REVIEW: diet Snapple Half 'n Half Lemonade Iced Tea

A cross-country runner's life is a hard one.
For one, you aren't allowed to drink soda.
For two, you aren't even allowed to drink diet soda.
But diet Snapple should be fine, right? 50% of this Half n' Half IS made with tea, and tea is healthy. And what's the big deal with diet SODA, anyway? Is it because of the artificial sweeteners? Because taking diet soda away from me doesn't really change the fact that I can totally blow my brains out with the amount of Splenda packets I use in other food items everyday. So, I think that my idea of drinking a diet iced tea ONCE every blue moon not making much of an impact on my health can be made into a justifiable fact. So here we go- bottom's up!

I purchased this 20 fl. oz. bottle for only $0.99 at my school cafeteria, and school prices are usually a bit cheaper than the outside world's, so I'm sure these cost around thirty cents more at your typical gas station or what have you.

One 20 fl. oz. bottle contains 15 calories, 0g of total fat, 15mg of sodium, 1g of total carbohydrates, 1g of sugar, and 0g of protein.
I took a big glug of this half iced tea-half lemonade combo without realizing just how sweet it was going to be. It was (and I'm quoting my own notes here) really super sweet. Potent stuff. The taste was definitely a LOT sweeter than other diet Half n' Half's I've tried. Okay- so I've only tried ONE other diet Half n' Half once before in my life, but cut me some slack- they aren't the most popular drink, and this Snapple Tea was honestly sweeter and tastier than the one I tried before. Maybe it's the fact Snapple is made with real tea leaves and all... The other Half n' Half I had was canned tea too. Ew.
But while this Snapple product was really sweet, it also contained a strong tea taste, resulting from the use of real black and green tea leaves. I could even see little black tea leave flecks in my drink. Well, either that or backwash. There was a bit of the green tea vibe in this drink, but it wasn't all bitter like what you might expect the inclusion of green tea to do to a drink. And while the tea flavor was very pronounced, so was the lemonade, which added a nice citrus-y, lemon-y accent to the drink. The flavors balanced out well to create a drink that was strong, sweet, and smooth. And the super sweetness shock did go away after about halfway through this bottle. Every time I drink Snapple it's the same thing- I'm nearly shocked by the sweetness, but it usually dies done once I get used to the taste.
I enjoyed this flavor of diet Snapple, and I wouldn't mind drinking it again. I wouldn't go out and buy a whole pack of  them from the store or anything, but it would a considerable option when I'm faced with a choice of bottled drinks at, like, a gas station or eatery or something. Yeah, maybe that isn't saying a lot, since with soda out of the equation the only other options left are flavored tea and water... But I would DEFINITELY pick this drink over water. So that's good.
I'd give Snapple's diet Half 'n Half a 7/10.

What flavors of Diet Snapple do YOU like? Write your thoughts down in the comments below!

Till' then, this has been RiRi ri-porting!

REVIEW: Nature Valley Peanut Butter Soft-Baked Oatmeal Squares

I was reaching into a box of what I THOUGHT was full of Nature Valley's Cinnamon Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares when I realized something was awfully wrong- My cinnamon senses were NOT tingling. And the box I had opened up once before ALREADY was completely sealed off. Like it was a COMPLETELY different box. Hmmm...

So then I saw that my dad had gone and bought these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares and switched them out for the Cinnamon ones while I wasn't looking. And so, I grabbed THIS oatmeal square, unaware of the switch in my lunch.

Well, I serendipitously walked into THIS review. 

I reviewed Nature Valley's Cinnamon Brown Sugar Oatmeal Squares before these ones mainly because (1) Brown Sugar Cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors of oatmeal, and (2) Peanut Butter is one of my least favorite flavors. Of anything. Well, at least when it comes to snack bars anyway. I mean, I've had my fair share of peanut butter-flavored protein/granola/whatever bars, and a lot of them have proven to be nothing special. Honestly, when IS peanut butter a unique kind of flavor, hmmm? I think I've expressed my thoughts before that peanut butter is nearly always one of the FIRST flavors a protein bar line will release ALWAYS.. And I KNOW that these oatmeal squares are clearly NOT protein bars, but I just can't help but feel peanut butter has become a BORING and OBVIOUS flavor. For anything close to a protein bar even!

