Jeni's Ice Cream - Brambleberry Crisp

As per usual...During my recent Whole Foods trip, I purchased another $12 pint of Jeni's Ice Cream. This time I tried the Brambleberry Crisp, which caught my attention with two of my favorite things. Berries. And streusel (hence the "crisp" part of the flavor).

Jeni's website describes this ice cream as....

"Buttery, oven-toasted oat streusel and a striking, sweet-tart “brambleberry” jam of blackberries, black raspberries, and black currants layered throughout vanilla ice cream."

The only other words necessary to describe this ice cream flavor is heavenly. Brambleberry Crisp is unlike any ice cream I've had before. The ice cream itself is a lovely neutral flavor, with only a subtle vanilla flavor. The fruity jam swirled through the ice cream is very strong, and is both sweet and tart, with a unique flavor combination that is unlike any other berry flavor medley I've ever tasted. And the oat streusel has a fantastic chewy consistency with a mellow flavor, which really adds a nice touch to the strong flavors of the ice cream. The flavor combination, and borderline overwhelming sweetness, reminds me of Ben & Jerry's. Except unlike Ben & Jerry's, this ice cream is all quality ingredients, and you can taste them.

At the moment, I would say this is my absolute favorite Jeni's ice cream flavor. And I will be buying this again. Actually, I will be buying this regularly. And if this turns out to be a seasonal flavor, I fear I may be forced to spend a few hundred dollars, simply to be sure I have enough to last me through the rest of the year. 

Blueberry Cream Cheese

The other morning when I went to Whole Foods, I noticed a container with a blue cream colored spread, and I was immediately intrigued. As I went over to inspect the container, I realized it was Blueberry Cream Cheese. The Cream Cheese appears to be prepared in house (or is made for Whole Foods by a local company), and was being sold in 8 oz containers.

I love fruity cream cheeses, but I've only really had flavors like Strawberry, Pineapple and Raspberry. Intrigued, I decided to buy one, and for only $3.87 for the container I couldn't really think of a reason not to try it. I'm definitely glad that I did, it was by far the best fruit cream cheese I've ever had. Obviously, since it's prepared fresh, the quality is far superior to the standard grocery store varieties. But it was also better than the in house versions that the local bagel shops offer. It also had whole blueberries inside of the mixture, which added a great burst of flavor when eating a bagel with the spread. I will definitely be buying this again, and I truly hope that Whole Foods starts to expand their cream cheese flavor selection.

Wallaby Yogurt - Strawberry Guava

Yesterday while picking up some groceries, I selected a few assorted yogurts. One of them was the Wallaby Organic Yogurt brand, in the Strawberry Guava flavor. Unlike those around me, I LOVE guava. I'll buy almost anything if it has guava in it, so I was very anxious to finally try this flavor.

I was unsure how strawberry and guava would go together, so I was pleasantly surprised by how they complemented each other. The yogurt was delicious, and the fruits were both noticeable, they just seemed a bit too...weak.

Although you could definitely taste them, I would have preferred a stronger flavor. However, since this is not a fruit in the bottom style yogurt, the flavor strength was about where one would expect it to be. I will definitely be buying this yogurt again, though next time I think I'll eat it with fruit slices.

Gaga Rainbow Sherbet

As a child, I never was all that crazy for ice cream. I mean, sure I loved getting it at ice cream stands during the summer, and I enjoyed the over the top flavors of Ben and Jerry's (what kid didn't?!), but it never held a special place in my heart. Sherbet,  however, did. My cousins and I shared some nearly every weekend, usually watching some of those (now) nostalgic TV shows of the 1990's, like Flipper.

So, yes, sherbet is definitely a fond memory of mine. But the problem is just that, it's mostly just a memory now. I may not have minded the flavors of sherbet when I was a kid, but now I tend to prefer high quality foods, and sherbet brands don't exactly focus on such matters. So at a recent trip to Whole Foods, I was pleased to notice Gaga. I was a little confused, since it referred to itself as "Sherbetter," and seemed to imply it was some sort of cross between Sherbet and Ice Cream. But, since it was being sold at Whole Foods, I chose to consider that a good sign (it's not like Whole Foods would be selling the mass produced sherbet items from the local grocery store, which tend to taste like chemical enhancements and artificial flavors that resemble anything but fruit).

There was a few flavor options, but I opted for the Rainbow (Orange, Raspberry and Lemon). It was priced at $4.99, which is pretty standard for pint sized frozen treats at Whole Foods (on the lower end, actually). As soon as I opened the pint, I noticed the pale (natural) looking colors swirled together, which I found reassuring. The taste was obviously the more refined version of sherbet  and you could really taste the citrus zests in the citrus flavors, as well as the fresh raspberry puree.

