REVIEW: Trader Joe’s Mixed Nut Butter

March 16, 2017March 15, 2017 / seansskillet / 2 Comments

Who doesn’t love a good handful of mixed nuts? Each reach inside of the jar or bowl is much like our buddy Gump would say and you “never know what you’re gonna get”. Whether salty or sweet or straight up plain, mixed nuts earn praise from health freaks, beer guzzling bar goers, and those who just like a good crunch for their afternoon snack. So why hasn’t anyone pulverized them all and shoved the mixture into a jar? Welcome Trader Joe’s to the equation. In addition to their already packed line of butters – from the heralded cookie to the classic peanut, TJ’s is now slangin’ Mixed Nut Butter, which combines dry roasted and salted almonds, cashews, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, and pecans into a gooey runny treat to spread up your life.

The butter has an extremely smooth and creamy consistency. Right after mixing and out of the jar it is thin, runny, and oily in a way that is tempting to want to drizzle it all over any and everything. The texture is very unique – much similar in appearance and initial feeling to almond butter except not nearly as thick or grainy. The primary flavors that come through are almond and cashew with some hints of pecans and brazil nuts. I don’t specifically taste the hazelnuts, but I’m okay with that because they’re generally my least favorite and most astringent tasting in any mixed nut variety, and I can’t pinpoint the flavor of walnuts either. The salt level is perfect – not so much that the butter tastes salty, but just enough that the spread pops and shines on its own to highlight the complexity of all the different components.

After leaving the mixed butter in the fridge for a couple days I was surprised that it didn’t seize up and become firmer the way almost all other nut butters do. It was slightly more together than when I first opened it but it stayed thin and runny enough that it could still be poured onto food (or into your mouth) straight from the jar. After cooling I also noticed the pecan notes to be more pronounced, which isn’t a bad thing at all since they provide a great golden richness that amps up the overall flavor on this unique product.

For the final test: the butter goes good on top of toast, but it doesn’t achieve the same ultimate magical combo with banana that peanut butter does. I’ve always preferred peanut butter to all other types of nut butter, and while this mixed one is fun and well done, it doesn’t change my mind on which nut makes the champion butter. It’s fun and tasty, but factoring in flavor, cost, and macros, I think I’ll stick with my one true nut butter love – the peanut.

Rating: 8/10

REVIEW: Smart Made Orange Chicken Sesame Bowl

March 10, 2017March 9, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Panda Express is very popular. As you walk by the food court at the mall, or the less common free standing location, the drool-worthy smell of Orange Chicken consumes every bystanders nostrils and requires every ounce of control to not go in and blow a quick 1,000 calories on a deliciously addictive Panda Bowl. For those of us with some amount of discipline, we saunter on and continue with our regularly scheduled dinner plans, which may or may not be better than that delectable fried meat covered in orange glaze. As a remedy to this solution, the 2017 health conscious frozen renegades at Smart Made have given us an option to somewhat quench that craving with the Orange Sesame Chicken Bowl, which combines grilled white meat chicken with broccoli, snap peas and roasted red bell peppers over quinoa lightly tossed in an orange sesame sauce.

The aroma is all soy sauce and sesame, with no big citrus smell to be found. Eating it, however, is a different story, as the distinct flavor of orange zest weaves in and out of bites, pleasantly accenting the broccoli, snap peas, and red peppers that make up a good part of the dish. The whole profile is generally mild and not really spicy but the salt level seems just right, as its neither super salty or bland. It’s pretty much nothing at all like a trip to the Panda, but that’s not something the company promises and just a mental connection I made, as the nutritional tradeoff is solid.

More good news – the chicken is pretty damn tasty. Its got a bit of that microwave firmness that wouldn’t happen if you cooked it yourself fresh but it isn’t offensive and definitely tastes and feels like real deal, albeit slightly dry, chicken breast. The quinoa holds up well to the microwave – with a little bit of crunch to backup a mostly squishy, saucy base for the bowl. Everything is more pleasant and fresher tasting than what you would expect from a frozen dinner and the flavors come off complex without being confusing.

