Junk Food Nation, it’s been a weekend, so I can finally process the loss of Robbie Cano.  As you may know, Robinson Cano was my favorite Yankee. I picked him because I wanted to root for a guy who came up with the Yanks and would be a fixture for a long time. And of the guys who came up with the Yanks, everyone else had lumps. I didn’t want to pick Jeter, because all my other friends were all-in with Jeter.  Everyone respected Mariano, but he wasn’t out there every day. Pettitte left for the Astros, and I wasn’t super excited about Jorge Posada. But Cano – good swing, good defense, big smile – I liked him right away.  I had my Cano #22 t-shirt before he gave the number to Roger Clemens (booo) when Clemens (BOOOOO) returned to the Yanks and Cano assumed #24.

But now he’s gone – he got his 10-year, $240 million dollar deal with the Seattle Mariners.  And I’m not happy with it.  Cano represents the last homegrown superstar the Yanks had.  While I understand the thoughts of many Yanks fans (“Good riddance with those contract demands!“)  I am not thrilled about it.  Because while I get why they weren’t willing to pay him (holding firm on the whole no-long-term deal posture), I STILL WANTED HIM IN PINSTRIPES.

I’m not in the “Yeah, well HAVE FUN WHEN HE’S 37 YEARS OLD, SEATTLE” camp.  Cano isn’t Albert Pujols, who was showing signs of decline before LA gave him a ridiculous deal.  He’s STILL batting over .300 w/ 40+ doubles and 25+ homers, and has missed a total of 12 games over the past SEVEN YEARS.  TWELVE. He’s missed ~1% of his work days due to illness or injury.  I’VE missed more work than this, and I WORK IN AN OFFICE.

Interestingly, my Red Sox friends have been all over the place on this. Before Cano signed, “You’re stupid if you pay him for ten years, he’s not worth it!” After Cano left, “You’re gonna regret not paying him, he was awesome!”

In the end, it just represents a bit of a shift for the Yanks, and I know no one really cares about this except me.  Back to some basic free agent spending with Beltran, McCann, and Ellsbury. Besides Ellsbury, McCann, and Arod, no contract that lasts past 2016. Less power, more OBP.  Is anyone else bored with this post? I am too; I’m just bumming myself out typing this.  Let’s move onto the junk food.  And, oh yeah – I’ll miss ya, Cano.

Today’s junk food: New Tostitos Fajita Scoops!

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: The Money Shot

Why do I feel like it’s been a while since Tostitos came out with anything new?  I mean, those Cantina-style chips came out a year ago, and I didn’t buy those either.  But with these New Tostitos Fajita Scoops, it looks like Frito-Lay is trying to amp up the Scoop game.

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: LET’S PARTY INDEED

Ah, another double promotion, like the Ruffles Ultimate Potato Chips and those awful Ruffles Dips being advertised together.  Here, these New Tostitos Fajita Scoops are being advertised with Queso Blanco Dip.  Yipe.

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: The Description

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops are peppery and smoky.  I can get behind that – I tend to trend away from flavored tortilla chips, if I’m dipping them into salsa, but hey – keep an open mind, right?  I guess the pepper and smoke is why they are calling these FAJITA Scoops….though I think the name is sort of tenuous, at best.

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: 130 cal per serving

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: With Soy Sauce!

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops contain soy sauce, which actually has me pretty excited.  Some of my favorite tortilla chips EVER, Cabo Chips, contained Soy Sauce – it gave the overall chip a better umami flavor, more of a mouth watering savory boost.  Ok, now, Tostitos…now that I’ve seen this, I am VERY intrigued.

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: Standard shape

When I opened this bag of New Tostitos Fajita Scoops, the first smells I got – red pepper and beans.  I typically don’t eat beans with my fajitas.  And there aren’t any beans listed in the ingredients.  But definitely – red pepper and beans.

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: Bruised with color

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops didn’t look very different than regular Tostitos Scoops with the exception of a few bruises of red, here and there.  I guess those are the flavorful parts.

I popped one in my mouth and crunched, and BAM! Definite flavor explosion.  I realize that the “beany” smell I was getting was actually more a cumin flavor.  The red pepper and other pepper powders came through sweet – almost like a tomato powder.  In a lot of ways, these sort of tasted like a Dorito, and reminded me of the Doritos Late Night Taco flavor that was being made at some point.

The crunch on these, due to the scoop form, was very good.  But since they ARE Scoops, I need salsa.  So the Junk Food Gal came through and quickly whipped some up…

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: With Salsa!

New Tostitos Fajita Scoops: With Salsa!

One of favorite salsas – just tomato, jalapeno, white onion, and lime.  Dice, combine, and let marinate for an hour or two.  These New Tostitos Fajita Scoops plus salsa were pretty awesome, I have to admit. There’s a smokiness that I got from the combo of peppers and cumin that I normally wouldn’t have tasted in a tortilla chip, and it was kind of cool eating that flavor with a fresh salsa.

So, without salsa, I thought these were generally tasty – a Mexican-flavored chip.  But WITH salsa? These were REALLY good, adding an additional flavor element to an already flavorful-bright mouthful.

I will definitely buy these again.

PURCHASED AT: Giant

COST: $4.14 (sale)

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy