Review of Hormel Spiral Sliced Ham

I recently hosted a Christmas Eve dinner which included extended family that brought the meal count to over nineteen people. Our kitchen provided the meats, cheeses, appetizers, and beverages while our guests brought side dishes and desserts to pass. It was a total pot luck effort that took a lot of the cooking burden away from our household! The meat selection included ample deli meats consisting of oven roasted turkey breast and Genoa salami. The largest meat dish included a Hormel spiral sliced ham that I had baked and served warm.

I picked up this ham by Hormel as it was competitively priced at $1.49 per pound and weighed in at eight pounds; which has allowed for extras post holiday meals. The sale price was cheaper than the Cooks and Meijer brands, so this choice was a no brainer. The fact that it was pre-sliced made the decision even easier.

The ham was a good quality meat and tasted even better as I added some seasonings along with a healthy dose of brown sugar and ginger ale as the eight pounder baked for a couple of hours. The meat held the heat well as I wrapped it in foil for an hour as I went to Christmas Eve church service. I am not sure if one can really get a bad ham, but this one tasted delicious. When I had originally looked at this brand ham, I had considered going with the more expensive Cook’s brand as my previous experience with Hormel meats were associated to the high sodium “ready to eat” items such as canned stews and hash that look less than pleasing when revealed from the container.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and I am still scrambling to find ways to serve this ham up besides the already tested breakfast sandwich, omelets, Stromboli sandwich, and addition to macaroni and cheese. Overall, the Hormel spiral sliced ham is considered a good buy.

Review of Meijer Kona Blend Coffee

Every year I get an itch for some Kona flavored coffee. For those that have not experienced Kona coffee it is a smooth slightly nutty flavored coffee that is really tough to find in its pure form unless you are lucky enough to visit one of the Hawaiian islands and get the real deal. I usually have to opt for the “blend” version which is highly diluted with regular coffee beans (Arabica) and other flavors.

Description

The Meijer Gold Kona coffee is sold in a 12 ounce black bag and is ground. The local Meijer does offer the option to bag your own beans from the self serve coffee bean dispenser. I did not see any available bags at this dispenser so I opted for the pre-bagged ground coffee.  

 Taste

The coffee had a decent aroma upon opening the bag and brewed a nice caramel brown color. This is a lighter roasted bean so the finish was definitely not strong at all. The taste was pretty darn good, though not nearly as good as the real thing.  

Price

The cost of this twelve ounce bag set me back only $6.29 which is competitively priced flavored coffee that will last me a long time. While Meijer gold is not as cheap as the other Meijer products, this bag of coffee ran about a dollar to buck fifty lower than competition (Seattle best and Papanicholas brands), thus making it a solid buy.

Overall Satisfaction

My standard “go to” coffee will always be the Dunkin Donuts regular roast as nothing compares to this smooth flavor.  Economics be damned; some items are worth paying and the DD coffee is one of them. Though there are times when I am completely out of that coffee and need a quick alternative (If I don’t have time to get to Costco to buy the DD coffee).  I will consider purchasing the Meijer Gold Kona blend again as a nice inexpensive coffee with a quality taste appropriate for the busy morning commute or the dessert get together with friends or family.

Review of Meijer Gold Vodka Sauce

Of all the items that come to mind when I ask my kids what they prefer for dinner, they occasionally choose pasta and red sauce. I am surprised they choose this item over the customary nuggets, burgers or pizza. One of the sauces I have purchased lately is the Vodka sauce which is a marriage of tomato base and dairy (sheep or cow milk and cheeses). I decided to run with Meijer gold Vodka sauce and try it out served over a bed of ziti and the accompaniment of grilled Italian sausage.

Description

The sauce is sold in 24 ounce jar and has the typical Meier gold label. The sauce is a muted red color and pours pretty thick out of the glass jar. The servings  are definitely enough to feed up to a family of six people; probably a few more if one does not demand a ton of sauce on their pasta and meat.

 Taste

The first taste of this Meijer brand vodka sauce was love at first bite; especially with the children. The sauce had a smooth finish that was comparable to some of the pricier premade vodka sauces sold by the name brand companies that charge anywhere from five  to eight dollars.

Price

The cost of one 24 ounce jar of sauce runs a mere $2.99 which is a far stretch cheaper than the other brands. The sauce does have a heavier price tag than the marinara or prepared red sauces, but tastes much better as there is less acidity to contend with as one would meet with the all tomato sauces.

Overall Satisfaction

I rate this one a strong buy. This will be a once a month meal in our house. I like the relatively easy preparation required making this meal during busy times and the children seem to respect the meal as if they were eating at a five star restaurant.

Review of Meijer Candy Cane Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

As the Christmas season approaches I have noticed an influx of holiday baked goods at the grocery stores. One of these items I noticed from last year was the candy cane sandwich cookies by Meijer. These cookies were placed at the aisle end cap and drew my attention as I like most items that combine the tasty flavors of chocolate and peppermint.  The green and red festive package suckered me in pretty easily. My children are also huge fans of this flavor combination so I decided to pick up a package; hence the review.

Taste

The chocolate sandwich ends to the cookies are fair to good. I have yet to find a sandwich cookie of which the actual chocolate cookie portion tastes as good as the Oreo brand. Hydrox finishes a close second.

The crème layer comes off a bit thicker than the typical Oreo filling; almost double. The crème contains tiny white and pink bits of candy cane that have a refreshing wintery taste and are a tad fun as they had a slight crunch to just about every bite.  I

The downside to this cookie was the over excess of the thick crème layer. I think Meijer would have achieved success with a thinner layer of cream; though maybe this was their way of getting across enough peppermint flavors to be held in this thicker middle. Who knows?

Price

The cookies were purchased for a grand total of $2.49. That price covers a 17 ounce package of about 34 cookies.  I could not really make a comparison for price as Oreo brand does not carry a candy cane variety. The closest comparison for price would be the Oreo green mint filled cookies that run about $2.99 per package which is smaller. As this product stands alone and there is no competition, the price is fair.

Nutrition

These are cookies so I won’t boggle down too much on nutrition. The one serving of two cookies deals out 140 calories and six grams of fat (no Trans fats).

Overall Opinion

I think the cookie would be much better if the cream layer was not too thick. This cookie would serve as an excellent pie crust or even ground up and used as base ingredient of Oreo cookie ball recipe. I would consider this an average buy at best.

Chopped on Food Network: Arrogance of Chefs

I will take a break this week from rating food to discuss my opinion on a food show. For the past week or so, I have become more drawn into watching the Food Network catching up on such shows as Iron Chef and Chopped. For the most part, Chopped can be quite entertaining with the three rounds of elimination until the last chef is standing as all competition has been, well……………, chopped.  The magic of the show is attributed to witnessing these chefs from all diverse backgrounds trying their best to plate up a gourmet concoction that may include such likes as cotton candy, grouper, pretzels, and rhubarb. Yes, I made up these four ingredients, but the show does play that game. Regardless of  whether it is the first  round of elimination or the final round, just about every chef on the show is usually capable of pulling off these dishes in as little as a half hour before being judged by three accomplished chefs serving on a panel.  Aside from getting the taste to be palatable, the competitive chefs are responsible for creative plate presentation as well as taking time to explain their dish to the panel. All that said, the show has been for the most part entertaining.

The downside to this show during the last several weeks has been the “scripted” arrogance of the chefs that make it to the final round. It seems more than just a coincidence that in just about every episode, there is at least one arrogant chef you just love to hate. The trash talking seems over the top during the final stages as this scripted persona seems more at the urging of the food network. C’mon guys, just let the chefs be chefs and allow them to do their talking from the plate.  Just my two cents.