Posts Tagged ‘review’
11/05/2017
November 5, 2017
Almost burnt pumpkin pie crust, that’s what these taste like. You know, no matter what we do, some part of that pumpkin pie crust is going to be burnt. Now I’m not talking about the stuff we buy from the store. That never seems to have burnt edges. I’m talking about the stuff that comes out of our oven. Whether it be a store-bought frozen pie cooked at home or a from-scratch homemade pie, once it gets in our oven there’s some part of that crust that’s going to be burnt. Wrap the edges with foil or stick a pin in a voodoo doll, some part of that crust is going to get burned. The oven makers must program that into their ovens. There’s no avoiding it.
These chips don’t taste like the absolutely burnt portions of crust, but like the almost burnt pieces next to the very burnt stuff. More specifically, it’s the parts of the crust where the filling overflows onto the edges. You know what those are. In fact, those pieces of crust are actually the pieces I break off and eat first. They sort of build anticipation for the rest of the pie with the pumpkin filling covered with whipped cream. Hmm, sounds like I know what I’m having for dessert tonight.
But enough about pumpkin pie. The first ingredient on the label of these chips is corn. So these are mostly corn tortilla chips with pumpkin puree used to add some pumpkin flavor. The back of the bag suggests these will hold up to any salsa. I have no reason to doubt that since they are very stiff chips. But it’s the taste of most salsas I question. It seems to me that what’s needed is a pumpkin pie dip/salsa to make these complete.
Price $1.99 – 7 ounce bag Calories 140/ounce (28g) (about 8 chips)
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Tags:calories, chips, food, nutrition, price, pumpkin, review, snacks, tortilla chips, trader joe
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
11/05/2017
November 5, 2017
There’s plenty of chicken meat. But read carefully, this is dark leg meat. While perfectly tender, the dark chicken meat has a stronger flavor than chicken breast.
At only 150 calories per serving, this is surprisingly filling. At 3.5 servings per bag or 525 calories per bag, if you split the entire bag with another person that’s only 265 calories. For those few calories there are 31 grams of protein, which is a big chunk of the daily requirement for protein. Combine this with some steamed frozen vegetables and even a little butter or olive oil on the veggies and we’re looking at a filling meal at around 400 calories total. That’s not bad.
The teriyaki sauce is thin, sweetish, and soy sauce based. The sauce is hardly what is commonly called a BBQ sauce here. But the sauce imparts enough flavor to the chicken. The sauce will not cover the flavor of the leg meat. I didn’t find that to be a problem, so the preceding sentence was just a note for you. There are two packets of frozen sauce in the bag. I suppose you could only cook half the chicken in the bag using just one of the sauce packets, leaving the rest of the frozen chicken and the other sauce packet for another day. Cooking is no more than heating in the microwave. Coming out of the bag, the chicken looks like various shaped dark rocks. Some of those rocks are so big you may wonder if they came from turkey legs instead of chicken legs. These must be some big chickens.
Price $4.99 Calories 150 per serving (3.5 servings per bag)
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Tags:bbq chicken teriyaki, calories, food, frozen entree, nutrition, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | Leave a Comment »
10/29/2017
October 29, 2017
Herring, the adolescent sardine, what’s not to like? If you’ve ever avoided herring because, well it’s herring, this may change your mind. This herring comes packed in a not spicy curry sauce. The curry is a little sweet, and a little pineappley. The curry disguises very well whatever preconceived notion of taste you may have of herring. The herring itself comes as fillets with a nice firm texture. And no, the herring does not taste fishy. The herring also does not taste or look like any of that pickled stuff people bring out for New Year’s. If you were worrying about that, forget about it. On top of that it’s nutritious with: low carbs, relatively high protein and a more fun way to get some omega-3 than one of those gelatin oil filled capsules. This is an ALDI Oktoberfest perennial offering, so you won’t be seeing it on the shelves until either next September for Oktoberfest or possibly next May for Maifest.
Calories 100 per serving (4 servings per can)
Price $1.69 per can
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ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, calories, deutsche kuche, food, nutrition, pineapple curry herring, price, review, reviews, snacks
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 6 Comments »
10/29/2017
October 29, 2017
This is more of a note than a review. I use anchovies on homemade pizza. I should expand that to include anchovies in other things. Now that cooler weather is here, at least north of the equator, it’s oven season in our house.
I don’t believe Cento is unique to Trader Joe’s. So you’ll possibly find these elsewhere. But at Trader Joe’s they cost $1.49. That’s not bad since a larger supermarket usually prices anchovies around $2 per can. And they seem to be a staple at Trader Joe’s. You’ll most likely have to look for them on the bottom shelf where other canned fish are kept. That’s where I find them at my Trader Joe’s.
The anchovies themselves seem to be a little less salty than other brands I’ve tried. But that doesn’t hold them back from adding that anchovy pop to a pizza. Good stuff at a good price.
Calories 25 per 16 gram (about 2 servings per can) price $1.49 per can
Tags:calories, cento anchoives, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews, trader joe's
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10/29/2017
October 29, 2017
For a not-cheese, this is not bad. It has a neutral taste and a thicker texture than a real mozzarella. While the product name stresses the soy content, it also contains milk protein and milk as parmesan cheese according to the label. The label does not specify what kind of enzymes were used for the parmesan. While mozzarella is a mild cheese, it still has a better taste and texture than this alternative.
On heating in the microwave, the aroma of parmesan is liberally released. It smells good. However the melted “cheese” does not retain the taste of parmesan. This cheese also does not melt as nicely as mozzarella in the microwave. It becomes somewhat puffy and hardens. There’s none of that stringy mozzarella texture. The cheese was not tested in stove top or oven recipes. When diced up for some salad, it added some texture to the salad, but not much in the way of flavor.
With milk as one of the ingredients and an unknown source for the parmesan enzymes (some enzymes are animal based), what’s the purpose of the cheese? For people who might be allergic to milk, it contains some milk components. For those looking for a vegetarian cheese, it’s not labeled as vegetarian. The cheese is labeled as 99% lactose free. So I guess for people who are extremely lactose intolerant, this may be an alternative. However many milk-based cheeses are naturally relatively low in lactose. So for those who can tolerate some lactose, a milk-based cheese may work for you also. Regardless, only you know what kinds of food you need to avoid or what foods work well for you. And of course, only you know what foods you like!
Calories 70 per ounce, price $1.99 (8 ounce package)
Tags:calories, cheese, food, mozzarella, nutrition, price, review, reviews, soy-based cheese, trader joe's
Posted in food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 2 Comments »
10/25/2017
October 25, 2017
Well this is somewhat misleading. But it will be eaten nonetheless.
I’m a sucker for cheesecake. The picture on the box looked really good. The title was enticing. How could anyone resist the words chocolate truffle and cheesecake combined in one place? The price was more than right. And the everyday cheesecake at ALDI is pretty wonderful. So this would be one step beyond wonderful. Right? Not exactly. But, like the mushrooms that share the same name, this sort of grows on you.
Rather than a cheesecake this is more like a chocolate mousse (with horns) sitting on a thickish chocolate graham cracker “crust”. “With horns” in this context means thick and beefy mousse. If I didn’t have the box to read, I wouldn’t know this was a cheesecake, even one of those light fluffy cheesecakes. The chocolate flavor is neither sweet milk chocolate nor dark semi-sweet chocolate. It’s somewhere in the middle with an earthy tinge to it (like a real truffle?). The graham cracker crust is crunchy in the mouth. That provides an interesting textural contrast with the soft “cheesecake” topping it. Even though it doesn’t taste exceptionally sweet, I’m sure there’s a bunch of sugar in it.
