Review: Al Fresco Smoked Andouille Chicken Sausage

Over this weekend I did a bit of indoor grilling, with all the rain Massachusetts has had I was forced in. To make the most of it I purchased some corn, shrimp, lobster claws, Cajun spice, old bay, hot sauce, and the package of andouille chicken sausage sent to me by the company. After an hour of cooking and preparation I had a couple of cold beers and the streaming pot of delicious steamed seafood and sausage at my side.

The smoked andouille sausage I decided to also cook a single link on its own too to taste test. I love sausages; they are such a flavorful and diverse food. The chicken sausage was nicely smoked with a deep warm heat from the spices of paprika, black pepper, and garlic. The texture was very smooth with a nice snap to the skin even when boiled, my preferred method that lazy Saturday. The link itself was full of flavor and was a little bit less greasy than pork based links. The end result was a very tasty boil pot of seafood and sausage for my rainy Saturday afternoon that went perfectly with the cold beer I had to enjoy.

Al Fresco sausage is actually produced locally for me at Kayem Foods, Inc. in Chelsea, MA which is just a short one hour drive from my house. They have about 13 gourmet flavors and I buy their four spicier flavors actually quite often. So if you are looking for a flavorful healthier alternative to pork sausage Al fresco is definitely the way to go.

News: Wendy’s Announces Chili Family Pack

Well Wendy’s is at it again! I went to just grab a quick bite before heading out again in my car and this caught my eye in the entrance. Wendy’s had been coming out with a whole bunch of new items:

1) Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy Cheeseburgers the “improvement” to the regular single, double, triple setup boosts premium toppings and a beefier patty with a toasted bun. Bigger burger good, “toasted” untoasted bun not so much, and a mess to eat.

2) Wendy’s Signature Sides a offering of three new choices: mac n’ cheese, chili cheese fries, and baked sweet potatoes.

3) Wendy’s All-Natural Lemonade a weak excuse to charge up even more for drinks, review still to come on this one.

4) Caramel Apple Frosty Parfait which just plain confuses the hell out of me.

The Chili Family Pack is something I would strongly consider getting. This option is only available in participating locations, which is limited just like when I tried to look for the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, is sometimes hard to find. My local Wendy’s sell the bucket for $9.99 plus tax and is said to serve 5-6 people.

I think I may need Wendy’s to introduce a NEW larger spoon next so I can ingest the 1240 calorie bucket all by my lonesome with a side of a bucket of KFC original recipe chicken. So if you really need a quick family meal look for this at your local Wendy’s soon and don’t forget extra chili seasoning.

Review: Good Life Granola Apple Crisp Blend

 

I am back! After an extended vacation I have decided to start putting the fingers to the keys again and restart Supermarket Eats. I hope you enjoy my re-opening review.

My habitual morning meal of lately has been fruit, granola, Greek Yogurt and then eggs on my two days off. So I was doing some research I found my good friends at Good Life Granola had a new flavor. I contacted them to inquire about a sample and it arrived a few days ago.

Good Life Granola is made is small batch format. They use a combination of local ingredients and simple natural ingredients in their mix. In the ingredients list they only have 16 listed and most of them are the unique spices that make apple crisp the hearty warm spiced food it is.

So besides using the granola I received as just a snack, I made a quick apple crisp with fresh local apples, the granola, a little butter, and a brown-white cinnamon sugar mix. Since the granola already has nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, and all spice the crisp came out fully rounded. I scooped a little of my favorite cold vanilla ice cream and had an awesome quick dessert.

The granola as a snack has a good chew to it with the slivered almonds give a nice needed snap and the dried Michigan apples a sweet chew. The thing I like about this blend of granola besides the spices, is that it is not overly sweet.

Overall a really great product with quite a few applications of use.

 

 

Review: Trader Joe’s True Thai Tom Yam Soup

Store: Trader Joes
Location: Hanover, MA
Price: $2.29

True Thai may be a little bit of a stretch of this one. Tom yam is one of the most popular traditional soups in Thailand and Laos . The broth is based with stock, lemon grass, crushed chilies, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and  fish sauce with no coconut milk. The reason I mentioned that last part is this Trader Joe’s soup did. If they really wanted to be authentic they would have called this tom yum nam khan and they would have been right. One other thing traditionally tom yum has straw mushrooms in the soup and a protein of prawns, chicken, seafood, or fish. Traders Joe’s soup didn’t have either of these but instead had wontons stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and other ingredients in smaller amounts.

So how did it taste anyway?

It was alright. There was nothing real special with it. The broth was very sour, and had the garnish of chilies been crushed they would have made the broth spicy, which is the other main component of the broth missing. You have to be careful to remove the lemon grass, peppers, and lime leaves after they flavor the broth and be light handed with them, more the lemon grass and leaves than anything. If you didn’t know not to eat lemon grass it is quite fibrous and tough. The wontons were pretty good, some of the mushroom flavor was lost in the more intense spinach.

Personally I prefer tom kha gai. This variant of soup is extra creamy and includes less citrus and more galangal. A local restaurant near me, The Chatta Box, makes a real good one. I gave this soup a go and it didn’t deliver for me but I am just one person’s opinion.

