Junk Food Nation, good morning and Merry Christmas!  Hope you are all celebrating with you and yours and staying safe. Christmas Day marks a big day in the NBA, as well.  Last year, the shortened season BEGAN on Christmas Day.  This year we have five excellent matchups:

BOSTON @ BROOKLYN: Divisional rivals matchup here…can you call them rivals when the Brooklyn Nets have been in existence for only a few minutes?  I think Brooklyn, at home and fueled by its first Christmas Day crowd, takes this one in a squeaker. Garnett hates to lose on Christmas Day – but he’s gonna.

NEW YORK @ LAKERS: New York is playing better than almost everyone these days, fueled by Carmelo’s amazing play.  But the Lakers have Nash back…will it make a difference?  You know, I’m gonna say it does…Nash is enough of a pro to fall back into place right away. The Lakers beat a tough Golden State team and I think are ready to take down NY.

OKC @ MIAMI: Finals rematch, plain and simple.  Will Miami lose? Nope – OKC is just as good, but no James Harden is a problem.

HOUSTON @ CHICAGO: Remember Derrick Rose when was healthy? Remember when Jeremy Lin was a Knick? Yeah…feels like forever ago, right?  Houston is surprising and able.  They will win this matchup.

DENVER @ CLIPPERS: LOB CITY WILL NOT BE DENIED. Clippers will make victories in LA 2-for-2 on the day.

Today’s junk food: Gingerbread Peeps!

Gingerbread Peeps: The Money Shot

Gingerbread Peeps! Gingerbread Peeps! Gingerbread Peeps! I’m just gonna keep screaming this until you hear me.  GINGERBREAD PEEPS!!!!

Like the Candy Cane Peeps, I was STOKED to find these. Again, I don’t LOVE Peeps like some other crazies do, but I really liked the Candy Cane Peeps…would these Gingerbread Men also give me a surprisingly pleasant feeling?

THREE Gingerbread Men to a serving…

These Gingerbread Peeps didn’t have much unique by way of ingredients…which was slightly disconcerting…where’s the molasses? The cinnamon?  Hmmmm.

Like a cookie tray

These Gingerbread Peeps did LOOK the part, however, and SMELLED the part. Certainly smelled like Gingerbread!  Arrange in 2×3 formation, these Gingerbread men smiled back up at me when I removed the tray from the wrapper.  Well, sort of smiled.  Clearly there was some inconsistency in decoration.

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN

I took a HUGE bite of one of these Gingerbread Peeps…and WOW.  These were REALLY GOOD.  Again, I was expecting generic Peeps…but these were spot on!

Crusty exterior

These Gingerbread Peeps had standard Peeps structure – a crusty outside that gave way to a marshmallow-y inside.  The outside, however, had a wonderful cinnamon and sugar flavor!  As I chewed it, the molasses flavor emerged and gave the whole mouthful a distinct Gingerbread flavor.  Plain and simple.  There was, of course, plenty of marshmallow flavor that was pure Peeps perfection. The outside, while it didn’t have a TON of loose powder, did FEEL like it had enough of a sugar/cinnamon dusting to simulate a cookie 🙂

I recommend these.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

PURCHASED AT: Target

COST: $1.99

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy