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Spring 2020 Food Reviews! Featuring – Chips, chips, chips, reddi-whip, & granola bars!

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Good Morning All!

Today I’m back with a new food review post! One of my favorite snack foods is potato chips and if you are anything like me then you also love chips and crave that salty goodness with a crisp crunch almost every day.

Today’s food reviews post is mostly a compilation of different kinds of chips that I’ve sampled and tried over the last few months. I’m also reviewing an incredible sweet topping that your coffee definitely needs and a real crunch of a granola bar! I’ve got six reviews today, so let’s get into it!

Pringles Screamin’ Dill Pickle

Nowadays Pringles and Lay’s regularly rotate limited edition flavors in and out of circulation. I tried three interesting Pringles flavors over the course of the last few months.

Dill Pickle chips are my favorite flavor by Lay’s. I know Pringles regularly has out dill pickle as a flavor, but I hadn’t ever tried them because I just love the ones by Lay’s so much that I never stray from them.

However, I decided to try the Screamin’ Dill Pickle flavor which are supposed to be an extra intense taste of dill pickle and WHOA – that they are! Dill pickle is a great flavor for potato chips, but after a handful of these crisps, I could feel the salt eating away at my mouth and could tell that if I kept eating them my mouth and tongue would really hurt!

If you are a fan of pickle chips, then I’m certain that you would like these. But the thing is, I mostly enjoy dill pickle chips because they are similar to salt & vinegar chips, but a little less intense on the salt overload and don’t kill your month. So eating these chips was like going backwards for me!

I also feel like this flavor tastes better on a thinner chip and I think I will stick to Lay’s when it comes to pickle flavored chips. Out of the three flavors of Pringles that I tried, this one was my least favorite.

 

Pringles Rotisserie Chicken

Last year one of my friends was in Paris and came across Lay’s Roast Chicken potato chips. She knew I would be so intrigued so she was sweet enough to mail me a bag once she got back to the U.S.! I was thrilled and the taste was kind of odd, but also kind of delicious. Odd because they literally tasted like a whole Thanksgiving meal in one potato chip. But it was also extremely impressive that the fine people over at Lay’s managed that much flavor on a single chip!

So when I saw these Rotisserie Chicken flavored Pringles at Walgreens, I had to try them! These are really good, but the flavor is distinctly different from the Lay’s chicken chips. The Pringles are heavy on a chicken gravy flavor, rather than just chicken. These crisps are also mostly brown in color giving the appearance that gravy seasoning is indeed a big part of the flavor. They are tasty, but definitely not a real winner in my book. I would pass on buying these unless you are real curious as to what chicken gravy chips taste like!🐔

 

Pringles Ranch

These were gone so quickly in my house that I barely got a chance to savor the flavor! My husband and my daughter were both so into these chips that they were gone in a flash. These are so delicious and I’m not even a huge ranch lover. I hardly ever use ranch salad dressing or make a ranch dip for chicken wings or anything, so I was pleasantly surprised by how good these chips were.

The seasoning worked really well on a thicker crisp like a Pringle and I enjoyed these much more than wavy Lay’s ranch chips. The flavor was zesty, but not overpowering and these were really addictive! Sadly, I’ve had a hard time finding them in most stores so if you can find them, then grab them! Even if you only slightly like ranch, you will love these chips!

 

Reddi Whip Barista Series Sweet Foam

Sweet Cream Foamed Milk | Reddi-wip

At this time I would like to switch gears and give a huge shout-out to the team at Reddi-Whip who have been oh so busy doing God’s work! 🙌

This stuff is AMAZING and has really elevated my morning coffee game.☕️ It looks like your typical Reddi-Whip upon first glance – but, oh no it’s waaay cooler!

You simply shake and spray it out in a similar fashion to how you use Reddi- Whip. Shake can several times, then flip over, press nozzle and voila! BUT this stuff melts quicker than whipped cream and turns into a delightful looking foam on your coffee. If you taste it right away it tastes just like whipped cream, but the purpose of it is to melt into your coffee and add an element of sweetness. It’s delicious and I’ve been semi-stalking stores looking for it. BUT it’s hard to stalk during a quarantine. Waaaa and the last store that I went to that I know carries it was sold out. 😩 SO here’s hoping for a restock, because until Starbucks is back to normal this stuff is my new BFF.💕

Update: My mom found some at the Stop&Shop by her home and I had her pick up three bottles!! #winning

I also just realized that Reddi-Whip came out with a Nitro Creamer as part of their Barista Series line, but I have yet to come across that in any of the grocery stores near me to try!

making mornings MUCH better

 

Lay’s Fried Green Tomato Potato Chips

Lay's Wavy Potato Chips TOA Fried Green Tomato 7.5 Ounce Plastic ...

That last time I was at Market Basket, they had a sale on Lay’s chips so I was all set to get Dill Pickle (of course) – but they had NONE. UGH, So I saw these and decided to try them out.

These chips are really just alright. Fried green tomatoes are good, I just don’t think that it translated over into the best chip flavor. Not terrible, but not spectacular either. The tomato flavor is there along with what Lay’s used to create their fried flavoring – some sort of buttermilk and spice concoction.

The biggest take away from these chips is that they are kind of spicy. There is a kick at the end which I think is meant to represent some sriracha sauce that you dip fried tomatoes into. I’m not into spicy foods, but the kick is kind of welcoming because it adds more depth to the overall flavor. Without it, these chips would be reminiscent of several other tomato based flavors that Lay’s has come out with previously.

There’s definitely been limited edition flavors that have been better, (I’m still waiting for Lime & Sea Salt flavored chips to come back!) so I’ll finish the bag but won’t be repurchasing or hoping for another limited release.

 

Target Good & Gather Almonds & Coconut Nut Bars

Once upon a time there was global pandemic and a girl named Holly who was trying her best to NOT gain 25 pounds from just lying around and doing mindless snacking! So she ordered a few seemingly healthier snacks from Target’s rebranded line, Good & Gather.

These bars seem like Target’s own version of KIND bars so I figured I would like them because KIND bars are surprisingly tasty for basically just being nuts stuck together in a bar form by some sort of natural sugar binding process.

But YIKES! One bite into this bar and my teeth hurt! I mean sometimes these healthy granola/nut bars are hard and I’m used to that, but this was ridiculous. My husband took one bite, spit it out, declared it inedible and threw the whole thing out. 🤣

Now, I would not take as extreme measures as him as I make it my own personal goal to never waste food, so I’ll eat the bars. They actually taste good – it’s just that you have to take delicate little bites and try to first soften the bar with your mouth before fully biting into it! Once you know that, then these are a fine nut bar and a slightly more reasonably priced alternative to KIND bars. Speaking of which – the KIND dark chocolate peanut butter bars are really good!!

And that completes my Spring Food Reviews!  Have you tried any new snack foods lately? Which of these food products would you like to try? Or let me know if you have tried any of these products and did or did not enjoy them!

As for me, I’m hoping to find the Ranch Pringles again soon!

xx

Holly

And if you are feeling really desperate and want to pay high prices, they are available on Amazon!

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The Latest in Food

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Hello All!

Today I am back with a post sharing some recipes that I recently made and also sharing my food reviews on a couple of products! I hope you enjoy and let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

First, the product reviews:

1. Goldfish Crackers Epic Crunch Honey BBQ Flavor

I must start by saying these are not very good. I picked these up one day at the store because I love to try new products, especially snack foods. Goldfish are some of my most favorite little crackers and since I like to always have a large Goldfish supply in my house, I decided to purchase these and try them out.

The first thing you’ll notice about these crackers is that Pepperidge Farm decided to plump up their size and these are jumbo sized fish compared to the regular size goldfish. Then I took one bite and Whoa! What a crunch! Ok, I know that they are calling these epic crunch but, like, literally the crunch is a bit much. I’m talking borderline my teeth kind of hurt. And I love Corn Nuts and other crunchy snacks just as much as the next guy, but the crunch on these was too much for my liking.

