Tiramisu ice cream is Blue Bell’s latest

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

— Blue Bell has an interesting new limited-edition flavor named Tiramisu. The word tiramisu, when translated from Italian, means “pick me up,” and this flavor will do just that. The combination of coffee ice cream, cake pieces, dark chocolate flakes, creamy caramel sauce and a swirl of whipped topping is a delicious twist on the traditional recipe made with ladyfingers dipped in strong coffee.

This new flavor should be in major stores now, where a half-gallon container costs $4 to $6.

Kraft recently debuted its new line of Velveeta Cheesy Skillets Dinner Kits ($2).They’re reminiscent of the Hamburger Helper products that have been on the market for years, and are just as convenient. The kits come in four varieties - Zesty BBQ Chicken, Chicken and Broccoli, Ultimate Cheeseburger Mac and Nacho Supreme.

We tried the Zesty BBQ at home and it was good. It came with pasta, a dried vegetable blend, and pouches of barbecue sauce and Velveeta cheese sauce. All I had to do was add my own chicken, and the dish came together quickly and with little effort. The end result was a pretty good dish, with a hint of sweet barbecue sauce that I found delicious.

Pizza roll lovers have a new option from Totino’s, a product named Pizza Stuffers. The filling is like that found in their smaller pizza rolls and the crust is more like a Hot Pocket, but they’re pretty tasty. They come in pepperoni, cheese and combination flavors, and can be prepared in a conventional oven, toaster oven or microwave.

Look for Pizza Stuffers in the frozen snack section, where a 14-ounce box of four should cost $3 to $4.

Mars Chocolate North America has launched a new line of Marathon Smart Stuff bars that are perfect for the lunch bag or on-the-go snacking. They contain 3 to 5 grams of fat per serving and 140 calories or less each, and have no high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners.

The bars come in four flavors - Crunchy Multi Grain, Crunchy Chocolate Crisp, Honey Graham and Crunchy Trail Mix, and are sold as single bars (89 cents) and 8-count multi packs ($7). Look for them at Walgreens, or you can shop the whole line of Marathon products online at Marathon-Bars.com.

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Food, Pages 35 on 09/14/2011