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Tags:aldi, belmont, calories, chocolate truffle cheesecake, food, nutrition, price, review, reviews
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10/25/2017
October 25, 2017
This is not a very sweet tasting bar, but that’s part of the appeal. There’s a nice undercurrent of sour cherries and dark chocolate. Oats are oats. The oats in this bar are a little tough and tasteless, as they are in most of these types of bars. But the cherry and chocolate let this bar stand out above the rest. If you’re ever in the Black Forest or even the Eifel Forest take a few of these alone.
I suspect these were part of ALDI’s Oktoberfest. So they may not be around again until next Oktoberfest or next spring for Maifest.
Calories 130 per bar
Price $2.69 per box (8 bars in a box)
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ALDI customer contact URL – https://www.aldi.us/en/contact-us/
Tags:aldi, black forest cake, calories, dark chocolate cherry, deutsche kuche, food, granola bar, nutrition, price, review, reviews, snacks, trail mix
Posted in ALDI, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items | 2 Comments »
10/16/2017
October 16, 2017
A cheddar with hints of an aged Gouda? This is a fine tasting, slightly crumbly, but still creamy in the mouth, cheese. While the length of aging of this cheese is not specified on the label, it’s just on the verge of developing those cheese crystals like an aged Gouda. This is a “mature” tasting cheddar, meaning it’s not a mild cheddar. But it’s also not a sharp cheddar. It’s an extremely nice and enjoyable cheese.
Collier’s refers to Welsh miners, called Colliers (think “coal ers”). The miners used to take this cheese down in the mines for lunch. And for an interesting movie, based on real events in 1984, explaining how these same miners found common cause with a seemingly unlikely group, try Pride (2014) while you snack on the cheese.
Price $7.99 per pound Calories 120 per ounce (28g)
Tags:calories, cheddar, cheese, Colliers Welsh, food, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's
Posted in Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 3 Comments »
10/16/2017
October 16, 2017
This coffee is somewhat: weak, bitter and bad tasting. The negatives go away some on cooling to a slightly sour taste. While not especially good for a Trader Joe coffee, this is still likely better than some coffees at other supermarkets for the same price. While taste is a personal preference, and some people may like this coffee more than other coffees, there are better coffees at Trader Joe’s for the same price or less.
The coffee is labeled as organic. The coffee is packaged in a tall, thin bag which makes it somewhat difficult to get the coffee out, especially near the bottom of the bag.
And if you look at the label this is a “honey processed” coffee. I guess some things don’t change no matter where people live. “Oh honey! Can you go process some coffee for me. And, take out the trash.”
Price $8.99 (12 ounce bag)
For another take on this coffee, try Become Betty here.
Tags:coffee, food, Nicaraguan, price, review, tj, tj's, trader joe's, whole bean
Posted in coffee, food, Recipes, food, cooking and related items, Trader Joe's | 5 Comments »
10/03/2017
October 03, 2017
There’s no doubt about it this is on the strong side of the wine continuum. It’s also a little harsh on the mouth and throat. The wine is mildly fruity with a bold taste. The harshness mellows out some as it sits in the glass allowing some decent earthy tannins to peek through.
The combination of this and a tomatoey lasagna did not work well. Paired with a second pasta dish, this did not work equally well. Finally, paired with a spicy bean curry, this balanced and stood up to the curry nicely.
For the price this is a decent wine if you like strong wines, don’t have a sensitive throat and are on a budget. In fact, it generally gets good reviews in other places on the web, with a few people even stocking up when it’s available. Price $6.99.
And, for the curious, David Frost is a South African professional golfer who as a kid used to pick grapes in the family vineyards to buy golf balls.
Tags:2015, david frost, price, red wine, review, reviews, shiraz blend, south africa, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wine
Posted in Trader Joe's, Wine | Leave a Comment »
November 5, 2017
These chips don’t taste like the absolutely burnt portions of crust, but like the almost burnt pieces next to the very burnt stuff. More specifically, it’s the parts of the crust where the filling overflows onto the edges. You know what those are. In fact, those pieces of crust are actually the pieces I break off and eat first. They sort of build anticipation for the rest of the pie with the pumpkin filling covered with whipped cream. Hmm, sounds like I know what I’m having for dessert tonight.
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