Size Comparison:                     Epic Crunch (Top)              Regular Goldfish (Bottom)

In addition to the crunch being really extra, this is basically a goldfish cracker masquerading around as something it’s not. The bag advertises as being a tortilla chip crunch with a honey bbq flavor – but unfortunately, it’s still a cracker and not a chip! I will say that the general honey BBQ flavor is actually very tasty and reminiscent of Fritos honey bbq twists (which are seriously delicious and one of the best snack foods of all time and what I think Pepperidge Farm was going for.) However, this flavor is not good on a goldfish cracker. They also tried to change the cracker flavor by adding in some sort of tortilla taste, but the end result falls short. Very short.

Do yourself a favor and don’t bother trying these! I will most definitely be picking up a bag of Fritos honey BBQ twists instead or some honey BBQ chips since that is all that these goldfish made me want to eat!!

 

2. Pop-Tarts

I used to eat pop-tarts pretty much every single day when I was in high school. I would throw a pack of either the strawberry or wildberry flavor in my backpack and try to nibble on it either in between classes or eat a chunk of it in homeroom while trying to hide my face. Once I got to college I stopped with the pop-tarts because I pretty much ate every meal at the dining hall and then I kind of forgot about my old friend, the pop-tart. Recently, I started wondering about my old friend and I decided to pick up a box of pop-tarts on my last shopping trip.

I found the box and general packaging to be very similar to that of 15 years ago. I was delighted to see that my old friend looked the same! A square-shaped pastry covered with a layer of white frosting with fun colored bits of sprinkles. I took one bite and instantly smiled. I was transported right back to homeroom in the fall of 2002. My old friend still tasted the exact same! Soft, flaky crust on the outside, sweet strawberry flavor on the inside. And I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the fine folks over at Kellogg for never changing Pop-Tarts and trying to make them be some awful healthy snack with no preservatives. That normally strips away the delicious taste and I’m happy to report that Pop-Tarts have not yet succumbed to the peer pressure of the all natural foods industry. Two thumbs waaaaay up on Pop-Tarts and although I have yet to find Wildberry in stores, they are available online from Amazon and Wal-Mart! I’ll be getting my hands on those soon enough!

Still looking so good with that classic foil wrapper.
Heavenly

 

3. Alphabet Soup

In my quest to always try new recipes, I stumbled up Sally’s Baking Addiction. Her recipe pictures look amazing and immediately I was trying to decide which recipe I should try first! She is mostly known for baking, but had recently posted a recipe for alphabet soup. I was honestly thinking it was kind of dumb to post a recipe for this because I feel like anyone can just throw together pasta, tomatoes, and some frozen veggies and technically make a soup. However, I love soup and love trying out new soup recipes especially in the colder months and decided to give this one a whirl.

The most difficult part of this recipe was just making sure that I had all of the spices on hand. I didn’t, so a quick run to the store solved that. Other than that, this was really fast and easy to make and tasted soooooo good!! Sally has really nailed the amounts and different kinds of spices in this recipe and they really make the dish. It was such a flavorful soup that tasted so hearty that I didn’t even miss that there is no meat in this recipe! This is definitely a winner and a great recipe to make for dinner, especially during this Lenten season or if you are vegetarian or trying to even cut out meat a little. I’ve read a few articles lately about how you should cut out meat one day a week as a good lifestyle choice and this soup would be a good way to help jumpstart that change!

 

Very tasty alphabet soup

 

4. Monster Cookies

The other recipe that I recently tried from Sally’s Baking Addiction, was her recipe for monster cookies. I had never made anything called monster cookies before, but I got the general concept of adding in a bunch of different mix-ins to cookie dough and calling it a monster cookies.

I had all of the ingredients already on hand to make these except for chocolate chips and I was actually trying to use up the last of my Valentine’s Day colored M&Ms, so I decided to just add a bit more of those to make up for the lack of chocolate chips. I quickly made the dough and was a little surprised by how thick the cookie dough was. I triple checked the recipe and I know I made it correctly!

Despite being a little leery of the cookie dough consistency, these cookies came out very good. The weirdest part of all though, is how the taste and consistency of these cookies changed each day after I baked them. Every time I bake cookies, I wait for them to cool 5-10 minutes out of the oven and then I obviously eat one (I mean how can I resist?!) The first cookie that I bit into left me feeling disappointed in the flavor and the consistency was kind of crumbly. Then I tasted one or two more cookies a few hours later and felt that they tasted a little better and that the consistency had improved.

The next day they tasted even better. Then on day 4 when I was down to my last 3 cookies because I had brought most of them into work, I was actually so mad that I only had 3 left because they tasted so delicious! It was honestly the strangest thing that they got better with age. I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced that before with any other cookie recipe. I would also say that flavor wise, these really just tasted like peanut butter cookies with M&Ms in them, which is great but I think I need to add in more mix-ins next time to truly call them monster cookies. Overall, I would make these again or perhaps try this Paula Deen monster cookie recipe. And since these cookies tasted great for days they would actually be good to make if you had some big party and wanted to make something way in advance that would last!

Festive V-Day cookies that looked okay but tasted real good as days went by!

 

5. Mason Jar Salads

One thing I’ve been incorporating a little bit more of this year is eating salads. I had a coworker a few years back who used to bring in salads from home in a mason jar. I had never heard of the idea, but thought it was great and started looking up recipes of how to do it. It’s a bit of a project to put them together, as it requires a few hours to do over the weekend, but it’s worth it to have either lunch or dinner ready to go during the week.

The website that I typically use to make mason jar salads is this one here. I typically add lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, pasta, bacon, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and silvered almonds. I think the cheapest place that I’ve seen Mason jars is Wal-Mart and if you can find the wide mouth ones, they worked especially good for these salads. I will typically make 4-5 jars at one time and I would say that they keep for 4 days. I think once I stretched it to 5 days and it tasted just alright, and by that point you are sick of salads!

The prep work is long!

 

But it’s so nice to just dump it all out and eat the next day!

 

 

That’s it for today! I hope everyone has a great day! Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

xo

Holly

 

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Cake Pops

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Hi All,

Happy Valentine’s Day!! It’s been a little bit of a hectic week, but today I am back and talking about cake pops, which I made as a sweet treat for V-Day this year!♥

I know you may be thinking, “Cake pops?! Those are soooo 2011.” And I totally agree! To be honest back in 2011, I thought cake pops were a pretty dumb trend. I didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t just eat a delicious piece of cake like normal?! Remember how they even made cake pop machines and they were everywhere?! It was a new level of baking craziness that I was never really on board with.

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Latest Food Review

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Hi All!!

Hope everyone’s week is going lovely!! Brrrr, it’s getting so chilly out and I can’t believe Thanksgiving is already next week!

Today I am back with a few food reviews and they are all desserts or sweet treats because I’m a little piggy! Oink, oink. lol. Seriously though, I had reviewed a couple of delightful treats over the past few weeks and I decided to just group them together in one dessert food review post. So let’s dive right into it! This first one is a review of the product features in addition to the taste. The rest are all regular food reviews!

1. Filled Pastry Bag Vanilla Funfetti Frosting

A little backstory first!

A few weeks ago it was my daughter’s birthday and my mom (the ever great baker) was making her a Minnie Mouse cake. I had requested she make chocolate so I decided I would make some vanilla cupcakes to also have at the party because I feel like two desserts are necessary and not everyone likes chocolate cake. So in an effort to please all the party guests I picked up some vanilla cupcake mix and I was about to buy some rainbow chip frosting to go with it, when this new package of fancy frosting caught my eye. It’s a pastry bag already filled with the frosting that has a built in star tip. So basically you can make your cupcakes look semi professionally done without owning any pastry bags and cake tips! I had heard about this a couple of months back, but I had never seen it in store until that day. The price of it was similar to a jar of frosting so I decided to just buy it instead. I believe only Pillsbury makes this, so Funfetti frosting is what I picked up – although you know I think Rainbow Chip is better! 😉

Years ago I took a cake decorating course at Michael’s but I’d forgotten most of what I ever learned, so I wasn’t really sure how to go about using this pastry bag. I knew to push all the frosting down to the tip and squeeze and that’s about it. Haha. Honestly though, I think anyone can use this and it does make your cupcakes look a lot better and at a party presentation is kind of up there on importance factors. So I started just going around each cupcake with a little swirl and then added some rainbow sprinkles to the top and they looked pretty good! Regarding the taste, the frosting tasted exactly like Funfetti frosting out of a jar, so delicious.

Getting fancy cupcakes done!

However, I was very dismayed when I was only about halfway done frosting my cupcakes and yet I was nearly OUT of frosting! This was only a couple of hours before the party so I quickly felt myself panicking to only have 12 cupcakes frosted. I looked over the frosting box to see if the new scam is that they gave less frosting because they added it to this dumb pastry bag. Nope, it claimed to have the same amount as a jar of frosting. I think part of the problem lies in the fact that some frosting is wasted in the pastry bag as you cannot squeeze out every last drop of frosting but you can pretty much scrape a jar of frosting clean. The other issue (I’m guessing) is that you use more frosting per cupcake doing the swirl effect with the star tip as opposed to just scooping some out of a jar and spreading it across the top of a cupcake. Or at least I did in this case!

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Mug Cakes

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Hi All!

I am back with a food review of one of my most favorite treats that came into my life in recent years: Mug Cakes (or Mug Treats as Betty Crocker is calling them)! I first discovered these through the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, who is one of my favorite food bloggers and Food Network TV personalities.  She did a post a few years ago with a recipe for chocolate cake in a mug. I bookmarked it immediately and have made it quite frequently according to her instructions, although it’s even better if you add peanut butter! You can find her recipe here.

I was super excited when Duncan Hines came out with mug cake mix packages because why should I bother taking out my sugar, flour, etc. when I can just dump a packet in a mug and add a little water?? I have tried a few of these over the years and they were fairly tasty (although not as good as ones made from scratch), but I never realized Betty Crocker had a line of them until recently. I am more a Betty Crocker fan  than Duncan Hines so when I was shopping at Super Wal-Mart one day and saw a huge display featuring Betty Crocker mug cakes, I went a little hog wild and purchased four different ones to try! I’ve tried them all in the past couple of weeks and here are my findings:

********************************************************************

 

Betty Crocker Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie with Fudge Topping

This was the first one I tried. This was only decent if you really want only one WARM cookie; otherwise just make a whole batch, because this was the worst one of the four. The fudge topping is just chocolate syrup and I suspect they only added this because the cookie was incredibly dry and the syrup helped to compensate for that. Since I don’t love chocolate syrup, I wasn’t a huge fan. I think chocolate frosting would have made a much tastier topping. Also, I paused from eating this for about 2 minutes and when I went back it was literally rock hard,so consume IMMEDIATELY after baking!

 

Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip Cake with Rainbow Chip Frosting

This one was my whole reason for buying all of these. I know Pillsbury’s Funfetti gets the most love in the general population of birthday cake fan favorites or at least seems to be the most well-known, but Rainbow Chip is my favorite boxed cake mix. I like Funfetti, but I LOVE Rainbow Chip. I think the frosting and cake are both superior to Pillsbury’s Funfetti. Therefore, I was SO excited to try this mug cake!

Yet, I was disappointed in the taste of this– it’s really not a little piece of heavenly Rainbow Chip cake! 🙁 The only thing I kept thinking while eating it was how much better the actual cake is! This cake itself was a little dry and did not have the same scrumptious taste of boxed Rainbow Chip cake; it definitely fell flat in the taste category. The best part was the frosting packet, which was exactly Rainbow Chip frosting and delicious. The frosting helped to elevate the cake to somewhat yummy status, but there wasn’t enough of it included and the cake itself was really lacking moisture. This was really just ok and I wouldn’t eat it again unless I had a craving and for some reason couldn’t make a whole cake. Disappointing to say the least!

