New Product: Saffron Road Frozen Indian Food

Sometimes I want Indian food but the thing is, my husband doesn't eat Indian food so we don't go out to eat it ever.  I of course could go at lunch--but the problem there is that there is no good Indian restaurant in walking distance. And you know nobody drives at lunch.

Anyway, I was at Whole Foods the other day looking for hazelnuts and decided to buy two different frozen Indian dinners. I bought Amy's Paneer Saag which I have had before along with Saffron's Road Lamb Saag.  Nutrition wies the Paneer & Lamb Saag are pretty close and not incredibly terrible--but they aren't that filling either so fill up with lots of additional fruits and vegetables!

I was really impressed by the Lamb Saag.  The flavors were there, the lamb was incredibly tender and there was a good amount of lamb.  I think that this is a keeper.  Try it for yourself!

New Product: Cookie Butter

One of my friends pointed me to one of our daily reads today and an article describing the delectable products Trader Joe's brought out this year for the holiday season.

Sure there are lots of products in the article that call out to me but the most significant is Cookie Butter.  Cookie Butter?!  My friend and I couldn't imagine how it couldn't be wonderful combining two things we love most--butter and cookies into one delicious spread.
I knew I had to have it.  I don't like Trader Joe's.  I go there and have to deal with tight parking lots, tight aisles and can never find anything I want with their crazy store organization.  But I was resigned to give it a try anyway because I couldn't pass up a chance to try the famed Cookie Butter.  I went there after work and actually discovered a store with more than one open space in the parking lot and rather roomy aisles.  Hurrah!

As I was driving home after buying what one can only refer to as a grocery bag of the before-dinner munchies, my aforementioned friend texted me with a message that the cookie butter is amazing.  She encouraged me to crack the jar in the car.  Sadly it was stuffed in the back seat amongst boxes of un-needed snacks near the bottom of the bag. I counted down the minutes to the garage and rushed upstairs to prepare dinner and sample the butter.

Glorious! The texture of peanut butter the flavor of gingersnaps with a tiny bit of crunch from the smashed up cookies.  This butter is terrible for you with 9g of fat per every 1 T but it would be delicious in a myriad of holiday sweets.  For instance just today I saw a recipe for chocolate cookies stuffed with peanut butter--but they would be great with Cookie Butter instead.  Or spread on toast with maybe a tiny dash of sea salt. Or spread onto cupcakes as a frosting.

Will I eat the whole jar without making a recipe? Doubtful. Could I? Very possibly.  But I'll share instead!

Carmela Ice Cream

At last week and this past week's farmer's markets in Burbank a cute little ice cream truck has parked itself across from the berry seller. The blue truck has a chalkboard sign set out in front and a cherry ice cream man calling out about free samples from the window.

Sure, the farmer's market is before noon on Saturday morning, but what kind of morning is complete without a little bit of ice cream? Previously I have always been able to resist the frozen yogurt samples at the market, but Carmela caught me, and reeled me in.

Carmela Ice Cream is a shop in Pasadena. I've never seen it nor heard of it but that's mostly because when we are in Pasadena and thinking of ice cream we're headed to our favorite Fosselman's. However, now might we think twice?

I sampled the salted caramel ice cream and the brown sugar vanilla. Both were great, a distinct but light flavor, huge creaminess although a little icy on the vanilla--but remember, it's just an ice cream truck in less-than-ideal conditions. The store probably has totally different results. There are all sorts of flavors offered from the truck and all of them original. They also serve ice cream sandwiches, which, lets be honest is what i really wanted to try. But as I said, it was still Saturday morning. If only Carmela attended the Santa Monica market which takes place from 8-2pm, now that would be perfect for dessert!

The other problem with me and samples is that if I have one I inevitably buy a product. Especially if an actual human bean is handing them out looking at me expectantly. The first Saturday I saw the truck I was able to get out of purchase by telling them I'd come back after I finished my shopping. The second time though I was an immediate lost cause. I bought the brown sugar vanilla in the tiny little container for $3. It was kind of expensive, but I'm hoping it will be worth it as a nice treat with some blackberries and raspberries throughout the week.

Next time you're at the market or in Pasadena, give the place a try.

Graeter's Ice Cream

As many of you surely know, my brother in law and his family are major ice cream connoisseurs. They traveled far and wide to find the best ice cream made and they finally settled on a favorite, outsourced from Ohio, Graeter's.

Until recently, you could only obtain ice cream from this legendary ice cream purveyor if you lived in Ohio or via mail in an ice packed cooler delivered straight to your door.

While ice cream delivery does sound pretty awesome, it is really quite a treat and you can't have it when you want it, you have to wait. Now Kroger & Ralph's stores have started to carry the ice cream! Through a chain of family and friends, my sister learned this news and rushed to the store to buy every flavor they had. She then surprised her husband with an ice cream extravaganza. Later that weekend, I stopped by to give the ice cream my taste test.

Graeter's is known for it's special way of adding chocolate to it's ice cream. Instead of mixing in chips, they add melted chocolate to the end of the churning process giving the ice cream a bit of a chocolate layer that you hit with every deep scoop of the scooper. The method is similar to the Italian Stracciatella method except that it doesn't break down as much as the stracciatella does.

Because they are well known for their chocolate method their flavors all seem to have chocolate in them--even flavors you wouldn't expect working together with chocolate. But somehow they make it work. Graeter's delivers a creamy ice cream with the interesting chocolate crunchy layer and a huge variety in flavors (unless you don't like chocolate of any kind and then there is no variety), I particularly enjoyed the coffee chip and the black raspberry ice creams. I also really liked the packaging and had I seen it in the store without background probably would've purchased it on that alone.

Snoqualmie Ice Cream

It was hot this weekend. I decided to go shopping in the middle of the hot day. Bad idea. I ended up with some new yogurt drinks, some cold milk, some stuff I actually needed and cherry limeade. And then, while I was spending some time browsing the frozen section for something reasonably healthy that we could keep around the house for emergency dinners (aka nobody feels like cooking or leaving the house), I spied some ice cream I've never heard of...on sale.

Remember, it was hot, and ice cream sounded like a swell idea! So I went over to the freezer to check it out. Snoqualmie Ice cream. That name, snoqualmie came back to me from my days spent in WA during college. That name reminded me of mountains and lush landscapes and snow. Oooh so cold! What a delight.

The flavors were varied but the actual containers few. Honey Cinnamon Custard, Mukilteo Mudd Ice Cream, Caramel Gingersnap Gelato--all three a different type of frozen dessert. How to choose, how to choose? Somehow I ended up with Honey Cinnamon Custard. I'm 99% sure it was due to the Custard ending. Frozen custard is up there on the list with stuffed spinach pizza of foods I miss the very most from life in the Midwest.

Against my better judgement, I left the store with ice cream in hand. I had a spoonful to give it a taste late in the evening. It was soft and very cinnamony. The rich and creamy layers of milky goodness stay with me even hours after my first spoonful. It was seriously delicious. If you see the cute little cabin in the snowy woods on your next trip to the store. Buy it. And let me know which flavor is best!

New Product: Siggi's Icelandic Yogurt

I recently read about Icelandic yogurt somewhere and how it is really thick. It sounded interesting so when I happened to notice it over at Henry's I thought it was a must buy!

The awesome packaging was really the reason though, I mean white cup sort of IKEA ish, looks all natural--has a little tab to remove the paper wrapper so you can recycle the cup and wrapper separately...

Unfortunately, the taste, texture and flavor of this yogurt did not match the aforementioned awesome packaging. Honestly, one bite was enough for me. The texture was grainy and way too thick for yogurt--more like something between dense ricotta and whipped cream cheese. The other problem was that the flavor just wasn't there. The yogurt was pinkish and screamed "I'm mixed berry" but it only had the slightest hint of flavor of any kind, not sweet at all, very similar to plain yogurt except less sweet. This yogurt was not my cup of tea at all, and while Joey was able to finish it I don't think he really liked it either. The other flavor we bought may have a permanent place in our fridge now. But if you like super thick, grainy and sour yogurt, this is for you!

I wonder what an Icelander thinks of yoplait?

New Product: Near East Wheat Salad

I can't really claim this is a new product, but it is new to me. I am not often frequenting the couscous and rice aisle but yesterday I thought it would be a nice change of pace. After learning that couscous is calorie laden, I turned to the Near East brand Wheat salad. This starch has less calories than couscous but a very small portion. The thing is, I could eat twice as much for the same calories! I was sold.

Near East Wheat salad is a combination of bulgur wheat and spices. To prepare it, I added a chopped tomato, 1 T olive oil and a splash of lemon juice. This salad is satisfying and delicious. I'm disappointed I only packed myself one serving! One could obviously make this themselves, but being unfamiliar with my likeness for bulgur I just bought the prepared package. In the future, I may make the entire salad myself.

New Product - Dark Chocolate Goji

I am a sucker for new interesting products with nice packaging. Seriously, I notice the packaging sometimes before the product itself. I was browsing the produce section at Ralphs the other day and came across this stand of Brookside chocolate covered fruit. Intrigued! Look at this beautiful packaging!!

I had never before heard of Goji fruit. Interesting...but it's $3. Brookside also makes chocolate covered pomegranate seeds and chocolate covered acai berries. The thing is, looking at this packaging, you totally expect a piece of juicy goji fruit to squirt out at you, or if not at least the dried variety. Unfortunately, these chocolate covered berries are not so much chocolate covered as chocolate flavored. Don't get me wrong, the flavor is good, it's just not as good for you as it seems it should be parading around the produce section in grandmother's pajamas.

These candies have the texture of chocolate covered raisins with a nice dark chocolate bitterness and then the tang of goji fruit. I find these totally addicting and only wish they were healthier--should've just gone with the strawberries.

New Product - DiGiorno Pizza & Cookies

I'm really interested in new product news--particularly food products, but anything will do. I love to hear what marketers come up with next to make more money. So I had already heard of DiGiorno's new idea to partner up with Nestle and offer a frozen box with pizza & cookies and I went to the frozen pizza aisle particularly to look for the product.

Don't you think pizza & cookies is a brilliant idea? Perfect for any sleepover. They also offer pizza & breadsticks combo and a pizza & wyngz combo (apparently they don't qualify as wings).

I had a most embarrassing experience buying this product. I was walking through the grocery store filling my cart and considering whether or not I should get the pizza/cookie combo. Suddenly I looked up and recognized someone in the store, we said our hellos--it was Alex, an employee at our favorite pizza parlor. Since that is the only Pizza Parlor we now frequent, a lot of the employees know us--but Alex especially. I was immediately embarrassed that I was thinking of getting a frozen pizza but I tried to act cool. Then I went over and got the pizza.

I saw Alex again as I was getting into line...I purposely chose a different line so she wouldn't know I was buying the frozen pizza. I was behind her in another line--I was safe. And then it was my turn and they scanned the pizza and then the bagger announced to the checker at the next stand (the manager, the one working with Alex), "Pizza & Cookies? In the same box?! This is great!" I know our pizza employee heard, I know she knew it was me and I expect to hear about it next time we go in.

But back to the Pizza. The pizza took 20 minutes to cook, it was actually pretty good. The crust was bready which is how I like it, the sauce was flavorful, the textures were great, honestly this was the best frozen pizza I've ever had. The cookies are just the same as the Nestle dough you get in the refrigerated section and those cookies always turn out well.

I highly recommend this *healthy* and innovative new product for your next sleepover.

(but don't tell your local pizza parlor)

New Product: Hubert's Lemonade

I was so thirsty when I got to the store to stock up on a few things I needed. I had already finished my two water bottles in the car (that were only a quarter full to begin with) and then talked on the phone for a while and the sun was beating down through the windows.

I really wanted to go to Porto's and get an iced mocha. They have the best iced mocha in town. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out my route with a grocery store and time to stop there, so I held back the urge and just went to Ralph's.

As I walked in, I noticed the cold beverage section near the deli. I glanced over and saw the familiar blue "New Product" sticker under this bottle of Hubert's Lemonade and Hubert's Raspberry Lemonade. Perfect! A drink AND a product review.

As I strolled around the store picking out my other items and my arms got loaded down with more things, I glanced at the calories on this bottle of lemonade. 70 calories a serving, bottle for 2. Reasonable actually, far more reasonable than other lemonades on the market.

And then I got in my car (after avoiding the creepy homeless guy following me) and tasted it and I can tell why it doesn't have that many calories. Because that lemonade doesn't have enough sugar. It may have been made with the best California lemons but it was a little tart for my taste. I thought, though, that if it was served in a chilled glass with that crystallized sugar around the top--like they serve lemonade at the Cheesecake Factory, it would have tasted a lot better.

Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce - Logo Discussion

It is true this is the lowest light poorest picture I could've taken for a comparison shot, but you know, sometimes picture taking is not a high priority. Sometimes eating dinner is a higher priority.

Today I made beef ribs (read about them next!) and I used up our bottle of Cattlemen's Classic BBQ sauce (left). I decided to buy more sauce for serving tonight so I went to the fancy Ralph's on Alameda and perused the sauce section. I wanted to get the same kind that I used for cooking so there was no weird flavor meld.

There are lots of kinds of sauce and when I finally found Cattlemen's I was disappointed to see a total label change. I see what they were going for, but I think the change makes the sauce look less authentic and more generic like the Select or Ralph's brand products. I like how the edges are a little rough but I do not like the new conservative font. I like the sauce, so it probably won't hurt my buying it but if I had never tried it and it was standing there on the shelf with all the others I might just pass it up, cause I'd assume it was the store brand and then wonder why it wasn't at store-brand prices.

Cattlemen's I am no brand designer, but I do a little online marketing and advertising and I think this new branding is boring--go back to your fun "right off the ranch" look, please?

Product Review: Betty Crocker Supreme Bars Mississippi Mud

A few months ago, I bought this box of brownie mix at the store. I was excited that they were not just brownies but brownies with a cookie crust and marshmallows! I thought they sounded interesting. Once I took them home though I discovered that the ingredients called for a stick of butter and I decided that because of that this would be something I would make and share.

And then we never had anyone over.

But finally, this weekend, we had someone over! The ingredients are butter, water, eggs and the mix. You dirty two-3 bowls plus one 8x8 pan, but I think I can reduce that for you. The end result is pretty delicious, I thought maybe it was a little bit sweet and was great with a nice glass of milk but would be equally as good with unsweetened whipped cream. Everyone else agreed that the marshmallows were a nice change of texture. Maybe I should just make brownies with marshmallows and skip the oreo crust?

Directions to dirty less dishes

1. Melt 1/4 stick of butter in one mixing bowl. Melt the other 1/4 stick of butter in the 8x8 glass pan.

2. Mix the oreo mix and the butter right in the 8x8 pan and then press down and into the corners

3. Mix the brownie mix in the other mixing bowl with the other ingredients called for

Yay! only 2 bowls!

Centerpiece

This was a fun centerpiece while it lasted--It really added a nice simplicity to our Christmas table, but I'm tempted to do it all year round. You can't beat $5 for a 10lb bag of oranges and some greenery from around the neighborhood. I'd love to buy some of those decorative centerpiece balls but I can't bring myself to spend the cash when they aren't even as beautiful as the real thing!

New Product: La Tortilla Factory Corn Tortillas

A few weeks ago I noticed these new La Tortilla factory tortillas in the grocery store set apart from the other tortillas near the cheese aisle. I picked up a package and couldn't believe how soft they felt. I put it down and went on with my shopping.

But I did not forget them. This week, I had occasion to make a Mexican meal. I went back to the aisle and picked up these corn tortillas. I was not disappointed.

These tortillas are made in Santa Rosa, CA. They are local and maybe for that reason fresher than other store-bought tortillas. They come in packages of eight which is a good size for our family of two. The tortillas are soft and malleable right out of the bag. When heated in a skillet they preserve their soft texture. These tortillas taste more like the kind you would make at home. They are thicker and fresh and delicious. I used these for enchiladas and they added both flavor and texture to the dish. I will buy these again without question. If they are available in your local market, go for it.

Product Review: Trader Joe's Sugar Cookie Workshop

I stopped at Trader Joe's in search of macadamia nuts and came out with this Sugar Cookie Workshop--for 99 cents! I bought the Sugar Cookie Workshop because it was such a ridiculously good deal. By that time, I had already baked my socks off but I figured I'd have a chance to do these before the new year.

And I did that in the nick of time! This workshop really is a good deal. For 99 cents, I got sugar cookie mix, 3 cookie cutters, 2 packets of vanilla frosting and 4 different colors of sanding sugar. If you wanted to buy all these things separately, it would be well over $10. The mix for me yielded about 60 cookies. The cookies are delicious, but I still have some tips for you if you get this mix in the future.

1. There was not enough frosting for the amount of cookies the mix yielded. Don't fret. There are several ways to make your baking experience a success if you know ahead that there will not be enough frosting. There is plenty of sanding sugar, even if your kids have a heavy hand with sugar. I only had enough frosting for about 40 cookies. So, before you bake the remaining 20 cookies, make a little egg wash (beat one egg in a small bowl), and brush it onto the unbaked cookies. Then sprinkle some of the sanding sugar onto the egg washed cookies and bake as normal. These cookies are great for people watching their weight because it doesn't have the added frosting.

2. The frosting works better in the beginning than later, so frost and then decorate. It would be great if you had someone else helping you make your cookies. An assembly line would be great. Have one person squeeze the frosting promptly after the bag is kneaded and cut onto the cookies. Have another person spread the frosting around. If you are thinking you can use this box mix to make something like this, think again. This frosting doesn't work that way. So you can use the cookie mix and cookie cutters--but not the frosting. Use this frosting if you aren't really worried about a finished look but more of an artists take. This mix would be great for young children.

That's it, everything in the mix was great (I love that you can make the cookies with melted butter so you don't have to worry about getting it to room temperature) except the frosting wasn't as great. Lucky for me, I did my share of decorating this Christmas and had some extra frosting lying around so I used that in a pinch. You could also make your own really quickly if you were running low, but again, you'd have to have room temperature butter already on the sidelines...so play it safe and bake a few with sugar and no frosting.

Product Review: Marie Callender's Rigatoni Marinara Classico

My husband wasn't available for dinner tonight and I didn't feel like cooking or having the leftovers, so I pulled out a frozen meal. And you know how I feel about frozen meals.

This meal steams the meat and pasta over the sauce so the pasta is still al dente in the end and not soggy like some frozen pastas. This only takes 4 1/2 minutes to make and comes in a really solid plastic bowl.

The pasta and flavorful sauce is mixed with sausage coins and meatballs. I thought the flavor was good and relatively filling with the addition of a roll and a mango.

I would buy this meal again.

Product Review: Lovin' Scoopful

I've been wanting to have vanilla ice cream around the house. You never know when you need a perfect garnish for a rich dessert or a miniature ice cream sundae for that sweet treat after dinner. So I turned to the versatile vanilla as a flavor need for my freezer.

Have you been in the ice cream aisle lately? It is seriously overwhelming! There were at least 20 different vanilla ice cream options! I was torn. I didn't want to spend lots of money on the quart and I was aiming for something that was not full-fat. I considered the Dreyer's Slow Churned variety--but it was kind of expensive. I browsed the store brands but they didn't seem to have a light variety. I considered the vanilla ice cream taste test winner--Haagen Dazs 5 ingredient, but it is full-fat and tiny and expensive. So I looked on.

And I came across something new--and on sale and light--and with a cute name. Lovin' Scoopful Cozy Vanilla. This ice cream has 1/2 the fat and "fewer calories" than other ice cream flavors plus it shares 1/4 of its profits with causes like the Special Olympics.

And the flavor? Pretty good actually. I didn't notice the low-fatness of it in the taste and it had a certain creaminess that all vanillas have. If this brand were on sale again, I would buy it and I will certainly give the other flavors a try.

New Product: Bertolli Skillet Meals

Our Target has just turned into the kind with a grocery store inside. In an attempt to get the neighborhood thinking about going there instead of their regular market, Target has been sending enticing coupons weekly.

A few weeks back, we received a coupon for Bertolli Oven Baked meals. I thought we'd try it out for sometime when we can't think of what to have. However, when we got to the store it was clear everyone else had already used their coupons. I noticed the skillet meals were the same price and snagged one hoping the coupon would work. It didn't--but the Target employee entered it in anyway, backwards, and we ended up getting a superb deal.

I'm not sure I would pay $7 for this, but then again for that price it does serve two. However, Bertolli has taught me I could do this myself too. Straight out of the bag and into the skillet the freeze dried penne, four chicken tenders, and chunks of frozen sauce looked unappealing. Ten minutes later it was on the table along with some asparagus and frozen baked rolls. And for ten minutes and $2, it was actually pretty delicious. Joey raved how surprisingly good it was. There was the flavor of real chicken Parmesan, the cheesiness and the bite of the sauce. Sure, I could do the same thing myself probably in 20 minutes--but then again, they already have it pre-made.

Product Review: William Sonoma Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

This past Thanksgiving I went shopping at William Sonoma for an apple slicer. We were making lots and lots of pies and needed one of specific measurements that eventually turned out to be a bust. However, while at the store, I sampled these delicious pumpkin muffins with dulce de leche topping and it reminded me that samples are a really good idea for sales. I was immdiately sold and bought the pricy mix and jar of dulce de leche to make in my own kitchen. And so it sat for months and months in the cabinet waiting patiently to be made.

Today I was hungry so I decided I'd make them. The mix whipped up in just seconds--1 stick of softened butter, 1 cup of water, 2 eggs. I mixed it with a spoon and had the whole thing in the oven within 15 minutes. The muffins take the normal 25 minutes to cook and then I had to wait about 15 minutes for them to cool before I could pour on the melted dulce de leche. By itself, the dulce de leche is too sweet--however with the not-so-sweet muffins it is the perfect compliement.

The result was fantastic, warm muffin, sweet topping--delicious. However, in the future I'm sure I could make my own pumpkin muffins for less and get the same flavors. This is a great gift though if you need one around the holidays--baked or unbaked.

New Product: Amy's Frozen Indian Dinner

Last week I had to make dinner for myself. I found out while at Target. I'm still a little squeamish about their grocery area, so I decided to try a frozen dinner. I chose Amy's Indian. I like Indian food but hardly eat it. One time I had a cheese dish similar to this one at an Indian take-away restaurant. I didn't think this would be the same, but I could hope!

As it turns out, Amy's take on Indian food is not at all bad. Of course the portions are small but the flavors are there. I would get this again if I needed a quick and relatively healthy dinner.