So that's why I was so hesitant to try Nature Valley's peanut butter-flavored oatmeal squares. I didn't want to be disappointed by a flavor that's left me rather unsatisfied time after time. But since Dad went and bought these, I might as well suck it up and grow a pair. Now- let's review this square!

A 7.44 oz. box containing six 1.24 oz. squares costs around $3.38.

REVIEW: Nature Valley Chocolate Pretzel Nut Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bar

Maybe this craze has been around longer than I've believed it to be, but it seems like people nowadays just can't get enough of sweet and salty food pairings. Salty fried chicken and sweet, syrup-y waffles; salty cheddar cheese and sweet, cinnamon-y apple pie; salty, meaty ham and sweet, juicy pineapple; salty....... uh....... salt and sweet, buttery caramel- and let's not forget this one! Salty, crunchy pretzels and sweet, creamy milk chocolate. Oh yeah. Can't resist em'.
Odd sweet n' salty combinations have been on the rise for quite awhile now (Heck, they were even serving chocolate-covered mozzarella cheese up at the State Fair), but chocolate-covered pretzels have been a no-brainer since 1544, when pretzel-man Herr Joseph Franz von Liebniz hooked up with the chocolatier next door in Hamburg, Germany to make a truly special food combo. Ahh, Hamburg... Raising up The Beatles AND the sweet n' salty trend.
So why DOES a chocolate pretzel granola bar sound so strange to me? Maybe it's the fact that salty foods like pretzels just seem ODD in typically sweet granola bars, even if said pretzels ARE accompanied by chocolate? I don't know. But anyway, I decided to embrace this growing sweet n' salty trend by testing out Nature Valley's Chocolate Pretzel Nut Bar. One 7.4 oz. box containing six 1.2 oz. bars costs around $3.38.

REVIEW: Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal

As a little kid, I LOVED Honey Bunches of Oats. And one of the reasons I loved it so much was the fact it tasted delicious and was quote, unquote, "healthy."

As I've grown up, however, I've learned that Honey Bunches of Oats is nothing but a mere cereal made by a commercial industry to appear healthy. In reality, cereals like Krave or Rice Krispies are just about as good for you. Geez, if I had known that, I could've spent my childhood enjoying THOSE cereals instead of wasting my time on Honey Bunches!!! Well, okay- I really DID like the taste of Honey Bunches, but you get what I mean. And I'm SURE there are some of you people out there- adults, not kids- who love Honey Bunches as much as the young "me" did, but unlike the young me, realize it's not the super-mega health cereal we are led to believe. So here's a review of a product that can be best described as a Honey Bunches of Oats replacement that's actually pretty healthy: General Mills' Fiber One Honey Clusters Cereal.

 A 14.25 oz. box costs around $3.98.

REVIEW: General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal

Alright, alright... Laaaaast review of a product I'm familiar with. I swear. At least for awhile anyway. 

But, let's face it- I probably talk about General Mill's Cinnamon Toast Crunch whenever I'm reviewing cereal. It's like the product I compare everything ELSE to. On a scale of one to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, how good is this product? It's like that. So I just HAVE to give Cinnamon Toast Crunch credit where it's due. I HAVE to write some sort of post for my favorite cereal- and possibly one of my favorite foods- ever, riiight?

Listen, it's not MY fault that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is older than I am. If I was a food reviewer growing up in 1984, I'm sure I would've tried this product when it first came out and loved it just the same. But since Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been around since I was born, in fact, I can't really say what I thought of it the first time I ate it, since I was probably too young to even remember trying it for the first time. But I love this cereal NOW, and I just feel compelled to share that love with everyone!

And anyway, you might say writing a review of Cinnamon Toast Crunch is useless, since everybody and their brother has at least had it ONCE in their lifetime, but who knows? Maybe there's someone living under a rock out there who hasn't tried it, and needs to know they MUST. Must, must, must. And if not, this review is just a good way to reaffirm everyone else that this cereal is superbly superb. So let's get to it! A 12.2 oz. box costs around $2.98.