 

Betty Crocker Hot Fudge Brownie with Fudge Topping

OMG THIS WAS AMAZING. I made this on a dreary, rainy day after I had just gotten home from work and it really made the afternoon SO much better!! The fudge topping tasted exactly like chocolate frosting and it really took the brownie to a new tasty height. I also added whipped cream because – well why not? – and it was all so delightful. The brownie itself was fudgy with a good amount of moisture.  I wouldn’t say it was as good as a brownie from a whole boxed mix, but the frosting made it 10x better. This was SO GOOD and I literally devoured it. If you purchase any mug cakes, get this one!

Snapped a quick pic before inhaling this brownie!

 

Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting

When I made this I was wondering if it would really taste much different from the fudge brownie. The short answer: Yes, it did. I found this one to be way too rich to eat more than a few bites, and I consider myself to be a fairly big chocolate lover.  The cake itself was moist and has little mini chocolate chips in it. The fudge frosting was good, but it also made it super sweet and heavy when the cake itself is already fairly rich. I think I would have preferred a vanilla frosting to cut down on the chocolate overload and add a different flavor. I only ate half of this because it was so sweet. This one is definitely reserved for serious chocoholics only.

 

My Final Thoughts:

First, the hot fudge brownie is the BEST and the only one that I would repurchase. My second takeaway is that you really need to know your microwave before heating these up. A second or two over and these mug cakes are basically garbage because they are too dry. My microwave tends to cook everything quickly so if the directions said to microwave for 1 minute, I cut it to 55 seconds. I think in some cases a few seconds less would have probably been better. The third thought is my annoyance with Betty Crocker over the names of these mug cakes, for example both the chocolate chip cookie and brownie are advertised as coming with fudge topping. The fudge topping in the brownie mix is frosting and the fudge topping in the chocolate chip cookie is chocolate syrup. I suppose I will chalk it up to poor marketing management over at General Mills!

 

Have you tried mug cakes before? Hope everyone enjoyed my reviews as much as I enjoyed tasting them all! 🙂

 

xo

Holly

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Food, Lately

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I spend a good chunk of my time thinking about food and recipes. I do all of the cooking in my house so I am constantly thinking about what to cook and eat next. So today, I am sharing a couple of recipes and recent food reviews of a couple of things I’ve tried recently. Hope you enjoy reading about them!

Food Reviews:

  1. Lays Ketchup Chips

Full disclosure: I LOVE KETCHUP. I’m that person that needs roughly 10 ketchup packets for a small fry at McDonald’s. So needless to say, I’ve been waiting years for these chips to be made! So I was REALLY excited to see these in my local grocery store AND on sale. Seconds after I put away all of my groceries, I ripped the bag open to try these and I was actually shocked to find that I did not love the first bite! Totally let down! I was overwhelmed by this intense taste of tomato, vinegar, and what seemed to be paprika. (A quick flip of the bag to view the back and scan the ingredients did confirm that paprika is in the chips.) I was so saddened about not loving them immediately that I kept eating my feelings and then strangely enough, as I kept tasting them, I realized that I was beginning to really enjoy them. After about 3-4 bites, the taste no longer felt intense but most enjoyable and flavorful and several handfuls later I told myself to get out the chip clip and put them away. It took me less than week to polish off this bag and I will definitely be repurchasing, but I think this is probably a chip you would only like if you already enjoy ketchup.

 

2. Thomas’ Maple French Toast English Muffins

 

English Muffins are a staple in my house and Thomas’ is definitely my favorite brand of them – I think the nooks and crannies are delightful. I also love all things maple flavored, so when I spotted these in Target, I snapped them up to try. For my first time trying these, I simply toasted and added butter. Although it was good, I would say they were maybe a tad too sweet for me to just eat for breakfast. It hit me later in the day that I should have used it as the bread of an egg sandwich. The next day I made an egg and cheese sandwich on it and it was delicious – the combination of the sweetness of the muffin and savory in the egg and cheese was a win-win in my book. I’m certain it would be even better with bacon or sausage added to it, because what isn’t?