But sadly, it definitely didn't remind me of sherbet. It was definitely milkier than sorbet, but the consistency was more akin to frozen sorbet than it was anything else. It definitely was not smooth and creamy like sherbet, or ice cream for that matter. I wouldn't buy this item again, although the taste was pleasant, I'd prefer fresh sorbet personally. But this would be worth a try for those that want some sort of healthified sherbet replacement in their diet, or for kids.

Jeni's Pink Grapefruit Frozen Yogurt

I've recently gotten into the habit of always checking the Whole Foods freezers for Jeni's Ice Cream, before heading towards the checkout line. There's always at least one new flavor there, that I simply *MUST* try.

During my latest Whole Foods trip, this turned out to be  one of their newest flavors (at least new to me, it may be a seasonal item that returns yearly), Pink Frozen Yogurt.

One of my favorite sorbetto flavors is pink grapefruit, and whenever my favorite gelato shops offers it, I always have to have a scoop. But I've never really gave much thought to grapefruit anything beyond sorbetto, although I have momentarily pondered what a pink grapefruit gelato would be like. However, I'd surely never even pondered the idea of a grapefruit frozen yogurt.

I was instantly intrigued, and confused as to how it would work out. I was a bit worried that the tartness of a high quality frozen yogurt may be problematic with the sour of the grapefruit, but I was quite pleased with how the flavors melded together. The pink grapefruit flavor was authentically tart, which actually worked perfectly to offset the creaminess and slight richness of the frozen yogurt. It's definitely not the sort of flavor that citrus haters would enjoy, but it's definitely the sort of flavor that those like myself would go crazy for. I definitely will be buying this again, although next time I'd prefer to eat it during warmer months.

Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade

I love lemonade, but am always disappointed by the varieties that come out of a bottle at the grocery store. While shopping at Whole Foods, I usually buy one of their fresh lemonades in the refrigerated section, but during my recent shopping trip they were out.

While heading towards the checkout, I glanced upon a large display of the Santa Cruz lemonades, which were on sale for $2 each (which seemed like an amazing deal, especially considering the large size and the fact that it's organic).

I was pleasantly surprised when I got around to sampling the lemonade. I tend to love lemon drinks where the entire lemon is used, and this lemonade had a very similar taste. It doesn't taste like just the lemon juice itself, but you can also taste the lemon zest and natural oils, and the settling at the bottom was oddly comforting and reassuring to me. The lemonade had a great flavor, and is definitely the best lemonade I've ever had that came out of a bottle. I will definitely be buying this again (as well as trying their other flavors) and will stock up on many bottles if I see it on sale again for such a great price.

Bolthouse Farms - Thousand Island Yogurt Dressing

I first fell in love with Bolthouse Farms about 5 years ago, when I discovered their line of high quality juice blends. My love only continued to grow throughout the years, as I fell in love with their newer juice selections. And then finally, my love hit its peak, when I discovered their new yogurt dressings. I love creamy dressings, but can rarely find any that I like. Standard shelf stable ones tend to have a strong aftertaste to me, and I hate the ones laden with mayonnaise or corn syrup, nevermind the bizarre chemical enhancements so frequently used.

I first sampled Bolthouse Farms Thousand Island dressing about three years ago, and quickly became obsessed. Not only did I love the dressing as it was (low in fat and calories), I didn't just consider it a healthy substitute, I considered it my ideal substitute. There wasn't a single Thousand Island dressing that I preferred, which one might find strange considering the obvious differences in a high fat dressing and a yogurt based dressing.

Eventually my local grocery stores began to run out of the Bolthouse Farms dressing regularly, and I hadn't seen them in nearly a year. So I was thrilled to see them being offered at my local Whole Foods. So thrilled, that I grabbed a few bottles to have on hand (knowing full well that a refrigerated dressing would only last a few months compared to a few years). What can I say? The panic of not seeing it for another year convinced me that I could find extra uses for it.

Sadly, something tragic happened. The Thousand Island dressing was not the same. It seems that Thousand Island dressing with only 70 calories per serving (compared to 200+) was not enough for Bolthouse Farms, and they decided to continue to "healthify" their yogurt dressing line to bring the calories down more. The taste was nothing like I remembered. A light, tangy version of Thousand Island, is now replaced with a thick gloppy dressing with a flavor that is hard (if not impossible) to love. Instead of the classic Thousand Island flavor I remember so well, the new dressing tastes like....Well, tomato soup. Cold, gelatinous, tomato soup.

How Bolthouse Farms manages to believe that Tomato Soup yogurt dressing will ever be able to replace their former, glorious Thousand Island dressing, is beyond me. And quite frankly, the fact that anyone thinks this replacement is acceptable for the sake of a lousy 30 calories per serving (the new version is 35 calories per serving) is utter rubbish. AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!