Posts Tagged ‘calories’
08/28/2017
August 28, 2017
These are wonderful biscotti.
There’s a nice chocolate coating on the bottom edge of each biscotti. As the coating is sometimes a little uneven from end to the other end, there can be a slightly different experience with each bite. When the proportion of chocolate in the mouth is right, there’s a nice contrast between the semi-sweet chocolate and the mildly sweet almond flavor of the biscotti. When the proportion of chocolate is less, the almond flavor takes over and provides just as an enjoyable experience. Along with the plentiful almond flavor are slivers of almond laced throughout the biscotti. These are a crunchy biscotti.
These are a nice accompaniment to coffee or just as nice by themselves. However, at 120 calories each, it’s not something that can be readily indulged in. So if you can, I couldn’t, ration yourself to one a day, and thoroughly enjoy the experience.
Price $3.99 per package of 8 Calories 120 per biscotti
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Tags:calories, chocolate almond biscotti, cookie, food, nutrition, price, review, trader joe
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
08/28/2017
August 28, 2017
The package says, “with just a hint of anise”, but for me that was the whole story. This is more like anise toast than almond biscotti. For anise toast, it was fairly good. There was a nice and proportionally strong anise flavor to the biscotti. The biscotti were firm, but still a little soft and not very crumbly. There were small pieces of nuts occasionally sprinkled throughout the biscotti. The package says almond and walnuts. But there was very little almond flavor to match the package label. So maybe the wrong biscotti got in the wrong box, or something like that?
Calories 90 per biscotti Price $2.89 per package of 8
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ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, almond biscotti, calories, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, specially selected
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | Leave a Comment »
08/28/2017
August 28, 2017
With a fair amount of heat, but missing most of the different flavors of Indian cuisine, this is just an “okay” chicken tikka masala.
The heat in this product starts out mild and builds up to a medium-hot heat on the back of the tongue. While the heat level is good for people liking heat, many of the traditional flavors of Indian food are missing. The sauce has a medium tomato flavor with plenty of small pieces of tomato. Along with the tomato are ample amounts of tender chicken pieces.
The rice is the biggest disappointment. The rice cooked up rubbery, maybe indicating some over cooking after 6 minutes in the microwave. However after 6 minutes the sauce and chicken were merely very warm. While the rice is labeled basmati, the flavor was different, but not better, than the basmati I’m used to. There was a very mild heat to the rice.
There are better frozen chicken tikka masala products out there. If you’re in a pinch, or don’t have access to other sources, this will do – but not more.
Calories 370 per container Price $2.99 per carton
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ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, calories, chicken tikka masala, food, journey to india, nutrition, price, review, reviews
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 3 Comments »
08/11/2017
August 11, 2017
On first opening the package you’ll notice two strange things, broken up sheets of frozen sauce and plain white rice. More about these later.
When prepared according to the package directions, this risotto obtains a nice light yellow/green color from the creamy sauce. The sauce has a wonderful flavor and texture. The rice has a nice bite to it. It’s not overcooked. A fair amount of thin green asparagus is distributed throughout in the form of inch long pieces. These pieces also lend a touch of green asparagus flavor to the sauce.
Obviously this was not prepared in the traditional manner. The rice is parcooked separately from the other ingredients. The sauce also appears to have been cooked separately, flash frozen in thin sheets and then broken up in pieces. The asparagus also is likely cooked or partially cooked separately. All three components, we could guess, are then combined in a frozen state in the bag and shipped off.
The package will make enough for two (maybe three) portions as a side dish. In this case, I ate the whole package as a main dish, thoroughly enjoying it all.
There may not be an army of nonnas standing over stoves, constantly stirring in broth to Arborio rice until the moment of perfection, making risotto in the traditional way. However what comes out of this package is almost as good. And by definition, it can never be as good as Nonna’s. Know what I mean?
Price $2.99
Calories 160 per serving (3 servings per package)
Tags:asparagus risotto, calories, food, frozen entree, italian, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
08/06/2017
Aug 6, 2017
This is pretty good stuff, but you might not think so as it cooks.
Straight from the freezer this is a mixture of the frozen gnocchi (small flour dumplings) and frozen flying-saucer-shaped chunks of sauce. Heating in the microwave is a two stage process. After heating for 4 minutes, the mixture needs a good stir. At this point you’ll wonder, what have I done wrong, as the sauce and gnocchi appear very watery. After stirring, put it back in the microwave for another 3 minutes and the magic happens. The second heating totally changes the appearance, by thickening up everything into a coherent whole. Pan heating instructions are also provided.
Throughout the cooking process the gnocchi retain their consistency. After heating they have a nice chewy texture in the mouth. The sauce thickens nicely thanks to the cheese in the sauce (that’s the magic). This allows the sauce to coat and cling to the gnocchi. The combination of the complex, but not over the top, sauce and chewy gnocchi works extremely well. A sprinkle of parmesan is always useful, but really not needed.
