Category: Food Items (Page 13 of 26)

Exotic Drinks Review: Verka Mango Lassi, Coco Royal Passion Fruit Drink & T.A.S. Lychee Drink

July 7, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

lassi My last visit to Santos Spice market ended with us buying several “exotic” drinks to try. My oldest daughter loves trying new things, and while these weren’t cheap, they turned out to be very good.

My daughter loves mango lassis, and Verka Mango Lassi is pretty good. It actually tasted more like a mango yogurt drink, though it doesn’t have any yogurt. The ingredients are milk, mango pure, sugar, cream and water. It comes in a 1 pint bottle. It’s made in the USA.

passionfruit Mika was excited t try Coco Passion Fruit Drink because she’d never had passion fruit or passion fruit juice before. The drink, actually bottled in Thailand, is made of water, sugar, passion fruit juice, citric acid, artificial flavor, and gellam gum – so it’s not as pure as the lassi. Still, it was very tasty. Indeed, it tasted very much like guava juice, though it was thicker than the guava juice we usually get.

lychee1 We’ve never had lychee juice before, and T.A.S. Lychee Drink was sort of a revelation. It has the same flavor profile as guava juice but it’s sweeter, if you can imagine that, with a subtle floral/rose-like flavor. We liked it, though I personally would have preferred it being less sweet. Mika thought it was refreshing. I’m thinking that I should explore lychees more. It seems like a sophisticated fruit that could enhance a multi-course menu. The drink comes in a 10.5 oz can and it’s also made in Thailand. The ingredients are water, lychee juice, sugar and citric acid.

Foster Farm Recall Throws Light on Private Brands that Use Their Chickens

July 7, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

foster-farms Foster Farms is the most ubiquitous brand of fresh(ish?) chicken in California. Go to a supermarket and your chicken choices tend to be Foster Farms, the store’s brand or some organic chicken brand you don’t know much about. As it turns out, many of those privately branded chickens also come from Foster Farms. This came to light this week when Foster Farms issued a recall for chicken that had been found to have salmonella. That chicken was sold in March, so it’s unlikely anyone has any left in their freezers.

The private brands that are really Foster Farms chicken (but often sold at lower prices) are:

FoodMaxx (parts)
Kroger (friers & parts)
Safeway Eating Right (boneless chicken breasts & thighs)
Safeway Farms (chicken parts)
Savemart (drumsticks & thighs)
Sunland
Val Best

Three Sausages: Gilbert’s, Open Nature & Aidell’s

April 21, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

I’ve been kind of lazy about making dinner lately, and what is easier and tastier than grilling some hot dogs or sausages? Grocery Outlet, meanwhile, has had an explosion of sausage choices this week so we were able to try a few new ones.

open-nature-sausage-pork-171009 The winner of this batch was Open Nature Smoked Uncured Sausages. This is actually the Safeway brand of sausages. These are 100% pork sausages. They are pretty big, with four sausages in the 12 oz package, and very tasty. That’s probably because they are full of fat, 23 grams for one of these vs. 15 grams for one of the Gilbert sausages below (which are 1/2 oz smaller). Still, if you’re going for flavor, you can’t go wrong with these sausages. Mike rated them an 8.5.

gilberts Gilbert’s Craft Sausages is a very new company (started in 2010) offering “gourmet” uncured beef sausages. I got the beef & cheddar and we thought it was pretty good. Mike would rate it a 6.5. Camila, my 9 yo, liked it – and she can be picky. It had a nice flavor, not very overwhelming, and was pretty juicy. I think I might enjoy it more without the cheddar.

One convenient thing about Gilbert’s sausages is that they are individually wrapped. The bad thing is that they don’t have the type/expiration date printed on the plastic, so I still have to keep the carton in the fridge to remember what they are. A 10 oz package of 4 sausages was, I think, $3 at Grocery Outlet.

aidells Finally, one of my kids like chicken sausages and we often buy the Aidells kind. There were none at Grocery Outlet, buy they had Awesome Apple uncured chicken hot dogs. The 10 oz package has 5. Both kids really liked them and they seem marginally healthier, with 7 grams of fat each. But one kid had to eat two to get full, and the other 3 . Of course, the kids gave them a “10”. My oldest says she prefers these to the sausages as they are thinner and easier to eat, plus they look smaller. Less messy too.

One good thing about these chicken apple hot dogs is that they don’t have pork casings. Aidells chicken sausages don’t either, but other manufacturers do. If you are specifically avoiding eating pork products (as my daughter is), this matters.

Simply Homemade Bread Mixes – Product Review

February 16, 2014 / marga / 0 Comments

countrywhite I got a breadmaker for Christmas, and Mike picked up one of Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade bread mixes at the store. I thought it was sort of silly, isn’t the whole point of having a bread maker to be able to throw some ingredients together and get great bread?, but after a couple of failures doing exactly that, I decided to try it. It was delicious! Seriously, soooo good.

I think I got the Country White, though I threw away the box and the bread was actually sort of brown. I also cooked it for 3 hours, rather than on a rapid cycle. You don’t get a particularly large loaf – but if what you want is flavor, this has it. I think next time I’d select light crust rather than medium, however.

