Review: Burger King - Molten Fudge Sundae

Burger King's limited-time Molten Fudge Sundae is basically chocolate-caramel sundae topped with their new Molten Fudge Bites. Molten Fudge Bites are donut-hole-sized balls of fudge brownie filled with a liquid chocolate filling, served hot and dusted with powder sugar.

The sundae was $2.49 at my local Burger King.

News: Girl Scout Cookies - New Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion

The Girl Scouts will be selling a new cookie along with your favorites (and not-so-favorites) this year with new Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion.

Mango Cremes feature vanilla and coconut cookies with a mango-flavored creme filling.

If you've never heard of Nutrifusion before, it's a trademarked term and is probably meant to make you think these new cookies might be good for you. They're more like slightly-better-than-a-regular-cookie-for-you.

News: Sonic - New Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Sonic serves up new, limited-time Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Breakfast Toaster Sandwiches. The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches line is made of Cheddar Bacon Ranch, BLT, and Philly Steak Grilled Cheese Sandwiches while the Breakfast Toaster Sandwich menu consists of the Santa Fe Breakfast Toaster and the Cheddar Sausage Breakfast Toaster.

Here are the details:

News: Sbarro - New Skinny Slice

With the new year in full swing, Sbarro offers the new 270-calorie Skinny Slice (or in most places, a veggie slice).

The Skinny Slice features portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, red and green bell peppers, pecorini romano cheese, and mozzarella.

Review: Jack in the Box - Brownie Bites

Jack in the Box Brownie Bites are limited-time snackable fudge brownies that come five to an order.

An order costs $1.

Around the World: Taco Bell Korea Offers Bulgogi Tacos

Taco Bell first entered the South Korea market back in 2010 and, for the most part, it offers the same taste and menu as you'd find here in the U.S. But recently, they added something with a little more local Korea flavor: new Fiesta Bulgogi Tacos and Grilled Bulgogi Burritos.

News: Frito Lay - Doritos Brings Back Jumpin' Jack and Sour Cream & Onion

For a limited time, Frito Lay is bringing back some classic throwback flavors of Doritos tortilla chips to the snack aisle. The two flavors currently available at Doritos Sour Cream & Onion and Doritos Jumpin' Jack.

Doritos Sour Cream & Onion was first introduced during the late 1970s and had a brief run through the early 1980s. Frito Lay brought it back around this time last year (along with Doritos Salsa Rio) and are offering it again this year.

Review: Ikea - Vegetable Medallions

Ikea Vegetable Medallions (also known as Potato and Broccoli Medallions) are offered in their in-store restaurants as well as available for purchase frozen in bulk from the Swedish Food Market area of their stores.

Each medallion is formed from mostly diced potato as well as broccoli, leek, onions and cheese. They're a bit pricey: it's two medallions for $1.99. You can also save by buying a frozen 21.2-ounce box of them for $5.29 to make at home.

News: Starbucks Tests Caramel Flan Latte

Starbucks is testing a new Caramel Flan Latte in select locations across the U.S.

The test drink features the standard espresso and steamed milk of their lattes along with the addition of flan syrup, topped with caramel-flavored whipped cream and finished with a drizzle of caramel flan-flavored syrup. The drink is also available iced and as a Frappuccino.

News: Kashi - Two New Soft n' Chewy Bars

Kashi introduces two new flavors to their line of Soft n' Chewy Bars: Berry Muffin and Apple Cobbler. The selling point of the bars is that over a third of each bar is made with fruits and vegetables along with the brand's signature blend of 7 whole grains. The bars are a good source of fiber and are free of artificial preservatives and ingredients.

Apple Cobbler bars offer apples with a touch of cinnamon with some pumpkin thrown in for good measure.

Frozen Friday: Fresh and Easy - Ancho Chili Chicken with Cilantro Rice

Fresh and Easy's Ancho Chili Chicken with Cilantro Rice features roasted white meat chicken over cilantro rice with tomato sauce, corn, black beans, and pepper.

