Chatel Farms made the world just a little bit better, by making ground beef "pre-crumbled", with their "Beef Crumbles" product.

The process of thawing ground beef is eliminated, because you just sprinkle these flash-frozen "beef crumbles" into your frying pan. You no longer have to manually crumble it apart.

Makes you wonder how much we're dependent on technology.

In the future, people will say "You mean in those days ground beef came stuck together, and you had to thaw it out, cook it, and then manually crumble it apart?"

Beef Crumbles are now available in Super Wal-Marts nationwide.

Learn more about it here...

http://www.chatelfarms.com

Labels: Beef

Good as You writes about McDonald's coming under fire (what tiny little fire it might be) from the American Family Association, because the company took action that made it appear as if they support gay rights...

...Mickey D's has become the latest American corporation to suffer at the baselessly extremist, rabidly anti-gay hands of Don Wildmon Inc. The McNugget company's "sin"? The refused to shun Vice President of Communications Richard Ellis for his decision to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

Read on...

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2008/07/exlcusive-afa-t.html

Labels: McDonald's

Bob's Big Boy announced today that they've brought back the "Super Slim Jim", a ham, swiss sandwich, witht their "special sauce", on a grecian roll.

Here in Southern California, there are some Bob's Big Boy restaurants still around, but not many. There used to be just many Bob's as there were Denny's here in the Southland. But then one-by-one, they all went away.

I know just a few of them are still here.

There's one in Baker, CA, which took over the old "Bun Boy". But this Bob's is nothing like the old Bob's. You set foot in there, and it feels like a "fake Bob's". The Big Boy statue may be outside, but the restaurant doesn't have that genuine Bob's feel to it. About the only menu item that has carried over from those glory days is that "Big Boy" double decker burger.

My wife and I used to go to Bob's in Laguna Hills for their breakfast buffet. I always found their bacon to be the way I like it, soft and dripping with oil. Let that oil drip down over the hash browns. Their hash browns was also the way I liked it, soft.

I just got news that a Bob's Big Boy is coming to Temecula, CA, just about 20 minutes from my home. It's taking over the old Ritchie's Diner. I'm sure my wife will be setting up a new home-away-from-home in there.

Labels: Bobs-Big-Boy

House of Jerky announced their video contest, where you can win free beef jerky for a year.

What you do is create a video saying how much you love House of Jerky's jerky, and upload it to their contest site...

http://youtube.com/group/houseofjerkycontest

The top two winners get the free chew.

Labels: Beef Jerky

Dairy Queen officially launched its new Blizzard flavor of the month for July, Girl Scouts Thin Mint Cookie Blizzard.

The best selling Girl Scouts cookie is now a Blizzard variety, in a cool green color, minty flavored ice cream, with chunks of Thin Mint cookies.

The company sent me a coupon for a free sample of this new Blizzard flavor, so I hopped over to my nearest DQ, and tried it out.

It tastes very much like a mint chocolate chip ice cream, except instead of chocolate chips, it just has chunks of cookies in it.


The Blizzard got its start in 1985 as a soft serve ice cream with flavoring and bits of candy. However, the Blizzard trademark has been within the company since the 1950s, representing various concepts.

In China, DQ actually sells green tea Blizzards. I wonder why they don't offer that here?

The Girl Scouts Thin Mint Blizzard are available in DQ stores right now, and will be around indefinitely.

Labels: Dairy-Queen, Girl-Scout-Cookies

For all you V8 juice drinkers, what do you do to spice up your V8?

While I consider myself a junk food junkie, I do like V8. I've been drinking the stuff since I was a kid, and can't seem to stop. I've tried the spicy V8, and V8 Fusion, and the Low Sodium V8. I like them all.

So today, as I reached into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of V8, I noticed the jar of Ortega salsa. And then, a question popped into my head, "What if...?"

So I pulled the salsa out of the refrigerator as well, and dropped three spoonfuls of salsa into the V8 bottle. The bottle was about 2/3 full at the time. Then I shook the bottle thoroughly, and took a swig.

Ummm, not bad.

It's like salsa-flavored V8, just like what you'd expect, but with chunks thrown in.

I'm not sure I'd stick with this however. While it's not bad, I don't think it'll sell.

So I'm thinking now, what else can I do to doctor up my V8? Lemon juice? Tabasco sauce? Pickled jalapeno juice?

If you like to experiment with your V8, let me know what you've found that tastes good.

Labels: V8-Juice

I had the munchies late last night, and like a bad boy I found myself rummaging through the refrigerator, and found this package of Gallo Salame & Provolone Cheese Snack.

My wife bought it months ago. I don't know what plans she had for it. Sometimes she buys stuff just because she thinks I might like it. She's all too familiar with Junk Food Blog, and knows that I need material for it.

My first thought was, "I don't feel like having a sandwich". But then an idea hit me, "Who needs bread anyways?"

So I opened up the package, and put a cheese and salami together, folded it over, and voila! A sandwich.

I guess it's similar to having a hamburger without the bun. This is just a "low-carb" salami and cheese sandwich.


The package actually says "Snack Pack", so I feel better that I ate this to satisfy a snacking urge. Even if it was already past midnight.

Labels: Cheese, Salami

At least that's all I'm getting out of this report...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/ momsunhealthydietmayhavelongtermimpactonbaby

The article says that if you feed a pregant rat a diet of donuts, muffins, cookies, chips and sweets, its offspring will become more likely to develop heart disease and diabetes.

Even though I haven't been diagnosed with either of those, I guess it's still an ace-up-my-sleeve should I need to point the blame at someone.

But then again, my mother never ate ONLY donuts, muffins, cookies, chips, and sweets while she was pregnant. She actually mixed in some vegetables, whole grains, and fruits. So maybe I don't have that ace after all.

And why did they have to test this on rats? Couldn't they have gotten more realistic results comparing Americans with some nomadic tribe from Siberia?

Labels: Politics of Junk Food

One day my wife brought home this jar of pickled okra from a brand called Talk O' Texas.

I'm not sure what caused her to buy this, as I've never eaten pickled okra before. Though I have eaten okra in my time, just not very much of it. I never hated the stuff, but it just never pushed the right buttons on me. She thought that it was weird, and because of that, I would be pleasantly intrigued.

And yes, I was intrigued with it.

So I opened up the jar, pulled one out, and held it up to eyes so that I could get a good gander at one of these things. I might have looked like a scientist in a 1950's alien-invasion flick, examining some strange pod that was spewn forth from a glowing red rock that fell from the sky.

I bit off the pointy end of this okra, and chewed it a bit. My eyes moved a bit to the left and a bit to the right, as I wondered if this would gross me out or not.

Nope, it tasted pretty good.


Talk O' Texas says these things are hot. NOT! Those folks must have pretty weak tongues, because this is hardly hot. My cottage cheese gets hotter than this after I've sprinkled it with black pepper. I think they must put that label on there just to make Texans feel good about their tolerance for spicy foods.

This pretty much tastes like the same pickling juice as a pickled cucumber.

As for slime, which Okra tends to have a lot of, I didn't find much. There is still some sliminess to these pickles, but just not as much.

So, whatever beckoned the first Okra eater to put one of these space-pods into their mouths? It has no real "meat", only a bunch of seeds and slime. How did someone decide, "Hey, here's a vegetable that has no real meat, and is full of seeds and slime. I think I'll start a business around it"?

Will I be buying more of these pickled okra? Probably not. They're good tasting, but then a lot of things are good tasting, and I don't buy everything. I did however, slice up several of these and toss them into a can of Hormel Chili. Not too bad. It definitely gives the chili some of that pickling juice.

The company recommends putting one of these into a Bloody Mary. That sounds kinda good actually.

Learn more about Talk O' Texas Pickled Okra here...

http://www.talkotexas.com

Labels: Pickled-Okra

Few desserts are as impressive as seeing a "piece" of Claim Jumper's Chocolate Motherlode Cake delivered to your table.

The thing is massive.

But very delicious.

So, is a frozen version just as good as the one in an actual Claim Jumper restaurant?

I put that question to the test after the company sent me a box containing one frozen slice of the famed chocolate decadence. This box is actually available across the country at grocery stores, and is a part of a long series of Claim Jumper favorites designed for the freezer.

The instructions are pretty simple. Remove the cake from the box, and let it thaw for about 60 minutes.

While I'm not an expert on great tasting cakes, my wife is. She ate a whole slice, just as you see this picture, many years ago, for free. We were visiting a Claim Jumper restaurant, and after 20 minutes without a waitress asking taking our order, I complained to the manager. That's how I got the free Motherlode cake.

For this review, I did ask my wife to cut me off a small piece.


I'd have to say, "yes", it really does taste like a fresh piece of cake from Claim Jumper. I actually let my piece sit underneath my desk lamp, and allowed it to assume room temperature more quickly. I found it quite soft and moist.

It's just as chocolatey, and the icing is just as gooey, the little chocolate chips inside are just as sweet, and the whole thing it's just as rich.

My wife says it was absolute heaven.

Well, I'm not quite the junk food junkie that thrives on chocolate cakes. I tend to snack on beef jerky, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal cookies when my wife bakes them.

But I know that junk foodies come in all shapes and sizes, and those wanting to pull one of these baby's out of the freezers for lunch, will definitely have to be of a certain shape and size.

You can see all of Claim Jumper's frozen offerings online here...

http://www.claimjumperretail.com/

Labels: Cake, Claim-Jumper

The Claim Jumper line of frozen foods was extended recently to include this new Cheese Ravioli Parmigiana.

The company was gracious enough to send me a sample inside of a package of dry ice. No sooner did it arrive that I popped it into the microwave and heated that baby up. (It arrived at 11:30am, my time for lunch).

What probably helped score points with me is that the microwave instructions are pretty simple. Just poke the plastic cover with your fork, and nuke for about 6 minutes.

Not like some other brands where you have to lift the plastic half-way, then nuke for 3 minutes, then open up the package of sauce, pour, remove the plastic cover, and nuke for another 3 minutes, then turn half-way, nuke some more... That's too much work.

I'm a big fan of frozen italian food. For some reason, I eat more frozen italian food than italian food made on the spot. So, I kinda have some credibility on this.

This stuff actually does taste good. And not because the company sent me a free sample for review either (well that always helps). But I did find the sauce to be quite delish, on the tangy side, and the raviolis to be quite cheesy. Junk foodies might want to take note that this stuff does come with a fair amount of cheese on top. But I'd advise throwing some extra grated mozzarella on there.

It also has some of those spiral curly-q pasta noodles in there too.



This box contains 17oz of saucy cheesy pasta goodness, and it wasn't quite enough for quench my lunch appetite. I think taking it up to 25oz might be closer to what you'd get from visiting a Claim Jumper restaurant and ordering the same thing.

The box says this 17oz contains 2 servings. That just doesn't seem right.

Junk foodies and 24-hour bloggers might do well keeping their freezers stocked with this new offering Claim Jumper. It's easy to make, and goes down really well. It also tastes pretty good too.

You should be able to find these in most grocery stores.

Visit Claim Jumper Retail to learn more about their frozen foods...

http://www.claimjumperretail.com

Labels: Claim-Jumper, Italian-Food

T.A.G. Seeds are sunflower seeds, in a variety of cool flavors, and without any salt.

If you like seeds without the shells, and you want them without salt, then you'll probably want to give these a try.

I actually found them to be pretty good.

The problem I've always had with sunflower seeds without the shells, is that I eat them way too fast. And T.A.G. Seeds are no exception. Each 2oz bag probably contains the same amount of seeds as a bag of 3 times bigger than this, but with the shells on.

Seems there's always three people in the world: those who like sunflower seeds with the shell, those who like 'em without, and those who just don't like seeds at all. T.A.G. strives to seek that middle-ground, offering something for folks who already love seeds, and offering flavors that non-seed lovers might like.

Here are the flavors they offer...

• Chocolate


• Chocolate Mint


• Orange


• Strawberry


• Maple


• Lemon

I tried the Chocolate, Chocolate Mint, and Maple. Pictured above is the Chocolate Mint.

I'd have to say that these really do have a chocolate taste. The Chocolate Mint is definitely chocolate-minty. But I think the Maple tastes better. Seems like maple is a flavor that goes well with seeds and nuts.

Personally, I think these would go much better as an ice cream topping. Add the Choocolate Seeds to some vanilla ice cream, to give it a contrast in taste, or try the Maple Seeds to some coffee ice cream.

Heck, maybe T.A.G. Seeds will come out with some seeds still in the shell with the flavoring on them.

A jalapeno variety is probably in order as well.

T.A.G. stands for "These Are Great".

Visit them online at...

http://www.tagseeds.com

Labels: Sunflower-Seeds

I wanted to announce my beef jerky review blog...

http://www.bestbeefjerky.org

There's a long story to why I started this, which also explains the new focus of Junk Food Blog.

When I launched Junk Food Blog, almost immediately companies started sending me samples of their products. These companies were PR firms working for food manufacturers. Mostly they'd send me candies, chewing gum, crackers, chips. Once in a while, I'd get something more substantial, like a coupon for a free hamburger, and sometimes, a bag of beef jerky.

Beef jerky is my favorite snack food. I started wondering, what can I do to get more, for free? Despite having reviewed more beef jerky on Junk Food Blog, I was still getting a lot of candies and chewing gum.

So I launched Best Beef Jerky as a way to encourage beef jerky manufacturers to send me free jerky. I can now eat more of the food I love, for free, publish a blog that will attract a loyal following (albeit a smaller one), and earn a little income from the Google ads.

Hopefully, I can eventually attract enough free beef jerky to get me one bag of jerky each day.

