Tested! McDonald's Pomegranate Blueberry Smoothie

Who doesn't love a good smoothie? Well to be honest, me! I rarely drink anything other than water, however, there are occasions when I will want something creamy and sweet to drink. Usually when I order a smoothie, it will be strawberry banana flavor (my two favorite fruits). So, you may ask why I chose to order the pomegranate blueberry smoothie rather than the strawberry banana one from McDonalds? Well, it actually wasn't by choice. They gave it to me for free stating that they had made an extra one for a customer who didn't want it after all. Not one to pass up anything free (and because i've tried the strawberry banana smoothie and found it to be delicious), I said yes thinking this was a win win. I couldn't be more wrong. 

I've graded this smoothie on a few different criteria: Cost (since it was free to me, I will go with what the cost would have been), nutrition, general appearance, portion size, and of course, taste. 

Cost: $2.29 Small, $2.79 Medium, and $3.29 Large. I believe the size I received was a medium, which for me, was plenty. When comparing the sizes and costs to Jamba Juice smoothies, McDonald's is without a doubt substantially cheaper at about half the cost. However, I also have to consider that Jamba Juice smoothies are a bit larger in size (their small size is about the size of a McDonald's medium, and the medium about the size of McDonald's large) and the fact that Jamba clearly uses fresh fruits with the ability to add nutritional "boosts." After doing some research, it appears that McDonald's smoothies contain a fruit smoothie base that is made from a number of concentrates and some artificial flavorings. This could be a problem for some people but I really couldn't care less about whether fresh fruit or concentrates are used. As long as the smoothie taste good...

Nutrition: So I have already mentioned some of the ingredients that go into the McDonald's smoothie. In addition to the fruit base, there is nothing more than low fat yogurt and ice. Nutritionally, ALL smoothies get a bad rep. You may misunderstand me saying that so I will explain... Smoothies are always thought to be healthy and good for you. However, when considering the 220 calories, 50 grams of carbs, and 44 grams of sugars that the McDonald's pomegranate smoothie contains, one could argue that they are not by any stretch of the imagination healthy. Let's face it, smoothies, much like juice and soda, are literally cups of sugar. This is one reason why I drink solely water. Also, don't expect a smoothie to quench your thirst, it won't. The one nutrition positive to a smoothie is that it has a little bit of fiber and has half the amount of calories, carbs, and sugars than a milkshake which is the worst option to curb your creamy drink craving. Actually, let me rephrase... milkshakes are really the worst option when it comes to anything food or drink. 

Appearance: To me, no smoothie ever really looks good. They always resemble blended up baby food. This one was maroon in color with some flecks of black throughout which I presume to be the blueberry. I will say that I like the McDonald's clear cups, they make purchasing a smoothie or iced coffee seem so fancy!

Portion Size: As mentioned in the cost section, the medium was fairly large and was more than enough for me. Granted, I might have wanted more had it not been for the taste...

Taste: I have been dropping little hints throughout this review regarding the taste. Well, here is my verdict: TERRIBLE! The taste was absolutely disgusting and had the overwhelming flavor of mustard! I will be honest that I have never had pomegranate, however, if this is really the way pomegranate tastes, I will never have anything pomegranate again. On the plus side, the texture was perfect. 

NOT Jen Approved

Overall Grade: I would give this a D. I am being a little lenient because as I said, the texture of this smoothie was perfect and the cost and portion were reasonable. However, these things didn't come into play much because the taste was of this smoothie was absolutely atrocious. There is a chance that maybe I got a bad batch (it was free after all). However, I do not want to order another one to find out. If pomegranate and blueberry blended into a smoothie is really supposed to taste like mustard, then I think McDonald's really needs to reevaluate having this thing on their menu.

Other Recommendations: If you really must have a smoothie from McDonald's, try the strawberry banana flavor. I have tried that one
a few times and can attest to it being delicious. You can never go wrong with strawberries and banana's. If you are just looking for something creamy yet somewhat nutritious, I would look for a froyo bar where you can add your own toppings. There are often sugar free froyo's available and if you top with fruit, you can have something very similar to a smoothie but with less sugar and carbs. 

