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Product review: Blue Diamond Nut-Thins

May 17, 2011 / Mike Farley

If you haven’t tried Blue Diamond’s new Nut-Thins, you are in for a treat–especially if you are allergic to wheat products (although there is a disclaimer on the box about that). The fine folks of Blue Diamond have figured out a way to make a cracker out of almonds, even if the main ingredient is rice flour. The second ingredient is pure almonds, and you can surely taste the delcious nutty flavor in each bite.

The company sent us two flavors–original and smokehouse. The original tastes very much like a flattened rice cake, but a bit more dense from the almonds. The smokehouse has that signature flavor we’ve all come to love from the company’s signature Smokehouse Almonds. And I can attest to one thing that Mrs. Mikey and I both noticed–you absolutely can’t stop eating them, especially the highly addictive smokehouse flavor.

And the good thing about not being able to put the box down, is that each 16-cracker serving is only 130 calories, 2.5 grams of fat but with a whopping 3 grams of protein. They are baked, not fried, and yet are light and crispy.

In addition to the flavors we tried, there is also a cheddar flavor almond cracker, as well as hazelnut and pecan versions.

For more information, go to www.bluediamond.com or just go pluck a box or three off your grocery store shelf.

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Gazpacho for dudes

May 13, 2011 / Mike Farley

Well, not just for dudes, but I posted this on Grub for Guys a couple years back and it’s definitely dude-friendly, thanks to my secret weapon, Buffalo wing sauce. The weather reached almost 90 degrees here in Wisconsin earlier this week, so it’s time to start thinking about warm weather fare. So try this one when you have one of those steamy days….

It’s summer, and you can either embrace that or bide your time until fall. Either way, you can help yourself by eating foods that are warm weather fare—grilled steaks, chicken, salads, and cold pasta are always good choices. And if the thought of cold soup doesn’t scare you, gazpacho is one of the best summer foods, and it’s very easy to make. Here, I came up with my own version that includes a few non-conventional ingredients like avocado, cilantro and Buffalo wing sauce. Give it a whirl in your blender and on your taste buds and let me know how you like it. With that, here we go…..

Ingredients
1 ½ cups tomato juice or vegetable juice such as V-8
3 medium size tomatoes
½ small green pepper
1 celery stalk
½ medium cucumber
1 medium raw jalapeno pepper
1 small avocado or ½ of a large one
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. commercially made Buffalo Wing sauce
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
½ tsp. Kosher salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions
Cut the tops off the tomatoes and squeeze the pulp and seeds out, then coarsely chop the flesh. Seed the green pepper and coarsely chop. Remove the strings from the celery and coarsely chop.
Peel and seed the cucumber and coarsely chop it. Seed and chop the jalapeno, using kitchen gloves if possible (or washing your hands immediately afterward…..I hope I don’t need to tell you why!). Then cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, scoop out the flesh and discard the pit and rind. Put all of the vegetables in a blender along with the tomato juice, olive oil, vinegar, wing sauce, cilantro, salt and pepper. Blend or pulse briefly until smooth (shorter time if you prefer a chunkier soup). Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, but you can serve as is if you’re hungry. Serves 4.

Chef’s note: Before making this, make sure you have a loaf of crusty bread and a good summer beer such as Corona on ice. Now you’ve got a meal!

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Product review: Spaghettios with Meatballs

May 12, 2011 / Mike Farley

I am not sure when Campbell’s bought Franco American, but I just had some Spaghettios for the first time in years and the flavor has not changed one bit–it’s comfort food to the Nth degree, no matter when or where you grew up. I’ll be honest, though, I originally was going to review the ones with sliced hot dogs and those hot dog slices were pretty disgusting so I didn’t finish the dish or the review.

But the one with mini-meatballs is delicious. And let’s face it, it can’t be easy to make processed meatballs taste real, and these do have that canned food meatball thing going on, but they still taste real enough not to be considered mystery meat (I think). And with ground pork being the first meat ingredient, the flavor is a bit milder than all-beef meatballs.

As for the pasta rings, they were done about to the degree you’d expect for canned pasta, but those and the familiar mild tomato sauce with a slightly cheesy taste is still really great. Of course, at 480 calories a can (who’s going to eat half a can?), it’s a pretty hefty calorie binge for lunch. But still worth a once-in-a-while binge at that.

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Mother’s Day strawberry salad

May 6, 2011 / Mike Farley

Guys….Sunday is Mother’s Day, so make sure you have a card en route or that you are planning something for your mom, grandma, or, of course, your wife and mother of your kids. We live back in the north now, but when we lived in Nashville May was strawberry season, so we would go pick them on Mother’s Day. We should have our strawberries in June, but if you like anywhere in the south or in a warm climate like California, or even if you don’t mind grocery store strawberries, this is a great brunch or lunch recipe for your lady(ies). Enjoy and hopefully said ladies will also enjoy….

Mother’s Day Strawberry Salad (serves 2)
Salad:
4 cups chopped lettuce
1 cup sliced strawberries
4 oz. Turkey lunch meat
¼ cup feta cheese
sliced pickled sweet/hot jalapenos (optional)

Dressing:
2 tbsp. Strawberry preserves
2 tbsp. Olive oil
1 tbsp. Balsamic or red wine vinegar
2 tsp. Lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper

Combine all salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing and pour evenly over salad.

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Product review: Chef Boyardee Chili Mac

May 3, 2011 / Mike Farley

This product did not boast “NEW” on the can or anything, but it sure did catch my eye. I am a sucker for trying anything that could pass for junk food or canned anything. Maybe it’s because I’m positively addicted to carbs. And that’s not a great thing for my waistline, but I sure do love carbs.

Now, I don’t make a habit of eating canned food every day for lunch, but I had to try this Chefboyardee Chili Mac because it just looked intriguing. It was macaroni with chili gravy and some ground beef. Sort of like a poor man’s Hamburger Helper. And poor man’s it is, because there is barely any beef in this dish.

But I can say unequivocally that this chili mac is delicious. Not only is it a tasty gravy, but the macaroni is not mushy. In fact, it’s almost al dente, something you just don’t find in canned pasta. You want proof of how much I liked it? Well, I’m not going to bore you with the photo of the bowl, but I ate the whole can and the whole can was good.

It didn’t hurt that the temperature in Madison today is about a balmy 45 degrees. So anything with the word “chili” in it was going to hit the spot, and this mac did just that.