Pros
Decent wontons
Was spicy after crushing peppers
Fragrant
Broth is flavorful
Not expensive

Cons
Garnish not user friendly
Needs instruction to discard garnish after microwaving
Kills for difference in texture or protein
Could be more authentic
Should not have coconut milk
Not filling

Score
C-

Review: Weight Watchers Jalapeño Pepper Spreadable Cheese Wedges

I know what you must be thinking, a weight watchers cheese product can’t be that good, right? Well this cheese is that good and deserves a try. The package contains six one point wedges that easy equal one full slice of cheese in spread form. One idea I have with these ad the soon to be reviewed Parmesan peppercorn is to batter than and coat them in light breadcrumbs and make like a fried cheese wedge. The heat is medium compared to raw peppers where you get the full blast of burn. It is salty, smokey, and creamy also making a perfect spreadable treat. Even if your not trying to lose weight you should give this one a go.

Pros –
Easily spread
Medium heat
Nice smokiness
Creamy

Cons –
Processed cheese

Final Score: A –

Want to follow Weight Watchers – http://twitter.com/weightwatchers

Question of the Post: What is your favorite cheese?

Review: Kraft Sandwich Shop Chipotle Mayo

I have been looking to review this for some time now. Everyone enjoys a good sandwich and sometimes just plain mustard, ketchup, or mayo doesn’t cut it. Kraft has taken that into account and created four exciting flavors. This chipotle mayo has been real hard to find but after five grocery markets I found it! The mayo beads out of the container very easily and is thinner that regular mayo. It uses reduced fat may as its based adding the smokey chipotle to the mix. Chipotles are smoke-dried jalapeño and that smokiness comes though the mayo with a nice low spice that doesn’t overpower. My only caveat is that after the initial smoke and heat there is a very slight sweetness that comes from using a reduced fat mayo. That being said that was only detectable eating the mayo straight up. This mayo I use now daily and makes a real good sandwich, I highly suggest you seek this or the other mayo’s in the series: reduced fat chipotle, garlic & herb, horseradish-dijon and regular hot & spicy.  I think maybe Ill try the horseradish one next on roast beef or prime rib sandwiches.

Pros –
Use to spread
Bold flavor compliments sandwiches
Right amount of heat
Nice smokiness

Cons –
Subtle undertone of sweetness

Final Score: A

Question of the Post: What is your favorite lunch meat?

Review: Starbucks Coffee Java Chip Frappuccino Ice Cream

Its a scorcher out there! Right now I am looking at the thermostat and its a over one hundred degrees. Now people for the south may be calling me a wuss but I am from the Northeast and in Boston we haven’t had a day reach one hundred degrees since 2002.

So I heard from my parents they bought some ice cream I decided to stroll downstairs and grab one. The Starbucks coffee ice cream I had came with its own durable short spoon which was nice. The bold coffee flavor was a nice take away from the typical coffee flavors. The Dark chocolate added a hearty bite with a slightly bitter tang that I love about dark chocolate. Like its frozen counter part it packs a punch on your gut as well with forty percent of your daily saturated fat from a combo of egg yolks, cream, skim milk, oils , and chocolate. It definitely is considered a super premium ice cream.

Pros –

Bold Coffee Flavor

Durable Portable Spoon

Sweet Bitter Dark Chocolate

Feeling like a yuppy

Cons –

I feel my arteries seizing as we speak

Final Score – 4.5 stars out of 5

Review: Doritos 2nd Degree Burn Fiery Buffalo

Every once in a while I like to have a nice bag of chips. Something different than the usual and yes I do tend to like the spicier chip variety. So while me and my roommate were near the end of our trip to Vermont we stop in a dinner and this beauty caught my eye. The Degree burn series is a chip series to be paired with Pepsi Max Cease Fire. I at first thought these chips couldn’t be that spicy, I was wrong. The true buffalo sauce flavor was impressive and so was the length of the lingering after burn. The only other flavor taste wise I like better in the Doritos family is Sweet and Spicy.

Final Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Review: Del Monte Lite Strawberry Peach Ready to Blend

This one was an exciting review for me cause I love smoothies they are so easy to make and portable in the morning or for a quick lunch. Del Monte has made it even easier pop open both freshpacks and dump them in the blender with a larger cup of ice. Blend them for two minutes or until smooth and enjoy. I am not the biggest fan of peaches but the consistency was perfect nice and thick but not to thick to drink. The flavor was good but nothing to write home about the peach overran the strawberry and the flavor was a little weak but that could have been the amount of ice I used. I enjoyed it none the less and would buy it again or one of the other four flavors I saw or add a splash of juice to this one.

Total Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Question of the Day – What’s your favorite fruit to place in your smoothies?

Review: Wheatables Nut Crisps Roasted Almond

Oh Wheatables, your product product name makes me feeel….. dirty you should really stop that. So on break I did a review of various items I found to snack on at the grocery store and this one stuck out not only for its name but my urge for crackers and dip (fresh ricotta and fresh herbs).  I expected a nice cracker that wasn’t too dry with a sharp snap of almond and I did not get that at all. The crackers themselves had a great hold for my dip or spread, overall a little salty so much so that you couldn’t taste the almond which was  a little troubling. Overall a very good cracker I just wish they went a little lighter on the salt and heavier on the almond slivers instead of chips.

Total Score – 4 out of 5 stars