Ben & Jerry's Banana Peanut Butter Greek Frozen Yogurt

The day before Shavuot I was in the supermarket picking up some last minute items for the Holiday and I noticed they had a new line of Ben & Jerry's Greek Frozen Yogurts. There were three flavor options to choose from; Blueberry Vanilla Graham, Banana Peanut Butter and (I think) Strawberry Short Cake.

בן & ג'ריס יוגורט יווני חמאת בוטנים ובננה

Since dairy products are “the name of the game” on Shavuot I thought it would be the perfect time to try one. Then I saw the 2 for 40NIS sign so I picked two. I got the Banana Peanut Butter and the Blueberry Vanilla Graham.

The Banana Peanut Butter combo instantly made me think of Elvis’s famous sandwich, which always seemed like an odd combination to me. Still, it kind of intrigued me and, as I mentioned in my review of Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, I usually enjoy when they mix sweet and salty flavors but the banana kind of worried me. As a whole I normally don’t like banana flavor in products. I very much enjoy fresh bananas but I don’t like when bananas are used as a flavor, so I was skeptical about this frozen Greek yogurt flavor .

Three Yogurts I Recently Tasted + Coupons

source

As I’ve mentioned in the past yogurt is a category here; in the local Israeli market, that is constantly coming out with “new” products. I probably could write a review on a new yogurt or pudding a few times a week but frankly I don’t care to. I think it’s a little ridiculous that they take off the shelves successful products/flavors just to come up with a so-called new flavor or new product that is likely to be gone as soon as you start getting used to it and enjoying it. So instead of writing a few separate reviews I will do a roundup of three yogurts I recently tasted and tell you in short what I thought of them.

Yoplait White 1.8% Yogurt with Dried Fruit & Nuts at the Bottom + Coupon

יופלה לבן מעודן עם פירות יבשים בתחתית 1.8%

Yoplait added a new flavor to the Yoplait White Yogurt with Fruit at the Bottom line that I told you about in March. The new flavor is a little different than the other three in this line because this time they added dried fruits and nuts to the bottom of the yogurt as opposed to “fresh fruit”.

From what I could tell it had dried apricots, raisins and walnuts but I am not 100% sure. The ingredients were not listed on the container I got because I didn’t buy this yogurt but I got a free sample at the supermarket the other day. The sample container, they were handing out, was a different in shape and size to the one you can actually buy. There were no details or ingredients listed on the sample container so I am just going on what I tasted and saw in the yogurt itself and not on what they list on the container, so I may be wrong but from the photo I found online I think I'm correct.

Tzuriel Farm’s Goats-Milk Cheese Cake Flavored Yogurt

משק צוריאל יוגורט עיזים עוגת גבינה

The other day when I was at the supermarket picking up Tzuriel Farm’s 9% Goats-Milk Cheese Roll that won a Product Of The Year Award, I notices that Tzuriel Farm’s had a special Goats-Milk Cheese Cake Flavored Yogurt for Shavuot. Last June I told you about Tnuva’s Yoplait Cheesecake Flavored Yogurt so I was curious to try Tzuriel Farm’s Goats-Milk version this year.

I was a little disappointed when I opened it up and realized that the photo on the container, which made it looked like it had crumbs on top and bottom of the yogurt, was misleading. In fact there were no cake or cookie crumbs in this yogurt at all. It was a smooth yogurt with no “add-ins”. I wish they would have used a different photo as to not mislead me. But I was still interested in tasting the yogurt. I could always add something like crumbs or granola on my own, if I really want to.

Achla Greek Yogurt & Roasted Pepper Spread + Coupon

סלט פלפלים קלויים על האש עם יוגורט יווני בשתי שכבות

Just in time for Shavuot I tried a new yogurt based spread from Achla’s “Tastes of the Shuk/Market” line. 

Last month I told you about the Zucchini Squash & Techina Salad from this line. Since the Greek yogurt spreads is something new for Achla it really intrigued me to try them. 

There are three Greek Yogurt based spreads to choose from. Like the Zucchini Squash & Techina Salad two of the spreads are layered, they are; Roasted Eggplant & Greek Yogurt, Roasted Peppers & Greek Yogurt and the third is the more well known Greek Tzatziki salad. Of the three, the one that seemed the most interesting to me was the Roasted Peppers & Greek Yogurt spread so that’s the one I chose to try.

Muller’s 99 Yogurt Whipped Wild-Berry Topping + Coupon

 Müller 99 יוגורט קרמי עם קציפה

I tried Muller’s 99 calorie, 1.5% fat, Bio yogurt with whipped wild-berries on top. It comes with a passion fruit & peach whipped topping as well but of the two I decided to try the wild-berry one.

I thought the generous layer of whipped wild-berries on top of the yogurt was a flavorful, tart and sweet addition to the creamy 1.5% fat yogurt in the container. It was an interesting consistency, light and fluffy, but somehow it worked for me and I enjoyed it very much.

Yoplait White 1.2% Yogurt with Fruit at the Bottom - Free Sample

I have another quick post (with a link to a free coupon) for you today.

Tnuva-Yoplait has a new yogurt on the market. It’s a white “refined” yogurt with a thin layer of fruit at the bottom of the container. It comes in 3 flavors; Wild Berries, Orange and Plum. 

Nestlé’s Granoleda Yogurt Sandwich

גלידות נסטלה גרנולידה

On the same day that the local meteorologists were predicting a major winter storm with strong winds, lots of rain and possible snow in many parts of Israel both Nestlé Ice Cream and Strauss Ice Cream thought it would be the perfect day to announce their new summer of 2012 lines of ice cream. Not all of them will be in the stores right away, some will only be available after Pesach, but I’m from the school of thought that any day of the year, no matter how cold and wintery it may be outside, is still the perfect day for ice cream, so I was more than excited to read about the products that I have to look forward to as we get closer to spring and summer.

Still, I chose to post about the first Nestlé ice cream product as we are having a nice mini spring time heat wave (what a difference a week can make).  I do plan on trying something from the Strauss line as well but today I will tell you about Nestlé's Granoleda Ice Cream Sandwich.

Shtuzim Peach Flavor & Coupon

                                                               

Not too long ago I saw a sticker on the

Vanilla flavored Shtuzim that a

new flavor is

coming soon.

I "kept an eye open"

and then last week I noticed

the new

Peach Flavored Shtuzim

on the shelf.

שטוזים אפרסק

Kolios's Today 3% Greek Yogurt with Honey

יוגורט יווני עם דבש מחלבות סלוניקי

As a result of this past summer's "cottage cheese boycott" some changes have been made to make it easier and cheaper to import dairy products from other countries. The idea being if there are more options in the refrigerator that means more competition and therefore local dairies will have to lower their prices. In the end we the consumer benefit from having another option to choose from and hopefully fairer prices. One such new imported yogurt is from a Greek company called Kolios. It's being imported via Villi Foods for Shufersal.

Tzuriel's Goat-Milk Pear Yogurt

יוגורט עיזים אזס - צוריאל

A few months ago in my reviewed Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Whole Goats-Milk Yogurt I mentioned that they also had a few goat-milk yogurts with added fruits but I never did try those yogurts. Now Tzuriel has added a new fruit flavored goat-milk yogurt to that line. This time its pear flavored.

I actually had a hard time finding it in any of my local supermarkets but when I finally found it there was only one on the shelf but that’s all I needed in order to try it.

Beit Yitzchak's Sheep's Milk "To Go" Yogurt

יוגורמה בית יצחק יוגורט מחלב כבשים

Last week I saw a press release about Beit Yitzchak's new "TO GO" sheep's milk yogurt. So I picked some up at the supermarket today but what I didn’t realize is that this sheep's milk yogurt is not new for the Beit Yitzchak dairy. What is new is the size of the container.
 

Not realizing I was looking for a small container (75 grams) that says "TO GO" on it, which I did not find on the store shelf, I accidentally bought the regular size container (140 grams). Seeing as the yogurt in both the full and mini size containers is the same and it's new to me, I figured I may as well post my review of this yogurt. Those of you, like me, who have yet to taste any of Beit Yitzchak's sheep's milk products, might enjoy reading what I have to say. Those of you who know and like this yogurt already will now know that it's also available in a smaller container.

The new size is possibly a more appropriate kid's size portion, or as Beit Yitzchak dairy intended, more covenant to take to work or on a picnic outing, hence the name "TO GO".

At first I thought it tasted somewhat like a goat's milk yogurt I often buy, but as I eat the yogurt it seemed much heavier and more sour than the goat's milk yogurt I like. I read on Wikipedia that sheep's milk is richer in fat, milk solids, and minerals than cow's milk. Therefore, as opposed to goat's milk, it's not an alternative for people with (severe) lactose intolerance, because it contains even more lactose than cow's milk. I found that interesting but it did clarify why this 5% fat sheep's milk yogurt seemed so thick and heavy to me.

The one benefit I found in this Beit Yitzchak Sheep's Milk Yogurt being so rich and creamy was that even after a small amount I felt full. That could be why they decided to add a smaller container option too. You don’t need as much to feel satisfied.