I don’t know how much the package was, my bet is that it’s not cost effective, but if I found them on sale I might buy a couple to keep to make some quick bread without having to put much thought into it.

Hormel Natural Choice Apple Gouda Chicken Sausages – Review

January 8, 2014 / marga / 0 Comments

AppleGoudaChickenSausage-large I got these at Grocery Outlet yesterday. They were only 50-cents, or so, as today was the expiration day. I was going to use them in quesadillas, but we ended up eating them whole.

All in all, they were good, but so sweet that none of us wanted to have a second sausage (and at 3 oz, they aren’t that big). My youngest particularly enjoyed how juicy it was. The cheese, indeed, seems to be there more to provide juiciness than flavor.

They are actually made from “natural” ingredients: chicken, Gouda cheese, dried apples, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, paprika and spices. They are in pork casings.

I don’t know that I’d buy again, unless they were on sale at 50-cents.

Trader Joe’s Classic Lemon Bars

December 29, 2013 / marga / 1 Comment

Lemon-Bars I got these to serve as the last course of my 13-course Xmas Eve dinner and they were perfect. Indeed, these were very good lemon bars overall. They come frozen, and the curd is perhaps more cream-like and less sticky than that of a regular lemon bar, but it had the right degree of balance between sweetness and sourness, and they were the perfect size for an after dinner bite. All in all very satisfying for anyone who likes lemon bars.

Rougette Grill Meister Grilling Cheese – Product Review

December 19, 2013 / marga / 0 Comments

GRILLMEISTER-PACKAGE I found this packaged cheese at Grocery Outlet yesterday, and I went back today to pick up four more packages. My haste was due to the fact that at 50-cents a package (regular retails is $5!), they will disappear soon, plus they expired on Dec. 16th – two days ago. I don’t know for how much longer it’ll stay good, but surely a few more days.

This soft cheese is made in Germany, and is specifically made to be heated before serving. It doesn’t have a crust, per se, though the outer layer becomes harder, while protecting a semi-melted middle. It’s very good. While officially a camembert, it reminded me more of a brie, though it’s milder and less bitter than most of those. It had a slightly nutty flavor, which I liked.

It was also very easy to prepare. You can either put it on the grill or on a lightly oiled pan on the stove. Cook for six minutes, flipping from time to time. That’s it. The 3.2 oz portion is definitely dainty, and I wouldn’t buy it at its regular $25-lb price, but for $5-lb, it’s well worth it, even if I have to hurry and eat it all this week 🙂

Ciao Bella Blood Orange Sorbet

November 22, 2013 / marga / 0 Comments

CB_bloodorg_lg I have a pretty nasty cold, so I only want to eat things which are smooth going down my throat and so flavorful that I can taste them despite my stuffed nose. Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet fit the bill perfectly.

Of course, I can’t tell you how someone that has their 5 senses would experience it, but to me it was delicious. The sorbet had a strong orange flavor, with some welcome bitter undertones. It was very creamy and smooth.

They have these at Grocery Outlet here in San Leandro for $2 now, and I think I’ll stock up.

Soul Indian Wraps – Review

July 15, 2013 / marga / 0 Comments

soul_butter_chkn_3d If you’re tired of having the same old frozen burrito for lunch, Soul’s Indian wraps provide a reasonable alternative. They have four flavors, butter chicken, chicken vindaloo, chicken tikka masala and vegetable curry. I’ve tasted the three chicken ones, and I can’t say I could really distinguish their flavor. They all tasted like mildly spicy generic chicken curries, acceptable but not exciting. Of the four choices, the tikka masala has slightly less calories/fat (370 c/11 g. fat) than the others, so that may be your best choice. The vegetable curry, which I haven’t tried, has the greatest fat content.

The wraps were about $1.50 at Grocery Outlet and they cook in the microwave in about 3 minutes (you have to turn it half way).

Three Twins Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Review – Yummm!

July 2, 2013 / marga / 1 Comment

(Note: This company has closed)

3twinsChocolatePeanutButter I found this gem of an ice cream at our local San Leandro Grocery Outlet for $2. It was the first time I came across a three twins product, but I’m one of those people who absolutely loves peanut butter and chocolate (as I write this, I’m plotting to make my husband go and get me the ingredients for a peanut butter shake), so I had to try it. I’m glad I did.

Unlike most ice creams of this type, this wasn’t chocolate ice cream with swirls of peanut butter or vice versa. Instead both the peanut butter and the cocoa powder are mixed together into a combined flavor. I think I still prefer the traditional type, but this is quite good too, albeit more peanut butter would be better. Then again, nothing stops you from adding your own.

My oldest daughter pronounced it the “best ice cream ever”, and while my youngest wasn’t as enthusiastic, this is a girl with a limited like for sweets.

Three Twins seems to be this century’s answer to Ben & Jerry’s. The company is based in the North Bay and makes organic ice cream from locally sourced milk and cream. They have four stores and they seem to mostly sell through Whole Foods (which would explain why I never heard of them). In addition to regular flavors, they have some interesting sounding ones such as cardamon, lemon cookie and sea salted caramel. They sell ice cream through their website for $10 a pint, so the $2 Grocery Outlet price is particularly tempting.