Junk Food Nation, it’s time to look back and see how I did with my NFL playoff predictions!  Here are the results:

AFC EAST: Predicted: Patriots. Actual: Patriots.
AFC WEST: Predicted: Broncos. Actual: Broncos.
AFC NORTH: Predicted: Bengals. Actual: Bengals.
AFC SOUTH: Predicted: Colts. Actual: Colts.
AFC Wildcards: Predicted: Texans and Steelers. Actual: Chiefs and Charges.

Nailed every single AFC division winner (BOOM) but totally missed on the wildcards.  Moving onto the NFC:

NFC EAST: Predicted: Redskins. Actual: Philly.  (Oof.  I picked the Eagles to finish LAST.  Yuck.)
NFC WEST: Predicted: Niners. Actual: Seattle.
NFC NORTH: Predicted: Packers. Actual: Packers (BY THE SKIN OF MY TEETH)
NFC SOUTH: Predicted: Falcons. Actual: Panthers (WHAT).
NFC Wildcards: Predicted: Seahawks and Saints. Actual: Niners and Saints.

HUGE swings/misses on the Falcons and Redskins.  Just awful.  But despite it all, I actually got four playoff teams (Packers, Saints, Niners, Seahawks) right, in one form or the other.  Yeah, I know…for football aficionados, this wasn’t a huge stretch.

Some other predictions I had were Peyton as the NFL MVP, the Pats over the Broncos in the AFC, the Seahawks over the Saints in the NFC.  We’ll revisit those later – I don’t think those are bad gambles, actually.

As far as this weekend?  I’ll take KC on the road over Indy (without Reggie Wayne, I’m not too impressed with the Colts, sorry), I’ll take Philly at home over the Saints (Drew Brees is not the same QB outdoors. Iggles take care of bidness), I’ll take Cincy at home over Chargers (I’ve been a huge SD fan but they didn’t look great against the KC second string and Cincy is perfect at home, 8-0), and I’ll take SF over the Packers on the road (the closest matchup of all – GB’s offense will be fine, but it startled me how bad their defense looked against Jay Cutler.  Yuck.)

What’re your predictions? How did YOUR playoff predictions work out? Tell me in the comments below.

Today’s junk food: Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps!

Ah, Stacy’s.  Who doesn’t love their Pita Crisps, dipped into veggie dip or into hummus?  I know I do. Plus, her mom has got it goin’ on.  I’ve reviewed plenty of Stacy’s products on this blog, including some Pretzel Bread Crisps.  But with Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps, the company has trended towards a sweet route…and I like it!

See here’s the thing: I’m excited for these Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps, because I LOVE banana bread.  My mom used to make it.  I eat bananas all the time.  Office colleagues have made a billion iterations of banana bread over the years.  AND I LOVE ALL OF IT.  So now, banana bread CHIPS?? I’ve never heard of such a thing. But why hasn’t someone come up with this before??

A play by play on how these are made.  I’m sure it’s not THAT easy, Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps, but thanks for making me think so.

Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps with coffee? Ok.  With…berries?  Er….right.  Adding preserves or toppings? NOW you’re blowing my mind!  With…Nutella?  Holy sh*t.

Anytime Banana Puree is in the top three ingredients of a snack, I’m all in.

Treat Yo SELF!

Ok, first of all, the fact that these Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps actually look like little slices of banana bread, with the semi-domed top and everything, is pretty amazing.  AND with nuts slices and embedded within?  Love the attention to detail, Stacy’s.

The opened bag smelled like banana bread, I guess.  I mean, I know what banana bread smells like, and it doesn’t really smell like banana.  It has a distinct warm and toasty smell, maybe with a hint of banana.  This smelled like that – pretty spot on.

These Stacy’s Bake Shop Banana Nut Bakery Crisps were super crunchy, like you’d expect from a bread crisp.  Like a crostini or a bagel chips – these were semi thick cut and had plenty of crunch.

The flavor, I thought, was DEAD. ON.  LOTS of banana bread flavor.  Started out not too sweet, not too sugary, just some good starch taste with a little cinnamon.  As I chewed, the nuttiness came out, and then the sweetness started to grow, until the sweet banana bread flavor took over.  Like real banana bread, the main sweetness was in the banana flavor, not in some cloying sweet sugar. Yes, I know sugar was the first ingredient above.

All in all, these crisps were FRIGGIN AWESOME for those who like banana bread.  One of my favorite new products of 2014!  BOOM.

PURCHASED AT: Super Walmart

COST: $3.48 on sale

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

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy