Chocolate Shoppe Blue Moon Ice Cream

[By Nick] Along with their standard Chocolate and Vanilla bases, Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream also sent free samples of two very non-traditional base only flavors : Black Licorice and Blue Moon. I’m not a fan of Black Licorice at all. Thankfully Dubba reviewed* that one awhile back so I was able to give that pint away to someone I knew would truly appreciate it.

Now Chocolate Shoppe Blue Moon ice cream on the other hand, I’m very excited to try. I’ve been craving that flavor ever since my experience with the Cedar Crest Blue Moon ice cream sandwiches. Ice cream that basically tastes like one of my favorite cereals growing up is always awesome and that blue color can’t help but make the child in you smile. Hopefully Chocolate Shoppe’s version will be able to invoke such emotions again.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I don't always remember to say it, usually because I'm busy watching the parade with my kids or eating glorious food with my extended family, but I'm remembering today. Life is short, and we should enjoy shared days like today. I've always said that I was born bitter and jaded, so you would think I would despise the complications that can arise on holidays (and as a kid, yeah, I did sometimes), but as the years pass, I like to think these days have become more special as I realize you can never have today back, so make the most of it so you remember it forever.

Now I really wanted to have this ready BEFORE today. See, I've been trying to get back to making ice cream for a long time now, since it's been over three years since I've posted one of my attempts. I had gathered (most of) the ingredients to create Scoop Adventures Cranberry Ice Cream, plus I've got some white chocolate chips to mix in, but I just started it this morning so I'm not sure I'm going to have the energy to finish it when we get back later today. If I do, I'll add pics, if not, then relax, enjoy some great food, and do you best not to stress. Bury the hatchet, give an extra hug, and give thanks that people care about you!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Update #1: Good news! My Cuisinart ICE-20 still works! The bad news is that I think this recipe is a smidge too big for a 1.5 quart ice cream maker. Anyway, so far so good, but it'll be awhile before this one is scoop ready. We did sample some before packing it up and it is indeed a potent flavor and not in my typical realm of what I pick out. That said, I have to admit this has been fun because it's neat to know this one started as a bag of fresh cranberries. The cinnamon has been tricking my brain into thinking I'm eating some kind of cherry pie filling, so I can wait to see how this one tastes when it's finally frozen solid.... I'm thinking breakfast sundae maybe tomorrow!

Update #2: You know, I still don't know how to make ice cream. Oh sure it looks right enough, but I still think I'm doing something wrong in terms of texture, and that's on top of the fact that this one is too strong for me. It's more of a complimentary ice cream I would eat with something else rather than something I would eat directly. Maybe less cranberries (and maybe some vanilla extract) next time.

Ben & Jerry's Mississippi Mud Pie Ice Cream

[New for 2013] Look, I'll admit it, even I'm confused as to why a new limited batch is coming out so late in the year. I mean, in a month I would say it's an early 2014 surprise, or if it was holiday themed, that would make sense too, but this seems so out of the blue. I mean, Walmart already has the exclusive flavors of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup (review) and Cotton Candy (review), so yeah, them getting Mississippi Mud Pie as a third exclusive flavor in one year is kind of a big deal.

Ben & Jerry's Mississippi Mud Pie Ice Cream

Chocolate Ice Cream & Vanilla Ice Cream 

with Chocolate Cake Pieces & a Chocolate Mousse Swirl

Blue Bell Christmas Cookies Ice Cream

“Christmas Cookies”

[By CT] If there are two words that bring me a greater mixed reaction when it comes to edible treats, I don’t know what they are. On the one hand, I think of the awesome sugar cookies that my family received from Nancy McEntire every year. The cookies were the perfect consistency and had the right amount of decorative icing on them. On the other hand, it seems some people go nuts with Christmas cookies every year and try to find ways to include as many ingredients as possible. Does a cookie need to have coconut, almonds, marmalade and raisins to be Christmasy? Stop treating cookies like fruitcake.

