As someone who is still burnt out on sweet pumpkin offerings (even after all these years,) I was thankful to see so many savory options at Lidl, like this pumpkin alfredo sauce.When it comes to store-bought sauces, I have never found one that was perfect right out of the jar, so I expected this to need a little doctoring. To give it an honest review, I'll try it first, as-is, and then I'll let you know what I did to make it better.
Sometimes things just never make it to the blog, even when I have the best intentions to do so. Like these ravioli. I actually bought these, and the bourbon sweet potato flavor, last year and I photographed them and everything...but I never wrote it up. (I'm pretty sure I posted pics to Instagram though.)
Thankfully, both products returned this year, giving me a second chance to share them with you! Also, like HalloWEEK, I'll be posting a new review every day this week for Thanksgiving! So be sure to check back every day to see what I'm munching on!
More savory pumpkin treats! Thank the foodie gods! I love the crazy influx of pumpkin related goods each fall, but almost all of them are desserts. After a few years, all of these pumpkin spiced sweets are slowly killing me! Where's the variety? Thankfully Aldi really delivered this year. I got pumpkin pasta sauce, 3 different kinds of ravioli, stuffing, croutons and gnocchi! How awesome is that?
The ravioli have been a bit hit or miss as far as savory fall dishes are concerned, but I have high hopes for these gnocchi!
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.
Happy post-Halloween! I hope all of you were able to have a great night. Sadly, I saw little to no trick-or-treaters this year, so I still have a bunch of candy left over. (Who am I kidding. I'm secretly happy to be surrounded by a ton of sugary sweets.) Since I saw so few kids, the ones who did make it to my doorstep got a giant Pixie Stick, or a fistful of candy. How was the turn out in your area?
Since I was home hoping to give out candy to tons of people, I decided to be festive and cook up some creepy pasta (get it?).
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| Fancy pastas with various dried spices and herbs! |
Just a little something I threw together for dinner the other night. I still have a ton of veggies in the fridge and I want to use them up before they go bad so I might be making more recipe posts soon.
This used:
- 2 Tomatoes - diced and grilled with minced garlic
- 1 Zucchini - Sliced and grilled
- Penne Pasta - Boiled on the stove (I eyeballed the amount and just used what was left in the box)
- Pasta Sauce (Again, I eyeballed it and used what was left in the jar)
- Parmesan Cheese - grated, 1/2 cup
I filled a pot with water and a dash of salt and put it over med-high heat.
While waiting for the water to boil, I chopped the tomatoes, sliced the zucchini, and grilled them with a teaspoon of minced garlic in a grill-pan. (One of the best kitchen pans ever!) Once grilled and ready, I set them aside and started grating the Parmesan.
After the water came to a boil, I added the pasta and allowed it to cook until it was ‘al dente.’ (Penne is my favorite, but you can use any pasta you want.) Then I drained the cooked pasta, added the noodles and the rest of the ingredients to a glass baking dish, and topped everything with the grated cheese.
Once combined, I used my oven’s broiler to melt the cheese to crispy, melty, perfection. (I broiled mine for about 5-7 minutes.)
This is a simple way to use up veggies that are laying around or overripe. (You could also add onions, peppers, or peas.)
© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net
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I have had Cafe Steamers before, just not this specific flavor. So far I like the Chicken Margherita the most, but can this one top it?
The packaging is very nicely done and convenient. All you have to do is remove the cardboard exterior and everything else goes right into the microwave. No poking holes or peeling plastic…which is great. I really love the packaging, these bowls are fantastic for preschool art projects. I clean them up and use them to hold materials, or mix cinnamon clay in.
This specific flavor is Chicken Marinara. Inside there are noodles, broccoli, and tomato sauce. I wasn’t able to see any Parmesan cheese. (Even though it says there is cheese on the box and you can see it in the photo.)