I didn’t really like how "sour" this Beit Yitzchak sheep's milk yogurt was so, in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah; I added a spoonful of St. Dalfour's Raspberry & Pomegranate Jam. The tartness and sweetness of the fruit spread worked perfectly with the more sour yogurt and I really enjoyed the rest of the container.

This Beit Yitzchak's sheep's milk yogurt has no added sugar, no preservatives and is gluten free.

Bottom Line: I don’t think I will buy Beit Yitzchak's sheep's milk yogurt  again because I found it a bit too rich and heavy for me, but if I do I would rather the new smaller "TO GO" container and I will surly add either fresh fruit, fruit spread or possibly honey to make it an enjoyable mid-day snack.

140 gram container – 5.60 NIS

75 gram container – 3.08 NIS

Kosher Dairy Mehadrin and Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Wiesse, Rabbinate Emek Chefer

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Feldman's Pomegranate Sorbet Yogurt Pop

פאלדמן שלגון יוגרט וסורבה רימונים

I was looking to buy a low fat/low calorie ice cream type treat the other day, but the supermarket I was in was out of both Strauss Blueberry Yogurt Pops and The Soft Side Coffee Goats-Milk Ice-Cream so I decided to try these Feldman's Diet Pomegranate Yogurt Pop. I'm really glad I did because I actually enjoyed them very much.

In recent years scientific findings have shown that pomegranates have many health benefits especially for "anti ageing" purposes, with these findings pomegranates have become more and more popular in the cosmetic field but I would think the best way to get the true benefits, they have to offer, is to eat or drink the pure pomegranate fruit.

The more pomegranates I eat the more I have come to realize that I actually really enjoy the taste of pomegranates so I was happy that the sorbet layer on this pretty (in my opinion) yogurt pop did authentically taste like pomegranates, most likely due to the fact that Feldman actually used real pomegranate juice (which makes up 7% of this pop). I really enjoyed the slight tangy flavor the pomegranates contributed to the sorbet. For me I thought it worked perfectly well with the slightly sour but, still sweet enough, yogurt center. I enjoyed the combination.

I really liked the soft and creamy consistency of the bar and I was especially happy that the sorbet boarder and the yogurt center had the same texture, for me it made eating the yogurt pop much more enjoyable.

This yogurt bar seemed to me to be a substantial size pop, (60 grams) and it's still fairly low in calories, 72 calories per bar with 1.5% fat. These Pomegranate Sorbet and Yogurt Pops, as I mentioned, are made with real pomegranate and gets all their coloring from real natural sources.    

I find it frustrating that to taste a new diet yogurt/ice cream pop I have to buy a whole box of six. I don’t know why almost all the diet or low fat yogurt/ ice-cream pops on the market here are not sold as individual pops in kiosks and convenience store freezers. I'm not sure why that is but I find it very annoying. Luckily in this case it was not a problem because I liked the yogurt pop and was happy to have a box of 6.

Bottom Line: I'm glad I was "forced" to try these Feldman's Diet Pomegranate Yogurt Pops, because I thought they were very refreshing and enjoyable. I liked the combination of flavors and I guess every small bit of pomegranate I add to my diet can't hurt and might actually be a good thing in the long run.

Box of 6 individually wrapped bars – 24.99 NIS

Kosher Dairy Chatam Sofer Badatz Mehadrin

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

This Weeks Haveil Havalim Blog Carnival is now up on 

Frume Sarah World  

Strauss's Light Blueberry Yogurt Pops

  שטראוס לייט יוגורט אוכמניות

All the ice creams I have reviewed recently;  Strauss's "Magnum Desire" Ice-Cream Bars, Nestlé Crunch Roll Ice-Cream Pops  and Nestlé's "Nok-Out" Mascarpone & Lemon Ice-Cream Bar have been highly caloric indulgences so today I have a low calorie, no sugar added treat to tell you about; Strauss's Blueberry Yogurt Pops.

When my friend in the US saw these yogurt pops in her local store freezer we decided to "review them together" and boy am I glad we did. This 26 calorie blueberry yogurt pop has real blueberries mixed into the yogurt with a ripple of cherry sorbet swirled though the center of the pop.

Although at first my friend was afraid she wouldn't really "go for" the blueberry flavor, as soon as she tried it she thought it was very tasty. She added "if I close my eyes it feels like I'm eating a frozen blueberry yogurt milk shake" I absolutely agreed with her! That is the best way to describe this wonderful treat.

If I'm not mistaken this is the first of Strauss's low calorie pops to have real fruit mixed in. I have to say I really enjoyed the blueberries. We both thought the real blueberries were a wonderful addition to the yogurt pop. Aside from one hard and ultra frozen blueberry my friend got in her bar, we both really liked the blueberries, and the rest of them were soft, chewable and a fun surprise as we ate the yogurt bar.

