Trick or Treat: Favorite Day Filled Gumballs

Normally I try to go in and write these with a first-taste experience, but I cracked into these the second I bought them, they're great! Probably my favorite Favorite Day product I've ever had. 

You get three flavors, and each have a unique filling. 

Snackbusters: Stuff I really liked, but never got around to writing up

Snackbusters: Stuff I really liked, but never got around to writing up 

Long story short, I went to the beach for the day and got food poisoning, or I just ate something that just didn't agree with me. Either way, I don't have it in me to eat anything (and even if I did I might not be able to keep it down.) I didn't want to mess up my posting streak, so here we are!

My normal posting process is, I buy stuff, I set aside time to photograph it, I edit the photos, and write down my thoughts, and then turn I turn that into a full post. Usually I eat the item as I write the full post to keep everything fresh, both food-wise and thought-wise. 

These two items never got to the full post stage...because I ate them all. Oops. Both items are definitely things I would repurchase, so I wanted to give them a shout-out regardless, and use the photos I took, so, here we are! 

Banana-ang on the Drum All Day! - Banana Split Drumsticks

Banana Split DrumSticks

Salt and Straw dropped another really delicious looking ice cream collection, (this one is summer picnic themed), and I decided to go for it. Their Thanksgiving drop was innovative, playful, and most importantly, delicious, so I was pumped. Problem is, I needed to make room in my freezer. I have always liked ice cream, but I never pegged myself as an "ice cream" person. But my freezer begs to differ. 

 

After some rearranging, I came to realize...I already had a LOT of ice cream. So, get ready for a lot of back-to-back ice cream posts!

Banana Split is a recurring limited edition offering from Drumstick, and I have bought it several times with the intention of reviewing it, only to go through the whole box before I get the chance. Finally, it's time as come.

Banana Laff Bites - Lafflettes

Laffy Taffy Gone Bananas Laff Bites  - Dollar Tree

I really liked Laffy Taffy as a kid, back when there used to be monsters on the wrappers and mix-ins, like candy watermelon seeds, but since they changed to a more stream-lined look with less texture, it just hasn't been the same. I still buy it from time to time, and if there is a new flavor (like apple crisp) I'll write about it, but when it comes to my normal non-blogging candy cravings, they just aren't in the rotation. 

When I spotted these at Dollar Tree I thought it was interesting that another product was looking for a way to ditch the wrapper and go bite-sized. I also wondered if this really was the same as normal Laffy Taffy, just more snackable, or if it suffered the same fate as all the unwrapped Starburst products that were completely reformulated. 

Let's find out. Oh! And why did the banana need medicine?  

This Candy is Older Than My Dog, Let's Eat It!

Lilikoi and Pineapple Hi-Chew - Gift...from 2016

Like many people, to kick off the new year I started deep cleaning my house and what did I find? These Hi-Chew (from 2015). Five to six years ago Marvo from The Impulsive Buy sent me these exclusive Hi-Chew from Hawaii, and I totally lost them. Deep in a box of things from my old bedroom, there they were. I hated the idea of throwing them out, and does candy ever -really- go bad? I mean, it's not like they got wet or anything...

So today I will be tempting fate, and dental work, by trying these two Hi-Chew flavors that officially expired in October of 2016. Wish me luck! 

Like a Tastykake Time Forgot

Chocolate Banana Mochi Pie Cookies  - H-Mart

Is it a cookie? A pie? Mochi? All of the above! This mish-mash of a product was just too intriguing to ignore.

Inside the bag are tiny individually wrapped cookies. And when I say "tiny," I mean it. These are easily one bite, two if you want to be dainty. 

Pudding CORN BUH-BAH~!

Crown Pudding Corn BBA  - H-Mart

I have no idea how "BBA" is meant to be pronounced, it could be "bee bee ey," or it could be "BUH-BAH!" Since the characters are in all caps on the bag I imagine it being yelled in exclamation. Although I am 99% sure my pronunciation of it is incorrect, I am going to stick with it because it makes me nonsensically happy. CORN BUH-BAH!

Not only do these have a fun name, but they are also banana flavored! (If you're new here, spoiler alert, I freaking love banana.) I tried looking these up online to learn a little more about it, and not much turned up. Just a MunchPak page where this was once a featured item. Oh, and this page where it says the item was recalled. And this page. No big deal. Totally fine. 

If I hadn't Googled this for nonsensical reasons, I never would have known about the recall, which is scary to think about. Thankfully, it seems the recall was due to an undeclared dairy ingredient which some people with dairy allergies reacted to. With my history of buying interesting foreign foods that usually have stickers with translated nutritional information, I can see how the slip up occurred. There have been a lot of labels I have seen over the years with incorrect or mislabeled translations. Whatever software they use to create those seems to have the same accuracy as Google translate. Being the non-dairy-allergy risk taker I am...I'm going to eat these anyway.

Finally, Banana Minions!

Banana Minion Tic-Tacs - Gift

Everything is right with the world. Novelty Minion Tic-Tacs are now banana flavored. We can all go on with the rest of our lives.

Sarcasm aside, it did bother me that Minion Tic-Tacs were banana flavored everywhere else in the world, except for America. It was one of the biggest talking points in my 2015 review. For some reason, we got passion fruit, and they were awful. It seems that Tic-Tac got the message. Behold, banana Tic-Tacs! 

Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Mike and Ike Sundae Sweets - Jo Ann Fabric

Did you know chinchillas like fleece? Neither did I!

Well, not until this June, anyway. That's when my boyfriend's daughter graduated and we got her a cuddly little chinchilla all her own. He's her baby, but seemingly overnight we've turned into crazy chinchilla people.

Segues are hard. 

So I'm at JoAnn fabrics, buying a few yards of fleece (which is on sale) to use in a chinchilla litter box (you know, totally normal food-blogger stuff) and this colorful package catches my eye. It's a cute box, and I like Mike and Ikes, but I LOVE all things banana. I figured I owed it to myself to check this out.

Flash forward to today, when I saw the very same box, a few cents cheaper, at The Dollar Tree. Kind of kicking myself, since I could have gotten it cheaper, but maybe it'll taste so good that I won't care anymore? Fingers crossed!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes - Walmart

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes - Walmart $2.97

Even though Christmas feels like it was just yesterday, the world keeps on spinning, and stores have already moved on to Valentine's Day and Easter. Seriously, Easter. There are already pastel and Easter Bunny shaped sweets on the shelves as I huddle here clutching a cup of tea in my blanket cocoon for warmth.

While I was out taking advantage of Christmas stuff being 50-75% off (or more), I picked up a few of the more interesting Valentine's Day sweets to review. FYI, you guys should really shop clearance Christmas stuff. It's a great way to get holiday placemats, napkins, dishware, decor and non-edible stocking stuffers for next year dirt cheap. It pays to plan ahead!

Okay, enough frugality, let's munch on some cupcakes!

4 Flavors of Fit & Active Fruit Bars - Aldi

4 Flavors of Fit & Active Fruit Bars - Aldi (Clearance .99 cents each)

I love food. I love cooking food, finding new foods, photographing food, eating food. Food makes me irrationally happy, and it's why I started a food blog, but every day I scroll through my Instagram feed and I see tons of people eating meal replacement bars, protein puddings, pro-gurts (protein yogurt), and other things that just look like soylent-protein-power-monstrosities. If it makes other people happy I'm all for it. I'm not knocking their lifestyle (especially since they seem far healthier and more active than I am) but eating that stuff would be torture for me. It takes all the fun and texture out of food!

Along with my lifelong love of food, I'm also a frugal shopper. I love a good deal, so when I saw that these Fit & Active bars were on sale at Aldi for only .99 cents a box, I thought this could be my version of a meal replacement bar. I typically don't eat breakfast, and I don't eat lunch until 1-2PM, so eating one of these for breakfast is probably a good idea, right? Then again, will a "healthy" fruit bar that only cost me .20 cents each taste good?

Limited Edition Banana Split Twinkies - Walmart #tbt

Limited Edition Banana Split Twinkies - Walmart 

I don't want to adult anymore! Sorry for the sporadic update schedule. I'm house hunting for place closer to work (to lessen my nearly 2-hour daily drive) and it's been eating up whatever free time (and sanity) I have left when I leave my 9-5. Fingers crossed that I find a place soon, but for now I'm taking a break from Adulting. For the next hour or two I'm going to sit back, put on some Netflix, and eat a box of Twinkies. I bought these a few months ago, and the cycle of food products have already replaced them with a slew of spooky new treats, so I'm counting this as a #tbt. (But next week's #tbt is going to have a little more...Spice.)

PB Crave Coco Bananas Peanut Butter - Aldi $4.99-UPDATED

PB Crave Coco Bananas Peanut Butter - Aldi $4.99

So there I was, strolling down Aldi's aisles looking for special buy goodies, and what catches my eye? A jar of peanut butter! But, this isn't just any peanut butter, it's chocolate, banana, and honey peanut butter!

It was a bit pricey for a jar of peanut butter, if memory serves one jar was $4.99, but it's organic, and I'm a sucker for all things banana, so into my cart it went. Let's hope that this lives up to my banana-loving expectations.

(8 flavors) DumDums Summer Time Favorites - Target

DumDums Summer Time Favorites - Target 

I'm torn. Pumpkin products and spooky decorations and lining the shelves, which warms my little-gothic heart, but at the same time I can feel summer slipping through my fingers! I'm not ready for fall sweaters yet! I'll be clinging to summer for as long as I can, and I've got 250 summer themed lollipops to help fuel my delusions.

LOOK Peko Chan & Hello Kitty Halloween Chocolates - H-Mart (tbt)

LOOK Peko Chan & Hello Kitty Halloween Chocolates - H-Mart (tbt)  

While everyone else is obsessing over the sudden influx of all things pumpkin (and pumpkin spice), I'm freaking out over all the spooky Halloween craft store goods. Don't get me wrong, I love summer, and I wish this heatwave would never end, but I'm also really excited about Halloween, so I thought I'd revisit these seasonal sweets for today's #tbt.

Snackbusters: 3 Different Tic Tac Reviews in one post!

If there's something weird
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call
Snackbusters!

Remember how I said this wasn't going to be a thing? It might not be a permanent addition to my blog line-up, but it's an awesome way for me to bust through similar products in my stash, so I'm doing it again! This time I've got three different flavors of Tic Tacs.

My friends and family have been buying me these flavors as gifts, because they haven't been on the blog yet, but really...they've been in my food stash all along. So I figured I better get these posted ASAP before I drown in Tic Tacs!

PEEP HAUL - 5 Different Flavors (Three are expired)

So many Peeps, so little time. I have Part 2 coming up soon!

What I Ate Today: Wildwood Boardwalk Edition

We've got deep fried Oreos, candy bars, pickles, cookie dough, Kool-Aid...you name it, they'll fry it.

I went to the Wildwoods for the day, to spend a little time with my family and take my dog, Jack Jack, to the dog beach, and I thought it'd be fun to do a little "Day in The Life" style post with all the stuff I ate down the shore. So here we go!

Banana and Dark Fudge Newtons Fruit Thins - ???

Banana and Dark Fudge Newtons Fruit Thins - ???

These things are over a year old and I have no idea where I got them. Maybe Walmart? Target?

I picked them up because they were banana flavored, and someone told me they were really awesome and that I should review them...but they got lost in my massive food hoard for over a year. Thanks to my YouTube videos I'm making massive dents in my pile and these finally resurfaced. Fingers crossed that they're still good!

JUMBO Banana Split Marshmallows - Walmart

JUMBO Banana Split Marshmallows - Walmart

When I was a kid I was always went with the classic ice cream toppings: whipped cream, sprinkles (aka: jimmies) and a cherry on top. (Or 5. I really like cherries.) It wasn't until high school, when I worked at Friendly's, that I was introduced to a whole new world of topping possibilities. Peanut butter cups? Mini gummy bears? Oreo cookie crumbs? Yes, please!

At the time my favorite happy ending (which knowing what I know now is a TERRIBLE name for a 2-scoop sundae) was Friendly's Pistachio ice cream topped with marshmallow sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry. Marshmallow was such a great ice cream topping! Fast forward to now: I'm a banana obsessed food blogger who hasn't eaten at Friendly's since I worked there in 2004, and there's now a marshmallow replicating another of my favorite ice cream creations. If marshmallows on top of ice cream was awesome, marshmallows flavored like ice cream have got to be worth checking out, right? I had to try it!