This is not a good time for many people. You know who IS loving this era, though? Dogs. It has never been a better time to be a man’s best friend. For starters, most of us are home WAY MORE than ever before. On top of that, we’ve had our first dog beer invented so we could take our bro-ship to the next level and Budweiser unveiled their Barkweiser 7-pack that comes with a beer-shaped dog toy for your pup. And now this: Ben and Jerry’s is getting into their game by creating the first line of frozen dog treats.

 

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It’s the first product in the company’s four decades that is specifically created for an animal. The company has always had a pet-friendly approach, both in the founders’ passion for environmental causes, and in their policy to office dogs (there are many four-legged friends roaming the offices). The treats are being sold in individual 4-ounce cups or in packs for four.

Pontch’s Mix, the first treat, has frozen peanut butter, pretzel swirls, and was named after an office French Bulldog.

Rosie’s Batch has creamy pumpkin and mini dog-friendly cookies and is named for a rescue mutt in the corporate headquarters.

The Doggie Desserts are available everywhere now and are even safe for humans to eat (although seems kinda rude tbh). Since dogs don’t do dairy (generally), the treats are made with sunflower butter, so they are perfectly safe and delicious for dogs.

“We know our fans love their dogs and treat them like family,” said a spokesman for Ben and Jerry’s. “We created this line so pups can enjoy something even better than belly rubs.”

There have never been more ways to spoil your dogs, but if you can’t do it during a global pandemic, when can you? The frozen dog treats are available at supermarkets and chain stores everywhere.

Everyone saw their lives turn on a dime in March of 2020. One day we had plans, the next they were gone, for the foreseeable future. A college student and amateur cook in Philadelphia had been planning a dinner party for friends. When it got called off, he still made them pizza and found a creative way to get it to them. This was just the start of dropping pizza out his window, an act that sounds crazy but has since raised tens of thousands of dollars to fight food insecurity and homelessness. Pizza, but for good!

 

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27-year-old grad student Ben Berman started baking pizza for his friends so they could stay connected, yet socially distanced, during the early months of the pandemic. He bought heavy string from Amazon, created a pulley system, and lowered that pizza right out the dang window. Delicious pizza, falling from the sky.

 

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He said he was self-conscious about his cooking skills, but knew if he dropped it out the window, it would at least bring a smile to his friends.

He started playing with the recipes, then it sort of blew up among his friends. They started Venmoing him cash, and it was the start of him officially starting Good Pizza PHL to continue baking pizza to raise money for charity.

He said he was inspired by his mom, he told the Today Show she was the person who taught him the power of food to connect with people. But it was Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy who helped launch him to the next level. Portnoy reviewed his pizza on his popular Instagram account, and Good Pizza PHL has been FLOODED with requests ever since.

 

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Every week, he creates a lottery system and selects 20 winners from the 900 (!) weekly requests. The winners can pick up their pizza from the window on Sundays. He donates all the ingredients for the pizza himself, along with his time, and donates all the financial proceeds ($30,000+ and counting) to a variety of charities.

“There’s so little overhead, every single penny is given away,” he said. “Good Pizza was a way for me to give back during a really hard year.”

Like many during the days of COVID, Davy Tsopo found himself in a tough spot. He and his wife welcomed their first son, but Davy barely got to see him. The dedicated dad worked 16-hour shifts as a cleaner at a Johannesburg restaurant to support his family, but due to his city’s lockdown, he lost his job. Understandably, the new dad was stressed, and his neighbors took notice.

In an attempt to allow Davy to distract himself, a helpful neighbor shared his WiFi password. Davy and his wife found comfort in TLC’s Cake Boss, thrilled and delighted by the variety of creations Buddy Valastro and his crew poured their hearts into thousands of miles away in New Jersey. Before long, Davy found himself filling notebooks with recipes for cakes and scones and everything in between.

In the kitchen he shares with four other families, Davy got to work testing and practicing the recipes he collected. Before long, Davy realized he had a genuine talent for baking – and others began to take notice. Cakey by Davy has accumulated over 1,500 Instagram followers, and the page is filled with beautiful, pro-level cakes (and, of course, sprinkled with pictures of Davy’s adorable family).

 

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Orders for Davy’s beautiful cakes poured in more quickly than he could fill them, and thanks to the support of his community, Davy has gone from jobless to thriving. Making twice the salary he made at his former job, working more reasonable hours doing something he loves, and spending time with his wife and son, Davy is living a life he never dreamed possible.