For us, the package yielded two modest servings working out to around 300 calories each. The package claims three servings. Even though our portions were only 300 calories, the gnocchi were very filling – and tasty.
Price $2.99 Calories 200 per serving (3 servings per carton)
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Tags:calories, food, frozen entree, gnocchi alla sorrentina, italian, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 11 Comments »
08/06/2017
Aug 6, 2017
With cold, or at least cool, weather just around the corner, soup is in season. This is a surprisingly good soup for those kinds of days, or really any kind of day.
The broth for this soup is very nice. There’s a slight sweetness to the broth, but also a bit of rebellion from green onions. As you work your way to the bottom of the bowl, where the white and black pepper settle out, the broth becomes more adventuresome. The broth has a medium consistency.
The wontons (dumplings) in the soup contain a chicken-based filling. While not as flavorful as the broth, the wonton filling is still good with noticeable vegetables interspersed throughout. If you can manage to cut a wonton in half, letting some broth seep in, the filling is even better. The package contains a caution to, cook thoroughly. If I had to guess, the soup is not precooked. It took the full five minutes in the microwave to reach the required 165 degrees.
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Tags:calories, chicken vegetable wonton soup, chinese, food, frozen entree, nutrition, price, review, reviews, soup, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 4 Comments »
08/03/2017
Honestly, I picked these up just to see what they were. Popcorn chips, how could that be? That’s making a snack food out of a snack food. It ain’t right.
If you’ve ever had mini rice cakes, these are very close to that experience. The “chips” are airy in texture and dry in the mouth. There’s just a hint of salt and sweet for flavor. Aside from that, there’s not much to these – except some calories. And as much as these are unexceptional, the whole bag disappeared within a couple of hours. That’s what a snack food is.
Price $1.99 (4.5 ounce bag)
Calories 110 per ounce (28g, about 17 chips)
Tags:calories, food, nutrition, popcorn chips, price, review, snack, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
07/26/2017
July 26, 2017
Trade wars be damned, this is some really good cheese. So before the great northern wall is built, get some of this. If not, you’ll be making trips up to the wall under cover of darkness to catch packages of cheese wrapped in duct tape being thrown over. Or Monty Python might be channeled catapulting whole cows north to south, the cheese curdling and aging in flight. Don’t worry Canada, the cows will be quickly deported! Street graffiti artists, please hold your enthusiasm.
Wisconsin cheeseheads stand on guard (oops!). There’s some real competition coming south. Have the secret cheese recipes been hacked? Stop any bulls going north. That lovely smiling red-headed heifer waving her tail over the border is a trap. Keep the DNA in the USA!
And how is the cheese itself? It’s perhaps the best pure cheddar in the TJ refrigerator case. It has a great taste and mouthfeel. It’s sharp, but not pointy. It’s just on the verge of being crumbly. A few Gouda-like cheese crystals are spread throughout. Or maybe that was one of my fillings starting to break up? According to the label it’s aged two years. That two-year aging accounts for all the good stuff in the cheese. It’s also how often my dentist keeps refilling that tooth. Hmmm?
Calories 120 per ounce, price $8.99 per pound
Heifer photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, here. Author: Black Angus Girl
Tags:calories, Canadian cheese, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, nutrition, parody, price, review, reviews, satire, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
07/14/2017
July 14, 2017
Tomato sauce and ketchup, that’s basically what sloppy Joe sauce is. Well, a few other spices are also thrown in the mix. It’s pretty simple stuff for some pretty simple cooking. And that’s exactly what we need every once in a while. It doesn’t hurt much that when combined with some cooked ground beef and put on a fresh hamburger bun it’s some pretty tasty and satisfying comfort food. This sloppy Joe sauce is no exception.
Naturally a store brand like this is often compared to a brand name market leader like Manwich. Personally, Manwich seems a little more flavorful, spicier, whatever you’d like to call it. But the ALDI Sloppy Joe Sauce also adds a nice tang and taste to the final mixture and works just as well for a quick and easy comfort food at roughly 20 cents less per can.
Price – 79 cents (15 oz can, 425g)
Calories – 35 per 1/4 cup serving (64g)
Click on images to enlarge.
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, brookdale, calories, food, nutrition, price, review, sloppy joe sauce
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 3 Comments »
07/10/2017
July 10, 2017
Garlic literally wreaks from the package when first cut open. That theme continues until the last pasta shell has left the bowl. This is truth in advertising. And I’m all for the truth.
For the garlic lovers among us, this is a hit. Some water, milk, margarine/butter and the contents of the package are turned into a side dish which is just about as good as many restaurants serve, in about 15 minutes of cooking time. While the bag only contains two servings, these are two satisfying servings. In a pinch this might be stretched to three servings without people feeling the need for more. Click on images to enlarge. Price – 69 cents
Calories – 340 per serving prepared (250 in the package)
ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, calories, creamy garlic pasta, food, nutrition, price, reggano, review
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 1 Comment »
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