Tested! Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti

A few months ago, I went on an amazing vacation to Italy. To my amazement, their breakfast ended up being my favorite meal, the foods I still rave about to this day. Among them was biscotti which I loved so much to dunk into my cappuccino. Right when I got back home, I was determined to create a breakfast every bit as delicious as the ones I ate while in Italy. This included cold cuts, various cheeses, pastries, cappuccino, and of course, biscotti. I went to the grocery store and was saddened when I couldn't find biscotti that resembled the biscotti in Italy (theirs was not sweetened and was basically like small pieces of toast). However, I stumbled upon Nonni's salted caramel biscotti, and since I am a fan of anything salted caramel, my sadness soon turned to elation.

While trying this product, I considered several things including cost, nutrition, appearance, portion size, and of course taste. I also tested it in two ways: eaten plain without anything else and dunked in a cappuccino (I used Hills Bros. French Vanilla which I also reviewed on a separate blog post).

Cost: About $4.39 (.80/oz) for a package of 8 individually wrapped biscotti's. This may seem a bit high in price, however, when you consider that these are about the size of a candy bar and cost about .55 cents each, it seems a bit more worth it. This is also somewhat of a specialty flavor and when you consider there are no other biscotti's available that are similar to this in flavor, it makes the cost more justifiable.

Nutrition: I am not gonna lie, there is really no nutritional value to these. Much like a candy bar, these are simply carbs and sugar. However, everyone at one time or another has had a sweet tooth. These are 100 calories and when compared to another sweet and convienient snack, lets say a Twix bar (both are somewhat cookie, have chocolate and caramel), this biscotti is about half the amount of fat, carbs and sugar of the Twix Bar. Yes, I am comparing one biscotti to two Twix, however, one biscotti is relatively large and is about as filling as two twix bars. Nutritionally, Nonni's biscotti (by itself) is a better option than a standard candy bar. However, that is assuming it can be eaten alone, as is, and not dunked in a cup of coffee.

Appearance: These look exactly as pictured on the box, and in my opinion, that is delicious. They are quite
pretty to look at actually and look like they would be a lot more unhealthy for you than they actually are. A thin strip of dark chocolate holds a firm and crunchy cookie which has hard caramel chunks throughout. It is coated with drizzles of chocolate and then topped with very visible coarse ground sea salt.

Portion size: The portion size is decent, as stated it is about the size of a candy bar, although it might be slightly smaller. It is definitely enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, however, this is obviously not a meal replacement and because it is made up of mostly carbs and sugar, it will not keep you full.

Taste: YES!!! The best part of the testing! As I said, I tested this product in two ways, as is and also dunked in a cappuccino. I can fully attest that Nonni's biscotti is absolutely delicious when dunked in a good cappuccino. It is decent by itself, however, it is a bit too hard to eat alone. That is biscotti though... it is really meant to be eaten after dunked in coffee. When dunked in a cup of coffee (or in my case cappuccino), the texture loosens up but leaves the caramel chunks hard for some much needed texture and the chocolate starts to melt. That little bit of salt on top makes for the perfect ending as you get that wonderfully sweet and salty flavor. Honestly, it is sinfully delicious.

Jenn Approved!

Overall Grade: I would give this product a B. I didn't feel it warranted the highest rating due to it almost requiring another product (coffee) to enhance the flavor and texture. However, when paired with your favorite coffee, this biscotti is simply divine. Yes, this will increase calories, carbs and sugar (especially if you chose a cappuccino as I did) but it makes a great dessert or would be a terrific snack to keep the sugar pangs away. For this reason, and because I am a huge lover of anything salted caramel, I would approve these.

Tested! Smart Ones Breakfast Quesadillas

On busy days, sometimes it is hard to sneak in a healthy, filling, breakfast. My hectic work life leaves me not eating breakfast on most days and feeling famished by lunch. With this in mind, I decided to try out some of the microwavable breakfast meals found in the freezer section at my local super market. Among the items chosen for testing were these Smart Ones Breakfast Quesadillas. I've also tested the Smart Ones Wraps and found them to be quite good so I had the same expectations for these Breakfast Quesadillas.

I had several criteria to examine when reviewing this product including cost, ease of preparing, nutrition, general appearance, portion size and of course taste. Here is my assessment of this product:

Cost: About $2.80 (.35/oz) for a package of 2 quesadilla's. In my opinion, not worth it when considering the portion size (see below for more on that). 

Ease of Preparing: The directions seemed rather simple. You take a quesadilla, insert it into a sleeve, place on a microwaveable plate, and heat for 2 minutes, 15 seconds. Voila! Instant nutrition breakfast! One thing that bothered me was how both quesadillas and sleeves were packaged together in one wrapper. Each quasadilla was 1 serving, therefore, these seem like they should be packaged separate. I know that when I eat a hot pocket, each pocket and sleeve is in it's own wrapper. Same goes for the breakfast wraps also by Smart Ones. Each serving is separately wrapped so I am not sure why the same didn't apply here. In any event, I had one heck of a time getting the two quesadillas unstuck from each other so I could just heat up one. 

I followed the instructions for the first quesadilla. Yes, you read that right when I said the first one as I did end up having to heat the second quesadilla. No, it was not because the first one was so damn delicious that I couldn't help myself. It was because the first one came out hard as a rock when heated for 2 minutes, 15 seconds. In the trash that one went, on to the next one. Apparently, that 15 seconds is way too long so I heated the second one for just 2 minutes. Also, rather than letting it sit for 1 minute as the directions instructed, I decided to get it out of the sleeve immediately. This did help with softness of the tortilla though there were still some area's that were hard such as the edges. I am all for having a crispy quesadilla but this was not crispy, this was downright hard and almost stale tasting. Did I mention that the darn thing stuck to the sleeve when trying to remove it? I had to use a fork to try to pry it up. If you don't believe me, here are some pictures to prove it:

Needless to say, this was supposed to be easy but the only thing easy was fu**ing this quesadilla up. I could have made my own quesadilla in 2 minutes and had a larger, soft one that didn't stick to my plate.

Nutrition: In all, this is a relatively sound meal. It is high in protein, high in fiber, and low in sugar. It is relatively low in fat, calories, and carbohydrates. However, the portion size is relatively puny so I can guarantee that you will still be hungry after eating one of these. That means that something else would have to be added to make this a more complete meal which could potentially add to increased sugar, carbs, calories, and fat if you are not careful. Also, I would have liked to see more vegetables in these quesadillas. The box shows bell peppers but I think I came across one piece of recognizable bell pepper in mine.

Appearance: I'm not gonna sugar coat it, these quesadillas looked like crap after coming out of the microwave. Much of the issue was the first tortilla being rock hard, and the second sticking like crazy to the sleeve. The pictures above demonstrate this pretty well. I did manage to gussy up the appearance for the sake of stomaching this abomination by adding it to a nicer plate with some fruit and salted caramel biscotti (I have another review for the biscotti in case you are wondering). 

Portion Size: The picture to the right does not show the size accurately and makes this quesadilla appear larger than it actually is. I can honestly say that it was about the size of my hand when flat and I have really tiny hands (my husband calls me baby hands). Even after eating everything that was on this plate and a cup of coffee, I was still hungry which should tell you that eating just this quesadilla will still leave you famished by lunch.

Taste: The taste actually wasn't bad. I have tasted the breakfast wraps from Smart ones and these quesadillas tasted pretty much the same. The only difference and downside, if you couldn't tell already, was the hard stale tasting tortilla. Also, I added some hot sauce to mine to give it a little oomph (I have a hard time eating scrambled eggs without some kind of hot sauce or salsa). 

NOT Jen Approved

Overall grade: I would give these a D. The only upsides of this product is that it tasted somewhat ok and actually had substantial amounts of protein and fiber. These are definitely not Jen Approved! 

Other Recommendations: Try the Smart Ones Morning Wraps instead.