That takes me to the new focus of Junk Food Blog.

I want Junk Food Blog to attract more free food, but not candies and chewing gum. I want stuff more substantial, more coupons for free burgers and sandwiches, gift certificates for restaurants, or just send me a frozen pizza if you can do it. I'll give those products a mention here, along with a photo, and a link to the product's website.

So I'm going to focus on doing more reviews, particularly the "sustantial foods". I'll focus on new products, or obscure products, just like I've done before. I'm going to broaden the scope to include foods that you might not consider "junk", but what I would consider as "snack" or "convenience item". For the most part, you may not notice much difference at all between the new JFB and the old JFB. But now you know about my new focus.

Junk Food Blog has never earned much income for me. I don't have another job to support me, hence I blog for my sustenance. So if this blog can't pay me back for what I put into it, then I can't blog it. On the other hand, if it can feed me, literally, then I'll still do it.

I'm looking down the road and seeing food prices going higher as the price of fuel goes up. I'm seeing the unemployment rate going up. I'm seeing harder times ahead. It may be that food will become as good as money.

Carl's Jr, this week, announced that it received an endorsement from the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), because of the increased business that drycleaning businesses have received since the launch of Carl's new chili cheeseburger.

"People have been ordering a lot of Chili Cheese Burgers and Chili Cheese Fries from Carl's Jr. Clearly, people don't mind getting a little messy for a great burger," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carl's Jr. restaurants.

Seizing the opportunity, the execs at Carl's Jr are now supplying drycleaning bags emblazioned with the Carl's Jr chili cheeseburger to participating drycleaners, as well as Carl's Jr branded window signs. These have been distributed to some 1,250 drycleanners around the country.


Additionally, Carl's Jr. has teamed up with cleaning guru Jeff Campbell of The Clean Team to give television viewers additional tips on how to get chili cheese stains off clothing and any items which may have been sullied in the "drip zone" of Carl's Jr. chili menu items. Mr. Campbell will appear on morning programs throughout the Western states to provide his expert stain removal tips.

Labels: Carl's Jr

Green Light Jerky Company, based in Redwood City, CA, is a new entry into the world of beef jerky. If you're a fan of thin-sliced jerky, you'll want to take note.

For this review, I'm reviewing three of their flavors, "The Classic", "Pepper Grinder", and "PRD" (Prime Rib Dinner).


Overview

All three of the varieties reviewed here are flavored with soy sauce, onions, vinegar, salt, apple cider, and honey.

The pieces are thinly-sliced into strips of about half-inch to an inch wide, and about three to six inches in length. The texture is more drier than moist, but are still soft enough to bite off chunks easily.

The strips appear to be cuts of real meat.

Green Light says they use no MSG, no nitrates, no liquid smoke, no added sugar, and no thickening agents.

The Classic

The Classic flavor has a mild soy sauce flavor and smell, not very salty, with a very subtle spicy tingle in the back of your throat. That spiciness comes from the guajillo and pasilla chile spices that they sprinkle on.

The beef flavor is still very evident, and there's a slight taste of beef fat.

Pepper Grinder

Pepper Grinder is the same as The Classic, but with ground pepper corns sprinkled on. There's a pretty good amount of pepper there, but not overdone like on some other brands.

It has a very peppery flavor that balances out the soy sauce, and as to be expected, has a medium-degree of spiciness.


PRD (Prime Rib Dinner)

There was a clear scent of thyme when I opened the package of PRD and took a whiff. That's because it's flavored with thyme and horseradish, to emulate eating a cut of prime rib.

And you can definitely taste the thyme and see the pieces of thyme seasoning also.

As for the horseradish, I don't really taste much of it, probably because the thyme seems to overpower it. You figure with horseradish, this variety of jerky will be spicy, but it's not. It's quite mild.

Product Value

Green Light's jerky offerings are priced on the high side, at $10.00 for a 4oz bag, or $5.00 for a 2oz bag. That works out to $2.50 per ounce. Compare that to the $1.00 per ounce average for the garden-variety brands out there. But then again, you're getting a higher quality product here.

My Thoughts

If you consider yourself a beef-jerky afficionado, you'll appreciate the quality and taste of Green Light as I have. The high price-point takes this brand out of the realm of general purpose snacking, but for those times when I want to sit in my back patio and listen to the birds, a 2oz bag of Green Light makes a great companion.

While my personal preference is jerky more moist and sliced a little more thick than Green Light, I still enjoyed sampling these varieties for this review. The "Classic" variety is quite tastier than the regular flavors of other brands.

Visit Green Light Beef Jerky online...
http://www.greenlightjerky.com

Labels: Beef Jerky