The sorbet swirl was terrific; we both thought it was the perfect amount. It added a nice extra texture and flavor to the pop. I had assumed it was blueberry but when I read the box it actually said it was cherry flavor. My friend said she thought she had noticed the bar had a cherry flavor but didn’t realize it was from the sorbet swirl. Regardless it "worked" for us and we really enjoyed it.

We actually much preferred the relatively small amount of sorbet in the bar, compared to Strauss's other low calorie yogurt pops, which are coated in a layer of sorbet. They are good too, but this smaller amount of sorbet, just in the center of the bar, was the perfect amount for both my friend and I. I'm guessing that just having the sorbet ripple in the center, and not as a coating, is part of what keeps the calorie count down on this bar compared to Strauss's other low calorie yogurt pops.

The 5 and 3 year old girls that tasted this yogurt pop were immediately hooked! They absolutely enjoyed everything about this yogurt bar. I would like to publicly thank them for waiting just a few moments so photos could be taken of the yogurt pop, for this blog post, before they each got their own bar to enjoy. Thank you girls for your patience J

These bars have less than 1% fat. They have added calcium and vitamin D as well as 2.3 grams of fiber per bar, and as I mentioned before they have no added sugars.

Bottom Line: My friend and I both really enjoyed Strauss's new Low Calorie Blueberry Yogurt with Cherry Sorbet Swirl Pops. The real blueberries Strauss added sets this bars apart from other low calorie bars for both my friend and I.  So if you're looking for a low calorie treat this Shavuot grab a box of these yogurt bars they are "kid tested mother approved"!

Box of 6 – 26.90 NIS

(I wish Strauss would sell these as individual bars in kiosk freezers and not only in a box of 6, so I can buy them from time to time when I am out and about.)

Kosher: Dairy Mehadrin Cholov Yisrael

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Tnuva's Yoplait Cheesecake Flavored Yogurt with Cookies "On Top"

Like all the dairy companies here in Israel, Shavuot is Tnuva's busiest time of year. Their sales dramatically rise the week or so before the holiday, as everyone buys all sorts of milk products for festive meals. It's no surprise that Tnuva releases many limited edition and special products for Shavuot.

יופלה "און טופ"  עוגת גבינה ופירורי עוגיות

One such item is from their "On Top" line of Yoplait yogurts, it's a cheesecake flavor yogurt with cookie bits to add in. In that way it's similar to Strauss-Danone Yogurt with Cranberry Granola that I reviewed back in February.

As with the Danone yogurt this Yoplait container seemed quite empty, I understand that they want to leave you room to add in the topping but I still think they could make a slightly smaller container or put a little more yogurt in it than they do.

This cheesecake flavored bio Yoplait yogurt, like many yogurts, had a slightly sour taste, not too sour, but it was clearly yogurt. I did think it resembled a cheesecake flavor to some degree. Without the cookie topping, it was an enjoyable sweet, but not overly so, smooth and creamy yogurt.

I thought the cookie pieces "on top" were very dry and almost seemed to have a slightly burnt taste to them, which I didn’t really enjoy all that much.

They're a nice sized chunk of cookie, not crumbs, like you would get as a topping or base of a real cheese cake. Somehow I would have preferred more of a Petit-Beurre/ tea biscuit type of cookie but these chunks didn't go soggy when I added them to the yogurt and I am guessing the Petit-Beurre /tea biscuit would have.

So if you are looking to get the cheesecake flavor this Shavuot without all the calories of a real cheesecake, this 3.7% fat bio yogurt might be a nice treat to enjoy on this Shavuot holiday.

Bottom Line: Aside from my slight disappointment over the taste of the 17 grams of cookies "on top", this Yoplait Cheesecake Flavored Yogurt with Cookies, was pleasant enough. But I still much prefer the 2 yogurts I reviewed a few days ago; Tzuriel's Goats-Milk Yogurt & Muller's Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings.

If I want a low calorie cheesecake I might attempt to make this Ultra Light Cheesecake recipe I saw on Pragmatic Attic's wonderful blog.

Two 150 gram containers of Yogurt – 9.70 NIS

Kosher- Dairy Rabbi Whiteman

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

This weeks Haveil Havalim blog Carnival is now up over on

 Frume Sarah's World

Tzuriel's Goats-Milk Yogurt & Muller's Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings

With Shavuot just around the corner there are a few new yogurts on the market, 2 of which intrigued me and I decided to try them.