Another solid release from Smart Made that packs 21 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber into a container that a six year old could nuke to perfection. It’s not going to win any culinary awards against quality restaurant or home cooked meals, but it will definitely get the job done in a pinch and be more satisfying than most things you can find in the frozen aisle.

Rating: 8/10
Quick Nutrition: 240 cals – 4.5g fat – 35mg cholesterol – 530mg sodium – 30g carbs – 5g fiber – 10g sugar – 21g protein

REVIEW: Ben & Jerry’s Urban Bourbon

March 8, 2017April 13, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

I’m not the biggest drinker in the world but I love me some boozy ice cream. Many mainstream ice cream companies are afraid to work with alcohol, probably a little bit due to the adult social association it may carry, but also from a technical side, since hard liquor doesn’t freeze using it within ice cream takes some serious skill. Difficult execution aside, some of my all time favorite flavors meld cream and alcohol in a way that yields addictive perfection, and in the year 2017 Ben and Jerry’s are officially gunning for my heart with the release of Urban Bourbon. This brand new flavor combines a burnt caramel ice cream with almonds, fudge flakes, and a bourbon caramel swirl.

The burnt caramel base is more subdued than I expected, without any dominant sweet caramel notes or rich deep burnt flavor coming through. There’s a little bit of roasted flavor but not even a quarter of the amount as other burnt caramel bases I’ve had, like the phenomenal one from Bi-Rite. It also feels a little on the thin side for a premium scoop, with an almost watery finish that doesn’t leave a strong aftertaste. The almonds are small and integrated throughout the texture of the ice cream itself, adding a constant small chew without any almond flavor or big satisfying snap. The fudge flakes are great, big chunks of sweet dark chocolate that add good texture, but there are simply too many of them. Since they are the least unique part of this pint I want them to come in and out of the bites and they’re taking over almost every spoonful.

The biggest issue with this pint is the lack of booziness. For a flavor with bourbon in its name it’s a pretty big let down how un-boozy the overall experience of eating this ice cream is. The only element that has the bourbon is the caramel swirl and there is very little of the swirl to be found. I had a little bit towards the top and had to dig past the middle of the container to get more of the good stuff, and even then it wasn’t as bourbon-y or complex as I was expecting. A big gob of the caramel on my spoon only gave off a bit of bourbon flavor and came off more straight sweet with a slight bitter finish than booze balanced by sugar. I wish I could have had more caramel to try and critique the use of the bourbon better but it was nowhere to be found, even as I dug to the very bottom of the pint.

Overall the almonds actually hurt the flavor, taking away from the creaminess and any subtle burnt notes that should be present in a base like this. The bourbon caramel is a letdown, not only in its flavor, but in its quantity, and there is way too much chocolate to savor the little bit of liquor you might be able to salvage from digging. Interestingly, I actually get more of a roasted coffee vibe than a caramel vibe from this pint as a whole. Every time that I would start to grasp any kind of burnt quality it would immediately get washed away and blown out by the huge chocolate flakes. Maybe I’m just spoiled by great local creameries, but two of my favorite flavors, Humphry Slocombe’s Secret Breakfast and Little Giant’s Dirty South, both use the beautiful booze balance so much more convincingly that I can’t help but be very let down by Ben and Jerry’s attempt.

Rating: 5/10

REVIEW: Baskin Robbins Reese’s 3-Pointer

March 6, 2017March 5, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Everyone has their favorite things, and for me, three of the greatest achievements of man are basketball, ice cream, and peanut butter. As beautiful as all of these elements of life are on their own it’s not too often that all of them come together. Sure, peanut butter is great in ice cream, and Reese’s will release occasional limited cups in tandem with the NBA or NCAA, but for all three of these things to combine into one is something of pure magic; and in tandem with March Madness Baskin Robbins is making my dreams a reality with their newest flavor of the month – Reese’s 3-Pointer. This made-for-Sean E scoop combines Reese’s Pieces candies, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and a Reese’s Peanut Butter and Chocolate ribbon all swimming in a sea of chocolate ice cream.

The chocolate ice cream is your standard affair – a smooth light milk chocolate that isn’t over the top sweet, bitter, or remarkably rich. It’s much more basic than the chocolate fudge base Baskin Robbins have at their disposal, and while it isn’t a bad base ice cream it’s definitely the most underwhelming aspect of this scoop.

The mix ins utilized here are a real treat for those with a love for the PB cup and the most dominant of them is the chocolate peanut butter ribbon. The ribbon has a smooth, almost flaky texture that reminds me of a soft serve cone that has been dipped in a chocolate shell with the way that it melts on the tongue. It’s a solid peanut butter-infused chocolate, and with the Reese’s spread being the second ingredient on the list it’s no surprise how powerful the flavor comes through. it does a great job of boosting up the ice cream and weaving the Reese’s profile into nearly every bite.

The Reese’s Pieces are a bit of a miss in this format; they freeze pretty hard and lose all of their signature creamy and oiliness that makes them a movie theater staple. The chunks of peanut butter cup are the best part of this flavor and pop with the nutty saltiness you know and love, working with the ribbon to really shine against the mellow chocolate base.

The coolest part about this flavor is that it is literally like eating an ice cream version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup. While many flavors will utilize chocolate and peanut butter (like BR’s own great Peanut Butter ‘N Chocolate) or peanut butter cups as a mix in, this one eats liked the beloved Hershey’s classic turned into a frozen scoop-able dessert and is a treat for Reese’s lovers like myself. While it’s a couple of execution points away from a full on alley oop, it’s a damn fine flavor that most people will be happy stuffing their nutritional stat sheet with.

Rating: 8/10

REVIEW: Cap’n Crunch’s Limited Edition Blueberry Pancake Crunch

March 3, 2017March 2, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Pancakes have played a pivotal role in my culinary journey. They were the first thing I ever learned to cook when I was five years old, are the breakfast I have every Christmas morning, are my most often customized and changed entree, and the only reason why I own a plug in griddle. I even memorized the recipe from the Joy of Cooking book, which I have since adapted and incorporate blueberries whenever I can get my hands on them. Blueberries work so well in pancakes that I often wonder if they were created solely to be cooked in cake or muffin form, so I was elated to learn that the Cap’n had caught onto this perfect combo and wanted to package the flavor in cardboard form to deliver Cap’n Crunch’s Limited Edition Blueberry Pancake Crunch.

Opening the box delivers a big sugary aroma with the sharp undercurrent of maple syrup. It’s hard to explain exactly how the two smells work together, but there isn’t a specific blueberry essence as much as there is just standard breakfast cereal “sweet”. Trying the cereal dry has a satisfying sweet and slightly salty crunch, with some but not a ton of distinction between the tan and blue colored corn and oat balls. You would think that the two different colors would function similarly to the Cap’n’s crunch berries, but they taste much more like each other than they do two separate flavors. There’s a touch more maple in the tan balls and a hint more berry sweetness in the blue ones, but still no dominant blueberry flavor, especially when compared to a cereal like Tiny Toast.

Adding in some milk really drives the maple smell to the foreground and I’m excited. The moisture from the milk helps bring the flavor together and definitely reminds me of a maple-y pancake, although not one studded with my favorite baking berry. As the blue cereal balls towards the bottom get more soaked in milk they give off more blueberry vibes and I’m starting to see the full flavor be revealed before me. Interestingly, as I sit contemplating over my empty bowl the flavor that lingers in my mouth IS blueberry, which is pleasant, but a bit of a surprise considering it didn’t play too big of a role during most of the chomping. The leftover milk has absorbed a good amount of the maple flavor and tastes like cold creamy syrup, definite A+ cereal milk satisfaction.

