Posts Tagged ‘review’
02/09/2018
February 9, 2018
This is another grown-up mac & cheese. This has a nice earthy depth of flavor but less complex than the recently reviewed Truffle Mac & Cheese. This product adds Hatch Chiles to a classic cheddar cheese base. If you’re worried that the chiles make this mac & cheese spicy hot, no need for that. Only a very very mild heat can be detected in sporadic bites when a bit of the green chili actually finds its way to your fork. Mostly, the chiles just adds a secondary complementary flavor to the cheese adding to the depth of flavor.
Again, half the container was more than adequate as a side to dinner. While I prepared this in the microwave, using the oven, taking another 20 minutes or so, might add a nice browning to the top. But I leave that experiment for you.
What’s a Hatch Chili? Well it’s hard to say other than these chiles were grown in or around Hatch, New Mexico (according to information on the box). For those interested here’s the Wiki link.
Price $2.99 per frozen box (two servings per box)
Calories, 260 per serving (170g)
Tags:calories, food, hatch chiles, mac and cheese, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
02/09/2018
February 9, 2018
This is a nice cheese, a blend of parmesan and cheddar implied by the label. This cheese is mild with a gentle nutty sweet flavor. The texture is medium firm, and definitely not hard. The Syrah wine soak doesn’t add much to the flavor, but puts a pretty purple coating on the outside. The cheese slices nicely and is not crumbly. This is suitable for a cheese tray if you don’t mind some odd-shaped pieces as the cheese is sold as a wedge.
Now the interesting thing about using this on a cheese tray could be watching people try to decide if that purple coating on the outside is edible, or not. I’m not saying.
price $9.99 per pound calories, 120 per ounce (28g)
Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, review, reviews, syrah, tj, tj's, toscano, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 5 Comments »
02/02/2018
February 2, 2018
These are pretty good cookies. There’s a nice mint chocolate center sandwiched between two cookies. I suppose the nearest comparison would be to a Pepperidge Farms Milano. This cookie is firmer than the Milano. It’s not as dainty. While this may not be 100% as good as a Milano, it’s still good enough to eat the whole bag. And it will save a little money over a Milano.
Calories 170 per 2 cookies
Price – $1.99 per bag (12 cookies)
Tags:aldi, calories, dessert, food, mint chocolate cookies, price, review, reviews, specially selected, torino
Posted in ALDI, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 1 Comment »
02/02/2018
February 2, 2018
Why can’t we just say West Coast Roast? Starbucks and Peet’s get the credit, or blame, for this dark roast thing. I’m going to coin the term now. This is a West Coast Roast. It sort of rhymes too!
A nice mild coffee aroma escapes the bag. The beans are dark brown and oily, both characteristics of a dark roast. The coffee is bitter in the cup once brewed, but still drinkable black. This is one of the less bitter, bitter coffees I’ve had. Aside from the bitterness, this is a milder dark roast with a nice flavor, especially after it has cooled some. So if you’re in a Target, or other large box shop, desperate for coffee, like a bitter coffee that can still be drank black, find this on sale, go for it.
Now for the name, I’m disappointed. The name is what attracted me to the bag. Because of the name, Major Dickason’s, I was expecting a backstory straight out of a Rudyard Kipling work. But alas, Major seems to have been only a frequent flyer at the first Peet’s store who apparently liked a bitter cup of coffee?
Price $7.99 on sale, $9.49 regular price – 12 ounce bag
Tags:coffee, dark roast, food, major dickason, Peet's, price, review, whole bean coffee
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 6 Comments »
01/26/2018
January 26, 2018
Have a handkerchief ready to catch the drool starting to form at the edge of the mouth about halfway through the cooking time as the earthy aromas start to waff out of the microwave. This is one grown-up Mac & Cheese.
Five different cheeses and truffle extract give this a very deep earthy wonderful flavor. All the preceding adhere to short spiral shaped macaroni. This is decidedly different from the kid’s $1 a box glow-in-the-dark stuff that cooks up on the stove.
At $3.49 a frozen box, this might seem a little pricey. And it is. But consider what it would cost to make this yourself. Just the Gouda, white Cheddar, Asiago, Parmesan and Romano alone would probably use up all that $3.49. One 290 calorie serving of this is also pretty filling and satisfying. A little goes a long way as a side to some lighter fare.
Price $3.49 per 12 ounce box
Calories 290 per serving (2 servings per box)
Tags:calories, food, nutrition, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's, truffle mac & cheese
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 8 Comments »
01/26/2018
January 26, 2018
The package lists this as a medium dark roast. However the coffee looks and drinks more like a medium roast. This is one of Trader Joe’s better African coffees. There’s just a touch of bitterness in the coffee. The bitterness, as well as the body, can be easily adjusted by varying the size of the grind and/or brew time. For comparison, this is the opposite end of the coffee spectrum from a Starbucks-like coffee. But the problem may be the farm the coffee came from, the New Year’s Gift Estate. Will it only be available every New Year’s?
Price, $8.99, 12 ounce bag.
Tags:coffee, food, medium roast, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's, whole bean, Zimbabwe
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 4 Comments »
01/20/2018
January 20, 2018
This is a medium-bodied, but still dry and earthy red wine. There are no negatives to this wine. It is an unpretentious red table wine. Pour it straight from the bottle and enjoy with food. Think red when selecting a food for pairing; red sauce, spicy red pepper, red meat. The lighter body makes this a good wine to help get the food down. There’s no dainty sipping at the dinner table.
I like this wine. However, it’s a different wine than most on the shelves today. The flavor profile or style is different from most of its neighbors. I’m going to call this old-school wine; earthy, dry and good.
Two things are of interest. One is the somewhat disjointed backstory on the bottle explaining how this wine got its name. There are mosquitos, birds, woods, a pond, a red goose, a zen master (?) and of course grape vines in the story. All this, I suppose, means the grapes are grown in harmony with nature. And the name? “Oca rossa” means red goose in Italian. Ocarossa is the red goose that lives in the pond.
The second noteworthy item is the cork. This is corkscrew-less cork. Just grab the top of the cork protruding from the bottle, twist and pull the cork until out. Everyone needs one of these for their cork collection.
Price $5.99.
Tags:italy, Ocarossa, price, red wine, review, reviews, table wine, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Trader Joe's, Wine | 3 Comments »
01/12/2018
January 12, 2018
For a 4-year-old cheese, this cheese is surprisingly soft, but still firm. There is little crumbling when cut. There are no obvious crystals visible in the cheese. However once in the mouth some very fine crystals can be detected crunching between the teeth. Crystals form as the cheese ages.
This is a very tasty cheddar with a nice and noticeable amount of natural sharpness. The sharpness lingers on the back of the tongue long after the cheese has left the mouth. A little cheese goes a long way. Unlike some other cheddars, the word sharp on the label has real meaning. Some people may find this too sharp. Without doing a side by side comparison, this is the best cheddar at TJ I’ve reviewed so far.
Calories 120 per ounce, price $8.99 per pound
Tags:black diamond mature reserve cheddar, calories, cheese, extra-sharp-cheddar, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
01/12/2018
January 12, 2018
So light you’ll eat the whole bag and never notice it. That is until you step on the scale.
These are mildly sweet, gently flavored cinnamon and apple, multi-grain snacks. Like all snacks they’re easy to like and even easier to eat. The grains used are; corn flour, rice flour, and potato fiber (I know, not a grain). They’re labelled gluten-free.
The really interesting thing about these is the shape. They are small hollow tubes. How do they do it?
Price $2.49 per 6 oz. bag
Calories 140 per ounce (28g)
Tags:apple cinnamon snack, calories, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, snack, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
01/07/2018
January 7, 2018
Recently reviewed here was a Trader Joe’s Parmesan cheese. That was found to be okay, but nothing very special. Today, reviewed is a Parmigiano Reggiano Stravecchio cheese imported from Italy by Trader Joe’s. The first question is, what is stravecchio? Stravecchio simply means; old, mature or extra aging. This cheese is aged for 36 months, or 3 years, depending on how you count time.
In comparison to the previously reviewed TJ Parmesan cheese, this cheese is still hard, but easier to cut because it tends to crumble somewhat. As for flavor, there’s no comparison. This cheese is tons more flavorful and complex. There’s some nuttiness to the flavor but also hints of sweetness contained in an earthy base.
This is a very nice cheese to snack on. It would be difficult to use this for a cheese tray, as it does not cut well into nicely shaped cubes due to its crumbly nature. For cooking and sprinkling on salads, I still prefer the inexpensive everyday grated cheeses in the plastic containers. At $14.99 a pound, this is a cheese that really needs to be savored by itself, rather than diluted with other food. And when it is savored by itself, it’s a savoring experience.
Price $14.99 per pound Calories, 110 per ounce (28g)
Tags:calories, cheese, food, nutrition, parmigiano reggiano stravecchio, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 10 Comments »
February 9, 2018
Again, half the container was more than adequate as a side to dinner. While I prepared this in the microwave, using the oven, taking another 20 minutes or so, might add a nice browning to the top. But I leave that experiment for you.
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