at your local Starbucks store.

Via Iced Coffee is the individually packaged Starbucks instant coffee that dissolves in cold water.

A pack of 5-servings goes for $5.95. The offer is valid at participating stores in the U.S. only.

Review: Carl's Jr. - Hand-Breaded Chicken Fillet Sandwich

The next evolution of Carl's Jr's Hand-Bread Chicken Tenders, the Hand-Breaded Chicken Fillet Sandwich is a premium chicken offering that features a chicken fillet that is freshly prepared, battered, and breaded by hand in each restaurant throughout the day as well as the standard lettuce, mayo, and tomatoes on a sesame seed bun.

The price is pretty standard as well at $4.29 (may vary).

News: Ben & Jerry's - New Flavors for July 2011

July is National Ice Cream Month so Ben & Jerry's is trotting out five new flavors for this summer:

Fair Goodness Cake - "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate ice cream, with pieces of German chocolate cake and a coconut caramel swirl.

Late Night Snack – inspired by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night Snack features a salty-sweet combination to cover your late night snacking with a salted caramel swirl and fudge-covered potato chip clusters in a sea of "Fair Trade Certified" vanilla ice cream.

Red Velvet Cake – red velvet cake batter ice cream with red velvet cake pieces and a cream cheese frosting swirl.

News: Starbucks - New Caramel Iced Via

Available year-round in its hot version, Starbucks' new, limited-time Caramel Iced Via is specially designed to be mixed in cold water with a blend of instant and microground Arabica bean coffee, buttery caramel flavor, and cane sugar.

The tasting notes is listed as "buttery, velvety caramel" and the flavor intensity is "medium."

Caramel Iced Via is available at select U.S. supermarket at a suggested retail of $7.99 for a 6-pack and at Starbucks locations at $5.95 for a 5-pack for a limited time while supplies last.

Brand Eating Giveaway Drawing: $20 Arby's Gift Card

To help promote their new Angus Cool Deli Sandwich, Arby's has graciously provided a $20 Arby's Gift Card for one lucky reader so you can try the new sandwich yourself.

To enter, just drop a comment below with what you like to put in your favorite summer sandwich and I'll pull a name out of the virtual hat sometime this Saturday and contact the winner by email. The winner will have three days to respond to my email, after which time I will pick another winner.

Good luck guys! Be sure check back here on Saturday for the results.

Update: I put all your names in the virtual hat and pulled a number via Random.org and the winner is...

Adam from GrubGrade! Congrats, I'll send an email shortly to get your mailing address to get your gift card sent.

News: Wienerschnitzel - 61 Cent Dogs on July 17

Wienerschnitzel is celebrating their 50th Anniversary this Sunday, July 17, by offering Chili Dogs, Mustard Dogs, and Kraut Dogs for 61 cents each (cheese is extra) to coincide with their 1961 founding year.

In addition to snagging hot dogs for 61 cents, you can also:

-fill in a mail-in submission in hopes of winning a trip for two to Germany (roundtrip fare to Munich, 7 days, 6 nights hotel accommodations and $1000 spending cash) and;

-and try to win certificates for free food, "D/W" crest stickers, and other Wienerschnitzel merchandise via giveaways.

News: Subway - New BBQ Pulled Pork Sub

In the spirit of summer and barbecue, Subway is whipping out their new, limited-time BBQ Pulled Pork Sub features slow-cooked pork with a smoky barbecue sauce served with your choice of veggies, cheese, and fresh-baked bread.

If you want to go with the picture, you're looking at lettuce, onions, and pickles as far as I can tell.

Nutritional Info - Subway BBQ Pulled Pork Sub - 6 inch (318g)
Calories - 570 (from Fat - 150)
Fat - 17g (Saturated Fat - 6g)
Sodium - 1340mg
Carbs - 68g (Sugar - 11g)
Protein - 56g

Review: Arby's - Angus Cool Deli Sandwich

Arby's Angus Cool Deli Sandwich which is basically your classic cold deli sub and is filled with thin-sliced Angus beef, shredded lettuce, tomato, red onion, Swiss cheese, mayo, vinaigrette, banana peppers, and pickles on a toasted sub bun.

I picked up my Angus Cool Deli Sandwich for $4.99 (courtesy of an Arby's-provided gift card) but it can also be had as a whole grain wrap.

Review: Chipotle Secret Menu - Quesarito

Among one of the more interesting "secret"/"off-menu" items at Chipotle, the Quesarito takes another secret menu item, the Quesadilla, and wraps it into a burrito. Neat right?

I'm not sure if it's supposed to cost the price of a Quesadilla ($2.75) plus a Burrito ($6.10 for steak) but they only charged for the price of the burrito.

Review: Hostess - Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake

Hostess Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cakes come in a box of 8 individually-wrapped cakes each featuring a coffee cake with a cinnamon swirl topped with a sweet crumb or "streusel" topping.

The normal price on a box is around $3.99 but I picked this one up on sale for $2.50.

International Weekend: Nestle Milo

Nestle Milo chocolate malt drink found in either liquid in Red Bull-sized cans or powdered and ready-to-mix in jars. It's very popular in Malaysia and Singapore (but also available in other countries) and if you find it in a store here in the States, it is probably from Malaysia like this 8-ounce can that I bought for 79 cents.