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I’m not going to be unreasonable, but it’s worth noting that none of the other nuances you would expect from pancakes like butter, eggy-ness, or buttermilk can be found here; but there is a golden sheen from the maple that will remind you of the classic griddle cake. Is it as delicious as a piping hot short stack bursting with berries and drowning in syrup? No, of course not, but it is a maple-forward cereal with some berry boost and a satisfying sugar snap that is right up there with Peanut Butter Crunch as some of the Cap’n’s finest work.

Rating: 8.5/10

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REVIEW: Entenmann’s Little Bites Party Cakes

March 1, 2017February 26, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

Who doesn’t love a good birthday party? Better yet who doesn’t love a good birthday cake? Even BETTER yet who doesn’t love BABIES? If you aren’t evil and agree with all of those statements, then there may be a new junk food staple you can add to your forbidden cabinet of goodies. Welcome to your next sweet tooth get together, the baby-sized Entenmann’s Little Bites Party Cakes. The fun-sized cakes come in pouches of four poppable muffin-shaped cakes and can be found in the fiesta aisle near you.

The cakes themselves are small and moist with an oily sheen that should be familiar to anyone who has ever had any snack cake made by Entenmann’s, Hostess, or Little Debbie. The “party cake” tag is essentially Funfetti, or, a lightly flavored vanilla cake decked out with sprinkles and extra sweetness. The aroma is pure white cake, with that store bought or boxed mix swagger that harkens back to all of my birthday parties from ages three through twelve. They taste just like an unfrosted cupcake, or non-fruity muffin, with a buttery undertone that balances out the sugar for a pretty pleasant experience.

Texturally there’s not much going on here. The sprinkles have fully dissolved in the baking process and don’t add any crunch or grit for an entirely smooth single noted experience. They’re soft and moist with a gentle chew that would make it easy to pop about fifteen of them without blinking an eye.

I can’t help but feel that although they are good, the absence of frosting or any type of crunch leaves some room for improvement. This isn’t the worst of things, seeing as frosting, peanut butter, Nutella, and any other type of spread you may have lying around could easily create four different mini cupcakes with a nice, vanilla cake base. There is absolutely nothing offensive about these cakes, nor is there anything particularly mind blowing. They’re a tasty, well executed version of one of the most beloved and whimsical types of cake you can find at roller rinks, bowling alley’s, and mini golf courses on a ten year old’s big day all across our fine country.

Rating: 7.5/10

REVIEW: Señor Sisig Tacos (Pork and Chicken)

February 27, 2017February 26, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

The Bay Area has a very rich food truck scene. Largely thanks to organized events like Off the Grid and Moveable Feast, trucks that could easily go overlooked have a place to meet and mingle and show off their culinary expertise on wheels. One of the best trucks I’ve come across in exploring these options is Filipino-Mexican fusion experts Señor Sisig, whose expertly marinated meats and thoughtful ingredients earn their multiple trucks hour long lines wherever they go. While they’re largely heralded for their expertly stuffed regular and California burritos, this time I opted to try my favorite way for consuming traditional Mexican food – the street taco.

Sisig is an aggressively seasoned Filipino dish that is usually made with the leftover or less desirable parts of the animal, like the head and liver, using the cuts of meat as a generic backdrop for a spicy and sweet marinade lead by chili peppers and calamansi (a tart citrus related to the kumquat). Señor Sisig take the premise of the base seasoning and apply it to higher quality meat, like pork shoulder, chicken thigh, and for the vegetarians out there, tofu.

The Señor Sisig taco combines your choice of protein with a corn tortilla, onions, jalapeños, iceberg lettuce, and their signature cilantro cream sauce. The pork taco is salty and sweet, with succulent slightly fatty pieces of shoulder that explode with robust flavor against the the spicy crispness of the jalapeños and onions. There’s a beautiful char on the outside of the pork that feels fresh and slightly crunchy like the meat went straight from the grill onto the tortilla and into my mouth.

Eating this taco is very reminiscent of the most perfect al pastor, with its balance of sweet and heat being one of the most delicious things you could ever put inside of a tortilla. The cilantro cream sauce reminds me a lot of Mexican crema – thinner and more runny than standard sour cream with a slight cilantro and limey kick that offsets and mellows the spice running throughout.

The chicken is a little bit leaner and sweeter, with a salty presence and significantly less heat; although you still get a good burst of spice from the ample diced jalapeño on top. There is less char on the outside of the meat and the sweet/sour notes really sing on the firmer thigh meat. While the pork taco didn’t need any modification at all, this one gets taken to new heights with the addition of the provided Sriracha sauce. The heat and garlic that the sauce adds to the flavor makes up for the lack of depth that comes with the lower fat content and is deliciously spicy in a way that you never want to end.

Ratings:
Sisig Pork Taco: 10/10
Sisig Chicken Taco: 8.5/10

REVIEW: Hershey’s Carrot Cake Kisses

February 24, 2017February 23, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

When I was a wee boy learning my way around the kitchen I asked my mom what kind of cake she would like for her birthday. She thought about it briefly and quickly responded “carrot cake, but no raisins, and no nuts, and extra frosting”. Okay. The next week I succeeded in making a 100% from scratch two tiered raisin-and-nut-less carrot cake with ample decadent cream cheese frosting. I always liked carrot cake, but after that little culinary accomplishment it always held a special place in my heart. Luckily for me, spring time has arrived (in the candy aisle), and the common theme these days is that the Easter Bunny loves carrot cake because bunnies love carrots. Even luckier for me, I can throw my fork away now, because Hershey’s have blessed us with Carrot Cake Kisses so we can spice-pop all season long.

The kisses have some of the truest cream cheese flavor I’ve ever experienced in a candy, and I’m blown away by how restrained the sweetness is. There’s that signature cream cheese tang rounded out by a confectioners sugar sparkle, but the sugar lingers at the back behind rich deep creamy flavor and texture. The white inside has a soft give to it that is unmistakably cream cheese, and the spice-play only comes into the equation when the frosting has had its full say. Finishing the flavor is a soft combination of cinnamon and nutmeg that puts the perfect taste-tail on the cream cheese and brings the carrot cake profile full circle.

Eating one of these kisses is like taking a glorious forkful from the edge piece of a carrot cake slice and diving into a perfectly sweetened frosting-dominated abyss that ends with just the right amount of crumbly spiced moist cake lingering in your mouth. The taste manipulation here is pretty incredible, as the best parts of eating carrot cake have been transformed into a tiny bite sized 25 calorie piece of white chocolate. The flavor overall is deep, with a whipped frosting feeling and texture that is much different than the other often hyper-sweet White Kisses, like the Cookies and Cream or Birthday Cupcake.

It’s safe to say that I think these Kisses would make my mother proud. There are no nuts or raisins to be found, and the most dominant flavor is cream cheese, aka, “extra frosting”. They’re smooth and creamy and perfectly balanced in a way that is hard to achieve in such a small piece of chocolate. Easily one of the best seasonal Kisses I’ve had and if you do anything other than hate carrot cake you’ve gotta pick these up.

Rating: 9/10

REVIEW: Hostess Limited Edition Sno Balls Ice Cream

February 22, 2017April 13, 2017 / seansskillet / Leave a comment

I’ve always loved Sno Balls. Starting at a very young age I held it down for team coconut, and those squishy mounds of jiggly marshmallow and cream-filled chocolate cake always got my chubby heart fluttering with joy. Hell, I even like those red raspberry coconut Zingers that everyone else on earth seems to hate. Needless to say, if there’s anything that could make Sno Balls better (aside from seasonal coloring, of course), it would be returning them to the icy tundra from which they came and immersing them in a vat of frozen creamy dairy. Hostess and Nestle have once again combined forces to make all of our dreams come true with Sno Balls ice cream, which combines a marshmallow flavored ice cream with chocolate cake pieces and a whipped coconut swirl. Are you dead yet? Let’s eat.

The ice cream is smooth and fluffy with a wonderfully decadent and addictive marshmallow texture that more closely mimics the ‘mallow than anything I’ve had not straight out of a Jet Puffed package. There’s that undercurrent of sweet round vanilla that every so often crosses paths with a slightly gritty pink coconut swirl that is spot on the outside of Sno Balls. It reminds me so much of eating the Hostess classic that I can almost feel the distinct squish of biting into one right out of the shiny cellophane. Even though there isn’t tons of the swirl, I like how much they put in there because the coconut intensity weaves in and out of bites without becoming too dominant or taking over the entire profile.

The cake pieces are dark with a brownie-like density and a distinctly deep cocoa flavor that stands out strong against the mellow marshmallow backdrop. It’s not the highest quality mix in, but once again it stays true to the feeling and flavor of the treat that it aims to emulate. Much like the Twinkies ice cream, the pieces are on the smaller side but there’s enough sprinkled throughout that chocolate keeps a constant presence and contributes greatly to the overall flavor.

This ice cream does a tremendous job of putting a cold and melty twist on eating Sno Balls. The marriage of marshmallow, coconut, and chocolate cake works really well as an ice cream that transcends the novelty appeal into something that is legitimately enjoyable and wouldn’t seem out of place at all in a higher end scoop shop. The airier, lower milk fat type of base that Dreyers uses works much better than a denser more premium ice cream for bringing home that true marshmallow texture that the Sno Balls experience needs. Eat this and be happy.

Rating: 8.5/10

REVIEW: Chobani Flip Carrot Cake Creation

February 19, 2017February 21, 2017 / seansskillet / 3 Comments

Chobani aren’t my favorite yogurt company (shoutout Fage, Yoplait, and Danon), but they definitely deserve credit for being creative and pushing the Greek yogurt trend into new directions on the regular. Their latest line of “flip” creations includes Carrot Cake, which combines sweet carrot low fat yogurt with cinnamon glazed cake pieces, walnuts, and creamy white chocolate chunks; which will hopefully taste like a melted piece of the classic spring time spice treat packed with protein.

The combination of the natural tang from the Greek yogurt and the white chocolate chunks definitely reminds me of cream cheese frosting, and more convincingly nails the cake icing aspect in a non-cake product than most I’ve had. The cake notes are driven into hyper speed with the cinnamon glazed cake pieces which give lots of sweetness and a little crunch that once again give my taste buds those real deal cake vibes, despite not having a huge amount of cinnamon pop. There aren’t a tremendous amount of walnuts, so while there’s a little bit of nutty crunch there wasn’t much walnut flavor that came through the more dominant tart and sweet yogurt.

The two biggest issues with this flip are the lack of spice and lack of carrot, which are two pretty big ones if you’re trying to make me think I’m eating the Easter bunny’s favorite cake. The sweet carrot yogurt is much more sweet than it is carrot, which I could let slide, but there also isn’t a tremendous amount of spicy kick either. In actual carrot cake the carrots serve as a sweet mellow backdrop to some aggressive spices and there’s no spicy aggression to be found. Don’t get me wrong, there is some cinnamon here, but the cinna-demon deep within me is left unsatisfied. There’s more of a sweet, almost citrusy flavor that hovers over a mellow cinnamon, so the overall experience of carrot cake doesn’t really register. It’s not a bad flavor but it also doesn’t warrant a repeat purchase, and I remain relatively underwhelmed by the Chobani Flip series.

Rating: 6.5/10

Sean's Skillet

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