Crunchy Cheetos Cheese "Toast" Pizza Flavor and Mildly Spicy Cheese Flavor

צ'יטוס קראנצ' גבינה טוסט פיצה

While I still have cheese "on the mind", from yesterdays beautiful Shavuot holiday, I thought I would review these two dairy Crunchy Cheetos; one is Cheese *Toast Pizza flavor and the second is Mildly Spicy Cheese flavor.

*"Toast" here in Israel refers to a grilled cheese sandwich toasted in a Panini Press. A "pizza toast" would have pizza sauce added to it as well.

Crunchy Cheetos is a puffed corn snack that comes in many different flavors. I think these are the first 2 dairy ones to hit the market here in Israel but I am not 100% sure about that.

I have yet to see a press release about these Cheese Flavored Crunchy Cheetos, so they might not be as new as I think, but I had not seen them before. If they are not new, I apologize and we will slip this post into the "new to me" category.

Both of the Cheetos were crunchy and full of flavor. Upon opening the bag I could immediately smell the cheese flavor on both snacks.

Considering my disappointment over Bagel Bagel's pizza flavored Safari Pretzels, last year, I was pleasantly surprised that these Cheese Toast Pizza flavored Cheetos did have an obvious pizza taste. I'm guessing the cheese powder they used on these Cheetos really "did the job" and majorly contributed to the "more authentic" pizza flavor.

צ'טוס קראנצ' גבינה חריף בקטנה

Although the Cheese Toast Pizza Cheetos absolutely had a cheesy pizza flavor, I actually preferred the Spicy Cheese Cheetos. They did have a little "kick" to them but they were not overly spicy. The cheese flavor on these Cheetos was less dominant than on the Cheese Toast Pizza ones, but I kind of preferred it that way. I found them to be slightly addictive and it was hard to stop eating them once I started J

Both of these Cheese Flavored Crunchy Cheetos have no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added.

Bottom Line: Seeing that crunchy Cheetos was never my "go to" savory snack I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the Mildly Spicy Cheese Crunchy Cheetos. Yes the Cheese Toast Pizza Crunchy Cheetos certainly lives up to its name, and I can see children of all ages enjoying every last one of them. But if I buy them again I would choose the Mildly Spicy Cheese ones for myself.

100 gram bag – 5.79 NIS

Kosher Dairy Mehadrin

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

Chag Shavuot Sameach

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

Osem's Apropo Italiano Corn-Snack

אסם אפרופו איטליאנו

For the first time Osem has decided to develop a flavored version of their popular and successful corn-snack. This new Apropo is being called Apropo Italiano.

Apropo Italiano is the same crispy cone shaped snack as the original Apropo but with an "Italian" flavor. In fact the flavor they added is made of red pepper, onion and garlic. I have no idea how or why they are calling it Italian. I enjoyed the flavor to some extent but nothing about it seemed Italian to me.

The Italiano Apropo is a little spicy but not too hot. I thought it was an interesting flavor that worked well on the Aporpo snack. Still, I didn’t think it was all that different or extra ordinary. It's not a flavor that we have yet to taste on other corn or potato type snacks. So although I would not say it's a new flavor it is new for this specific snack.

The cone shape of the Apropo snack is somewhat conducive to scooping up a dip, maybe not as easily as with the "Doritos Dip" Chips, but still some of my friends really enjoy eating the Apropo with soft cheese and dips, so this new Italiano flavored Apropo can be a nice addition to your Shavuot cheese spread table.  

Apropo Italiano has no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added.

Bottom Line: Although I thought this New Italian flavored Apropo was an enjoyable enough snack I personally much prefer the original, delicate and simple Apropo. I also don’t really understand what makes this an Italian flavor. Then again, I think many who enjoy a somewhat spicy/savory snack will not care about the name Osem chose for this Apropo, but they will enjoy the taste.

50 gram bag - 4.29 NIS

Kosher Parve Badatz

 

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

Must's Sachlab/Salep Sugar-Free Candy



עלית סוכריות סחלב וקפוצ'ינו

Elite has added 2 new flavors to their wide variety of sugar-free Must candies; Cappuccino and Sachlab.

There are other coffee flavored sugar-free candies on the market so the cappuccino one did not seem all that exciting to me. I don't think I have ever tasted a sachlab flavored candy, so I was interested in trying that.

I was somewhat surprised to see sachlab as a "summer" flavor seeing as I associate the hot sachlab drink as a winter treat, but I guess this is Must's way of giving us the sachlab flavor even on a hot Israeli summer's day.

This sachlab flavored candy looks and feels like the other Must sugar-free candies, they are all the same size and have a smooth taste and feel. Like the others it's made in a swirl pattern, this one is a white and light brown swirl.

As with many of Must's sugar-free candy I found this sachlab flavored candy to be very sweet but it did resemble the sachlab drink to some extent.

I thought it was a unique and interesting flavor for a candy but not something I can see wanting too often. It was a nice change of pace and if I want something a little different I think this sachlab candy would be a good option.

Each candy is 9 calories and is made of all natural food coloring.

In case you are not familiar the sachlab hot drink that inspired this candy flavor here's some information.

According to Wikipedia "Salep refers to the orchid, and sometimes to the drink derived from it, sahlab. It is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of … orchids, which contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called glucomannan."

סחלב ארומה

Sachlab is no longer actually made from the "orchid tubers" flour, these days cornflour is used instead.

Here's a recipe I found and translated (but never actually tried) in case you'd like to taste this drink but you aren't lucky enough to have an Aroma coffee-shop or a little stand in your local market that sells wonderful sachlab, like I have near me.

 Sachlab Source

3/4 cup cornflour

2 cups milk

3 cups water

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 drops rose water (optional)

(Optional toppings)

Cinnamon

Coconut

Pistachio nuts crushed

Mix the cornflour and water until you get a smooth mixture

Continue mixing as you add in the sugar and milk

Transfer to a pot and stir while you heat it over the fire until you get a thick consistency then add the vanilla. Add the rose water if you like.

Transfer to mug or saucer. Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon, coconut and or crushed pistachio nuts on top. 
 

Let me know if you like it J

   

Bottom Line: Although this new Must Sachlab flavored sugar-free candy seemed very sweet to me I did think it was an interesting and different flavor and if it stays on the shelf (at this moment it’s a limited edition) I may buy it from time to time but it will not be my "go to" sugar-free candy.

80 gram bag of individually wrapped candies – 8.84 NIS

Kosher Parve Badatz

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

Happy Jerusalem Day

יום ירושלים שמח