Tonight, we feast! My family celebrated the return of Game of Thrones with a fancy dinner, and I thought I would share our menu.
We aimed for more rustic fair, similar to stuff possibly eaten on the show, with a few themed novelties mixed in.
For years I've been looking for a dupe for this discontinued Archer Farms meal kit. It was so freaking good! According to what I've read online, the general public complained that it was too spicy, so it was discontinued and replaced with a lame mild version that doesn't taste as good. BOO!
When I saw that Aldi had a few Journey to India meal kits a while back, I scooped them up, hoping that one of them would be worthy of taking the Archer Farms meal kit's place.
The meal kit I loved was Vindaloo, and spicy, and this is Butter Chicken, which is more mild. Now this flavor won't be exactly what I'm looking for, but it's more palate friendly for my spice-intolerant family, so I decided to cook this one up first so we could all eat dinner together.
I'm a little late, but HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (To those of you who celebrate.) I hope you were all able to fill your stomachs with delicious food.
My Thanksgiving was spent with my family over in PA. I come from a pretty small family, so there aren't many of us, but we're all very close, and I love our laid-back holiday routine. We arrive early, eat round 1 of food and appetizers (usually a layered taco dip), take a break, talk for a while, then round 2 of more food, followed by dessert.
Aldi likes to release a bunch of products all related to the traditional flavors of one area of the world. In the past we've seen them visit Greece, Italy, Mexico and Germany, but right now their latest collection is inspired by the flavors of India.
This isn't Aldi's first collection inspired by India, but it's the first time I've seen it show up with this much variety. They're currently offering curry-based soups, Tikka Masala meal kits, cooking sauces, and various freezer meals. It's been a very VERY long week for me, and even though I like to cook homemade meals on the weekends, I caved and bought a bunch of frozen meals from Aldi instead. (They're vegetarian friendly so I can share them with my boyfriend!)
For today's #MeatlessMonday post, I heated up one of Aldi's frozen vegetarian curry meals for my boyfriend and I. It has something called "vegetarian strips" in it, which look suspiciously like tofu, so we'll see how this one pans out.
I cooked up some more salmon burgers, with sriracha mayo and toasted brioche buns, for dinner and I tried another flavor of beer. I got the burger patties at BJ's Wholesale Club (because I had a coupon) and I like them a lot more than I thought I would! They're pretty substantial and they work nicely with the sriracha mayo I have in the fridge. Right now I'm just cooking them up on a griddle inside, since it's so buggy outside, but I'd like to try grilling some up with a sweet chili sauce glaze before the summer is over.
Since I'm a self-proclaimed beer-hater, I'm trying to be more open minded this year and try new flavors to see if there's one out there I like. I went to Wine Works and built my own 6-pack with a few flavors off the shelves (I picked them solely based on cool-labels), but no luck yet. Beer has a flavor profile that just doesn't appeal to me. I very rarely drink alcohol, and when I do, it's sugary mixed drinks that barely taste like booze at all. I've been trying to keep an open mind and try more beers, since all my friends really seem to enjoy them, but I haven't had any luck finding ones I like.
Want to know how I've been this week? Here's a little taste, "AHHHHHHHHHHH." Yup, that pretty much sums it up. It's been insane! I always start the week off by eating healthy and making good food choices, like my meatless Mondays that I post on Instagram, but by Thursday I'm exhausted and this week has been even crazier than usual. I'm tired, barely sane, and I'm craving junk food. I was rummaging through my pantry for something quick and easy for dinner and I came across this box of jerked macaroni and cheese from...I don't even remember when. A few months ago? (I hope.) I bought it at Aldi when they were promoting spicy foods and never got around to trying it, so let's see if this meal was worth the wait.
Chris B. over on Facebook nailed it! The photo I posted the other day was chicken and waffles! Well, not really, but it's chicken & waffle flavored, so that totally counts.
I posted this item on Instagram nearly a month ago, and I thought it was pretty interesting, but I didn't buy it. After a few more grocery runs I saw the supply dwindling, so I figured I better give these a try before they sold out. (If they're selling they must be good, right? I'm a sheeple.)
I rarely get around to posting my own recipes, but when I posted this over on my instagram account a recipe was requested, so here we go!
It's rainy and gross here in New Jersey, and I have absolutely no energy, so it's going to be a lazy lunch/dinner kind of week. Unlike a lot of my reviews, where I'm eating an item for the first time, this is an item I buy every now and again for days like today when water seeps into my sneakers and soaks my socks. (The worst feeling ever.) I hadn't really planned on reviewing this item, but I figured I might as well review it.
Sweet and Sour Chicken is something that all frozen dinner brands seem to offer. It's one of my guilty pleasures that I always keep on hand, although I'm not loyal to any one brand over another. I usually go with what's the cheapest, but I saw there was a new contender in the freezer aisle, and it's packaging was much fancier than the others, so I thought I'd pick it up and do a review. (Plus I was already tired and hungry after work, so it was the perfect lazy dinner night.)
A little more than a year ago Target had this wonderful Vindaloo meal kit that was inspired by Indian cuisine. It was delicious, and spicy and easy to make...but it was discontinued. Why?! There were a bunch of consumers complaining that the meal was too spicy, and Target has since pulled the items, lowered the spice levels and released similar products, but they've never been the same. The boxes were very clearly labeled, and it was obviously a spicy product, it's such a pity because I really like Indian food, and that kit was very close to my usual order from my local Indian restaurant.
If any of you shop at Aldi, you've noticed it goes through themed phased, and nearly a year after my delicious spicy meal kit was discontinued, Aldi went through a "Indian phase." They released their own version of some Indian-inspired sauces, along with a few other items, and I had to give them a try. I bought two different bottles, so this korma sauce is up first!
Today I have another post based on my YouTuber obsession, this time I was inspired by Chef John from FoodWishes.com. As the name suggests, he's a chef and he's a YouTuber, I've been subscribed to him for a long time now and I've tried several of his recipes. (All of them worked out great.) Yesterday I found a bag of chicken wings in my freezer, and I figured I might as well try out his method for making oven-baked wings that are (nearly) as crispy as fried ones. The results? SUCCESS!
There's a new Papa John's pizza on the block, and it's attempting to emulate a food I grew up with, so the steaks (get it?) are high on this one. I am located in New Jersey, and Philadelphia, which is known for it's soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, is literally right next door. I grew up eating these things from all the great restaurants. Pat's. Geno's. You name it, I tried it. Although I am not loyal to any one restaurant, I know a real cheesesteak when I taste one. Can Papa John's actually do a good job with this one?
I've mentioned this in a lot of reviews, but I usually can't eat tomato sauce. I say it's because I'm allergic, which is not entirely true, but it's just the easiest way for me to explain things. Really, the problem isn't so much tomatoes themselves, as their acidity. I can have any other acidic food, but those little red suckers tear my stomach apart and make me puke my guts out. I come from an Italian family, so this can be a problem. (I call myself Fail-talian.) After a while, heavy cream and garlic sauces can get boring, so I'm always looking for alternatives, and I thought maybe this could possibly work. (Plus, it's pumpkin!) So let's see if this pasta sauce can survive my stomach.
Oh wow, I haven't reviewed a Papa John's pizza since August. It doesn't feel like it's been that long since a new flavor was released, did I miss one?
I've already said this (multiple times, I bet you guys are sick of hearing about this) but I haven't enjoyed a limited edition Papa John's pizza since the Double Cheeseburger one. Apparently I was one of the very very few food bloggers who enjoyed that pizza, but ever since, I feel like these new flavors are something I can easily make at home with a few ingredients I already have on hand. (Like that Sweet Chili Chicken or the Greek. Toss feta on a veggie pizza, or some chili sauce and chicken and it's the same exact thing.)
This time Papa Johns is selling a pizza with Fritos on it. Am I a sucker for buying a pizza covered in Fritos? We'll see...
This is a little recipe I have been thinking about and testing since last fall. Although I don't think it's 100% perfect (yet) it's pretty darn tasty.
