Tutti Frutti Fruit Fro-yo Spoons

Fro-yo girl here. Attention fro-yo spoon fans! There are more signature fro-yo spoons to collect. Tutti Frutti just came out with new fro-yo spoons in five colors: orange, green, yellow, blue and red. The spoon handle is topped by 3 fruit shapes, a green grape (or is it a green apple?), banana, strawberry.

I wonder if the spoon is biodegradeable? It doesn’t say that it is.

I found my fro-yo spoons at their Milpitas location. The Milpitas location also had two flavors of soybean frozen yogurt and $3 Vietnamese sandwiches.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.


* TUTTI FRUTTI: 82 Ranch Dr., Milpitas, CA

Yogurtland Launches My Masterpiece Contest

Fro-yo girl here. Yogurtland just launched a new contest called "My Masterpiece" for aspiring fro-yo artists everywhere. You could win free fro-yo for a year. All entrants get a coupon for three free ounces of fro-yo. Start swirling!


Here are the details:

"The Yogurtland My Masterpiece contest kicks off today and entries will be collected through October 28. Yogurtland guests are invited to photograph and name their favorite, most imaginative yogurt creation and submit it to the My Masterpiece website and Facebook page.  At the end of the submission time frame, each entrant will receive a link to their Masterpiece submission and can invite their friends to vote for the top creations.  

Voting for the top masterpiece creations takes place from Oct. 29 – Nov. 2. The top 100 entries will be judged by a panel of Yogurtland judges based on taste, name and recipe of the Masterpiece, creativity of the recipe and the ability to easily recreate the Masterpiece in Yogurtland stores. The first place winner will receive a $500 Yogurtland gift card for a year of free yogurt, second place will receive a $250 gift card for six months of free yogurt, and third place will receive a $125 gift card for three months of free yogurt. The top three winners will also receive gift cards to reward their friends for voting for their entry. Each Yogurtland store is encouraged to choose a local winner who will receive a $100 Yogurtland gift card.

All entrants will receive a coupon to receive their first 3-ounces yogurt free.

“Our fans are inspired by our variety of flavors and toppings and see our cups as blank canvases to create their ideal treat. Our My Masterpiece contest is a chance for our guests to be rewarded for their creativity and great taste. We can’t wait to see the entries,” said Charlotte Lucich, director of marketing at Yogurtland.

Entries can be submitted at www.yogurt-land.com and www.facebook.com/yogurtland and click on the My Masterpiece tab. Winners will be announced Nov. 7."

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Most Striking Yogurtland Location

Fro-yo girl here. I’ve been to many Yogurtland locations but I’ve never seen one that compares to the Universal City Walk location. The exterior is the really elaborate and includes a giant 3-D fro-yo machine dispensing fro-yo into a fro-yo cup with a green Yogurtland spoon, big splash of fro-yo and Yogurtland spoon door handles. The fro-yo cup and logo are outlined in neon lights. 

The shop is larger than the average location and offers 16 self-serve fro-yo flavors a day plus toppings for 45 cents an ounce. The interior is more spacious but has the general look and feel of a Yogurtland. 

This location hosted the Sanrio Yogurtland launch party on July 10, 2012.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* YOGURTLAND: 1000 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA

Oasis Ice Cream: Innovative Fro-yo Shop Spotlight

Fro-yo girl here. Oasis Ice Cream is a hidden gem in a primarily residential part of Highland Park. From the outside it appears to be your typical Mexican ice cream and juice shop. Once you step inside, you’ll find a case filled with over a dozen flavors of freshly made, scoopable frozen yogurt. The frozen yogurt flavors weren’t labeled, so ask what’s available and ask for a sample. I was told they use organic fruit and vegetables, yogurt and agave nectar. The result is fresh, clean, not too sweet and naturally tart. 

During my visit the fro-yo flavors included: vanilla, plain, banana, cactus pear, spinach, celery, beet, mixed berry, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc. They also had some toppings (fresh fruit, granola).

* Spinach fro-yo: It’s really good. The fro-yo didn’t have a strong spinach flavor. The plain tart base had tangy yogurt flavor. The fro-yo was sweet, clean, creamy and refreshing.
* Celery fro-yo: Lighter, icier than the spinach fro-yo, the celery flavor was much more pronounced. The fro-yo tasted like a tangy, very refreshing sorbet.

I received 3 huge scoops of fro-yo for $3.50 (enough for lunch). The fro-yo isn’t as uniformly smooth as fro-yo that comes out of a machine, and it’s denser.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* OASIS ICE CREAM: 5526 Monte Vista St., Los Angeles, CA

Foxy’s Pash Frozen Yogurt Review

Fro-yo girl here. I was recently lucky enough to try Foxy’s Pash Premium Frozen Yogurt (thanks Foxy’s!). Foxy’s got its start in Australia. It’s now available in the US and it’s made with real California milk. Foxy’s is all-natural, guilty free (low in sugar, low in fat, gluten free, kosher), unique, and luxurious. A ½ cup serving of Foxy’s is 80 - 100 calories compared to 200 calories and up for a ½ cup of Ben & Jerry’s Greek Frozen Yogurt. Foxy’s contains live and active cultures. 

Pashing in encouraged. I consulted the Australian slang dictionary to understand what pash meant.Pash refers to kissing with some tongue action involved.

Foxy’s comes in four flavors: Cheeky Pash, Sneaky Pash, Naughty Pash & Sassy Pash. The fro-yo is easy to scoop and smooth.

* CHEEKY PASH (Mango & passionfruit smoothie): The creamiest of the four flavors, it’s very sweet and the flavors of mango and passionfruit are faint. There’s no tartness.
* SASSY PASH (Vanilla bean & strawberry hunks): It’s light pink and looks like strawberry ice cream with vanilla bean flecks. I was expecting a vanilla fro-yo with pieces of strawberry. Hmm. The strawberry flavor is faint and very sweet...it reminds me of strawberry banana. The flavor is just too sweet. Where were the hunks?
* SNEAKY PASH (Wild berry & chocolate flakes): Also a very sweet, icy treat. I liked the tiny chocolate flakes that were quite abundant. The berry flavor was definitely sweet and mild with no tanginess.
* NAUGHTY PASH (Honeycomb & caramel chunks): It’s very sweet and tastes like a mellow caramel.The texture is interesting; it’s not dense or too airy but it’s on the icy side. I didn’t see any caramel chunks. The flavor was pleasant but I was expecting a stronger honey flavor with visible chunks.

If someone were to ask me how I pash, I now know the answer: Sneaky. But what I’d really like is a good vanilla fro-yo with chocolate flakes, a Sneaky Sassy Pash. Or even better, a tangy fro-yo. While I liked how Foxy’s is low in calories, it seems like the cutback in calories came at the expense of creaminess and flavor. As ice milk is to ice cream, Foxy’s is to frozen yogurt. Ice yogurt?

You can order Foxy’s Pash from Icecreamsource.com

3 out of 5 stars.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Yoplait Greek Yogurt Review

Fro-yo girl here. The Greek yogurt offerings keep on coming. Yoplait recently launched its nonfat Greek 100 line. Each cup is 5.3 oz., 100 calories, or 2 Weight Watchers PointsPlus value of 2. Yoplait Greek 100 targets healthy snackers who like Greek yogurt. Yoplait Greek is a good source of protein, calcium and live and active cultures. It’s gluten and gelatin free. 

Flavors: Strawberry, Key Lime, Mixed Berry, Black Cherry, Vanilla, Peach

* Vanilla Yoplait Greek 100: The texture was creamy, thick and smooth but the vanilla flavor wasn’t pleasant or natural. I didn’t see any vanilla beans. It was also too sweet. The texture was a bit whipped and the flavor too artificial.

One cup of Yoplait Greek 100 is $1.59 at Safeway (or 10/$10 for Club members).

3 out of 5 stars.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Healthy Choice Greek Frozen Yogurt Review

Fro-yo girl here. Healthy Choice recently introduced their Greek Frozen Yogurt. There are four flavors: Vanilla, Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry. A package comes with 3 snack-size 4 fl. oz. cups. One cup (1 serving) is 100 calories with 4 grams of protein and no artificial flavors.

* Vanilla: I let it sit and thaw for about 5 minutes. The frozen yogurt was dense, creamy and chewy. It wasn’t icy at all. The texture wasn’t unpleasant but it did seem overly processed. The flavor, which was better than I expected, was sweet with very little tang. It had real vanilla bean specks. It’s like a lowfat ice cream but with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

While the package says the fro-yo is made with yogurt cultures, it doesn’t say that there are live and active cultures present. Ingredients include a long list of stabilizers, including gelatin, cellulose gum, and carrageenan.

I do think the packaging is quite cute, with happy sayings on the lid.

Find Healthy Choice Greek Frozen Yogurt next to the Healthy Choice entrees in your supermarket freezer section.

One package of HC Greek Frozen Yogurt is $4.39 at Safeway (or 4/$10 for Club members).

4 out of 5 stars.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.