 

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Davy worries that the situation in South Africa will get worse, but for now, all he can do is continue baking. With his wife and son supporting him every step of the way, Davy is enjoying his newfound freedom and dreaming of a better future.

“I didn’t know this kind of life before, I didn’t know this was possible for me… I feel free,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Imagine, one day I may be asking people to send in their CVs to work at my own bakery. Then I’ll be the real cake boss.”

 

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Sometimes brands release new products or new versions of existing products, and they rule. Lucky Charms released their magical marshmallows and it was a home run. Dunkaroos Cookie Dough? Bring. It. On. But the latest cookie from Oreos is either a mess or a work of a mad genius.

Oreos is kicking off 2021 with a new cookie that sounds downright illegal; the Brookie-O. At this point, you’re asking yourself, quite reasonably, “what is a brookie-O?” There’s nothing clearly decipherable in the name to indicate where this is headed, and that should be your first warning. The Brookie-O is a TRIPLE layer cookie with the traditional Oreo crème, Brownie, and cookie dough (dessert people may be hip to the brookie already, a brownie and chocolate chip combo). That…is a lot.

 

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Listen, you gotta take chances in life, and after the 2020 we had, maybe we all deserve a brownie-cookie dough-Oreo…Oreo. Is it chaos? Yeah, maybe. But a reviewer said it’s actually pretty dang good. The junk food reviewer said the brownie is great, and the cookie dough “shines”, which is what we all expect from cookie dough. He did wish the cookie dough flavor was stronger, which is what we all wish with cookie dough.

The cookie is available everywhere (in the U.S., sorry Canada and THE REST OF THE WORLD, there were very many disappointed internationals in the IG comments) in January. If you must have your hands on these asap, you can use the company’s product tracker to be the first of your friends to enjoy the new level of Oreo decadence.

In the past, we’ve seen our fair share of strange combinations involving fast-food and video-games.  Burger King released Xbox 360 games with the purchase of a value meal.  McDonald’s released games on the NES and Sega Genesis.  Even KFC got in on the action and gave us “I Love You Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator” for free on PC.  If that last one wasn’t enough, now KFC is taking the Colonel’s brand a step further by releasing a high-powered video-game console that will also keep your chicken warm.

The console wars are 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.

Introducing the KFConsole. #PowerYourHunger pic.twitter.com/k7AM6g61Ip

— KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) December 22, 2020

The KFConsole advertising campaign started back in June, but many didn’t believe it was real (for obvious reasons).  Now, it has become a reality and according to KFC “The console wars are over.”

KFC is partnering with global hardware manufacturer Cooler Master to develop the console.  On the official website, the description reads:

“The KFConsole has arrived. Forged from the fires of the KFC ovens and built by Cooler Master from the ground up, there has never been a tastier way to experience the latest titles in stunning 4k, 240fps.”

Not only that, but the console looks like a bucket of the famous chicken and has other features, including the patented “Chicken Chamber” which utilizes the systems natural heat and airflow system to keep your chicken warm, VR compatibility, and Ray-Tracing for those extra crisp(y) visuals.  No price or release date has been set, but we can only hope that the KFConsole will arrive sometime in 2021.  It’s also probably going to be harder to get a hold of than a PS5.

Can you imagine how greasy the controller is going to get if you’re munching on KFC while playing?  Definitely going to need lots of wet-naps for those long gaming sessions.

Die Hard is a lot of things.

It’s the best action movie of all time, it’s the movie that made Bruce Willis a superstar, it’s the best trilogy, ever. Yes, I know there’s a 4th and 5th but they were terrible, even when compared to the recent Die Hard battery commercial. It’s the third movie in William Atherton’s “yay, I’m a prick!” quadrilogy (Die Hard 2 is the fourth), and it’s a movie that takes place around Christmas which qualifies it to be a Christmas movie even if it’s not explicitly about Christmas.

There’s a character named Holly, for Pete’s sake! Case closed.

What Die Hard ISN’T is cake. Until now!

One of 2020’s most bizarre and mind-blowing trends was that of people making hyper-realistic cakes that look like everyday objects. And now someone has done it with Die Hard, specifically, Die Hard’s everyman hero, John McClane.

Natalie Sideserf of Sideserf Cake Studio in Austin posted a YouTube video of her creation, including step-by-step instructions for making it, if you want to give it a shot. Something tells me it’s a lot harder than she makes it look, because it literally appears like she has Bruce Willis’s head in her kitchen and is about to eat it.

Check it out!

The Elf on a Shelf is the tradition every parent grows to loathe. Kids may love it, but for parents, forgetting to switch it one night and facing those questions the next morning is a nightmare they dread. But now we have a new nightmare, thanks to a Kansas City Dad who “accidentally” INCINERATED THE ELVES. All three of them, having a jolly old season, turned to ash thanks to a very unfortunate (depending on where you stand) oven incident.

The dad was busy watching the kids while his wife, Chelsea, was out shopping at Target (I mean where else would a parent shop?). His wife had adorably placed the elves in the oven, the same oven the busy dad fired up to preheat to cook for the kids when one of them noticed a weird smell coming from the oven. Chelsea explained it all in the grim Facebook post.

The three elves, Jingle, Belle, and Magic were cooked right out of the season. Chelsea said she received the awkward phone call at Target where there was a long pause before he said: “Babe, I feel horrible, I cooked the elves.”

Chelsea said the “Elfspital” got them in quickly and they are expected to make a “full recovery” after “reconstruction and rest”, ie- they shopped all around the city to find replacements.

She finished her post with a warning for all celebrating the season… “BAKE COOKIES NOT ELVES!”

Whether it’s a normal holiday surrounded by family or a quarantine holiday surrounded by your best animals and house plants, one thing is certain: the worst part of any festivity is all the preparation. Spending your precious time off chopping and mixing and cooking is far from the relaxing holiday break you deserve, and cooking is only one item on your seemingly endless to-do list.

Most days, but especially around the holidays, we would kill for a Back to the Future Hydrator that essentially poofs freshly-baked food out of nowhere (which should be a reality at this point, given that the “future” part of the movie was in fact 2015). But alas, there is no magic food machine, unless you count the car that shows up with your Uber Eats order. Fortunately, for the lazy and the overwhelmed who still want to deliver a full holiday meal, there’s the Christmas Tinner.

The Christmas Tinner is exactly what it sounds like – a nine-layer traditional Christmas dinner, all in a no-prep easy-to-eat tin (don’t eat the tin). The layers are apparently so tightly-packed that they don’t mix in the can, so if you slice it horizontally, you can almost sort of turn this thing into a nine-course meal. Pick a few leaves off the nearest bush to make it look like you’ve even got garnish.

 

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The layers are as follows: Scrambled eggs and bacon (perhaps this is Christmas day breakfast?), two mince pies, turkey and potatoes, gravy, bread sauce (??), cranberry sauce, some sort of green vegetable with stuffing, roast carrots and parsnips, and finally, Christmas pudding.

Now, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that this Christmas Tinner first emerged in 2013 and quickly went viral due to its, well, everything. In a devastating blow to lazy folks everywhere, the tinner turned out to be a hoax designed by a British art director named Chris Godfrey. However, good news, the GAME website states that the Tinner is a reality, and due to its popularity, vegetarian and vegan options are now available (because if something already looks a little questionable, why not add tofu). Alternate good news, if it’s a hoax, you don’t have to eat it.

 

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It may very well be a publicity stunt geared towards gamers who can’t be bothered to pause and cook a Christmas dinner, but because everyone needs something to believe in around the holidays (and Santa was already ruined for us), we’re going to choose to believe in the Christmas Tinner. Watch the video below to see a supposed taste test, scour the internet for Tinners that aren’t yet sold out, or heck, make your own.

Too many flawless snacks have come and gone, often replaced with objectively worse products that inevitably stay on shelves for far too long. Every industry has its golden age, and of course, the ‘90s were the golden age of snacks. Our mouths still water thinking about the overpowering smell of artificial vanilla that smacked us in the face upon peeling open a pack of Dunkaroos. Every time we see a lava lamp, we long for the days of downing a perfectly bizarre bottle of Orbitz.

In 2020, we’re all looking for comfort in nostalgia – movies, video games, and snacks that bring us back to simpler times have become go-to’s during the most stressful days. Fortunately, companies are listening. Dunkaroos have made a triumphant return, and now, 3D Doritos are next in line to make a savory comeback.

Honestly, we’re so excited about the news that we aren’t even going to mention that all Doritos are technically 3D – ok so we mentioned it, but we’re not going to fixate on it. These slightly-more-3D-than-average Doritos (last time, I swear) disappeared from our pantries in the early 2000s, but not from our hearts.