Firstly, we have Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats-Milk Yogurt

צוריאל יוגורט עיזים

Tzuriel Dairy is a private fresh-farm dairy located in Israel’s Lower Galilee region. According to their website, Tzuriel's goal is to develop healthy, natural products with an outstanding taste. This yogurt is the first product of theirs that I have tried. I have to say I think they absolutely succeeded in this case.

I thought this Mildly Sweetened Whole Goats-Milk Yogurt was exactly that. It has a wonderful rich and creamy consistency. This yogurt is not too sweet but not very sour either. I found it very enjoyable and refreshing.

I think it was delicious just as is, but it's also a great base yogurt, you can surly add some granola, fresh fruit or anything else you like in your yogurt.

Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats Milk Yogurt has about 3.3% fat.

I also noticed Tzuriel's new peach, strawberry and wild-berry goats-milk yogurts in the store refrigerator.

Bottom Line: I really like Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats-Milk Yogurt. It definitely lived up to what they promised it to be. Since I really enjoyed it I'm likely to try their other products and see if they are just as good.

150 gram container – 5.69 NIS

Kosher Dairy Badatz

Next we have Muller's Bianco Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings.



מולר יוגרט קרמי עם שוקולד

I mentioned in my review of the Dark-Chocolate Egozi Bar and in my review of Fitness's Dark Chocolate Cereal Bar (and maybe a just a few 100 more times on this blog J) that I really like bittersweet-chocolate so a creamy bio yogurt with dark-chocolate shavings sounds perfectly wonderful to me, and truthfully it was.

Muller's Bianco Creamy Yogurt with 60% Dark Chocolate Cocoa-Solids shavings was sweeter than Tzuriel's goats-milk yogurt but, it was not overly sweet, I thought it actually had a nice sweet to sour balance.

This Muller yogurt was not as thick as Tzuriel's yogurt but I'd say the consistency here was wonderful too.

Muller was generous with the amount of dark-chocolate shavings they added to the yogurt. The chocolate added a nice, rich bittersweet flavor yet at the same time it didn’t overpower the yogurt. For me it was a perfect combination of flavors.

Muller's Bianco has no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added. This yogurt has 5.7% fat.

Muller Bianco Yogurt with Chocolate Shavings is also available in an orange or cherry yogurt.

Bottom Line: Being a big fan of bittersweet chocolate I really enjoyed Muller's Bianco Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings. I think it will make a wonderful snack or even healthier dessert for Shavuot and beyond. At the moment it’s a limited edition product but I really hope it will become a permanent addition to our store shelves.

150 gram container- 4.90 NIS

Kosher Dairy Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Tnuva's Shtuzim-Whipped Cheese-Yogurt

Believe it or not, I have another yogurt to review. I could probably review a milk product once a week and still not cover all the new dairy products that are released here on a regular basis.

Since I gave so much attention to Strauss's Spring Line of Puddings I thought it only fair to review Tnuva Yoplait's "Shtuzim".

I'm not sure why they call them Shtuzim as far as I can tell Shtuzim is a slang word made popular by a children's author (Datia Ben-Dor) it comes from 2 words

 Nonsense, silliness - שטויות

 Rhymes, poems - חרוזים

The kind of rhymes you might find in a Dr. Seuss book (don’t get me wrong I'm not saying Dr. Seuss books are silly or nonsense, I love them.)

What story-book rhymes has to do with this "whipped" cheese-yogurt, I have no
clue. Yes, Shtuzim is geared toward children but that’s the only connection I can come up with.

Shtuzim is Tnuva's answer to Strauss's whipped Daniela Yogurt. (You may have noticed from the Dani pudding that Strauss likes to give some of their yogurts/pudding human names).

Shtuzim is available in 3 flavors; Vanilla, Strawberry and Apple

The strawberry and apple ones are made with real fruit (whereas Strauss's fruit versions are not). Shtuzim is made of whipped cheese and whipped BIO yogurt, making it heartier and better for you than its competitor from Strauss.

I tasted the vanilla flavor and I really enjoyed it.

It was light and fluffy. The vanilla flavor was present but not overpowering it has a delicate or subtle vanilla flavor. It did have a slight yogurt taste but it was more sweet than sour. It was actually very close to Strauss's Daniela but a little sweeter and ever so slightly fluffier. I personally preferred Shtuzim vanilla over the Daniela vanilla whipped yogurt.

Bottom line: Regardless of the name I liked this whipped cheese-yogurt and I would buy it again. I preferred it to Strauss's version.

Box of 4 containers - 84 grams each – 9.69 NIS

Kosher: Milk Chief Rabbinate of Israel

מחיל חלב נוכרים


Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.