All that said, when Dubba asked if I’d scope my area for Blue Bell’s Christmas Cookies holiday flavor, I felt that internal mixed reaction all over again. However, once I read the description, my mind was put at ease. My fear of having to eat pecan-topped, cranberry-stuffed, gingerbread cookies in a peppermint swirl were gone.

"Christmas Cookies Ice Cream combines your favorite holiday cookies – chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, and sugar – in a tasty sugar cookie ice cream with red candy cane shaped sprinkles and a green icing swirl throughout."

Friendly's Fudge Berry Swirl Frozen Yogurt

As we continue our quest to find interesting flavors that we've overlooked, I decided to pick up some Friendly's frozen yogurt. What can I say, you can't eat super premium all the time. It's nice to look at a bowl of the frozen stuff and go "yeah, one more scoop won't hurt me".

Friendly's Fudge Berry Swirl Frozen Yogurt

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with Raspberry & Fudge Swirls & Chocolate Flavored Chunks

Rice Dream Mint Pie Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

[By Nick] Long ago after my second rice dream pie review, one of my friends whose parents happen to own the health store in town informed me that they also carried the Rice Dream pies in a mint flavor. If memory serves me correctly, she even went as far as to say she “loves them”. Not having the best of luck with these products and semi-terrified to see how the oatmeal cookies would work with the mint rice dream, I put off stopping in their store to pick one up. Well I finally got curious enough to try one of these pies so here we go folks.

Rice Dream Mint Pie

Mint Rice Dream with 2 oatmeal cookies dipped in chocolate

Stone Ridge Creamery Cheesecake Flavors Caramel and Double Berry Review

Ok, it's been a almost a year since I've shown you guys anything from Stone Ridge Creamery, the inhouse brand of ice creams from SuperValu owned grocery stores. The maestro behind these flavors does a lot with these "budget" flavors, and there seem to be several new flavors in my area this year, so let's see if we can figure out which ones everyone should try.

Stone Ridge Creamery Double Berry Cheesecake ice cream

Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberry & Blackberry Swirls & Graham Cracker Crust Pieces

Nestle Raspberry & Cream Bar

Good morning ice cream fans! It's Nosh Show Monday and that means episode 17 is ready for your listening pleasure. Now we decided to try to be a bit more spontaneous and free flowing on this episode, so hopefully you will dig the added silliness and energy that comes from our experiment. (FYI my audio/skype crashed 30 minutes into recording, so that messed things up a little and occasionally it sounds like I'm talking over people... which ofcourse I already do on my own, I didn't need any help!)

Nosh or not is still there, we go off-topic and more in depth a few times, we try out a new mailbag segment, and then to tie it all together, we do our Not of the week. We've done this once before where we cover things that we would NOT nosh again. My pick is the treat you see below.

Nestle Raspberry & Cream Bar

Rasberry filled with cream

Naturally Smart Frozen Dessert

Alright, time for something new, and when I say new, I mean like it's only been on the market for a few weeks. Now I've been talking with Mark Patterson of Naturally Smart (website) for awhile now and I know it's been a long road for him to get here, but he kept with it and now his Jacksonville company is cranking out the first two flavors of a high protein, all natural, frozen dessert.

Naturally Smart Vanilla and Chocolate Frozen Dessert

Coffee, Coconut and Green Tea flavors will come later (TV interview here)

Cumberland Farms Cappuccino Craving Ice Cream

[By Nick] Dubba and I have been meaning to get Cumberland Farms (aka Cumby’s) on the blog for awhile now but we just haven’t gotten around to it. With the current lack of many new enticing products on the shelves, why not finally give their ice cream a shot? For those who don’t know, Cumberland Farms is a chain of convenience stores/gas stations primarily throughout the Northeast. I know what you’re saying “Ice cream from a convenience store?” Don’t forget Stewart’s is basically doing the same thing and has won quite its share of awards at the World Dairy Expo. Cumby’s was doing a 2/$6 deal last time I was there so I decided to take advantage of that deal and grabbed their Cappuccino Craving along with another flavor that will be covered in the future.

