Holiday Meals Made Simple

Yes, indeed!

Good folks at F&E contacted me to do a taste test of their "Holiday Meals Made Simple", heat-and-eat holiday meals for 8 people in one box.

How could anyone say no to THAT?

Besides, I was just thinking about ordering a holiday meal this year (*gasp!*) because my friends from Thailand will be staying with us through Christmas. To maximize time spent with friends, I chose to make it easy on myself with someone else's cooking this year.

I requested the Beef Rib Roast dinner which came with a pint of beef gravy, and one "potato" and two vegetable sides.  My choices were potato gratin, petite carrots with honey butter, and cornbread and sausage stuffing.

Then I called up my girlfriends for our little holiday gathering.  Amanda, Lee, and Aurora had participated in the past Twitter wine tastings, and Lupe attended one of the F&E event with me.  So, they are all veteran F&E tasters and loyal customers.




When I picked up the box of goodies, I also picked up our favorite F&E bubbly Montcadi Cava Rose and an F&E pecan pie I haven't tried before.

The best thing about this whole Meal Made Simple is that everything reheats at 375.  First in was the roast as it needs an hour.  Then the stuffing and the gratin for 25 minutes.  I did the carrots in the microwave for 7 minutes.

While everything was heating up, we sipped the Cava.  We had Gnarly Head Zinfandel with the meal.

The roast was pure perfection--perfectly medium rare, juicy, tender, and flavorful.  The pan juice was perfect as a sauce we didn't really miss the gravy I left behind. (Whoops.)  That was easily our favorite part of the meal.  We have the seal of approval from Lupe, the best cook in our group, on this one.

Coming in second was the carrots.  Just sweet enough and not overly buttery and perfectly cooked. I couldn't have done better myself!

A split decision on the potato gratin.  It was super cheesy and delicious fresh out of the oven, but once cold, it felt heavy and too rich. We did a reheat test...aka sticking our second servings in the microwave.  Lee liked it still, while it lost me.  Amanda also found a few bites that were slightly undercooked.  

Another split decision, leaning toward dislike, was the cornbread and sausage stuffing. Amanda found the cornbread "spongy and not in a good way".  Lee liked that there was sausage in it.  I thought the gravy I left behind would've saved this a little bit as I found the stuffing a little dry.  Perhaps I should've reheated it in the microwave, or add a few glugs of chicken stock before putting in the oven.  Oh well, next time.

Overall: Heavenly

And yes, it really did feed 8 people. 5 hungry girls plus one token male were happily and well fed and we had plenty leftover to feed two more people easily.

Sure, you can totally made a better holiday meal than this. But for being a heat-and-eat feast from a grocery store chain and you only spend an hour sticking things into the oven, the Meal Made Easy is a total dream.

And yes, I just placed my order online for a Hickory Smoked Spiral Sliced Ham feast for Christmas Eve. It couldn't have been easier!

You have until December 18 to place your order to have it in time for Christmas. So, get on it!

P.S. Pecan pie was Earthbound. Tasty but not craveable or mind blowing.

F&E Sausage Rigatoni Skillet Meal

Denizens of the Temple!

On my maiden voyage to the brand new La Cienega & 18th street Fresh & Easy Express I picked up a Sausage and Rigatoni Skillet Meal.

Those who know me know the way to my heart is paved with pork products and Italian food. Plus this dish also featured my new obsession - roasted red peppers and the whole thing was in a cheesey marinara sauce.

I'm just going to come right out and say it: MEH.

The Rigatoni noodle is entirely too large for this dish. I felt, at times, like I was eating the penne of a giant. The sauce is very forgettable - a weird velveeta taste and texture to it. The sausage and roasted red peppers were too few.

And the whole bag is 2 servings packing a whopping 510 calories each. So Not Worth It.

Do yourself a favor, if the idea of this meal sounds good to you, pick up some Fresh & Easy whole wheat penne, their spicy arribiata sauce, some red peppers and hot Italian sausage and make it yourself. It will be much tastier and memorable.

Better luck next time!!! - Amy

Verdict: Earthbound

6 Girls. 3 Wines.

F&E was at it again with twitter tasting. And of course, I said yes.

Last time, we had 4 girls to attack 3 bottles of wine. Those who caught wind of the last gathering wanted in this time around. So, here we were on a Wednesday night with 6 girls to split 3 bottles of wines sent to me from F&E.

The lovely wine-drenched evening was held at Ana's (@anaperiodista) place.

Sister Annette (@dananner) and I (@oakmonster) carpooled, picked up yummy barbecued stuff from Beachwood Barbecue in Seal Beach, and headed to Ana's. We arrived at 6:30 and set up for the shindig.

7 p.m. rolled around, it was just the three of us still. So we got started anyway. Vickie (@torie007) arrived next, followed by Vanessa (@vbesack) and Tina (@sendchocolate)

Ana let me commandeered her boyfriend's laptop. Unfortunately, it was on mobile modem and the connection wasn't all that great. Annette and I took turn tweeting through TasteLive and my account. At some point, Annette managed to get me thrown into TasteLive jail-- "You've tweeted too many times. Please wait."

Also, how many girls do you need to open a bottle of wine with a corkscrew? Two. Me for knowing roughly how it works and Annette for Amazonian strength. Well, we wouldn't need the strength if we knew what we were doing! Hahaha! Let it be noted that next time we go to Ana for wine tasting, we need to bring her a modern wine opener as a hostess gift. Or make sure her boyfriend was home.

We had so much fun with the wine and the talking that at some point we almost forgot we were doing a tasting! But then again, our group is no Jim Cahill of Fresh & Easy Wine Reviews! No connoisseurs over here, just 5 moms and a married woman who had had a long day and looking forward to some wine, conversation, and manic tweeting. ;-)

Here you go with our nonsensical review! (As always, we'll add commentary from Sister Annette herself later.)

Napa Family Vineyards Chardonnay 2008
Sister Annette's Chug-ability rating: "I need a refill!" - Heavenly

First wine for everyone after a long day may have something to do with why we enjoyed this wine quite a bit as a starter. Sister Annette mentioned that it would go well with a salad and promptly asked for another pour. I'm not a white wine drinker but I found myself enjoying a cold and crisp but full body in that warm evening. The other ladies agreed with this assessment. It also went swimmingly with the wild mushroom stew and blue cheese grits I was having for day-after-orthodontist dinner. Retails at under $12, this is a great buy.

Re del Castello Chianti Classico 2007
Oakley's Chug-ability rating: "If I have nothing else to drink, this will do." - Earthbound

We were all taken aback at first taste. Everyone thought it was sour/tart to start. After a few minutes to breath, it bloomed a bit and it was drinkable again. The peppery loveliness mingled with the smoky barbecued meats. Vanessa, a fellow red lover, didn't think much of this wine either, but since it's opened, we'd drink it. This one retails under $10.

The Vine Yard Late Harvest Riesling 2008
Ana's Chug-ability rating: "I don't even like wine and I LOVE this!" - Nirvana

*DINGDINGDINGDING* We have a winner! The riesling went over extremely well especially as a "dessert" for the evening. Sweet and fruity without being all syrupy about it. To quote Annette's tweet, Ana's expression said it all. Our "I don't like wine" hostess' face lit up "like Mikey in Life commercial." The wine also went well with Tina's brie and lingonberry jam.

What makes it taste even better is that $1 for every bottle sold is donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Oh, and it retails under $8. WIN!

At the end of the evening, we were all eager to polish off both of the whites. I did try to go back to the Chianti but my palates were shot by the point. Feh...

You can read the Twitter thread for the evening here and see what everyone else thought of these wines. Because, you know, when you mix 6 girls with plenty of wine, we can't really be trusted. ;-)

Four Girls. Three Wines.

When I got words about the Fresh & Easy Twitter Tasting of their wines on Tuesday, a party was instantly planned. Having volunteered to participate in this, F&E sent me all the three wines for the occasion.

I (@oakmonster) rounded up Sister Annette (@dananner), and my friends Ana (@anaperiodista) and non-tweeting Amanda for dinner, wine, and girl talk.

Well, Ana doesn't drink wine but she took a sip of each for a taste anyway. That's the spirit! :)

And boy, did we all had a day from hell before we got to the wine.

Note here that the Twitter tasting was supposed to start at 7 p.m. PST. We didn't chime in until 7:45. And here's why.

Amanda was taking the usual commuter bus we usually take together except that the bus got in a fender bender up in Downtown LA. So she was late but still first to arrive. Ana has a 2-year-old son who was sick and wanted no one but his mommy. She came in after Amanda. I wasn't home to receive either one of them as I was on my way to pick up Sister Annette from the Blue Line station. Annette hauled in from Burbank on the Red then Blue Line just to find herself stuck on the train one station away from final destination due to police activity.

So by 7:45 when Annette and I got back, we got back online and on with #fandewine hashtag and hell bent on catching up to everyone. They were almost done with their Malbec by this point.

However, we were being complete and total clowns about this whole thing.

Everyone was talking wine: "smooth and oaky," "lemon on the nose," "acidity balanced with bright zesty fruit."

The reviews from our corner? "Yeah, I'll chug that." And we continued to tweet off topic as the evening progressed and more wine was poured.

Hey, when you put 4 girls who all had a bad day with 3 bottles of wine, you can't expect any professionalism out of that!

Now, on to the wines.

Montcadi Cava Rose – under $6
"Let's finish this sucker off." - Heavenly

I have been on a bit of a bubbly kick since Thanksgiving. So I was excited to try the Cava.

It didn't disappoint. A little fruity, but not too much. I can see myself coming home to this every night of the week. This was the obvious choice as it was the only bottle that got polished off that night.

We thoroughly enjoy this with the F&E Gourmet Swiss Truffles , which by the way is made with CRACK I tell you--Nirvana. Especially the milk chocolate ones. Oh my god. Sooo soo good!


Boro Hills Sauvignon Blanc – under $11
"Where are the bubbles?" - Earthbound

It was not love at first whiff for this screw top. It has this funky little smell at first pour which dissipated by the time you swirl it around a bit. For a second there, Amanda and I almost didn't try the wine based on that whiff alone. It turned out to be the tail end of that passion fruit/grape fruit note so prominent in the wine.

Amanda said this would be the wine she can imagine drinking by the poolside on a hot summer day. However, we agreed that we kept expecting to taste some bubbles. All the flavors that would benefit from the bubbles are there. It tasted like a sparkling wine that had gone flat.


Matuco Malbec 2007 - under $10
"We'll totally chug this." - Heavenly

Annette was the one to initiate the chug-ability rating for the evening with the Malbec. Full body, tasty treat that went quite well with the barbecued baby back ribs from Maderas Steak & Ribs and went gangbuster with their mac and cheese. Although we also agreed with folks in twitter that steak and chimichurri should be the best match.

Amanda did like this one best of the bunch and took the half of it home.


So, the Twitter tasting was a lot of fun. I couldn't have done it on my own. 3 bottles to taste with just little old me would take 3 weeks to polish off.

Thank GOD for girl friends. :)

Have a little F&E New Year!

New Year's Eve Dinner

Giada's Beef and Butternut Squash Stew - made with 2 lbs. of beef roast and the miracle that is pre-cut butternut squash from Fresh & Easy. Verdict: Nirvana for the time saving factor alone. Seriously. The first time I made this, I spent half an hour attacking the mutther-effin' whole squash!)

Chilled bottle of Ogio Prosecco. Verdict: Earthbound. Not bad for $8.99 to drink straight up but I'd totally buy these to make bellinis and the likes.


New Year's Day Breakfast Plan

The fantastic Il Fornaio Panettone. Oh. My. GOD! This so so fluffy and delicious. It tastes so fresh, so un-boxed--unlike other panettone. Verdict: Nirvana.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Demo-licious

Yesterday Brandon looked up at me after his first bite of Fresh&Easy banana cream pie. Intently, he looked into my eyes.

