Review: Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies & Look Back on My NBA Predictions
Junk Food Nation, Happy Earth Day! Plant a tree, don’t leave the water running, and stop throwing cans in the trash (WHO THE HELL STILL DOES THIS?? My co-workers, that’s who – heathens).
We’re in the midst of NBA playoffs, so let’s take a look at how my 2013-2014 NBA predictions ended up.
PREDICTED for the EAST: 1. Miami. 2. Indiana. 3. New York. 4. Cleveland. 5. Brooklyn. 6. Chicago. 7. Detroit. 8. Washington.
ACTUAL for the EAST: 1. Indiana. 2. Miami. 3. Toronto. 4. Chicago. 5. Washington. 6. Brooklyn. 7. Charlotte. 8. Atlanta.
RESULT: 5 out of 8 correct
Where I went right: First of all, picking seeds is IMPOSSIBLE. I’ve learned that now. Also, wasn’t hard to pick Miami and Indiana – everyone pre-season had them going 1-2, in some order. I banked on Brooklyn simply because of veteran experience. Chicago still had Derrick Rose at the time. AND MY WIZNUTS MADE THE PLAYOFFS (*cough* nervously biting my nails for Game 2 tonight. Yikes. Mark it – I’m not counting any chickens)
Where I went wrong: Some bad quotes from my predictions. “Noah just never steps up.” Completely wrong. Regarding Cleveland: “If Bynum gives them ANYTHING – big win.” Yep, Bynum’s a Pacer now. I had Detroit in the playoffs? Ugh. Plus, I DID like the addition of Metta World Peace to the Knicks – before they waived him in February. Sigh.
PREDICTED for the WEST: 1. OKC. 2. Golden State. 3. Houston. 4. Minnesota. 5. Clippers. 6. San Antonio. 7. Memphis. 8. Denver.
ACTUAL for the WEST: 1. San Antonio. 2. OKC. 3. Clippers. 4. Houston. 5. Portland. 6. Golden State. 7. Memphis. 8. Dallas.
RESULT: 6 out of 8 correct
Where I went right: Again, not hard to pick San Antonio, OKC, Clippers, and Houston for the playoffs. Golden State and Memphis were sort of easy too, given their divisions and having most of their teams intact from last year. Did I expect San Antonio to be in the 1 or 2 spot for the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW? Nope.
Where I went wrong: Underestimating San Antonio. Again. Thinking Minnesota had any talent outside of Kevin Love. I mean, 3rd in Points Scored, 6th in Rebounds, 5th in Assists – HOW IS THIS TEAM NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS? Oh….26th overall in Points Allowed. That’s how. So…4th worst in the league. Does this team know how to play defense??? Last in the league in blocks. So…nope. I certainly didn’t see Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge putting together this type of year. And Denver vs. Dallas…meh. To think I almost put in New Orleans over both of these teams.
So, overall, I got 11 of 16 teams correct going to the playoffs…which is about average, since I think a duck could’ve predicted 10 of these. Whatevs. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs, Nation!
Today’s junk food: Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies!
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: The Money Shot
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies were pointed out to me locally by my buddy Steve, and I’ve been searching for them ever since I saw them on The Impulsive Buy. I’ve done a lot of Muddy Buddies reviews on this blog, always griping that the underlying flavor is NOT Muddy Buddies – the familiar choco-peanut butter mix. Really, I just think if Chex Mix wants to make powdered sugar confections, they should come up with a different name. Powdered Sugar Buddies? Sugarcerealpowder Buddies? ….what? I’m no branding expert here.
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: PIECE O PIE
Anyways, Chex Mix choosing to go the lemon meringue route with this bag is super intriguing to me. Fruit flavor in Chex Mix? Will each individual piece have a bit o’ lemon inside of it? Because that would amazing.
But I’m guessing…nope.
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: This whole bag has over 1200 calories!?
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: Hmmm no lemon
Besides the fact that this bag of Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies has over 1200 calories, it also contains no lemon. Boooo. Plus, why is “Color Added” so high on the ingredient list? Yikes.
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: Standard look
Like other Muddy Buddies, these Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies looked like Chex cereal pieces doused in powdered sugar. I will give it credit though – when I sniffed the open bag, it really DID smell like lemon meringue! Or, like when you smell the lemon goo filling into a lemon filled donut. Decent lemon smell, seriously. Time for a taste.
Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies: Nothing inside
Despite not having any bits of lemon insides, these Chex Mix Lemon Meringue Muddy Buddies actually (1) tasted pretty good, and (2) SORT of tasted lemon-y! The flavor was not QUITE lemon meringue, despite the near spot-on smell.
The flavor of the cereal was sweet, and had some fruity-lemon flavor. But combined with the corn cereal, the fruit flavor came off a bit more muted. Then the powdered sugar punch up the flavor overall. The result? These tasted a LOT like Trix, or Fruit Loops. Honestly – I couldn’t stop thinking about those cereal when eating this bag. I guess if I stopped and thought, I could SORT OF rationalize a lemon meringue flavor, given the slight confectionery creaminess of all the powdered sugar. But the flavor was basically Trix.
Lucky for me, I LIKE TRIX. So I thought these were pretty good, though not mind blowing. I’d eat these again, but don’t expect any Meyer Lemon enjoyment from these if you buy them. These are just nice crunchy bits of cereal, with some basic lemon-fruity flavor and lots and lots of sugar. Can’t really go wrong there.
PURCHASED AT: Giant
COST: $2.99 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
Discuss - 15 Comments
I am a Chex Mix junkie but have never liked any of the Muddy Buddy varieties (although admittedly have not given them all a try). The lemon does seem intriguing and as a serial cereal mixer as I jumble all types together, these could be good for that.
The Pacers are a joke, I would never have imagined this 4 months ago. What a fold.
Go Nets!
@Marc P: Hmmm – I wonder what you could mix these with? Back when I reviewed Lemon Chocolate PF Milano cookies, I noted I liked the mix of choco and lemon. Maybe some of this Lemon Chex Mix would go well with cocoa puffs! heh heh.
Also, Pierce was NOT happy after last night’s game. Yikes.
First of all they could had used real lemon juice or dried zest in the mix to give off real lemon taste. Plus maybe slightly toast the mix give it more toasted flavor like the lemon meringue pie usually have a nice browned top.
@Alek: yeah, they really just should’ve used some zest…I wonder if it just didn’t come together, chemically.
I had these a month or two ago and thought they were so-so, about the same reaction as you. Could be better, but no trouble finishing the bag (over the course of a week or two). That said, if you’re so inclined you can make these yourself with powdered sugar and lemon juice, maybe zest?, etc. I think I found the recipe on the chex website. It tastes good, but of the 3 times I’ve made them, twice they got too soft too quick, still not sure how to fix that.
@Dana: Interesting, making them yourself. Do you end up tossing them with juice at the end?
You mix juice and zest with white chocolate chips and melt it all together to combine with the Chex. http://www.chex.com/Recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=49162&CategoryId=447
It’s not hard, but like I said it’s hard to keep them from getting soggy for some reason.
@Dana: OH Juice plus white chocolate. Innnnnnnteresting
We don’t got no Giants in Boise, so hope WalMart or something else gets them in. I kinda wanna try these.
@RunInBoise- if you find it, let me know what you think
Hey, Dana – I’ve made that recipe a few times and I love it! I think the key is to toss them with plenty of powdered sugar. They are softer than the PB/chocolate version, but I’ve never experienced “soggy”. Maybe the soggy factor would be lessened if you coated them once, then tossed them in sugar again after an hour or so.
@Jeni: And how is the lemon flavor?
I’m pretty sure I add in more zest than the recipe requires, so for me it’s fairly intense.
I was so psyched when I saw the Lemon Meringue Chex Muddy Buddies. I love Lemon and confectioners sugar.. So of course I bought 2 bags. I was so disappointed when I tried them. They dont resemble lemon in any sense of the word. They remind me of just sugared Chex. Please let me know when you have added Lemon Flavor to them. hint: the more tart the better 🙂
@Tonya: Yeah, some suggested these would taste better if they were tossed in lemon juice.