In case you somehow missed it, 3D Doritos were far superior to your average nacho cheese-coated tortilla chip. They were much smaller than your average Dorito, and the bite-sized snacks were essentially Dorito balloons. The familiar zesty cheese combined with an epic crunch made these the best Doritos to ever exist, and now, we get to fall in love with them all over again.

The CandyHunting Instagram page noticed the news in the Frito-Lay playbook and immediately shared the news.

 

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Their post read, “Now here’s the real news: Doritos 3D will be back on January 18! Flavors include Spicy Ranch and Chili Cheese Nacho.”

Mark your calendars folks, Snacksgiving is quickly approaching and our stomachs are ready and waiting. Whether you’re a long-time fan or you’re about to try these bad boys for the first time, January 18th is going to be a 3Delicious day.

“Secret’s out, chicken man!”

All December long, my wife watches movies on Hallmark and Lifetime. She loves their cheesy movies, especially, the Christmas ones that air all season long. Usually, I avoid all such movies, Christmas related or not, but this weekend I might finally sit down with her and watch one. Because it looks finger-lickin’ good! And totally absurd. But I’ll still pretend I’m not really into it and make a deal to watch a proper action Christmas movie afterward. I’m even considering cooking up a batch of fried chicken at home and throwing on a KFC firelog to help set the mood.

It’s called “A Recipe for Seduction” and it’s a short 15-minute mini-movie/commercial for KFC, starring Mario Lopez as Colonel Harlan Sanders, the new chef who finds himself involved in a deadly love triangle. I cannot stress how stupid it looks, and that’s a compliment.

The people behind this stunt are fully aware of its absurdity, much in the way they were aware when they let Will Ferrell and Kristin Wiig make their own Lifetime movie. And this one looks even dumber! Just look at Lopez’s outfit!

In the mini-movie, Lopez disrupts a relationship with his spicy charm and his “recipe that will change the world,” and runs afoul (get it?) of a spurned lover with a violent streak.

The movie airs on December 13th at 12 pm, and much like KFC, it will probably taste great and immediately fill you with regret.

Check out the trailer:

The Mayor of Flavortown isn’t the hero we deserve, he is the hero we need. Guy Fieri, the flashy food guy (I think that’s his secondary title), is known as a TV personality. But his actions during the pandemic, like feeding first responders, bump the Mayor up a class, as he’s helped thousands of people who are in a very tough spot with his fund for unemployed restaurant workers. To date, he’s raised more than 21 MILLION dollars to help those often left on the margins.

When COVID-19 lockdowns started shuttering businesses and restaurants around the country, and with the government response woefully inadequate, Fieri’s first inclination was to find a way to help. That’s why he started the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which solicited donations (in addition to Fieri’s seed cash) to be able to give micro-grants of $500 to out of work restaurant employees. People who couldn’t pay their bills or make ends meet through no fault of their own.

The fund took off, helping some of the people most screwed by this pandemic. Fieri himself was the engine that propelled it, as he made appeals to major companies like Pepsi and Uber Eats to make sizable contributions to the fund.

They’ve helped more than 43,000 workers through the program in just seven weeks. Nearly 80 percent of those workers make less than $50,000 a year and said they’ll be using the money towards rent/mortgage payments, student loans, childcare, and medical bills.

Say what you will about Fieri, this guy gets it.

BREAKING: Another mysterious monolith appears, this time in @flavortown pic.twitter.com/dbp4FcKQJZ

— Guy Fieri (@GuyFieri) December 1, 2020

And while some celebrities give a few bucks and move on (or worse, do NOTHING), Fieri keeps fighting for the little guy. The sad reality is this a band-aid at best and serves to highlight the egregious way so many workers have been abandoned by the government. Unable to work, and unable to earn to pay their bills, without enough aid to carry them through this difficult time.

Here’s hopin’ everyone is following the California Restaurant Association’s lawsuit challenging LA’s outdoor dining ban. We gotta keep Flavortown open for biz! https://t.co/4S3UsT2xj7

— Guy Fieri (@GuyFieri) December 6, 2020

Fieri is also coming out with a documentary called Restaurant Hustle 2020, showcasing just how restaurants attempted to survive during the pandemic. He’s also opening a chain of delivery-only restaurants, Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchens, with more than 200 locations opening soon.

