Posts Tagged ‘calories’

ALDI – Sea Queen Crab Cakes – Food Review

03/16/2017

ALDI, Sea Queen, Crab Cakes, price, review, calories, nutritionALDI, Sea Queen, Crab Cakes, price, review, calories, nutritionMarch 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

ALDI – Millville Simple Nut Bar – Almond, Cashew & Sea Salt – Food Review

03/11/2017

ALDI, Millville, Simple Nut Bar, price, calories, review, snackMarch 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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Trader Joe’s – Falafel (Heat & Eat) – Food Review

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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Trader Joe’s Simply Nutty vs. Kind Dark Chocolate, Nuts, Sea Salt Bars – Food Review

03/04/2017

trader joe, dark chocolate, nuts, sea salt, review, price, nutrition, simply nutty barskind, dark chocolate, nuts, sea salt bars, review, price, nutrition
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.

trader joe, dark chocolate, nuts, sea salt, review, price, nutrition, simply nutty barskind, dark chocolate, nuts, sea salt bars, review, price, nutritionThe 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

Trader Joe’s – Parsnip Chips – Food Review

03/04/2017

trader joe, review, parsnip chips, priceMarch 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.

trader joe, review, parsnip chips, price, nutritionThe 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)

Happy Farms Shredded Mozzarella Cheese – Food Review – ALDI

02/23/2017

ALDI, happy farms, shredded mozzarella, review, calories, priceFebruary 23, 2017

We buy this all the time.  We use it mostly on salads and “Italian” dishes.  Most recently it was used on some homemade pizza.  This is a low-moisture part-skim milk (assumed cow’s milk?) shredded mozzarella cheese that’s pretty much indistinguishable from similarly priced mozzarella cheeses elsewhere.  It has a mild taste.

Although the price seems to vary with the market, it’s generally priced competitively with sale prices of similar cheeses at other stores.  The only negative about this is, my ALDI store keeps moving it around, so it’s hard to find.

Price $2.99 (16 ounce bag)    Calories 80 per 1/4 cup (28g)

ALDI, happy farms, shredded mozzarella, review, calories, price, nutrition

 

ALDI – Chef’s Cupboard Chicken Noodle Soup vs. Campbell’s – Food Review

02/17/2017

campbells, chicken noodle soup, review, price, caloriesFebruary 17, 2017aldi, chefs cupboard, chicken noodle soup, review, price, calories

Andy Warhol would be proud!

Here we have another two mundane food items up for review.  It’s a chicken noodle soup-off between ALDI’s Chef”s Cupboard Chicken Noodle Soup and America’s sweetheart Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup.  And while the ties are still in the dry cleaner for spot removal, the winner is Andy Warhol’s poster child, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, with the one exception of price.  Campbell’s costs significantly more.  But I’m guessing you knew that already.  So click the “read more” button below to further unravel the noodles.
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ALDI – Casa Mamita Chipotle Lime Salsa – Food Review

02/17/2017

 

aldi, salsa, chipotle lime, review, price, casa mamitaaldi, salsa, chipotle lime, nutrition, review, price, casa mamita

February 17, 2017

A warning:  while this is labeled as medium heat there are touches of hot dispersed throughout.

Along with the strange heat characteristic is the strange taste characteristic.  The strange taste which comes across as a form of bitterness appears to come from the diced tomato in the salsa.  Getting back to the strange heat, this appears to come from very small pieces of garlic in the salsa.  Whether that heat is native to the garlic or the garlic just absorbed the heat from some of its neighbors is up for debate.  The texture is thick like a paste.  This is not a chunky salsa, if that’s your preference.  The salsa is labeled as organic.

If you’re willing to give this a try, buy a jar of your usual salsa to go with it.  That way if this turns out to be too radical for your taste, there’ll be a backup plan on the shelf to go with the chips.   Price $1.99   Calories 10 per 2 Tbsp. (31g)

 

ALDI – No Sugar Added Chocolate Fudge Pops vs. Target vs. Fudgsicle – Food Review

02/11/2017

ALDI, chocolate fudge pops, review, low sugarFebruary 11, 2017

Today we fudge off three “no sugar added” frozen chocolate pops.  Having only 35-40 calories per fudge pop and total carbohydrates per pop under 10 g, these are a quick pop of chocolate for people wanting to watch their carbohydrate consumption.  There are also “sugar added” versions of these pops, so look at the label carefully if you want to avoid the extra sugar.

As you may have guessed, with no added sugar, artificial sweeteners including sugar alcohols help to sweeten the deal.  So do check out the ingredient labels just in case you have an aversion to any of the ingredients.  As a matter of truth in testing, two testers (with totally different tastes) fudged off for this review.
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Trader Joe’s – Cheddar Cheese with Caramelized Onions – Food Review

02/06/2017

Trader Joe, caramelized onion cheddar cheese, nutrition, reviewFebruary 6, 2017

I couldn’t find the bacon cheddar, but I did find this.  I’m not disappointed.  A crumbly, little bit sharp, nice cheddar cheese forms the base of this product.  To it is added caramelized onions.  That may not sound good, but it is good – really good.  The onions add a contrasting sweetness to the more earthy taste of the cheddar.  It’s a nice flavor treat for the mouth.  For a modest price, this is a nice cheddar cheese with an interesting contrast that works well.   Price $8.99 per pound   Calories  110  per ounce (28g)