I would definitely buy these again. The only downside to Thomas’ english muffins is the price. I have NO IDEA why they charge $4.50 for ONE PACK of english muffins. Even though generic english muffins are not good, I only buy Thomas’ when on sale. These were good but not good enough for me to pay full price. (However, I did recently see these at Walmart for the low price of $2.28!)

Recipes:

Next, I’m sharing two of my favorite meal and dessert recipes. I’ve made both of these recipes countless times and they are always crowd pleasers! The first one is from the Food Network website by the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. Her recipes are always really tasty so I frequently browse her recipes and bookmark them.

This Summer Garden Pasta recipe is absolutely delicious and really easy to make. The only hard part is that you need to remember to cut and soak the tomatoes for 4 hours before putting the rest of the dish together. I try to plan my meals out for the week and then just set myself a phone reminder to soak these tomatoes by early afternoon on the day that I want to make this meal. This recipe also calls for fresh basil leaves, but when basil isn’t in season (or I’m feeling lazy) I just use about half a tube of this Basil Stir In Paste (you can find in the produce section in your local grocery store.) It tastes just as good and it’s much less work!

I make this for dinner but it would also be a great side dish. I honestly can’t stop eating it once I make it so I just use this as a whole meal and serve it with some Texas Toast. Make sure to follow all the recipe’s directions, including adding a lot of salt to the pasta water, as it really does enhance the end flavor of the dish.

Combine the cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, basil leaves, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature for about 4 hours.

Just before you’re ready to serve, bring a large pot of water with a splash of olive oil and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil and add the pasta. Cook al dente according to the directions on the package (be careful – it only takes 2 to 3 minutes!). Drain the pasta well and add to the bowl with the cherry tomatoes. Add the cheese and some extra fresh basil leaves and toss well. Serve in big bowls with extra cheese on each serving.

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This second recipe is one of my favorite desserts to make. First, I try to always keep packaged chocolate chip cookie dough in my fridge all the time. I just find it is always handy to have because eventually I will either a) want cookies and not want to leave the house, b) want cookie dough and not want leave the house, or c) need it to make a dessert for some cookout, party, etc. It lasts a couple of months unopened in the fridge and I try to make a mental note to remember the date and use it before hand.

A few weeks ago I realized I had some in my fridge that I hadn’t yet used and decided to make my favorite thing out of it – chocolate chip cheesecake bars. This is a Pillsbury recipe and I find that Pillsbury.com always has really quick and easy recipes. This one has got to be the best dessert one in terms of taste and simplicity. It is literally 4 ingredients and only requires the use of hand mixer! The hardest part is remembering beforehand to thaw out the cream cheese, but you could always zap it in the microwave if you had to. These are super easy to make and always go quickly. I like to chill them all the way up until right before serving because they become gooey easily if it is hot out. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do 🙂

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars by Pillsbury

Ingredients

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 roll (16.5 oz.) chocolate chip cookie dough

*The Pillsbury recipe says that you can add coconut if desired. I love coconut, but I have never tried adding it in because I think it tastes so good as is. Why change perfection??

Steps

1.
 Heat oven to 350°F.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth.

3. In greased, 9- or 8-inch square pan, break up half of cookie dough. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust. Spread cream cheese mixture over dough. Crumble and sprinkle remaining half of dough over cream cheese mixture.

4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store in refrigerator.

In the original recipe, it says to leave the pan ungreased. I NEVER do this. Every time I try to follow recipe directions and leave the pan ungreased, I am left cursing under my breath as I scrap the sides of the pan while trying cut out said baked good. So, I always grease the pan using this Pam Baking Spray With Flour which smells like heaven (re: freshly baked cake) and I am a huge fan of.

Bon Appétit!! It’s time to eat 🙂

 

 

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