"They put crack in this."

I looked at him, bemused.

"Banana cream pies should not taste this good."

And I couldn't have agreed with him more.

Verdict: Banana Cream Pie: Nirvana.

*

Flashback to Thursday.

F&E invited a handful of LA mom/dad bloggers and one of its biggest fan over for an evening of wine tasting and cooking demonstration with Chef Mike himself at Sur La Table at the Original Farmers Market in Los Angeles.

We noshed on lovely snacks of dips and crackers, cheeses and meat, and crudites, while the wait staff brought us La Gioisa Prosecco to start. Nothing memorable about this one but it definitely didn't suck.

Verdict: La Gioisa Prosecco: Earthbound

I had the honor to meet Chef Mike. I know that I'm a blogger and that I put myself out there in the world, but it still freaks me out a little bit when Chef Mike told me he read my blog and wanted to know what I thought they should do about the tortilla soup situation.

Wow. I mean, WOW.

From then, we got to the hands-on demo. Each of the 4 stations attacked different dishes on the menu for the evening. All the while, the wait staff continued to pour any of the 5 wines on the tasting menu for us while we got our hands dirty.

I couldn't really eat that day since that very same morning I had a visit with my orthodontist. I managed to sample a few soft items that evening. And, of course, the wines to numb my pain. ;-)

My little team made lovely pizzas. My friend Lupe, one hell of a cook, even tossed the pizza dough for good measure! And then our group were tasked to make avocado sauce (fresh avocados + ranch dressing ...and a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon if you like a bit more flavors) for the heat-and-eat steak fajitas Chef Mike was cooking up in front of the class. A jar of the spicy bean dip also accompanied the meal.



The other teams made apricot (and mustard) chicken fingers with dipping sauce with (instant) brown and white rice and veggies with herb butter (heat-and-eat); and baked salmon with peanut sauce and soba noodles stir-fry with frozen Asian veggies.

Oh yeah, the peanut sauce. As I am a Thai, I don't put peanut sauce on anything but my satay so I'm a little wearied of people applying bottled peanut sauce to everything. But I must stay, F&E Peanut Sauce actually tastes pretty darn close to the real thing.

Verdict: Peanut Sauce: Heavenly (...or at least this Thai approves of it)

At this point you MUST understand what had already transpired at this demo.

You add free flowing wine to a room full of women (okay, there were a couple of men there, but surely out-numbered) who love to cook and eat and, well, drink. What you got by the time we arrived at dessert samplers was something just shy of total debauchery.

I must confess that at some point, I stopped watching Chef Mike's demo altogether as I was too busy sipping wine, noshing on whatever Chef Mike already dished out, and chatting with the other ladies, stopping occasionally to take some photos.

Lots of giggling. Lots of joking around. Lots of, I hate to admit it but it's true, that Sex And the City girl-talk. By the time dessert samplers were served, we were dying to try them.

Out came from all corners of the room, different moans, groans, and squeals of delight.

One word. Foodgasm.



We fell all over ourselves with different component of the sampler. The banana cream pie got the most moans and was quite a surprise to everyone. Sallie who usually doesn't eat banana cream pies that were not her mother's gave this pie a seal of approval. We have photographic evidence of Jennifer stuffing her face with almost the entire half of chocolate cupcake. Oh, and the tiramisu wasn't too shabby either although much overshadowed by the pie and the cupcake.

I know someone was taping part of the demo on the Flip Video (custom made with F&E logo by the way...adorable!). A play-back of the dessert tasting would probably be rated R.

Verdict: Chocolate Cupcake: Nirvana
Verdict: Tiramisu: Heavenly

I sipped the last drop of my Les Capages Pinot Noir (went great with dessert, oddly enough) and had all the intentions to lick my dessert plate. Darn super efficient wait staff took what he thought was empty plate away before I could have my way with it.

Then again, I couldn't chew much of what were made. Cream pie, tiramisu and super moist cupcakes were the only things I could eat that evening.

