Review: New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread & The NFL Refs Are Back!….Now What??

Junk Food Nation, the refs are back, the refs are back!!!   Err………..now what? And I say “now what” with all seriousness, because I keep asking myself, “So will the games be better now?”

In a lot of ways, I think YES.  The real refs (presumably) will be better at judging pass interference and illegal contact.  Will there be a blown call?  Sure…but at least (I hope) I won’t feel like the zebras are guessing out there like the replacements.

The real refs will stop all the BS shoving after the play is done…only because I think the players will refrain from doing it now.  Before, with the replacements, it was like taking advantage of the substitute teacher when the real one was sick.  Now, with the real refs in place, the players who have been belly aching about game play the whole time will try to act the part and at least “act” like they respect the real refs’ presence.

And most of all, the real refs will at least know the RULES about running off time, where to line up, how many timeouts a team has, etc.  And that will speed up games generally so I’m not up to midnight watching these matches.

Will the real refs make mistakes still? Yes.  But I truly believe the game flow will be cleaner.  The ultimate problem with the replacements wasn’t that they were ALL bad, but that SOME were bad – and there was uncertainty amongst players how to play the game. Not good. I believe that with the real refs back, while you might still throw a beer can at the TV disagreeing with their judgment calls, you won’t be pulling your hair out because they don’t know the rules their judgment calls are based on.

So welcome back, refs!

Today’s junk food: New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread!

New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread: The Money Shot

Is New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread junk food? Well, it is when you do as I do and can just sit around eating slice after slice of bread until you realize half the loaf is gone and you’ve consumed over 700 calories.  Two slices of Swirl bread has almost as many calories as a McDonald’s Hamburger.  Yup.

My friend Nick first clued me into this new bread, and when I saw it at my local Safeway, I pounced.

Who DOESN’T like strawberry banana

By the way, you don’t know what it’s like to have your brain always tuned into spotting new products.  When I saw this New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread, I literally has a euphoric release in my head and told myself with a sly smile, “Well, now I HAVE to buy this.”  It’s sort of a curse…I can’t walk by a new product and NOT buy it now.  My wallet hurts sometimes.

That said, Strawberry Banana bread? How does that NOT sound amazing??  I’d reviewed Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread and Cranberry Swirl Bread before…sort of hit or miss.  How would this stack up?

Full of great calories!

New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread is a weird concept to me, because no one out there BAKES strawberry banana bread.  At least I’ve never heard of it.  You?

Purple Sweet potatoes for color?

New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread has some wacky ingredients.  cranberries in addition to strawberries, elderberry juice, and purple sweet potatoes.  Also, this nonfat milk “adds a trivial amount of cholesterol”???  Thanks for deciding FOR me, Pepperidge Farm!

Smelled delicious 🙂

New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread did smell good out of the bag, I must be honest, small hint of banana, but just a nice fresh scent of a sweet bread.  Nicely sliced, and spongy feel.  Just a normal, processed bread – not overly crumbly, not flaky, just squishy.  Artificial? Perhaps…but I appreciated its consistency in this case.

Swirls of strawberry…I think.

I took a bite of this New Limited Edition Pepperidge Farm Strawberry Banana Swirl Bread, and was pleased!  Knocked off my feet? No.  But pleased.

The bread was, as I mentioned before, soft.  The first taste I got was definitely a sweet bread, but not overly sweet – this wasn’t a pastry.  No, it was soft chewy bread with a hint of banana sweetness.  Regular banana bread is pretty sweet and this had that same banana feel without as much sugar.  There were spots of banana..sauce?…throughout the bread that helped boost that flavor.

The swirl of strawberry didn’t scream out STRAWBERRY to me, instead it tasted like a general berry swirl. It was sweet and tangy, and had a hint of cinnamon that helped pull together the berry and banana bread flavors.  The crust of this bread did provide a TINY bit of baked-in taste which helped amplify the banana bread feel.

Overall, didn’t knock my socks off, but I liked it.  And I think the flavor profile, while mild, did a decent job of representing the flavors.  If there had been more distinct strawberry flavor, then this would’ve been a full thumbs up.  Right now…half crooked thumbs up.

PURCHASED AT: Safeway Grocery

COST: $4.39, but with coupons, I knocked it down to $2.09 🙂 OH YEAAAH

Thoughts? Please comment below (I always reply) or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy

Discuss - 25 Comments

  1. Nick Rovo says:

    Thank god the refs are back. Now hopefully the pats will step up their game more as well. Also I’m glad you were able to find the bread. Any luck with the other kind I sent in that picture as well?(don’t want to ruin the surprise if you’re reviewing it next=p)

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Nick: Couldn’t find the other. Weird that this Safeway would have one and NOT the other…hmmmm

    • Nick Rovo says:

      That is weird, especially since the other one is the more seasonal item. Maybe it’ll show up sometime soon.

    • Will says:

      I’m happy that the refs are back, but I kind of wish they fired there asses. I know the league isn’t innocent either but I feel the refs were just so greedy. How many part time employees do you know that have pensions. On that note the game is going to be better.

      @nick, ya hopefully the pats will pick up there game. This is going to be a tough game in buff. I think Fred Jackson might play this week for buff. He has been pretty tough against the pats in the past.

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Will: is the Pats / Bills game the national 1pm on CBS?

    • Will says:

      @jfg, I’m not sure. I know they play here on CBS on Sunday. I’m on twitter, now I’m tying to learn how to use it

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Will: are you will09boston?

    • Will says:

      @jfg, yes I am

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Will: Nice…I’ll have to hit you up during the pats-bills game

  2. TWO slices equals a HAMBURGER??? No wonder this country is FAT!!!

  3. Eilish says:

    The pumpkin bread is yummy with butter and cinnamon toasted :p

  4. Lindemann says:

    I always enjoy the close reading you give to the back of the package. “Thanks for deciding for me” is exactly what I think when I read stuff like that skim-milk disclaimer.

  5. Lisa says:

    I’m trying to find where i can buy this bread, I am a single mom of two boys and my youngest has cystic fibrosis and has a feeding tube, he doesnt eat a lot of bread products, but i got this bread given to me at a food bank and he absolutely loves it and needs the calories and carbs. Can anyone tell me where I can find it? I live in Illinois. TY

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Lisa: Yeah, I found it in my normal grocery here in DC….Pepperidge Farm is weird with their distribution circles. I might write them directly or order it on Amazon.

    • Jennifer says:

      Get it at Walmart (I live in Illinois and that is where I got it). 2.99 per loaf! 🙂

  6. Jenn says:

    @Lisa I got this bread at Walmart and I live in Illinois! It is $2.99 a loaf there.

  7. Pattie says:

    This was really good. I must admit I had four slices!! Real Butter!! yummy!!

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