PSA: Terrible Ice Cream Ahead! Breyers "Natural Strawberry" Ice Cream

I'm going to waste as few words as possible on this one. I bought this for a breakfast sundae idea but after trying to choke down a bit of it after dinner, I'm not really sure I want to ruin a sundae with this junk.

Breyers Naturally Strawberry ice cream is really terrible. It may be made with "sun-ripened strawberries", but it's chalky and nearly flavorless. I'd blame it on a long trip in the freezer, but I just bought this like two days ago. I literally stopped eating it after about 6 or 7 bites. I couldn't even force myself to finish a small bowl of it. It was sweet or sugary or strawberry. It was so bad that I tried to save it by adding in some Edy's and all I did was ruin the Edy's as well.

I took this disgusting pile of junk and flushed it down the drain. I can't even remember the last time that I was this immensely disappointed in something. I'm baffled by how bad this was. Did they put in as little strawberry flavoring as possible to save a buck?

Did you know that Breyer's sales were down 8% last year? Sure they'll be trying to turn things around with their new gelato line up, but what they need to do is listen to all the angry people on their facebook page and go back to making ice cream the way they use to. No more excuses, listen to the people and let's turn this ship around.

Verdict?  Horrendous
Buy Again?  I want my money back!

On Second Scoop: I was very, very hungry and this 2 month old ice cream was all I had in the freezer. I took a several small bites and maybe I was a bit harsh, but overall my point remains. Why would they make something with such little flavor? With all the people complaining about a lack of mix-ins on Breyers facebook page, you can't help but wonder if the lack of strawberries is related to cost cutting.

DQ Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Pie Blizzard Blizzard of the Month for Jan, July & November 2014

[New for January 2014 >> returning for July 2014!]
Oh DQ, you had one job to do, ONE JOB! All you had to do was take one of your best blizzards and add a little something extra to the flavor profile. This should have been a grand slam.  Note: if you want to skip January's first scoop rant, scroll to the bottom for July's second scoop.

DQ Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Pie Blizzard

Peanut butter cups and crunchy graham pie crust blended with creamy vanilla soft serve

Chocolate Shoppe Mackinac Island Fudge Ice Cream

[By Nick] Time to continue my trek through the huge shipment of free pints that I received from Chocolate Shoppe. Next up is their Mackinac Island Fudge. I saw this flavored offered by plenty of companies in the Northwest when I was browsing Ice Cream Source but never thought to pick it up. It always just seemed so plain to me.

Chocolate Shoppe describes it as “Scrumptious vanilla ice cream with a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate fudge ripple and chunks of real chocolate fudge.” While their wording does make it sound appealing, nothing screams to me that it’s a must try. I mean if I want fudge with my vanilla ice cream, I could just add it myself. I am curious about the chunks of fudge seeing as most companies fudge is just thickened up syrup. Here’s hoping Chocolate Shoppe can surprise me with this one.

Perry's Otto's Cupcake Ice Cream

[New for late 2013] Wait, it's National Chocolate Cake Day? Cool, and cupcakes are really just tiny cakes right? Double cool because then the timing of this post is just perfect. See, a few weeks ago I got a belated holiday present from Perry's. It was five free container coupons and a new ice cream scoop. Woohoo! Time for a trip to Wegmans! They don't have a huge Perry's selection in my area, but I'm happy to try whatever they have.... especially if it's new!

Well what do we have here? Otto's Cupcake from Perry's chocolate cupcake ice cream with orange colored frosting swirls and chocolate cupcake pieces. This one actually has a cool back story that you can read here. Basically the newest member of Perry's flavor team got to work out a flavor for her alma mater, Syracuse University. I so studied the wrong things in college.... stupid thermodynamics, what good are you to me now?! hehehehe, just teasing, I still love you entropy!

Homemade Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ok, I have something I want everyone to try at home. See, I kind of stumbled upon something dumb, simple, and very tasty. When I set up this breakfast sundae photo the other day, I made some extra ice cream filled Oreos for the background. By the time I was done shooting, I was running late for work, so I threw the lid on the tupperware and threw the whole thing in the freezer. I wasn't sure how it would taste, but I figured it couldn't hurt to save them.

Well, I went in the freezer yesterday and for a moment I thought about throwing them out, but I figured I should try a bite first and BOOM! I was shocked at how well the frozen Oreo wafers tasted. I truly had flashbacks to Oreo ice cream sandwiches. I could totally make a dozen of these, throw them in the freezer, then grab a few whenever I need a snack. Better yet, every time a new flavor comes through the freezer, boom, make a few more for the stash and then have whatever flavor Oreo I want on hand. Why did I not try this sooner?

Go try it and let me know what you think!

Gelato Fiasco Peanut Butter Stracciatella Gelato

[Discontinued] Alrighty, it is National Peanut Butter Day and I've been saving one of my free Gelato Fiasco samples for this very special day. (recap: Maine gelato company, high quality, expanding, great social media presence). Hope you're ready because this one is a doozy!