Simply put, the guy is keeping people employed, and finding ways to get money to those that aren’t. The Mayor of Flavortown is doing more than any real politician these days. He’s nacho average celebrity.

Uber Eats and Netflix have become cornerstones of life in a COVID world, entertaining us and sending sustenance directly to our front doors. Of all the Netflix binges we’ve had over the past several months, one of the most entertaining is undoubtedly the Emmy-winning comedy, Schitt’s Creek. Schitt’s Creek has gotten us through some tough times recently, and now one of the show’s stars is lending an even bigger helping hand outside of our TV screens by joining forces with Uber Eats and McDonald’s.

If you aren’t a Schitthead (someone who’s watched Schitt’s Creek so many times you’re basically an honorary member of the lovably-dysfunctional Rose family), Dan Levy co-created and starred in the hit show alongside his real-life dad, Eugene Levy. Schitt’s Creek earned Dan Levy three Emmy Awards and hooked fans from the very first episode.

The Levy family is already filling our holiday with laughs, but Dan Levy is giving struggling families a little something more this holiday season. In an ad shared by Uber, Dan Levy discusses his own family traditions – shoveling his parents’ snow-covered driveway after they finally wear him down, sifting through hundreds of his sister’s Christmas lights to find the one freaking bulb that’s ruining everything, and finally, helping others (you know, outside of his own family).

The caption reads, “We’re giving back with @danjlevy this holiday season. For every [like] this tweet gets, we’re donating C$1, up to $20,000 to @RMHCCanada.”

We’re giving back with @danjlevy this holiday season.

For every ❤️ this tweet gets, we’re donating C$1, up to $20,000 to @RMHCCanada. pic.twitter.com/YfPgCj5i4b

— Uber Canada (@Uber_Canada) December 1, 2020

“But my favorite reason for the season,” Levy explains, “is making the holidays a little bit brighter for Canadian families in need.”

Levy is teaming up with Uber Eats to donate $50,000 to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada, helping struggling families around the country. In more good news for McDonald’s-loving Canadians, any time you make a McDonald’s order over $25 through Uber Eats, you could win up to $5,000 if you use promo code “reasons.” As always, conditions apply, and the giveaway ends December 14.

Winner or not, it’s a great excuse to get a boatload of McDonald’s – but if you don’t live in Canada, liking Uber’s tweet is a free and easy way to help out a family in need this season.

Even those lucky enough to avoid COVID have still felt the effects of the global pandemic that’s ruined lives, livelihoods, and a year of people’s lives. Manage to stay healthy? That’s great!  But there’s still a wracked economy, funerals on Zoom, classes on Zoom, everything on Zoom. And like much in life, you can’t control what happens, you can only control how you respond. That’s the mentality one Illinois couple took after COVID scrapped the plans for their wedding. Instead, they decided to use the non-refundable catering deposit to buy 200 Thanksgiving dinners for people in need.

That’s been one of the inspiring aspects of all of this, how normal people respond to these extraordinary circumstances. Sure, celebrities can make grandiose donations to buy entire hospitals full of PPE (thank you celebrities, we need that!), but it’s even more touching when every day folks roll up their sleeves and do what they can to help each other through this hellscape. Stories like this, or the guy who had to say goodbye to his dad over Facetime, so he helped provide dozens of iPads to hospitals so others could connect with loved ones.

In this case, Emily Bugg and Billy Lewis were supposed to be married in the fall. And they were! It was just in city hall, and not the grand wedding they had in mind when they got engaged. But they still had a $5,000 nonrefundable catering deposit to consider, so they put it to good use. They purchased 200 Thanksgiving dinners for clients of a mental health nonprofit.

Emily works for the nonprofit and wanted to help replace the organization’s yearly communal Thanksgiving dinner that had to be scrapped (also COVID).

 

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“In the grand scheme of things, canceling a big wedding isn’t the worst thing that could happen,” she said to Good Morning America. “We’re happy to be married, and we’re so happy that we could help Thresholds’ clients feel the connection of a Thanksgiving meal as a result of the wedding cancellation.”

The catering staff boxed up the meals, which the nonprofit staff delivered to the homes of patients. The CEO said the donation was an incredible example of ‘the generosity and creativity the pandemic has inspired in so many.’

“I know that Emily’s act of kindness will inspire others to do the same and build love and connection in a difficult time, in any way we can,” he said.