It comes in a 10-ounce box and, like most Fresh and Easy brand frozen entrees, it sells for $1.99 each.

News: Quiznos - Two Subs for Your New Year's Resolutions or Lack Thereof

Quiznos returns two limited time subs to help you out with your New Year's resolution (if your resolution is to eat less calories anyway) or lack thereof. The offered subs are the Honey Bourbon Chicken Sandwich, which starts at under 400 calories for a small sub, and the Steakhouse Beef Dip Sandwich, which comes in at 540 calories for a small sub.

News: Arby's - New Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

Arby's offers chocolate cake as a dessert option for a limited time with the new Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. It consists of warm chocolate cake filled with warm liquid chocolate and topped with cocoa crumbles.

The suggested retail per cake is $1.99. If you're angling to try it, Arby's is running a promotion where you can get a printable 50% off coupon good only on Tueday, January 15th, 2013 from their website at: http://arbys.com/hatday.html.

Review: Taco Bell - Spicy Mini Quesadilla

Taco Bell's Spicy Mini Quesadilla is something they're currently trying out as part of their $1 Cravings value menu test.

It's made with a small flour tortilla (looks like the same they use for a Soft Taco), a shredded 3-cheese blend, chipotle sauce, and marinated white meat chicken. Like the rest of the $1 Cravings menu, it costs a buck.

Around the World: Perhaps the World's Cutest Donuts

There's a donut shop out in Japan called Ikumimama that hand-makes donuts with natural ingredients and smiles (literally and metaphorically).

Normally, that's not all that notable until you see this on their website:

News: Mimi's Cafe - New All-You-Can-Eat Lunch Special

Mimi's Cafe, the French-inspired bistro chain, is offering an "all-you-can-eat" lunch special all January long.

Similar to The Olive Garden, the offer includes unlimited soup and salad as well as a single free Mimi's muffins for $6.99.

Available soup options include Corn Chowder, French Onion, Roasted Tomato & Basil Bisque, and the soup of the day.

News: McDonald's Testing New Steak and Egg Burrito

Falling behind bacon and sausage as the other other breakfast meat, steak has now and again found its way onto the McDonald's breakfast menu. This time around McDonald's is testing a new, limited-time Steak and Egg Burrito to the Northeast U.S.

The Steak and Egg Burrito has been available in the Northeast since December and is essentially the same as a Sausage and Egg Burrito except with steak instead of sausage. Specifically, it's filled with actual pieces of steak (and not steak patty like the Steak and Egg McMuffin test), peppers, onions, scrambled eggs, American cheese, and salsa roja (i.e. red sauce).

Review: Starbucks - Vanilla Spice Latte

Starbucks' new Vanilla Spice Latte features espresso combined with steamed milk, vanilla syrup, cardamon, and spices, topped with whipped cream, crushed vanilla bean (looks like pepper!), and sugar.

I paid $3.75 for a 12-ounce Tall.

News: Dunkin' Donuts - New Dark Hot Chocolate and French Toast Bagel

Dunkin' Donuts offers new Dark Hot Chocolate and French Toast Bagels at their stores nationwide to start off this year.

Dark Hot Chocolate is a permanent addition to the menu and basically adds the richer flavor of dark chocolate to Dunkin's existing Hot Chocolate.

News: Jamba Juice - New Kid's Meals

Jamba Juice now offers kid's meals for the first time, taxing their name as a prefix and calling them "Jamba Kid's Meals". The better-for-you brand touts that each meal "contains two and one-half servings of fruits and/or vegetables, a serving of whole grains, and provides an excellent source of protein."

Each kid's meal includes a 9.5-ounce smoothie paired with a child-friendly food choice. Each smoothie has no added sugar and are made from only fruit and juice except for the Berry Beet It smoothie, which also contains vegetables.

News: Jack in the Box - Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges are Back

Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges make their heralded return to Jack in the Box after being discontinued about 6 months ago. Apparently, enough fans were dismayed and took to social media to mount an effective plea to return their beloved Wedges.