Gelato Fiasco Peanut Butter Stracciatella Gelato

Turkey Hill Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

[New for Dec 2013] So Nick and I have a competition going on to see who can try the most limited edition Turkey Hill flavors this year. He took the first point by snagging their Peach Melba froyo, but it's time for me to even the score. Oh, yeah, I should mention that today, January 23rd, is national pie day.

Turkey Hill Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

Lime flavored ice cream with graham pieces and a key lime swirl

Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk Ice Cream

[By Nick] I’m starting to run out of old Ben & Jerry’s flavors we’ve yet to review but also have access to. I had all but given up trying to find Triple Caramel Chunk or as our friends up north call it, Caramel Hat Trick, or other countries call it, Caramel Chew Chew. Yeah, the flavor with three caramel components also goes by three different names. Okay, random tangent aside, I finally made my way to Walgreen’s to pick up Truffle Trifecta (Hey look, another triple flavor!)and low and behold, Triple Caramel Chunk was sitting right there next to it. Of course I had to pick it up as well, too bad there wasn’t another interesting flavor because then I could’ve picked up a trinity of pints. Okay, I’m done with all these triple notions; let’s just go straight to the ice cream!

As I stated earlier, this flavor is made up of three caramel components. Those being Caramel ice cream, a caramel swirl and fudge covered caramel chunks. The folks over at Ben & Jerry’s aren’t reinventing the wheel with this flavor but as a caramel lover, I’m excited to try this one.

Edy's Grand Cinnamon Bun Fun! Ice Cream

[New for 2014, Returned for 2015 & 2016] Alright cinnamon fans, Edy's has got a new treat for us that's going to be hard to pass up. We all love B&J's cinnamon buns premium ice cream right? Well let's see if Edys/Dreyers can bring some of that magic to a mainstream ice cream.

Edy's / Dreyer's Grand Cinnamon Bun Fun! Ice Cream

Vanilla ice cream with a rich cinnamon bun swirl

The Nosh Show Episode 21

GOOOOOD MOORNING NOSH SHOW LISTENERS!

Sorry! Was that a little too loud after your team just won/lost yesterday? hehehehe, ok, let's talk about something that's guaranteed to be a happy conversation: FOOD!

Episode 21 of the Nosh Show is live and ready to inspire your belly to try new things (or maybe just enjoy your favorites a little more). This week's special guest is Andy from So Good Blog (also check out his Twitter feed). He joins us for Nosh or Not before we go all out with one very large Pizza Hut discussion. It's the first time we've ever focused a segment on just one company, so give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Cinnamon Bun Fun! vanilla light ice cream with a rich cinnamon bun swirl

Coffee & Cookies Delight : coffee light ice cream with chocolatey covered cookie pieces

Oh, and here's wishing you good eats this week! Keep your eyes open as the 2014 season slowly kicks in to action. I've already tried the new Skinny Cow cones, and I'll be trying one of these Edys / Dreyers limited edition bakery treats inspired flavors soon enough, but The Impulsive Buy has brought us news of Breyers Gelato and more importantly, new Magnum Infinity ice cream bars!!! Nick and I will be searching non-stop for these new 2014 treats.

If you see something new, email secondscoop at gmail.com or tweet us what you've found!

Kemps Black Jack Cherry Frozen Yogurt

Wow.... over three years since a Kemps review... my word how time has passed. They make a lot of products in the midwest, but in my defense, the only Kemps products around me are frozen yogurts, and it's rare for me to see anything beyond a handful of standard flavors. Kemps had pretty much passed out of my radar until I was reading up on last year's ice cream sales. Apparently the $350 million froyo market was up 21% last year, led by store brands, healthy choice (really??), Ben & Jerry's, and then Kemps at almost $30 million in sales [reference, though I think Dreyers/Edys should be in there] . Keeping in mind that US ice cream sales are at $5.5 billion with another $4.2b for novelties, so 30 mil is a small number, but I still feel like I should try something by them.... and then pawn it off on my wife.

Kemp's Black Jack Cherry Low Fat Frozen Yogurt

(one of those descriptionless flavors)

Blue Bunny Double Strawberry Ice Cream

[By Nick] Did you know that [January 15th was]* National Strawberry Ice Cream Day? You didn’t, well that’s why we’re here! Along with the pint of Blue Bunny Butter Pecan I found at that gas station, I also picked up their Double Strawberry flavor. So what better day to break into this one than on a holiday dedicated to its existence? So without further ado, let's open this one up and celebrate!

Blue Bunny Double Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry ice cream churned with a mouth-watering strawberry sauce

and loaded with sun-ripened strawberries

Baskin Robbins Movie Theatre Popcorn Ice Cream

[Well, I've never tried to blog from my phone... In a dark, powerless house... But I don't have a whole lot else to do besides sleep so here goes nothing.] Yesterday, I made a 45 minute detour to try the latest Baskin Robbins flavor of the month.

Movie Theater Popcorn ice cream
popcorn-flavored ice cream and butter popcorn crisp pieces,
wrapped together with a salty caramel ribbon

Steve's Sunday Morning Ice Cream #25

[By Nick] After my underwhelming experience with Steve’s Salty Caramel ice cream, I thought it would be best to try the free sample I was most excited about: Sunday Morning.

With a description of “Buttered Maple Syrup Ice Cream with Crispy Waffle Pieces” there’s no way I couldn’t be excited. If you don’t know, Dubba and I are quite the advocates for ice cream for breakfast and Steve’s has gone and made a flavor perfect for such an occasion. And come on, when’s the last time you saw waffle pieces in ice cream that weren’t cones? Exactly, never. If you can’t tell, I’m very excited for this flavor and my expectations are extremely high. Please don’t let me down Steve’s!

Gifford's Campfire S'mores Ice Cream

Ok, you guys know I love s'mores flavors, but do you remember what I'm always look for in particular? Graham! Whether it's a swirl or a mix-in or the flavor of the base, the closer you get to graham, the happier I'll be. Well, I'm really happy with my latest purchase

Gifford's Campfire S'mores Ice Cream

"Chips of chocolate crunch that melt in your mouth when you bite into this

graham ice cream oozing with marshmallow ripple… S’more indeed"

Turkey Hill Peach Melba Frozen Yogurt

[By Nick] With the release of Turkey Hill’s limited edition calendar for 2014 last month, Dubba and I decided to have a contest to see who can review the most limited edition flavors this year. Since my stores are slow, let’s start this off with a limited edition flavor that you still might find: Peach Melba Frozen Yogurt.

Turkey Hill Peach Melba Frozen Yogurt

Peach fat free frozen yogurt with a raspberry swirl

Hood Classic Chocolate Cupcake Ice Cream

[New for 2014] I hadn't been home from the store for very long when Nick sends a pic of something new he saw on the store shelf. He had bought something else instead but was regretting it a bit, so I said have no fear... I saw it, but I bought it!

Hood Classic Chocolate Cupcake Ice Cream

Chocolate cake flavored ice cream

with a white frosting swirl & chocolate cake pieces

Skinny Cow Chocolate Mint Ganache Low Fat Ice Cream Cones

And the very first new treat of 2014 is....

Ganache cones made with low fat ice cream (click for larger image)

Skinny Cow Chocolate Ganache low fat ice cream cones! 4 cones to a box, 3.85 fluid ounces each, and they come in mint or mousse variations (and set me back four bucks at Wal-mart). To be honest, the description has me a little puzzled, but the mint version has a chocolate cone, so those came home with me first.

Baskin Robbins Peppermint Bark in the Dark Ice Cream and the Nosh Show Episode 20

[New for December 2013] I'll admit it, I had every intention of trying last month's Baskin-Robbins flavor of the month, but December is a busy month for parenting, and that was before my daughter broke her ankle (thankfully not too seriously, but enough to get her several weeks in a boot). I had pretty much given up on trying it, but then Episode 20 of the Nosh Show got recorded.

So, episode 20 is available now and on top of wrapping up 2013 with talk of some of the year's highlights, we did our Nosh or Not segment which featured the Baskin-Robbins January flavor of the month. It was obviously a nosh for me, and I kind of made the promise that I would try the new flavor before the next show.

So, after my daughter's ankle checkup, well, my hungry side thought that maybe we weren't THAT far from Baskin-Robbins. One little problem though... between the crazy weather and the holidays, the new flavor hadn't arrived yet. I was bummed and wasn't sure what to do. The very nice employees asked how far we had come, mulled it over for a second, then suggested trying Peppermint Bark in the Dark because it's really good. Ok, I've come this far, so why not?

crunchy peppermint bark and creamy chocolate ice cream wrapped together 

with a peppermint candy and white-chocolate flavored ribbon

Looks good, doesn't it? (click for a larger image if you dare!)

Breyers Apple Cinnamon Crumble FDD

Ok, you all know I'm distrustful of Breyers and their so called "more desirable" frozen dairy desserts, but several our fellow ice cream buddies have said this one is good, so here goes.

Breyers Apple Cinnamon Crumble Frozen Dairy Dessert

Apple flavor with an apple cinnamon swirl and pie crust pieces

Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Coconut Almond Bliss and Butter Pecan

[By Nick] With all of the free Chocolate Shoppe base flavor samples out of the way, it’s time to take a look at couple of mix-in included flavors, specifically nut mix-ins. One of which I know I’ll enjoy, Butter Pecan, and one I’m not so sure about, Coconut Almond Bliss. Since I’m a believer in saving what might be the best for last, let’s start with the latter.

Chocolate Shoppe Coconut Almond Bliss Ice Cream

Tropical coconut-flavored ice cream with tons of 

melt-in-your-mouth liquid chocolate chips and crispy almond pieces

Good Humor Birthday Cake Bars

[New for 2013] Happy New Year everyone! It was kind of fun posting a birthday product last January 1st... so let's do it again!

Good Humor Birthday Cake Bars

cake crunch coated light vanilla ice cream and vanilla cake flavored center