Cumberland Farms Cappuccino Craving Ice Cream

Farmhouse Blend Coffee ice cream with barista-perfect whipped cream swirl

 and espresso chocolate pieces

Ben & Jerry's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream

[Limited edition for 2013] Just three weeks after announcing this flavor, Ben & Jerry's latest creation is in my possession and ready for review. $5.69 is an awful lot to pay for a lunchtime pint (from a grocery store no less), so let's hope it's worth it!

Ben & Jerry's Scotchy Scotch Scotch Ice Cream

Butterscotch Ice Cream with Butterscotch Swirls

Southern Craft Creamery Salty Caramel Ice Cream

[By CT] Hey there, On Second Scoop readers. I'm CT from the Nerd Lunch blog and podcast. I live in Tallahassee, Florida and recently discovered a local ice cream company that I thought I'd try for Dubba. I first heard about this in 850 Business Magazine that did a story about the company. Now in the interest of full disclosure, I actually work for the company that produces that magazine, but still... not every article grabs my attention like this one did.

The ice cream is manufactured in Marianna, Florida which is about an hour away from where I live. They profess to using only local ingredients including milk right from their own farm. In fact, the blurb on the carton sums it up best:

"Our ice cream is handcrafted using milk from our farm, local ingredients, and a passion for creating flavors that showcase those ingredients. In addition to the creamery, we own and operate a dairy farm where we provide our cows with special attention and care. In return, they provide us with delicious, high-quality milk for our ice cream. Thank you for sharing our passion for local farms and handcrafted ice cream. Want to learn more? Follow us at facebook.com/SouthernCraftCreamery"

I wouldn't say no to.... Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Continuing our adventure in family friendly purchases, sometimes I like to pick something simple like plain vanilla or black raspberry. I know alot of us have come to abhor the simplicity of just vanilla, but it can be a great canvas for sundaes.

Blue Bunny Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

The vanilla wafers are a tip off of what's inside,
though it's hard to know what exactly to expect

Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Old Fashion Vanilla and Zanzibar Chocolate

[By Nick] Normally when a company offers to send me some of their products to try, I expect to receive anywhere from 4-8 pints. Well the folks over at Chocolate Shoppe had a completely different idea because they sent me 20 pints of their ice cream, including their whole line of Bang!! Caffeinated Ice Cream flavors. That’s a lot of ice cream for me to cover by myself, so let’s get started with two of their base only flavors.

Chocolate Shoppe Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream

First off, I really like their logo. I mean, how can you not smile at a cow eating an ice cream cone? Their slogan “You want nutrition, eat carrots” is amusing as well. This is a company that really knows how important marketing is. Okay, ice cream time!

Friendly's Caramel Cream Sundae Cup

Ok, Nick spied this "limited edition" Friendly's sundae cup awhile ago, but they just happened to be on sale for a buck a piece this morning so I decided to finally give in and try it.

Friendly's Caramel Cream Sundae Cup

Our premium vanilla ice cream, topped with caramel, whipped topping and chocolate chips

Vanilla Dove Bar

Way back when dove sponsored a national ice cream month post, they also included 3 of their tasty dove bars for me to try. For months and months I've stared at these things wondering what flavors could be inside, and on this fine Fall day, it's time to find out.

Here are our three samples.... oh I wish they were labeled so I knew which was which. So, I've decided to unwrap all three at the same time and share them with my family. Let's see who's going to get what.

Stonyfield Minty Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

[By Nick] Today we discover the product that opened my eyes to the full potential that mint and chocolate could have together.

Stonyfield Minty Chocolate Chip

Minty chocolate low fat frozen yogurt with dark chocolate chips