Regarding the outcry after Bacon Cheddar Wedges were dismissed, Peter Tremblay, Division Vice President of Menu for Jack in the Box said, “We usually hear from a few disappointed guests, but we have never heard from so many people after a product deletion. Jack’s Facebook fans posted hundreds of comments and started an online petition."

Review: El Pollo Loco - Shredded Beef Quesadilla

El Pollo Loco's limited-time Shredded Beef Quesadilla takes shredded Jack cheese, shredded beef, chipotle cream, shredded cabbage, and avocado slices, and wraps them with a grilled flour tortilla folded into a hexagon (basically the same fold as Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme).

These were being offered at $5.49 each.

News: Starbucks - New Vanilla Spice Latte

Starbucks offers a twist on their Vanilla Latte with the new Vanilla Spice Latte. 

Taking a cue from chai tea (whose base note is cardamom), the new drink features a hint of cardamom and other spices. Specifically, the Vanilla Spice Latte is made with espresso combined with steamed milk, vanilla, cardamon, and spices, topped with whipped cream, crushed vanilla bean, and sugar.

News: Church's Chicken - New Ultimate Value Trio

Church's Chicken unveils the new, limited-time Ultimate Value Trio which offers three different version of their popular Value Chicken Sandwich.

The Value Chicken Sandwich is fairly typical with a breaded chicken patty, lettuce, and mayo, on a sesame bun.

News: The Coffee Bean Celebrates 50th Anniversary with 50 Cent Drinks This Thursday

The Coffee Bean celebrates their 50th Anniversary this Thursday, January 10th, from 2pm to 6pm, by offering a selection of 12-ounce "Heritage Beverages" for 50 cents each.

The drinks includes some of the first specialty drinks offered by the chain. You can choose from:

Review: Burger King - Cheesy Tots

Burger King's Cheesy Tots are back for a limited-time. Having never tried them, I was pretty curious to see how they taste.

They're basically breaded tater tots with some melted American cheese to go with the bits of potato inside.

I picked up a small order of 8 bites for $1.99.

News: Baskin-Robbins - January 2013 Flavor of the Month

Baskin-Robbins kicks off the new year with Berry Passionate Frozen Yogurt as January 2013's Flavor of the Month.

Berry Passionate Frozen Yogurt features passion-fruit-flavored frozen yogurt with a raspberry ribbon

The new flavor puts a healthier spin on the typical ice cream offering with 130 calories per 2.5-ounce scoop (compared to 170 calories for the same of ice cream as well as about a third of the fat), as well as live and active cultures.

News: Dunkin' Donuts - New Turkey Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

Each new year always brings with it a parade of healthy options as people start anew with resolutions to eat better. Dunkin' Donuts joins the march with a new Turkey Sausage Breakfast Sandwich.

The sandwich is offered as part of their DDSMART menu in select markets and features a pepper-fried egg, turkey sausage patty and a slice of reduced fat cheddar cheese, sandwiched inside a toasted English muffin.

News: Wienerschnitzel - 99 Cent Chili Dogs Return

Wienerschnitzel is once again offering their Original Chili Dogs for 99 cents, but only for a limited time. This marks the third straight year for the offer.

The Original Chili Dog features a grilled hot dog smothered in the chain's signature chili, served in a steamed hot dog bun.

Review: Marie Callender's - Chicken and Dumplings Soup

Marie Callender's Chicken and Dumplings Soup features chunks of chicken thighs and herbed spatzle dumplings with celery, peas, and corn in a thick chicken broth.

A 15-ounce can is normally about $2.99 at the supermarket.

News: Applebee's - Two New Under 550 Calorie Meals

Applebee's adds two new entrees to their "Unbelievably Great Tasting & Under 550 Calories" menu (yes, that's what they call it; they even trademarked it) with the new Zesty Roma Chicken & Shrimp and Lemon Parmesan Shrimp.

Zesty Roma Chicken & Shrimp features a grilled chicken breast, blackened shrimp, and parmesan cheese served on top of a hash of red potatoes, zucchini, red onions, Roma tomatoes, basil, and peppers with a zesty tomato sauce.

Review: Subway's Creamy Sriracha Vs. Regular Sriracha

Subway's Creamy Sriracha sauce is something they're testing out here in southern California. I tried it out on a Chipotle Chicken & Cheese sub (with bell peppers, provolone cheese, and onions on flatbread) and compared it to the real thing.

The sub cost me $5 since it's the Featured $5 Footlong this month and I asked for the Creamy Sriracha in substitution for the Chipotle Southwest sauce.

News: Starbucks Unveils $1 Reusable Cup

Starbucks now offers new reusable, recyclable plastic cups for $1 in an effort to reduce their environmental impact on waste from disposable paper cups. The new cups are made to look like Starbucks white paper cups except with small print indicating that they are "Reusable. Recyclable. Re-enjoyable."

Starbucks' 10-cent discount for bringing in your own cup, tumbler, or mug applies to these plastic cups as well. Additionally, they'll rinse your reusable cup with boiling water before filling it with whichever coffee drink you bought.

News: Dickey's Barbecue - $2 Big Barbecue Chicken Sandwich Mondays

Dickey's Barbecue, the biggest barbecue chain in the U.S., is offering their Big Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches for $2 on every Monday through the end of February.

The sandwich features marinated chicken breast smothered with barbecue sauce with pickles and onions on a buttery toasted bun. The sandwich normally sells for about $5 varying with location.

Frozen Friday: Trader Joe's - Beef Taquitos

Trader Joe's (or Jose's on the package) Beef Taquitos features 10 corn tortillas hand-rolled around a filling of shredded beef.

For $3.99, you get 18 ounces (a little over a pound) of frozen Mexican food.

News: Jamba Juice - $2 Smoothies for Limited Time

Jamba Juice is looking to get your new year's resolutions going (well, if they involve drinking smoothies anyway) with a deal for $2 smoothies that runs through Sunday, January 13, 2013.

Around the World: Starbucks To Enter Vietnam Market; Starbucks Cafe Sua Da Anyone?

Starbucks recently announced plans to enter the Vietnam market by opening the first Starbucks in Ho Chi Minh City in early February of 2013, expanding their reach to 12 countries across Asia.

News: Subway Tests Sriracha Sauce

Subway is testing a new "Creamy Sriracha Sauce" in at least a few stores in southern California as well as Florida. Sriracha is a Thai hot sauce that's popular in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine where it's most often used as a dipping sauce or as a condiment for Vietnamese pho (beef noodle soup).

However, it's gained popularity and use in recent years in the culinary community. It was even named the "Ingredient of the Year" for 2010 by Bon Appetit. Here's a hilarious comic strip from The Oatmeal regarding the use of Sriracha.

Review: Burger King - Chicken Nuggets

Burger King's new Chicken Nuggets look an awful lot like McDonald's Chicken McNuggets. Like the previous version, they're made of white meat chicken dipped in a "crispy tempura-style batter" and are meant to be crispier than before.

I picked up a 10-piece order for $2.99. There was also a 20-piece on the menu at $4.99.

Around the World: Wendy's Japan Celebrates Anniversary with the Prestige Truffle Cream Burger

Wendy's Japan celebrates a year of of their re-entry into the Japanese market with the addition of the new, limited-time Prestige Truffle Cream burger as part of their Japan Premium line.

The burger features a truffle cream and a mushroom Madeira sauce along with a spring mix atop a single or double beef patty.

News: Starbucks Switches to Steel Cut Oatmeal Sorta

Starbucks now features steel cut oatmeal blended with rolled oats for a heartier texture in new Hearty Blueberry Oatmeal. The new blend is topped with fresh blueberries, a fruit, nut, and seed medley, and agave syrup. You have to let it steep for 5 minutes before it's ready.