Verdict: Les Capages Pinot Noir: Heavenly

And finally, another star of the evening was the St. Helen Riesling. Just sweet enough for a hot evening in the kitchen and so drinkable I could see me sipping through the entire bottle by myself through out the course of the day. (Hey, I'm a light-weight! That's probably the best I could do without getting totally frakked up.) At $4.99 a bottle, darlings, buy a case and invite the entire neighborhood over to drink it with ya!

Verdict: St. Helen Rielsing: Nirvana

We left the joint with our bellies full and a goodie bag slung over our shoulders. More F&E products for us to experience on our own good times.

F&E should do more of these wine tasting/food pairing events everywhere. BevMo's $5 Saturday tasting seems to be popular. I can't see why F&E couldn't do something like that at other local collaborating venue or somewhere in the store itself.

You know, you'll have room once you clear out the clutter. ;-)



*

Quick bargain bin clutter update: I ran into the Spring Street store on Saturday afternoon to fetch the banana cream pie and I noticed the bargain bins in the produce sections were gone. I haven't gone through the entire store but that alone was a massive improvement. Thank you for listening, F&E!

Amy's Reviews

Yesterday I attended the opening of the new Fresh & Easy location at 10 N. Eastern in Las Vegas. The F&E people in attendance could not have been nicer (Hi Simon!) and definitely embody the friendly neighborhood market energy that is Fresh & Easy's mission. I took pictures and will post them when I get back from vacation. (Hi Sallie!)

First, some product reviews:

Penne Pesto: This dish was delicious, light and flavorful -- which is perfect in the Las Vegas heat. I was so pleasantly surprised when the F&E pastas microwaved and didn't dry out. Fresh vegetables in this dish complement the pesto without overwhelming it. If I had one less positive comment it would be that I wanted my pesto heavier. But, disclaimer: I like a lot of pesto. My mom split the dish with me and it was the perfect proportion of pesto to penne for her.

Verdict: Heavenly

Penne Arribiata: OMGBBQ. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO YUMMY. Spicy without being painful, with deliciously tender red and yellow and green peppers in the dish that add an aesthetic as well as aromatic appeal to this meal. (hey! I made a rhyme!) I've bought this dish a few times now. It is a perfect entree, late night snack, lunch idea.

Verdict: Nirvana

Penne with Tomato Cream Sauce: First of all it is only $1.99! You can find it in the sandwich and sushi display in the front of the store and it is the perfect amount of pasta for one person. Fresh diced tomatoes are throughout this dish and the sauce is the perfect shade of pink. I usually add some olives to it for my own personal perfection. This is what I'm having for dinner tonight.

Verdict: Nirvana

Tomato, Basil, Mozzerella Sandwich: The roll used on this sandwhich is delicious. Somewhere between a ciabatta and french roll, it is the perfect complement to the fresh buffalo mozz, fresh basil and tomato slices with a sprinkle of lemon juice/pinenut mixture on it. The ratio of bread to cheese to tomato to greens is DIVINELY PERFECT.

Verdict: Heavenly

Ham & Swiss sandwich: I've had this sandwich 3 times and it was delicious all three times, although once the bread wasn't the greatest--just passable. The next two times the bread was good, but not as good as on the tomato/basil/mozz sandwich and not as good as the individual french demi baguettes in the back of the store. The Ham is sliced thin enough for a gal like me who likes her lunchmeat wafer thin. The swiss is creamy. The dijon mustard has just the right amount of bite. This is the sandwich I'm tucking into my carry on for my flight to Aruba tomorrow.

Verdict: Heavenly

Chicken Escallopes and Rosemary Garlic Red Potatoes: I'm listing these together because together they take about 10 minutes to make and presentation and taste wise appear like you slaved in the kitchen for hours. Chicken fillets are in a crust of spices including rosemary, thyme, basil and garlic. Pan saute them in extra virgin olive oil for 10 min, turning frequently. Red Potatoes are in olive oil, rosemary and garlic mixture and microvave for about 3 1/2-4 minutes. OMGBBQ I could eat this everyday, for real.

