Review of Ajinomoto Pork and Chicken Gyoza

 

With this on sale until Sunday 9/1, we thought we would try them.  They come 60 to a box.

They then come wrapped in sub-packages.

They do cook up as quickly as described on the package.  My lovely wife made a pretty presentation and kept with the Asian theme by serving them with green peas and mandarin oranges.

We liked these and they are tasty enough and made for a good meal.  But we also definitely enjoy the beef mandu significantly more. The Ling-Ling Potstickers are also somewhat better and even at the current full price are a better value.  

Let me be clear, they were okay, but simply put, other similar products at Costco taste better and/or are a better value so my assumption is we will never buy these again.

New link posted-Cooking the Costco Way Facebook page

 While browsing Facebook for Costco related pages, I found a fine new cooking site.  

Cooking the Costco Way.

I have added it to our list of links.

He seems to be a pretty good cook with a different focus than what we do so I thought he deserved a solid shout out.

Jarlsberg and Gouda Penne with Chicken Sausage.

 Jarlsberg is on sale this week so we wanted to try something cheesy and different than our previous dinners by making a pasta dish. The Sabatino sausages were also on sale for some added punch to the dish.

I grated Jarlsberg and Smoked Gouda (about 2 cups total).

I added a couple tablespoons of corn starch and distributed it to allow the cheese sauce to thicken and to avoid clumping.

In a Dutch oven, I added a cup of Pinot Grigio and started slowly adding the cheese after it came to a simmer. We will admit we bought the wine from Aldi but Costco has plenty of affordable quality wines that we could have used.  

After all the cheese was melted, four sausages were cut up and added. The dish was seasoned with freshly ground nutmeg and black pepper and finished by adding a half pound of cooked penne.

In the end, this was a very satisfying and easy to make dish which we will surely replicate.  The cheeses worked well together with the simple white wine sauce.  Adding the sausage gave some variety and lent a meat portion to the dish.  The cost for six servings was probably less than the cost of one meal at a restaurant and it took about the same if not less time than going to a restaurant or getting delivery.

A good home cooked meal like this is satisfying, tasty and quick.  And shopping at Costco makes it an absolute bargain.

Review of Rana Beef and Short Rib Lasagna on sale at Costco

 Like many people, we love lasagna but it is a dish that takes some time and effort to prepare so something that you can just put in the oven has a lot of appeal.  And it being on sale made it easy to try.

It comes refrigerated, so that definitely makes it a bit more upscale than frozen.

You take it out of the cardboard box and is pretty much ready to go into the oven.

Since it is refrigerated, it only takes 20 minutes to bake and you are all set for dinner!

My lovely wife and I both enjoyed it. It has good texture and flavor. It also had solid portions of meat and cheese- it wasn’t all tomato sauce and noodles.  While not as good as the best homemade or restaurant lasagna, it was tasty and a good value. And at 20 minutes of baking time, it is faster than ordering out.

It also has a really good shelf life so you can stock up.

Go ahead and indulge in some lasagna, it’s easy, quick and affordable.

A Review of Kevin’s Paleo Thai-Style Coconut Chicken at Costco

 

With it being on sale for $3.50 off this month, we definitely thought this was worth a try. It comes in a 32 oz total package with the sauce and the chicken packed separately.

It can be heated up on the stove top or in the microwave which does increase its versatility. In either case, the prep is pretty easy.

The heated chicken and sauce came together quickly and looked tasty and smelled good.

We are big fans of the Lotus Foods Millet and Brown Rice  Ramen Noodles at Costco. The big bag of them is pretty affordable about at Costco and they are more flavorful and and have more fiber than your standard ramen.

Being ramen noodles, they cook up in just a few minutes.

As we expected, the noodles paired very nicely with the chicken and the sauce.

This is not the best coconut chicken you will ever have but it is certainly tasty and a  good value at full price. On sale it is definitely a bargain.  My lovely wife did suggest the next time we get it that we throw in some frozen vegetables, most likely frozen peas. We also might try it with rice.

If you enjoy curries, this an affordable, easy to prep option that will save you lots of time and money over getting takeout.