Steel cut oatmeal is also now in the mix for Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal, the addition is accompanied by a name change to "Starbucks Classic Oatmeal." This version of oatmeal comes topped with brown sugar, dried fruits, and nuts.

News: Chick-fil-A - Chicken Tortilla Soup Returns

For a little heat to help you keep warm this winter, Chick-fil-A returns their Chicken Tortilla Soup for a limited time. It's made with shredded boneless chicken breast, navy and black beans, a blend of vegetables (including onions, corn, bell peppers, celery), and a variety of spices in a cream-based soup, topped with seasoned tortilla strips.

The soup is offered in medium (8-ounce) and large (16-ounce) sizes at $3.65 and $5.99 respectively.

News: Domino's Offers $5 in Domino's Dollars When you Buy Two $5.99 Pizzas

Domino's is offering a deal on top of one of their deals for a limited time. Specifically, they are offering $5 in Domino's Dollars when you digitally (online or via phone apps) order two medium two-topping pizzas for $5.99 each between now and January 13, 2013.

You can use Domino's Dollar like cash on your next online Domino's order but they're only good for 10 days after you receive them. They're delivered to your email in the form of a promo code. They can only be earned until January 13.

Review: Foster's Freeze - Old Fashion Burger

Foster's Freeze is a Californian soft-serve chain that eventually branched out into burgers and fries. I'd never seen a burger Foster's Freeze before this one. I know them mostly as the licensor of frozen desserts for El Pollo Loco, so I was a little curious to try their savory fare.

Their Old Fashion burger features a quarter-pound patty, a slice of American cheese, lettuce, tomato pickles, and Foster All American Sauce (i.e. "secret sauce").

It was $2.99 for the burger.

News: Burger King - New Chicken Nuggets and More New Items!

The menu turnstile has been really rolling at Burger King ever since they expanded their menu last April. The latest slew of new and limited-time items includes new Chicken Nuggets (replacing the Chicken Tenders introduced in 2011), a new Whopper, sides, chicken, and dessert.

Here's a list of the latest additions:

News: KFC - New Game Day Bucket and Box

With football season in full swing, KFC kicks off the new year with the new, limited-time Game Day Bucket and Game Day Box to feed you and your friends while you watch football (or really any event that gathers you around the television).

The Game Day Bucket comes filled with 8 pieces of fried chicken, 8 Hot Wings, and 10 Original Recipe Bites for $19.99.

Review: McDonald's - Grilled Onion Cheddar Burger

McDonald's Grilled Onion Cheddar Burger is the latest addition to the Dollar Menu and features a regular McDonald's hamburger bun and patty with grilled onions and a slice of white cheddar pasteurized cheese product.

As it is on the Dollar Menu, it is offered for $1.

News: Taco Bell - New Variety Taco 12 Pack

Along with the new Loaded Grillers, Taco Bell introduces the new Variety Taco 12 Pack. Similar to the Taco Party Pack, the new 12 pack of tacos builds on the popularity of the Doritos Locos Taco in offering 6 Doritos Locos Tacos plus 6 Crunchy Tacos for $12.99.

The promotional material for the new variety pack highlights the 12 pack as ideal for football game days. The tagline for the variety pack is: "A game day tradition since right now."

You can check out the commercial for the Variety Taco 12 Pack below:

News: Dairy Queen - January 2013 Blizzard of the Month

Dairy Queen's kicks off the new year with a Blizzard that offers the variety of a box of chocolates with the return of the Chocolate Candy Shop Blizzard (last seen in July 2012). The featured Blizzard of the Month for January 2013 features a vanilla soft serve base blended with cocoa fudge and assorted mini chocolates (filled with hazelnut creme, fudge, and caramel).

News: Subway - January 2013 Featured $5 Footlong

To kick off the new year, Subway is offering the Chipotle Chicken & Cheese sub as January's Featured $5 Footlong. The Chipotle Chicken & Cheese sub features a base of chicken and Chipotle Southwest Sauce, along with the standard choice of cheese, veggies, and bread.