Verdict: Nirvana


BBQ Chicken Pizza, Hawaiian Pizza and Pepperoni Pizza: for $4.49ish, they are a bargain and easy to pop in the oven. I did not add any extra spices to them and they were alright. They tasted like frozen pizza despite being fresh take and bake style. DiGiorno is better. Now, that said, some fresh garlic and tomato added to the pepperoni might have elevated its rating. My main criticism of the pizzas is that the crust was cardboard like.

Verdict on all 3: Earthbound

Fruit and Cheese Plate: Do you have to bring an appetizer to book club? For $4.49 this is the ticket. About 6 small rounds of bread with a small piece of brie, some white cheese that seemed havarti like, a few cubes of cheddar, sliced apples and dried apricots. This also makes a great snack and will also be in my carry on on the flight to Aruba tomorrow.

Verdict: Nirvana

Beef Fajitas: Oakley rated this a Nirvana, so I will give it another go after my vacation. I think perhaps the issue I had with the marinade/spices is cilantro. I'm not a huge fan. But the beef was tender.

Verdict: Earthbound

Pro-Yo Berry Crunch, Dark Chocolate Pudding and Vanilla Banana Smoothie: I AM ADDICTED to all three and my F&E is STILL out of them. HELP!

Verdict: Nirvana

Chili Marinated Chicken Tenders The plastic container melted in my microwave and the odor--oh good god the odor. This was a freak incident as no other F&E plastic container has fared a similar fate. I didn't eat them obviously and now I am (irrationally) afraid of them. Have you tried them? Should I give it another go?

Verdict: Purgatory for now, subject to change.

I'm off to Aruba tomorrow so I'll write more when I get back!
Amy

Dinner Possible: Fajitas

Dinner for 2-4 in a jiffy, y'all!

Buy one each of the Fajita Marinaded Beef and Chicken. Toss all in a pan and cook according to the instructions. Chunky chicken tenders were totally satisfying and juicy and the beef also in good portion and tender. Brandon is not big on bell peppers so we only used the portion from one package. Mmm...cumin-y goodness! And even better as leftover.

Normally, I would prefer to dress this up a little more with onions and a side of guacamole. But for a quick dinner, this was plenty tasty by itself.

The fact that it's really, SUPER easy to whip up is a major plus.

Verdict: Nirvana

Brandon likes Flour Tortilla and I like Corn Tortilla, so I bought both kinds. Unfortunately, both of them didn't work out very well. Both seem a bit too dry, not pliable. I even heated them up under damp paper towel first. But the flour tortilla wouldn't hold when I wrapped up the meat. The corn one, forget it. It doesn't even bend well before ripping.

Flavor wise, the corn was disappointing. It tasted like cornmeal rolled out into a flat bread. Cardboard is not quite the texture but I think the flavor might be close. I don't know about the flour though but Brandon doesn't have any complain.

Flour Tortilla - Verdict: Earthbound
Corn Tortilla - Verdiect: Hell

The Pudding Escapade

All these few pounds I gain in the past 2 weeks are all for you guys, by the way. That's just how dedicated I am.

I picked up almost all of F&E single pudding and flans and tried them all out over the past week. I was never fond of anything "western" with coconut flavoring, having grown up where desserts actually HAVE coconut in them, I forwent the Coconut Flan to be subjective.

Here are the results.

Chocolate. A favorite at my household. Brandon got us buying the big tub now. I would occasionally dunk apples in them. It's definitely yummy. However, if you put me in a blind test between F&E and another brand, I'm not sure I could pick out the difference. But for whatever reason, Brandon seems to enjoy this one hence the high rating. Verdict: Nirvana.

French Vanilla. Not overpoweringly vanilla-y with crunchy little seeds. Not sure if I like the crunch but otherwise that wouldn't make it a FRENCH vanilla. I did like it quite a bit. Verdict: Heavenly.

Vanilla Flan. The flan was a double taste test. My coworker whose signature desserts are creme brulee and flans wanted in on the action. Neither one of us like it. We actually took a couple of bites each and decided to throw it away. It's neither creamy enough or caramel-y enough. So it tastes a little, well, bland. Not what we were expecting at all. If I have a flan craving to quench, I'd go to El Pollo Loco before I go to F&E. Verdict: Hell.

Rice Pudding and Tapioca Pudding. I had some that was more like vanilla pudding with tapioca in it. But this is more custardy and creamy and milkier tasting, if that's a term, than the vanilla pudding, Then again, on the same note, there is more pudding than rice/tapioca in theirs than in F&E's. The rice pudding, especially, it was almost like having a milk pudding in a bowl that used to have rice in it--too much pudding and note enough rice. It's almost the same way with tapioca, but I actually got more tapioca action than I did with riced. Verdicts: Rice pudding, Purgatory. Tapioca pudding, Earthbound.

Dark Chocolate. The king of the F&E pudding! I am already in love with the dark chocolate mousse (though I haven't officially reviewed it yet), and this was just like it...if you added more milk. Chocolatey with just enough sweet. My bias is toward dark chocolate so this is totally the winner for me. Verdict: Nirvana.

Now, I must go practice my Thriller to burn off the calories.

Nosh Away

Kind folks at F&E tipped me off to their new products called Nature's Nosh a while ago. (They also provided me with pictures!) I finally picked them up the other day.

These Noshes come in 4 different "flavors": Wasabi Edamame, Curry Spiced Apple, Thai Mango Coconut, and Chili Spiced Jicama.

When you open up this little tub, the first layer is a cup of spiced nuts. The bottom is small bits of mixed fruits/soy beans featuring whatever they say on the label plus a few complimenting fruits/veggies. You can eat them separately, but the point is to mix both together and use the collapsible spork to feed your face.

Yes, I said collapsible spork. This unique plastic utensil comes with the salads as well. But I digress.

My first thought: Wow, now here's a way to not waste any pieces of the cut up fruits and vegetables. It's either that, or they're making good of culinary students honing their knife skills

The veggies are in tiny bitty uniform cubes. I'm sure that's not the intention but you know me and my imagination.

Anyways. I tried two out of four that sounded most appealing to me.

The Thai Mango Coconut one was good. You get the sweet mango and the crunch of apple cubes and crispy/chewy texture of toasted coconut. (Promise to update on what all goes into this thing when I jot out all of the ingredients next time.) I liked it enough, but it was a little bit on the boring side to me.

Verdict: Earthbound

The Chili Spiced Jicama, however, I like. I was already a little biased toward this one because I like crunchy snacks. (The apples in the Thai Mango Coconut didn't do enough on the crunching for me.) Cubes of refreshing cucumber and carrots add to the party. The cashews and sunflower seeds go well with all the crunchiness. Actually, compare to the carrots, cashews became the softer texture. The flavor was just the right side of spicy with chili powder and cumin (and whatever else). It reminds me of the salt-sugar-chili concoction we put on our jicama back in Thailand, a street snack.

Verdict: Nirvana

I must also note that the serving portion is plenty as a snack. The container looks a little small and the amount of food looks a little skimpy. But the combination of fruits and nuts, I'm sure any nutritionists can clarify, makes the whole thing very, very filling.

I started in on one as a part of my breakfast of champion (the Nosh and a tall soy latte), and continued to snack on it through the morning. That held me over until lunch time.

But I'm 5 foot tall and 105 lbs. Bigger folks may disagree on the scale of reasonable portion.

Dinner Possible: Roasted Chicken and Croutons

I am quite addicted to Jamie Oliver's Jamie At Home program on Food Network. I was supremely inspired after watching him made the Proper Chicken Salad.

Essentially, he roasted chicken thighs in a pan on top of pieces of ciabatta bread which turned out to be some awesome croutons in the process. He also made his salad dressing from scratch.

By the time I got to the store, I was slightly distracted by a run-in with Brenda and what not. So I decided to buy a bottle of fresh dressing instead of making my own.

And along with that, instead of buying a head of romaine to chop up, I just bought a bag of pre-washed, pre-cut romaine.

Didn't I tell you guys I was lazy?

