Archive for the ‘Recipes, food, cooking and related items’ Category
04/09/2017
April 9, 2017
Literally, this melts in the mouth. And for my money that’s the best way to eat it – if you can control yourself.
This is a nicely seasoned salami with casing removed and cut into chunky bite-sized pieces perfect for popping into the mouth straight from the package. Once in the mouth, the fat in the salami will literally melt over a few minutes releasing a very nice salami flavor and freeing up the bits of meat interspersed with the fat. There’s barely a chew needed before the meat can be swallowed.
Here’s a quick word on the industrial strength packaging. This is the first packaging that I’ve seen that’s labeled as “trash only”. Second, don’t stick your nose in the plastic bag. It’s not the most pleasant aroma. Fortunately the bag does not seem to affect the flavor of this very good salami. Calories 100 per ounce Price $3.49 per 8 ounce package
Tags:aldi, appleton farms, bite sized dry salami, calories, food, price, review
Posted in ALDI, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 19 Comments »
03/31/2017
March 31, 2017
This is a domestic (US) extra sharp cheddar from Wisconsin. While it’s a nice cheese, especially considering the only $4.99 per pound price, it’s not what I’d call an extra sharp cheddar. So just as a reality check, I went out and purchased an extra sharp cheddar from Kraft. The Kraft cheese is “sharper” but not as sharp as I remember it. Still however, the Kraft has more of the cheddar flavor I was expecting. As would be expected, both have more flavor when allowed to warm to room temperature. As a comparison, the Kraft came in at around $7 per pound slightly on sale at a regular super market. The texture was similar for both cheeses, solid but soft. For those wanting more flavor in their American-style cheeses, the TJ extra sharp cheddar will give you that at a reasonable price. For those wanting a still more flavorful cheese, look elsewhere.
Calories – 120 per ounce. Price $4.99 per pound. Coming up next week is a TJ X-tra X-tra Sharp New York Cheddar. We’ll see. As an aside, I nicely paired both of the cheeses above with some Amancay Malbec.
Tags:calories, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wisconsin
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 1 Comment »
03/27/2017
March 27, 2017
The star here is the corn masa. The dough (masa) retains a nice taste and texture, neither too dry and certainly not wet, in its trip from freezer to microwave. Although there’s not much of it, the cheese is chewy and stringy. Green chilies are randomly placed throughout the cheese, but otherwise not very noticeable. The heat level is mild unless you get a big piece of chile, then it’s a medium heat. By far the cheese filling is a minor player. The tamales come wrapped in nicely trimmed corn husks.
Calories 280 per 1 tamale (140g)
Price ??? (lost receipt) – 2 tamales in package
click images to enlarge
Tags:calories, cheese green chile tamale, food, nutrition, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 4 Comments »
03/16/2017
March 16, 2017
This is another one where it would be way too easy to eat the whole package in one sitting. A very little bit of a smokey peppery earthy taste mixed in with creamy, but not soft, English cheddar is the best description I could come up with. That description doesn’t do it taste justice. It may not be to everyone’s liking, but this is very good.
Of particular note are a couple of the lesser ingredients, anchovy and bamboo fiber. What’s This For? Well I sure don’t know, but whatever the reason the whole seems to work just fine.
At $9.99 per pound, this is in line with similar cheeses at Trader Joe’s. The calories, at 110 per ounce (28g), are also similar to other cheeses.
