Review: Wendy's - Caramel Apple Frosty Parfait

Wendy's Caramel Frosty Parfait features a caramel swirl in Vanilla Frosty topped with all-natural brown sugar granola, fresh red and green apple slices, and real caramel for $1.99

Review: Taco Bell - Bacon Ranch Chicken Flatbread Sandwich

Taco Bell's new limited-time, Bacon Ranch Chicken Flatbread Sandwich joins the returning Original Chicken Flatbread Sandwich and features a warm, pillowy flatbread folded over pieces of marinated white-meat chicken, a melted 3-cheese blend (mozzarella, cheddar, and pepper jack), and bacon ranch sauce.

It hits the low end of Taco Bell's pricing spectrum at 99 cents.

News: McDonald's - New Caramel Apple Parfait and Sundae

Perhaps taking a page out of Wendy's book, McDonald's is serving up for a limited time, Caramel Apple Parfaits and Caramel Apple Sundaes for $1.49 each.

The Caramel Apple Parfait features the lowfat vanilla yogurt paired with caramel sauce and crunchy, diced pieces of red and green apples.

The Sundae version replaces the yogurt with McDonald's soft serve and adds nuts to the equation.

Review: Wendy's - Monterey Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Wendy's Monterey Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich features a white meat crispy chicken patty topped with all-natural Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, and ranch sauce, served atop a hamburger bun for the value price of 99 cents.

Review: Carl's Jr. - Hash Brown Nuggets

Carl's Jr. Hash Brown Nuggets are a bite-sized version of one of you typical breakfast starches: hash browns.

$1.29 nets you a small pouch of these.

Review: Pepperidge Farm - Sesame Sticks

Pepperidge Farm's Sesame Sticks are part of their Baked Naturals line of savory crackers and feature cruncy cracker sticks embedded with toasted sesame seeds and flavored with a touch of garlic.

A 10.2-ounce box is normally priced at around $3.79 or around $2.00 on sale.

Frozen Friday: Red Baron - Singles Pepperoni French Bread Pizza

Red Baron Singles Pepperoni French Bread Pizza comes in a pack of 2 individually wrapped frozen pizzas topped with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni that can be oven-baked of microwaved.

A 10.8-ounce box retails for about $5.29 or about $2.50 to $3.00 on sale.

News: Taco Bell - New Bacon Ranch Flatbread Sandwich

Taco Bell returns the Chicken Flatbread Sandwich as well as a new variant, the Bacon Ranch Flatbread Sandwich. Where the original formula consisted of marinated white-meat chicken, melted 3-cheese blend (mozzarella, cheddar, and pepper jack), and spicy chipotle sauce folded in a warm, soft square of flatbread, the Bacon Ranch version replaces the chipotle sauce with a bacon ranch sauce (surprise... I know).

Both of versions are only 99 cents.

Review: Wendy's - Maple Baked Frescuit

Wendy's answer to the McGriddle (at least an answer they're testing), the Maple Baked Frescuit features a biscuit with maple syrup baked in rather than a pancake. The rest is the same with the standard choice of bacon or sausage with egg and cheese.

I picked one up for $2.69.

News: Burger King - New Quaker Oatmeal

Burger King is newly serving Quaker Oatmeal during breakfast hours (6:00am to 10:30am).

Like McDonald's, the product looks to be of the instant made-to-order (i.e. they pour water on when you order it) variety that you can make yourself at home.

The new 100% whole-grain oatmeal is available in Original and Fruit-Topped Maple flavors with the Fruit-Topped version featuring dried fruit including cranberries, raisins, cherries and blueberries.

The suggested retail price is $1.99 per 7-ounce serving.

Review: Wendy's - Sausage & Egg Burrito

Wendy's Sausage & Egg Burrito is part of a breakfast test at one of my local Wendy's restaurants and is very simple with only cut-up sausage, scrambled egg, and American cheese wrapped up in a small flour tortilla for 99 cents.

Review: Wendy's - Classic Breakfast Sandwich

Wendy's Classic Breakfast Sandwich is offered at one of my local Wendy's restaurants as part of a breakfast test and features bacon, cheese, scrambled eggs, sausage, and some sort of tomato mayo sauce on a kaiser bun.

I picked one up for $2.79.

Review: Wendy's - Cinnamon Swirl

I tried Wendy's Cinnamon Swirl at a local Wendy's where they serve breakfast as part of the chain's testing. It's basically a cinnamon roll with icing and similar to McDonald's Cinnamon Melts and is priced the same at $1.69.

Features: Revisiting Wendy's Breakfast Test

Back in '08, I wrote about trying Wendy's breakfast test and some of the items they were offering at the time. Now it's 2011 and, somehow, they're still working out the kinks.

One of my local Wendy's restaurants is still serving breakfast, but it looks a little bit different from their most recent and fancier looking test. It looks my local joint is serving up items from an older test perhaps maybe because they still have the equipment for it.

The items I tried were:

- The Cinnamon Swirl
- The Classic Breakfast Sandwich
- The Sausage & Egg Burrito
- The Maple Baked Frescuit Bacon & Egg Sandwich

News: General Mills - New Totino's Pizza Stuffers

Designed by Totino's to be a less messy, kid-friendly, on-the-go snack, new Pizza Stuffers gives you Totino's flavor but in sealed in a pocket crust and comes in three familiar flavors: Cheese, Pepperoni, and Combination (sausage & pepperoni).

"Less mess" seems to be a major selling point with this one. Unlike their pizza rolls whose contents tend to spill forth while cooking, Pizza Stuffers are specifically designed to keep their filling inside.

They can be microwaved (~2 minutes) or cooked in the oven for a crisper crust (~10 minutes) and come frozen four to a box retailing for $3.99 per 14-ounce box.

Review: Nabisco - Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Megafudge

New Chips Ahoy! Chewy Gooey Megafudge cookies feature brownie-like chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips and a layer of semi-liquid fudge in the center.

A 10-ounce package goes for around $3.29 or about $2.00 on sale.

Review: Doritos - Stadium Nacho Tortilla Chips

To mark the release of Madden NFL 12, Frito Lay has brought back their limited-time Stadium Nacho  Doritos tortilla chips (they also brought back Tailgater BBQ).

An 11-ounce bag retails for $3.99 but I picked up this one on sale for $1.99.

Frozen Friday: Ben & Jerry's - Chocolate Macadamia

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia features chocolate and vanilla ice creams swirled together with fudge covered macadamia nuts mixed in.

A pint typically retails for $4.99 but I tend to pick them up on sale at around the $2.50 mark.

Review: Arby's - Cravin' Chicken Sandwich

A slight revamp on Arby's prior Crispy Chicken Fillet Sandwich, the new Cravin' Chicken Sandwich features a slightly different take on the fast food standard premium chicken sandwich with Cravin' sauce plus the standard lettuce, tomato, and breaded chicken fillet on a sesame bun.

Roasted chicken is also available but I went with the breaded chicken filet. Both versions cost $3.79.

Review: McDonald's - McDouble

McDonald's Dollar Menu McDouble is basically their Cheeseburger with an extra patty or their Double Cheeseburger with one less slice of cheese, however, you want to look at it. If you're unfamiliar with that, a McDouble features a slice of American cheese between two beef patties, topped with pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard on a toasted bun for $1.