Junk Food Nation, it’s March Madness time.  Everyone get ready for endless basketball watching, my belt tightening due to all the Cheetos I will consume, and ridiculous drops in productivity at work.  Seriously, whose bright idea was it to allow games to be streamed on the internet?  Because I’d like to shake that person’s hand.  Two years ago, I had eight coworkers in my office with the lights off as we hid and watched Morehead State upset Louisville 62-61 on my computer.  We all cheered huge when the buzzer sounded, and then looked angrily at each other with fingers over our lips SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP.

This year, it’s all about upsets.  Gonzaga is the first no. 1 seed from a small conference that I can ever remember.  The WCC?  Are you serious? Well, Gonzaga is, as they’ve won 14 straight games and finished no. 1 in the regular season polls.  Still, I predict them to go down early. After all, Gonzaga upset the whole balance.  Typically the four number 1 seeds are the Big East champ, the Big 10 champ, the Big 12 champ, and then the ACC champ. With Gonzaga in there, one of those four had to be knocked out… sorry Duke/Miami.

I’m a Kansas fan, but my pick this year is going to Louisville.  Why? Because they have been quiet assassins all season.  I mean, yes, they’ve been good all year, holding the No. 1 spot for a single week in the middle of the season.  And yes, they did finish the season tied for first in the Big East.  But at least for me, who watches Sportscenter constantly, the talk all season has been about Indiana, Gonzaga, Indiana, Duke, Indiana, Indiana, Miami, etc.  Louisville gets some mentions here and there without real attention being paid to their own 10-game win streak. Of the four #1 seeds, I consider them the most likely to win. And I never bet against the Big East…sort of.  (Indiana? Please.  They couldn’t win their own conference tournament AND COULD YOU BEAT WISCONSIN AT SOME POINT??)

Anyways, what’re your thoughts on the brackets, now that they are out?  Play-in game action starts tomorrow night!

Today’s junk food: Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit!

So, last week I reviewed the Roasted Sweet Onion Brown Rice Triscuit and gave it a great review – so tasty.   But all you out there in flavor town should know there are many different varieties of these Triscuits:

@ Walmart

@ Safeway

These Brown Rice Triscuits are everywhere!  No, I’m not going to review every flavor – that’d be boring – despite buying every single flavor on the shelf (which is sort of embarrassing).  Anyways, today I’m tackling the Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit.  Let’s flip through some photos, and get right to the taste!

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: The Money Shot

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: I chose the Roasted Red Pepper flavor over Tomato Basil because I wanted to see whether I could taste the red bean

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: Shrimp AND guacamole??? I’m not THAT fancy, Triscuit!

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: standard caloric count

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: red beans, bell pepper powder, and tomato powder.  I’m predicting some tang.

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: beany!

When I opened the box of these Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuits, I did indeed smell a faint smell of red bean.  Odd, but it was there, and recognizable.  There was a slight tang smell, attributable, I’m guessing, to the tomato powder.  Now, the taste!

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuit: like…salsa?

Roasted Red Pepper Brown Rice Triscuits were pretty good!  Personally, I liked the Sweet Onion ones better, but these were definitely tasty.

The crunch of these were the same as the sweet onion variety – crispier than a traditional Triscuit, with some of that nice rice cracker crunch.  Still the cracker did maintain some of that “shredded wheat” quality, so overall, this was just a lighter, crunchier Triscuit.

The flavor was VERY accurate, IMO.  As I chewed the crackers, I could definitely make out an undertone of red bean flavor, which increased as I chewed – almost as if I were “chewing out” the red bean flavor.  On top of that, there was a nice savory red pepper taste!  It had a tang that came from the tomato powder, and a savoriness that I’m sure came from the garlic and onion powders, but the flavor was immediately recognizable to me as roasted red pepper.  As someone who likes roasted red peppers on sandwiches, this was a spot on flavor.

My only complaint would be that the red pepper flavor was sort of inconsistent through the box.  The sweet onion Triscuits EACH had amazing onion flavor – these were hit or miss depending on the chip.  On the ones that hit, however, it was tasty.  The mix of bean and pepper flavor almost reminded me of a Latin flavor…which was sort of cool.

Anyways, these were good too. 😛

PURCHASED AT: Safeway

COST: $3.00

Thoughts? Please comment below 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 do this.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy