New Chef Boyardee "Sealife Forkables" With The Easy Open Can!

Jason from our purchasing department found this unique new offering on his latest foodstuff quest. This Chef Boyardee product has pasta shaped not only as sealife, but to also specifically be 'forkable', however we think a 'spork' would work well here too. For the sale price of 99 cents we thought this was a nice offering. Plus, as all Priders know, the easy pull tab can earns bonus points of course.

THE CARL'S JR. GUACAMOLE BACON BURGERS EXPAND OFFERINGS - Also To Be Honored As Official Burgers of the California Avocado Festival

CARPINTERIA, Calif. September 24 It is not easy to make really good guacamole, which may explain why Carls Jr. is the only fast-food chain to have had so much success with guacamole-topped burgers and chicken sandwiches in the past that it made the Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger a permanent menu offering in 2003. Carl's Jr. prepares its guacamole fresh daily, mixing real salsa also made fresh every day – with real avocado and starting today the chain's customers can order from a full line of Guacamole Bacon Burgers, including the single, double and Six Dollar Burger varieties. 'Carls Jr. has always had great success introducing menu items that deliver more authentic tastes and flavors than our competitors would ever attempt' said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carls Jr. 'So, we naturally wanted to prepare guacamole like people do at home, with real avocados and fresh salsa, to make our Guacamole Bacon Burgers taste like something you'd be more likely to find only in sit-down restaurants. It's that kind of quality that helped get the Guacamole Bacon Burgers selected as the official burgers of the California Avocado Festival, and those people know good guacamole when they taste it!'. Already hailed as 'Best Burger 2007' by Best of Citysearch, the Guacamole Bacon Burgers will be feted as the official burgers during the 2008 California Avocado Festival. One of the largest street festivals in California, the Avocado Festival takes place in Carpinteria,CA, home to Carls Jr. corporate headquarters. 'We are proud to name the Carls Jr. Guacamole Bacon Burgers the official burgers of the California Avocado Festival. We are especially excited to celebrate it from right here in Carpinteria,' said Gary Dobbins, president of the California Avocado Festival. 'We are the third largest avocado producing region in North America and the festival is a great place to celebrate and sample the fruits of our labor.' The 22nd Annual California Avocado Festival kicks off October 3 and is a free three-day celebration of avocados in downtown Carpinteria. The event includes 30 food booths, 40 musical and entertainment acts on three stages and more than 70 arts and crafts vendors. The event even includes a guacamole competition. For more information, visit www.avofest.com. The Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger features a charbroiled 100 percent Black Angus beef patty topped with guacamole, two strips of bacon, two slices of pepper-Jack cheese, Santa Fe sauce, red onions, tomato and lettuce on a seeded bun. Carls Jr. will also now offer a single Guacamole Bacon Burger as well as a double Guacamole Bacon Burger version. Price for the Guacamole Bacon Six Dollar Burger is $4.99 a la carte, $3.29 for a single, and $4.29 for the double. Prices may vary. About Carls Jr: Carls Jr. is celebrating more than 65 years in the quick-service industry. What began as a lone hot dog cart in Los Angeles , Calif. in 1941 is today an international organization that employs nearly 30,000 people worldwide. Carls Jr. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: CKR) of Carpinteria , Calif. As of the second fiscal quarter ended September 8, 2008, CKE Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,100 franchised or company-operated restaurants in 42 states and in 14 countries, including 1,170 Carls Jr. restaurants and 1,917 Hardees restaurants. For more information, or to find a Carls Jr. near you, go to www.ckr.com or www.carlsjr.com. CLICK BELOW TO VISIT: 2008 California Avocado Festival

The FPT Oregon State Drifter Reviews: Pizza Boys Plus LLC

Our friend in Oregon, who drifts from town to town has checked in with another restaurant review for us. This time he drifted into Lake Oswego, Oregon and visited Pizza Boys Plus LLC. Here are his comments: "Having just got off the train (hobo style), I wandered into this smaller sized place that is located in the middle of a small strip of assorted storefronts. It caught my eye as they have the walls decorated with actual vintage rock album covers. They offer a wide variety of items besides pizza - all of the items are named after rock and roll stars or albums. For example they have the "Meaty Ted Nugent Pizza" & the "Fly Like An Eagle Burger", among many other clever names. I was not in the mood for pizza or a burger so I went with the "Grace Slick Chicken Strips and Fries" (partially pictured above). Cooked fresh to order these were excellent - portion was nice and large: 3 large chicken strips on a large bed of fries and lots o' dippin sauce provided (as was the price for lunch - 7.00). Many unique things about this restaurant. Perhaps the most unique is that it is an LLC (limited liability company). I have been drifting all over for years dining and this is the first time I have seen this type of corporation for a restaurant. I have seen this business set-up mostly with law offices and doctors myself." For those not up on their legal terms: Limited liability is a concept whereby a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability. A shareholder in a limited company is not personally liable for any of the debts of the company, other than for the value of his investment in that company. Pizza Boys Plus LLC Website

Who Can Guess The Crawfish Crate Weight?

Nobody said it would be easy. Based on what you can see in the above photo the FPT Team is asking readers to guess how many pounds of crawfish (crawdads) are in the above box? Please use the comments link below to enter. First "Prider" to hit the mark will win a bundle of drive-thru coupons.

Jelly Belly "Buttered Popcorn" Flavor Jelly Beans - WOW

WOW - most of the staff here could not say much else after trying these truly unique jelly beans. The fine folks at Jelly Belly nailed this flavor. They taste like warm popcorn - hard to explain - we recommend you just get a box and enjoy. Nuff said. Notice we got ours on special - originally 2.29/marked down to 99 cents. A steal for that price.

The FPT Team Chooses Best Dollar Spent On Food In All Of Las Vegas.

Black2ooph, our Las Vegas team member checked in tonight with what he he believes is the best spent buck in all of Las Vegas. For priders, the strongest point on this good-looking special is the option to purchase and consume another 2 more shrimp cocktails at the same price as many rounds as you can keep eating. "The shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino in Downtown Las Vegas is the best deal in town at only .99 Cents!! The cocktail sauce is good, has a nice kick to it. The shrimp are always fresh and tasty. Only problem is it is a limit 2 per person. But you can eat your two, and then go back and get two more!"

Mickey's Beer Cap Puzzle Website With Symbol Clues, Puzzle Generator And Visitor Submissions Gallery Fixed!

The fine people at Mickey's Beer have stepped up to the plate and got their beer cap puzzle section of their website fixed up very nicely. As a visitor you can get clues for symbols in the library, generate your own personal puzzle cap and download the image, and view the visitor generated "6-pack Hall of Fame" puzzle gallery. Below we have a cap puzzle generated by one of our readers for you to decipher. Please post your answers to the puzzle by using the comments link below. First prider to get it dead right will win a fast food coupon bundle via USPS from the FPT test kitchens. OCTOBER 2009 UPDATE: Our team has launched a new site with symbol by symbol answers for the Mickey's beer cap puzzle collection. There will be new cap answers posted daily until we get the whole known collection up.

We are looking for photo submissions of caps if anyone can help us with that. If you have a specific cap you are trying to solve, please email us with the link found in the right column of this page. We will solve it and post it ASAP.

Mickey's Beer Caps Answer Board

Oregon Reader Reviews Pizza Hut New Tuscani Pasta & Pizza Special

Our long time correspondant from the Oregon coast took a 'leap of faith' and had the new Pizza Hut "Tuscani Pasta" and medium pizza combo and bread sticks for $19.99 delivered. You may have seen the commercial on television where they 'borrowed' the 'fake restaurant' premise from Carls' Jr./Hardee's to see if diners think its from a fancy white tablecloth restaurant. (come on now Pizza Hut - get your own advertsing ideas) Here is our reader review: Photo is of the Pizza Hut "Tuscani Pasta" and medium pizza combo which came with bread sticks for $19.99. It was the bacon macaroni - cheese variety of pasta. overall it was not bad, the pizza was a bit light on the toppings, but their consistency is never great. I was mainly getting the pasta but was down for the bundle. I would reccomend this as a good meal for 2-3 regulars, or 1 prider. GRADE: B-

The FPT Team Puts The Carl's Jr. 6 Dollar Burgers To The Test

Perhaps you have seen the commercial on television where Carl's Jr. sets up a "fake restaurant" and lets diners order fancy burgers in the 15.00 range from a menu and waiter. They then serve them one of their 6 dollar Angus beef burgers and their responses. The FPT test kitchens are on the west coast, these same burgers are also served in the east at Hardee's. Carl's had an elaborate well done set-up with white tablecloths and chefs with tall hats in their fake restaurant. The staff here at the FPT wanted to try the same switch-off on some unsuspecting friends, however we did not do it such a grand style. (you can watch the commercial and more with the link at the end of this post). Our switch was pulled off by telling a friend that we had some gift cards for a local "fancy pants" restaurant that were going to expire soon. We recommended that they try the 'prime rib burger' as it "was the best and most spendy burger that our gift card restaurant offered. Both of our 'guinea pigs' happily said that sounded good and to keep them fooled, fake cell phone calls were made to order the burgers for pick-up. Using a simple made-up excuse, we arranged it so that we could swap the Carl's Jr. burgers into plain white to-go containers. We also got french fries to go with as Carl's now serves a new 'some skin left on' fry that are REALLY good and look like something from a sit-down restaurant as well. The pictures above are from the pick-up - we did not think it smart to take photos of them eating the burgers as they know us well enough that they could figure out that "we might be up to something". What happened? Our friends never had a clue - they ate the burgers very slowly (maybe when you think you are eating a 15.00 burger you think it deserves more face time than something from a drive-thru). They both absolutely loved them and the fries as well. Nothing but thank you's and WOW that was really really good was said from our 'fooled' friends. We did let them in on the whole thing after letting the meal get settled in their bellies. Laughs were had by all. During both experiments we both had our own burgers as well. The 6 dollar prime rib burger is truly excellent - especially the ciabatta bun. Also special props to the new french fries - best 'drive-thru' fries that you can find right now. Official Fake Restaurant Website

Mickey's Beer Cap Puzzle Answers Website With Photo Gallery and More

Tory, our long-time web researcher/crawler stumbled upon what appeared to be the ultimate collection of 'rebus' beer cap puzzles with answers. He found the official Mickey's Beer webpage - which is very well done - with one exception. Upon clicking on the 'puzzle generator' and 'answer center', he found that there is nothing there to view. The gallery of cap images does not load up, you can generate your own cap puzzle however it does not save it for show on the webpage as stated. Obviously, the entire staff here at the FPT test kitchens was very disapointed. On the webpage is a link to 'talk to us' (Mickey's Beer Co.) - we encourage all who read this to contact them and let them know that we would like to see this website up and fully stocked with cap answers and the other offerings. www.mickeys.com October 2009 Update: Our team has launched a new site with symbol by symbol answers for the Mickey's beer cap puzzle collection. There will be new cap answers posted daily until we get the whole known collection up.

We are looking for photo submissions of caps if anyone can help us with that. If you have a specific cap you are trying to solve, please email us with the link found in the right column of this page. We will solve it and post it ASAP.

Mickey's Beer Caps Answer Board

Win Food & Beverages Online With McDonald's "Stack My Mac" Game

McDonald's has put a video game online that you can play and try to win Big Mac sandwiches and Dr.Pepper beverages. It plays kind of like a Tetris game - with the player moving icons to create rows of three and trying to keep the Dr.Pepper glass full as well - which if goes dry, your game is over. Rodney in our digital photography lab is the current FPT staff leader. Post your score/prizes below in 'comments' if you think you are the real deal. Stack My Mac Video Game

We Endorse The Petition For A USPS Colonel Sanders Postage Stamp

Kentucky Fried Chicken has launched a campaign to honor the man who has provided us with countless buckets of tasty bird withh 11 herbs and spices for decades by lobbying the United States Postal Service to issue a stamp bearing his image. The staff here at the FPT test kitchens strongly encourages you to visit the link below where you can read and 'sign' the petition online. KFC Colonel Stamp Petition Page

New "Name This Foodstuff" Contest - Running 5 Days Only

Think you can recognize the foodstuff above? Think you can handle a page of Arby's coupons and a page of KFC coupons by being the first to post the correct answer? Then use the comment link below to go for it. Easy to play - No need to sign-up or anything to post a comment.

Thanks For Your Support - Sometime Today The Fat Pride Times Passes The 30,000 Unique Visitors Mark!

We like to think we are a modest thinktank and this is the first time we have pointed out when our unique visitors count has reached a numerical benchmark. The staff and management here would like to thank our loyal readers and give big props to the great people who have contributed to the FPT with their recipes, photos, food news and input. The Fat Pride Times will stay strong and our thinktank will continue to debate over all you can eat buffets to make sure we post food news that you can truly use. UPDATED: We are pleased to announce that one of our regular readers Black2ooph was our 30,000 unique visitor at 6:25 am PCT - USA. Nancy and the others in the front office will be assembling some sort of prize for him hitting the big number for the FPT!

A FPT Reader Claims To Have Deciphered The Big Mac Secret Sauce Recipe!

Thanks again to one of our East Coast reader's for another great submission to the FPT. We did not ask how he came into this recipe - but it apperas to be something quite tasty. The weekend staff in our test kitchens will be making a double-batch and pitting it head-to-head with some we will purchase from McDonald's. READER MAGNUM'S SECRET SAUCE RECIPE: 1/4 C. KRAFT Miracle Whip 1/4 C. mayonnaise 2 T. heaping, WISHBONE deluxe French salad dressing (the orange stuff) 1/2 T. HEINZ sweet relish 2 heaping tsp. VLASIC dill pickle relish (Heinz dill relish also works) 1 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. dried, minced onion 1 tsp. white vinegar 1 tsp. ketchup 1/8 tsp. salt Mix everything very well in a small container. There better be no streaks! Microwave 25 seconds, and stir well again. Cover, and refrigerate for at LEAST 1 hour before using (to allow all of the flavors to “meld”). Makes nearly 1 cup…enough for about 8 Big Macs.

Correspondant Ethadad Warns Of Possible Guns & Roses/Free Dr. Pepper Hysteria

From Ethadad: "I came a across this today....Appearently a few months back Dr. Pepper said if Guns N Roses releases their long awaited album "Chinese Demacracy" in 2008 that they would give one can of Dr. Pepper to EVERY AMERICAN IN THE COUNTRY! Looks like it may just happen....." Here is a link talking about negatiations for the album's release..... Guns N' Roses Record Releae? And here is a link to the Dr. Pepper story.... Free Dr.Pepper Facts

Fat Pride: Every Group Has It's Bad Seeds

For this post we are going to take a look at the ugly side of Fat Pride by learning about 2 individuals who truly give our movement a push backwards. Some of the staff here did not want to give these 2 freaks anymore press than they have gotten, but in the end we decided it important these stories be shared. Our first person we will mention is Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, whom has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and on one count of injury to a child in the death of Eliseo Gonzalez Junior. Basically, she smacked her 2 year old nephew twice causing him to die from the blows. Problem now is how do they get her to the courtroom? She weighs 1000 pounds and cannot leave the house as no doorway is wide enough. Her attorney is also arguing that she would die in jail or court due to her condition. We suggest bulldozing the house, putting her on a flatbed truck and hope for the best. Next we have the "Honorable" Judge Elizabeth Halverson from Las Vegas, who has been suspended from the bench since September 2007. While we cannot find numbers on her exact weight, she is real scary big. Her suspension is over her conduct, more specifically, falling asleep on the bench, mishandling cases and mistreating her staff. If the allegations prove true, she will be a black eye on the Fat Pride movement forever. Watch the video below as her bailiff describes her asking for footrubs and spitting sunflower seeds on the floor for him to pick-up.

12000 Calorie Diet of Olympic Superstar

From Ethadad: GD! Have you seen what it takes to be the best Olympian, Michael Phelps, of all time?!?!!? It takes a lot of food! I am sure you have heard about this story, its all over, but i thought i would send it your way in case you missed it as it is an interesting food story. This link has the full story, as well as meal pictures! I suggest maybe some FPT staff members, or FPT readers try out this diet for a couple days, maybe we too could be olympic heros! Michael Phelp's 12000 calorie diet

Reader Submits: Making Leftovers Magic: Shake n' Bake Boneless Pork Ribs Recipe

Thanks to our correspondant from the Oregon coastal regions for this excellent way to cook up a leftover pork rib. Needed: 1 leftover shake and bake boneless pork rib (approx half pound) 1 heaping tablespoon white flour 1 heaping teaspoon corn starch 2 tablespoons pure virgin olive oil up to 1 cup fat free milk 1/2 cup water salt and pepper shakers Preperation: slice the leftover rib into shreds. simmer pieces over low heat in a 1qt sauce pan until warm. add the olive oil. increase heat gradually to medium, be sure that it does not burn to the bottom of the pan. stir frequently. heat until pork slices are thoroughly hot and grease collects in the bottom of the pan. medium heat should be achieved at this point. add flour to a 1/4 cup of water, stir until smooth. add flour and water mix to pork, stir briskly. add 1/2 cup milk and let mixture heat back up. add corn starch to 1/4 cup water, add mixture to pan, again, stirring briskly. once heated, add milk until you reach the desired thickness (keep in mind this wil thicken up a bit as it cools). salt to taste, should not take much, add a dash of black pepper. simmer over low heat for a good 10 minutes stirring frequently. serve over wheat toast on square plate as shown above.

Jack Link's Messin' With Sasquatch Commercials

The staff here at the FPT test kitchens are big fans of beef jerky and we do like the Jack Links brand. With the recent headline news of a reported 'bigfoot' body being recovered as well as a sighting of a small tribe of other bigfeet in the backwoods of Georgia, Clarence (our new weekend receptionist) suggested we post this clip of ALL of the Jack Link's Messin' With Sasquatch commercials.