Tags:cheddar, cheese, england, food, italian, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, truffles
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 15 Comments »
03/16/2017
March 16, 2017
This is another staple at home here. It may not be the creamiest peanut butter, but like many everyday items at ALDI it’s reasonably priced, good quality and similar in nutritional value to many major brands. It also tastes good and goes well with jelly. Calories 180/2 Tbsp (32g) Price $2.99 per 40 ounce plastic jar
Tags:aldi, calories, food, nutrition, peanut butter, price, review, reviews
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 4 Comments »
03/16/2017
March 16, 2017
My expectations weren’t high and they were met. These are crabby and mushy. That description is not uncommon when it comes to crab cakes. A really good crab cake consists of chunks of crab meat with a little bit of mayonnaise based filler to bind everything together and maybe a thin layer of breading to give it some crunch when it’s pan fried. Outside of one or two restaurants I’ve been to a long time ago, it’s hard to find anything like that. Most crab cakes in stores, and even restaurants, tend to be like this, with indistinguishable pieces of crab mixed with breading to form a crab mush which is then fried, or in this case baked at home. There was a good bit of crab flavor which was satisfying for those looking for a crab fix. But overall, like Diogenes, I’ll continue to look for the honest crab cake. Calories 170 per crab cake Price $5.49 – package of 4 cakes, plus cocktail sauce
Tags:aldi, calories, crab cake, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, sea queen
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 8 Comments »
03/11/2017
March 11, 2017
That’s exactly what this is, a simple nut bar. It’s almost nuttin’ but nuts held together with just enough gooey stuff to make a bar. There’s a little bit of sea salt added in, but not enough to be very salty. There’s no chocolate coating or drizzle. Some dark chocolate would’ve been nice in my opinion. But it’s still good without.
The nuts are large and identifiable by species, just in case you’re into matching up the ingredients to the label. Oooh, there’s a cashew!
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Tags:aldi, calories, food, millville, nut bar, price, review, reviews, snacks
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 14 Comments »
03/11/2017
March 11, 2017
Now I’m not the world’s most prolific falafel eater. But I have had them in restaurants. And for no other reason then to attempt to pronounce the name, you should give them a try sometime when you’re around Mediterranean food. If you do want to give them a try, DON’T (do not) try these.
A falafel is one of those foods that’s a blank canvas to which the chef has to add the splashes of color (metaphorically). These have few splashes of color.
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Tags:calories, falafel, food, nutrition, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 5 Comments »
03/04/2017
March 4, 2017
It’s predominantly* almond (Kind) versus predominantly* peanut (Simply Nutty) in this nut-off challenge. For those who need to know quickly, Kind has the bigger nuts. That’s important, because when you bite into them, Kind requires a little more jaw power. However once in the mouth and chewed around some, the texture is indistinguishable between the two.
For those who like their nuts slightly salty, Kind would be your choice. In comparison, Simply Nutty is just that – not much of a salty experience here. Holding all the nuts together at the base, for both, is a dark dark brown chocolate. Some of the same is drizzled on the top of the nuts. I guess the drizzle is for decoration, but could be there for the lickers among us who might want to slowly savor the experience. Licking from the bottom would be too messy. So, the dark chocolate on both is very much the same, good, but nothing to write home about.
The products are very similar, with small individual preferences being the deciding factors between the two for most of us. Finally, these type of comparisons usually come down to price. The Kind bars are 4 bars for $4.99 and the Simply Nutty bars are 5 bars for $4.99.
Kind – Calories 200 per bar, Price $4.99 – box of 4 bars
Trader Joe’s Simply Nutty – Calories 200 per bar, Price $4.99 – box of 5 bars
*Based on the first ingredient listed on the ingredient label
Tags:calories, dark chocolate, food, Kind, nuts, price, review, reviews, sea salt, Simply Nutty, snack, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
03/04/2017
March 4, 2017
When there’s a chip made from some previously little known vegetable (or anything in the plant kingdom), it’s a good guess that that vegetable will be the new superfood of the year. Or is it megafood of the year this year? And I’d guess, if I had to guess, we’ll be hearing more about parsnips pretty soon.
Now that we know how we got here, how are the chips? Surprisingly, these are much better than one might expect, considering that most of us don’t have a clue what a parsnip is.
The bag has a mixture of thin, moderately long and short, curly pieces of slightly orange crispy things in it. There’s not much flavor to them. A slight sweet flavor predominates. That’s about it. For a chip, there’s barely a hint of salt.
A good chip has only one real test, can a person sit and eat the whole bag in one sitting? For these chips, the happy answer to that question is, yes.
Price $2.99 – 5.2 ounce bag
Calories 120/ounce (28g) (about 12 chips)
Tags:calories, chips, food, parsnip chips, price, review, snacks, trader joe
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
April 9, 2017
Ain't Found A Good Title Blog 