A Review Of Costco's Chicken Alfredo

My wife and I enjoy cooking, but the deal on the Chicken Alfredo on sale this month was just too good to pass up, so we took the plunge.  Aside from covering it with aluminum foil, there is no real prep involved other than putting it in the oven.  Cooking time was about an hour, but when you figure out how long it takes to get to a restaurant, order a meal and have it come to the table, that time is really not bad.

My wonderful wife removed the foil near the end of the heating to help brown the cheese a little.  The chicken is pre-cooked, so that makes the process of heating a bit quicker than baking it from scratch.

The dish had good flavor and we enjoyed it, although we both thought it was more alfredo with chicken than Chicken Alfredo. Still, there was enough meat in the dish you didn't feel cheated.

This was a good alfredo, about the quality you get at a place like Applebee's or Fridays.  Even before the coupon, it is a very good value and the coupon makes it a great value.

Thus, I give it a solid thumbs up: great value and tasty food.  Not the world's best alfredo, but competent and satisfying.

Pasta In A Hearty Red Sauce With Fresh Spinach

A basic red sauce and meat pasta is a very reliable dish: it is tasty, easy, quick and satisfying.  Another thing going for it is that it can be spruced up in a variety of ways.  You can adjust the seasoning, add different vegetables and use basic dried pastas or filled ones.

In this case, my lovely wife kicked it up by adding some of the fresh spinach we buy in great big bags from Costco.

Aside from adding flavor, the spinach adds another layer of texture and it has some great nutritional aspects.

If you have been wondering what to do with some of that great big bag of spinach, try throwing some of into your pasta.  You might be very pleased with the result.

Jarlsberg Cheese Dip With Gluten Free Crackers From Costco

My friend Bill at work requires a gluten free diet and so to celebrate Fat Tuesday and my six months at the job, I brought in a treat he could eat.

There are only four ingredients in this recipe that I found and the prep is very easy. This makes for both a great return on time and money.

I served the dip with two types of gluten free crackers: the Mary Gone Crackers ones that are on sale this month (until 2/26) and the Food That Should Taste Good Sea Salt Brown Rice Crackers.

I was pleased with the result and I enjoyed the crackers with the dip.  I will say though that for this particular dip, I thought the Food Should Taste Good Sea Salt Brown Rice Crackers went with the dip a bit better than the Mary Gone Crackers one did. This dip had a couple of onion flavors in it and I think the Sea Salt crackers with a more subtle flavor made for a better pairing.

But let me be clear that I  think both of them worked fine. And I have to say, the price on gluten free crackers at Costco is a bargain compared to other stores.

So be nice to your friends Celiac Disease and serve this tasty, easy dip with fun and safe gluten free crackers.

Coupon Book For February

Once again, I have the coupon book from Costco courtesy of my friends at Addicted to Costco.

Happy World Nutella Day!

Nutella is one of our favorite products to buy from Costco. We love the stuff and it is vastly less expensive to buy at Costco versus the grocery store.

Therefore, I want to make note that today is  World Nutella Day.  Here is a link to recipes that celebrate this magnificent product.

Also, here is a quick thing I did with Nutella a while back:

I got some chocolate bread from Costco and toasted it.  Then I added sliced bananas and Nutella. Presto,  I had a delicious breakfast sandwich. The actual prep time for this was mere moments but the return on the investment was great.

Saving Time And Money With The Family Sized Packages Of Ground Beef At Costco

As much as we enjoy cooking and eating together, my wife and I both work and when we get home at the end of the day, we want to eat dinner not very long after we get home. One of the strategies my lovely wife came up with that support this is to always have cooked, browned ground beef in the freezer ready to go.

What we do is we buy those big five or six pound packages of ground beef at Costco and then we brown all the beef at once.  Browning one great big package is really not that much more work than browning one or two pounds.  After the meat is browned, we let it cool, put it in containers and freeze it.

This saves us a lot of time in many ways:

• As previously mentioned, browning a big package of meat is very time efficient
• We have the meat divided up into easy to use packages
• There is always cooked meat in the freezer, ready for us to make dinner with
• Using frozen cooked meat is much faster than taking frozen  raw meat and then cooking it

 So even if you are a couple or just one person, buying the big packages of ground beef makes a lot of sense. It is both economical and a huge time saver.

A Review Of Skotidakis Jalapeno Greek Yogurt Dip On Sale

The current coupon book ends tomorrow 1/29 and I thought I would make a few comments about this fun dip that is on sale.

It comes in a 24oz container, so there is enough if you want to serve a larger group of people.  As for the dip itself, it is a competent, well made product that I think has a lot of uses. It has a bit of heat that builds but it is not heat only for the sake of heat, it definitely has flavor.

However, it is not an overpowering flavor, so it should be a good crowd pleaser. People that want some "zing" in their dip will like it but those with milder tastes will not find it overpowering.

And I think it is versatile too. We had it with some the Garlic and Black Bean Tostitos that I am fond of and it worked pretty well.

My wife also suggested that it would be great on baked potatoes and I think that would be a excellent thing to do to a spud.

I also see this as a garnish on Mexican style dishes.

While not the most amazing dip on the planet it is a good product and being yogurt based, it is probably healthier for you than something based on sour cream.

I recommend the product and the next time it is on sale, we will probably buy it again

Been Gone And Now I Am Back With: Peroggies With Spinach & Crumbled Black Bean Burger

It has been a long time since I posted and a lot has happened. The Holidays came and went and I got a great gift for Christmas:  A New Job!  That and a few other things have been a distraction but it is time to return to blogging.


As time goes buy, I will probably be posting a few things that I have not gotten around to over the past few months but I do hope to keep more current with what we are cooking and eating.


As for this dish: my wife and I are very fond of those lovely  black bean burgers we get from Costco.   They are great being served as burgers, but for a long time, I have wondered how they would work as an ingredient in a recipe.  One night, I came home from work and my wonderful wife answered the question for me.


She took some of that wonderful spinach we get from Costco and mixed it with some of the crumbled black bean burgers.  Then, she tossed them with some pierogies.  She was thinking the dish would either be a disaster or a big success and guess what, we both thought it was a big success. And it was interesting to look at too.

The flavors really worked well together.  The black bean burger gave a bit of zing without being heat for the sake of heat. The spinach gave a lively, fresh vegetable flavor to the dish. Finally, the pierogies added some nice heartiness to the meal. And all this came from what we had on hand, so the dish went together in minutes.

I am sure we will do more with the black bean burgers and we will probably do this particular variation again.

White Bean Dip With Mission Tortilla Strips And Baby Carrots

Food is a way I express affection and appreciation, so bringing in something for my coworkers to enjoy made a lot of sense.  One of my coworkers has Celiac's Disease, so making something gluten free seemed like a great idea.  As I am very fond of the tortilla strips and baby carrots we buy at Costco, some sort of dip to serve them with seemed pretty natural and the first one that came to mind was this white bean dip.

This recipe was simple, delicious, easy to make and gluten free for my friend.  And it certainly was a big success at work.

Costco Coupon Book 11/10 To 11/27

Thanks again to my wonderful friends at Addicted To Costco, I have a link to the upcoming coupon book.
Enjoy!

Ham And Cheese Pinwheels Plus A Review of Flatout Multigrain Flatbread

I have made this recipe for ham and cheese pinwheels a number of times and they are always well received.  For a change of pace, I thought I would make them with some Flatout brand flatbread instead of tortillas.  I made a double batch and used three of the Flatout multi-grain bread.  Below is a photo of the finished pinwheels.

The pinwheels were well received at the party I brought them too and there were no leftovers to take home.

However, I don't think we are likely to buy these again. It is a good product but for only two people, 18 pieces of flatbread is a huge quantity.  So my review of them is this:

Good product, good taste and useful, but for two people, the package at Costco is just two big. For larger families or for parties, this is a good product to buy.

Peppers And Tomatoes Stuffed With Quinoa And Chorizo

While watching the most recent season of "The Next Food Network Star", I was intrigued by a dish of chicken and quinoa stuffed peppers.  I thought the idea of using something hearty and healthy to stuff peppers with sounded like a great idea, but I thought I could put my own spin on it. After some thought, I decided to use cooked chorizo as the meat in the dish.

But that was not the only way I experimented with the dish. While discussing this idea with my wife, she suggested adding a poblano chili to the stuffing and I thought that was an excellent idea. Then, to round out the flavors, we put in some chopped onion.  Finally, since my wife is not fond of cooked peppers, we stuffed some tomatoes to suit her tastes. The final dish was as follows:

1 small sweet onion chopped
1 pound chorizo
1 poblano, seeded and chopped
1 cup quinoa, cooked according to directions
About 1 tablespoon of chia (Available from Costco)
Peppers and tomatoes, tops cut off and centers cleaned for stuffing

Oven was preheated to 350 degrees.

The chorizo and onion were sauteed together, until the chorizo was cooked through. The chopped poblano was then added and cooked for a few moments. Finally, the cooked quinoa was added, along with chia.  The filling was mixed together and then the vegetables were stuffed.

The stuffed vegetables were placed in the oven and cooked until the tops were browned a bit, about 20 minutes. (Please feel free to cook these to your preference).

Aside from being good eats, I thought the results were attractive:

This was definitely a success. The stuffing of the quinoa and chorizo was flavorful and very satisfying.  As a stuffed vegetable dish this was wonderful, but my wife also had some of the stuffing for leftovers later and she commented it also works well as a stand alone dish.

This was easy, flavorful, and fun and it works well using both the peppers and the tomatoes. It is our guess that this would probably also work well with squash.

If you are looking for a hearty, meaty use of quinoa, this a great idea and I highly recommend this.

Sacrilegious Black Bean Burger With Bacon And Pepper Jack Cheese

We are huge fans of the Morningstar Farms Chipotle Black Bean Burgers.  They are delicious, easy to cook and nutritious.  One day I suggested to my wonderful wife that they would be great with bacon and cheese and she was a bit taken aback.  While we are definitely meat eaters, she thought the idea of putting meat and cheese on a vegan product was blasphemous.  I, however, thought it sounded pretty yummy and we went ahead and did it.

The bacon and spicy cheese went very well with these burgers.  The flavors and textures all complimented each other very nicely and it was an exceptionally satisfying combination.

My wife made the comment to me that this was a great way to serve these burgers and I am sure we will do something like this again.

If you like meat, this is a great way to have some serious fun with these black bean burgers

Costo Coupon Book For October 13 to November 6

Courtesy my wonderful friends at Addicted To Costco, here is a link to this month's coupon book.

Among other items, both the Take and Bake pizza and the Palermo frozen pizza are on our list.

Enjoy!

Leveraging Caprese Salad: First A Great Salad, Then A Great Sandwich

We are quite  fond of the Belgioioso fresh mozzarella that we get from Costco.  One of our favorite dishes with it is a Caprese salad.  As you can see from the photo below, it is as beautiful as it is delicious.

As delicious as this salad was, there was so much of it we didn't finish it in one meal and that gave me an idea.  I thought it would make a great base for a sandwich so we got some sandwich rolls and toasted them lightly.  Then, on the bottom half, we put some cappocolla and topped it with some of the leftover caprese salad.  It was then put under the broiler just long enough to melt the cheese a bit and warm everything up.  

The finished product definitely met my expectations.  The flavors from the salad had blended together very nicely and by just warming it through with some gentle melting, the cheese was soft, warm and delicious.  Finally, the Italian lunch meat made this a complete sandwich. This was an absolute success and I am positive we will do something like this again.


Also, it is a great example of making one dish and leveraging it into multiple meals in different ways.

A Dinner To Celebrate The Anniversary Of Our First Date: Baked Salmon, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Now that I am settled into my new 1st shift job, I have a lot more time to spend with my lovely wife.  Normally, to celebrate the anniversary of our first date, we go out of town or have dinner out. But my wonderful wife thought it would be romantic to have a nice dinner at home and watch a movie, and I concurred.

However, as much as we wanted a nice dinner at home, we had no desire to spend three hours in the kitchen, so we came up with this elegant, simple and quick meal to celebrate eight years together as a couple.

For the main course, my wife  took some Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon and cooked it in parchment paper with butter, dried dill, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice. She set the oven to 350 and baked it for 20 minutes.  While that was going, I snapped some fresh green beans and my wife cooked up some pancetta from the local Italian deli.  After steaming the beans, we added the pancetta to them and they were good to go.

For the potatoes, I made some Honest Earth potatoes we bought from Costco and dressed them up with bacon bits and dried chives.  The resulting dinner, along with being tasty, was also quite attractive.

The salmon comes in individually wrapped portions, which made the preparation of them simple, neat and quick.  The potatoes were also a snap to prepare, but as I said, adding the chives and bacon (real bacon!) made them more upscale.

The salmon was tasty and a great value for the dollar and we have already decide to make a meal like this again for entertaining my mother.

Once again, Costco gave us some great food at a great price that was easy to cook with.

Leveraging Homemade Corn Salsa Through Costco

Recently, my wonderful wife made some fresh corn salsa.  Absolutely delicious stuff and versatile too.  Her first use of it with Costco items was to make some scrambled eggs along with a quesadilla filled with the Jarlsberg cheese we get from Costco. Then she finished the meal by stuffing a tomato with the salsa. This was a complete meal nutritionally and it was tasty and beautiful.

 

We also used the salsa with those wonderful black bean burgers we get from Costco. These burgers are always delicious but the  corn salsa really added a vibrant, fresh flavor to them that really was just wonderful.

Fruit Bars and Limoncello, A Tasty Combination

We stocked up big time on the Edy's Fruit Bars that were on sale earlier this summer. They are tasty, refreshing, fat free and low calorie: how much better can a sweet treat get?

My lovely wife discovered a fun way to have a little alcohol with them.  She buys Limoncello at Costco and gives the fruit bars a quick dip in them as she eats them.

This adds another layer of flavor to the fruit bars, plus it adds a tinch of alcohol to make it festive for for grownups.

So dunk and enjoy!

One Last Chance At This Month's Coupons Expiring 9/11/11

If you have time to run out to Costco today, you can get one last tray of the Alfredo on sale, or for that matter, a lot of other fun items on that they have coupons for this month.

Here is the link courtesy of my friends at Addicted To Costco.

Chicken Salad With Cannellini Beans, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Green Pepper and Sweet Onion

We had a rotisserie chicken from Costco recently and my wonderful wife decided to make chicken using salad using it.  Here is her list of ingredients

Rotisserie chicken-from Costco
Cannellini beans
Green bell Peppers
Sweet onion
Romaine lettuce-from Costco
Bella Sun Luci tomatoes-from Costco
Meyer lemon olive oil

The salad was colorful, easy to eat and refreshing-a perfect summer lunch or light dinner. I liked how she combined the crunchy with the chewy. Also, using mostly fresh ingredients gave this a nice, bright flavor profile.

While chicken and lettuce are the basis of this salad, it is the rest of the ingredients that sets this apart and makes it a home run.