Friday, April 10, 2009
Contest Alert: One Frugal Foodie
Hop on over to One Frugal Foodie for a chance to win a $25 e-gift certificate to Navan Foods. Two winners will be drawn on April 16, 2009. My Hampton Roads readers will especially be interested, as they also have a Virginia Beach location. Sweet!
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake
"Plantains with roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale. Spicy ancho sauce with pumpkin seed garnish served over Kashi seven whole grain polenta, plus amaranth."
Yesterday I received a coupon for a free frozen Kashi meal. I picked the Mayan Harvest Bake because that was the most appetizing looking variety the store had. Click on the link in the title to view the other meals; you'll see why that's not a compliment.
Plantains = 2 pieces of horribly mushy,pasty plantain. Plantains are one of my favorite foods, so I know they normally aren't awful like these.
Black beans = 3 Tbsp black beans. Lacked seasoning and were not tender enough
Sweet potato = 6 small chunks. Bland and pasty.
Kale = Just a few shreds scattered in between the beans. Not noticeable
Amaranth Polenta = Another one of my favorite dishes Kashi botched up. The polenta and the pilaf were all mixed together in a watery, grainy pile.
Spicy ancho sauce = Ancho chile pepper paste. Strong, obnoxious flavor. It wasn't spicy, although it had heat.
Kashi 7 whole grain pilaf = See polenta above. The ingredients were oats,long grain rice, rye, hard red winter wheat, triticale, buckwheat, barley and sesame seeds
Roasted and salted pepitas= Soggy pumpkin seed kernels that were mixed in with every layer of the meal
Thumbs down for Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake.
Yesterday I received a coupon for a free frozen Kashi meal. I picked the Mayan Harvest Bake because that was the most appetizing looking variety the store had. Click on the link in the title to view the other meals; you'll see why that's not a compliment.
Plantains = 2 pieces of horribly mushy,pasty plantain. Plantains are one of my favorite foods, so I know they normally aren't awful like these.
Black beans = 3 Tbsp black beans. Lacked seasoning and were not tender enough
Sweet potato = 6 small chunks. Bland and pasty.
Kale = Just a few shreds scattered in between the beans. Not noticeable
Amaranth Polenta = Another one of my favorite dishes Kashi botched up. The polenta and the pilaf were all mixed together in a watery, grainy pile.
Spicy ancho sauce = Ancho chile pepper paste. Strong, obnoxious flavor. It wasn't spicy, although it had heat.
Kashi 7 whole grain pilaf = See polenta above. The ingredients were oats,long grain rice, rye, hard red winter wheat, triticale, buckwheat, barley and sesame seeds
Roasted and salted pepitas= Soggy pumpkin seed kernels that were mixed in with every layer of the meal
Thumbs down for Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake.
Friday, March 06, 2009
The Pretzel Disaster: Filled Pretzels
Last night, I decided to make filled pretzels. First I made a batch of dough using Alton Brown's pretzel recipe. Then I whipped up some of the cupcake filling I've used many times before (cream cheese, sugar, egg, pinch of salt). I divided the cream cheese filling into four bowls and added different flavors to each one:
Flavor 1: 1/2 Tbsp Key lime powder + 2 tsp ginger ale
Flavor 2: 2 tsp bacon bits, 2 1/2 Tbsp Gouda, 2 1/2 Tbsp cheddar, garlic, 2 tsp crushed tomatoes, pinch each of black pepper, celery seed and paprika
Flavor 3: 3 tsp peanut butter, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Flavor 4: 4 Tbsp blueberries, 1/2 tsp vanilla
I tasted each filling and they seemed fine. I was going to start filling the pretzels, but I noticed it was almost 3 AM (yeah, I like late night baking). So I stuck the bowls of dough and mixtures in the fridge until this morning.
After letting the dough rise one hour, I set to work. My plan was to roll the dough flat, cut out circles, add filling and pinch them closed. That did not work out too well. The key lime and blueberry mixes kept popping out of the dough. I ended up making a couple patch work jobs.
After I baked the pretzels and sliced them open, I saw the pretzels had either absorbed or dissolved the cream cheese. The blueberries were fine on their own, regardless of the cream cheese being gone. The key lime was too faint to notice. The cheese & bacon bits filling would've been better if I'd used less sugar and added red peppers. The peanut butter was utterly disgusting. I was going for something like peanut butter cheesecake; but instead it tasted like a peanut butter sandwich left it in the fridge for 2 days. The pretzels by themselves were delicious, though.
Oy, what a mess. It's back to the drawing board for me.
Flavor 1: 1/2 Tbsp Key lime powder + 2 tsp ginger ale
Flavor 2: 2 tsp bacon bits, 2 1/2 Tbsp Gouda, 2 1/2 Tbsp cheddar, garlic, 2 tsp crushed tomatoes, pinch each of black pepper, celery seed and paprika
Flavor 3: 3 tsp peanut butter, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Flavor 4: 4 Tbsp blueberries, 1/2 tsp vanilla
I tasted each filling and they seemed fine. I was going to start filling the pretzels, but I noticed it was almost 3 AM (yeah, I like late night baking). So I stuck the bowls of dough and mixtures in the fridge until this morning.
After letting the dough rise one hour, I set to work. My plan was to roll the dough flat, cut out circles, add filling and pinch them closed. That did not work out too well. The key lime and blueberry mixes kept popping out of the dough. I ended up making a couple patch work jobs.
After I baked the pretzels and sliced them open, I saw the pretzels had either absorbed or dissolved the cream cheese. The blueberries were fine on their own, regardless of the cream cheese being gone. The key lime was too faint to notice. The cheese & bacon bits filling would've been better if I'd used less sugar and added red peppers. The peanut butter was utterly disgusting. I was going for something like peanut butter cheesecake; but instead it tasted like a peanut butter sandwich left it in the fridge for 2 days. The pretzels by themselves were delicious, though.
Oy, what a mess. It's back to the drawing board for me.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Contest alert: Frugal Momma In Maryland
If you love spices, head over to Frugal Momma in Maryland's blog and enter for a chance to win some McCormick spices. The contest runs from March 3 - March 15, 2009. Prizes include the following:
"...different extracts, spices, rubs, bacon bits, and cocktail sauce."