However, I did follow Jamie's recipe on the chicken and ciabatta almost to the tee, except that I substitute thyme for rosemary (Brandon doesn't like rosemary), added a few lightly smashed clovers of garlic in the mix, and used bacon instead of pancetta. Also, after laying on the bacon, I roasted it up to 30 minutes extra because the bacon refuses to crisp up.

The bacon layer:



The chicken layer:



The crouton layer:



I also served the meal differently. Instead of shredding the chicken for a salad, I featured the chicken thigh, bacon, and the croutons as a main course with salad on the side. It worked out very well that way as well.

Caesar dressing: $1.99
Ciabatta loaf: $2.89
Center-cut bacon: $3.69
Romaine lettuce: $1.98
Chicken leg quarters: $4.61
I already have thyme, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil at home.

Total with tax: $16.31.

That's $4.08 a person. PLUS 2 extra chicken thigh (which I froze to use in making chicken soup from scratch later...freezer burn doesn't affect the stock that much, heh), 4 strips of bacon (perfect for breakfast for 2), and salad dressing for at least another meal for 4.

Oh, and I don't know how but we ended up with a handful of romaine, a few croutons and strips of bacon leftover to have for lunch the next day.

It's soooooo easy and so cheap!



ETA: When I made this again for the pictures, I also made pan sauce by adding flour to the grease, cooked that up, and deglazed with chicken stock. Yum!


P.S. Fresh Caesar Dressing - Nothing memorable, but definitely tasty. I'd give it an earthbound.

Verdict: Earthbound

Fresh Garlic

Just because I am obsessed with the store and many of their products, it doesn't mean that I won't give anything a bad review.

As a matter of fact, I have one.

I usually get 3 heads of garlic for $1 at Downtown LA's farmers market. Sitting in my little garlic cellar, those puppies seem to last just about forever. Never once sprouts green on me.

Now, over at F&E, heads of garlic came in a mesh pack of 3. The brand is Spice World. A week into the cellar, I popped one open to find the cloves started to sprout. Huh. The other heads soon followed.

The second attempt I didn't even pick any up. There were 2 bags of garlic left and both of them were already sprouting. The third try pretty much yielded the short life span just like the first one.

Where every F&E is getting their garlic from, they've got to fire their purveyor. Unless they're doing this on purpose to push folks to buy the pre-peeled or ready-prepped garlic in the refrigerated section.

Verdict: Hell.
Amended Verdict 9/8/08: Earthbound.

Note: After the original posting, I actually bought another mesh pack of garlic because I didn't want to hop to another store. That batch, and the batch after that, turns out to keep quite well. No sprouting after the first incident. Good for F&E!

Iced Tea Variety

My husband is cutting down on his soda consumption and has done pretty well. We have switched to Vitamin Water for a while to get him off the caffeine and slowly off the sugar. But after a while, both of us found them too sweet.

We're not fans of artificial sweeteners. Out goes anything "diet" or "sugar-free" on this end.

So, we tried a few of F&E bottled iced teas. There are a few more we have to pick up, I believe. But here are the results so far.

Green Iced Tea: Refreshing and definitely not too sweet. It does have a bit of a bitter after taste which I like. Totally something I would grab from the fridge coming in from a hot day. My husband loves this stuff.

Verdict: Nirvana

Raspberry Rooibos Iced Tea: The red delicious is probably the sweetest of the bunch with its raspberry essence and a touch of lime juice. It was a little too syrupy to be sipping in the hot sun straight out of the bottle...like I did, on the beach, during a heatwave. With a glass of ice, that might work better.

Verdict: Earthbound

Moroccan Style Mint Green Iced Tea: This is my favorite of the bunch so far. A touch of mint refreshes is so refreshing and the sweet just comes right in to complement that. A bit sweeter than the green tea, but I fell in love with that minty effect.

Verdict: Nirvana

Chamomile Iced Tea: This one was a little odd. I guess I didn't quite pair chamomile with a splash of lime juice. (As a matter of fact, it seems all of the teas except for original green has lime juice in it. Interesting...) Definitely not big on this one.

Verdict: Purgatory