Being an active member of BzzAgent.com I have the wonderful opportunity to try out different items and give my 'honest' opinion of them. This month I'm checking out some food items and will be sharing some of my simple recipes with you. Mind you, when there is a recipe posted that contains ingredients that I have obtained via BzzAgent.com I will be sure to post and let you know.
Below are some of the foods I've prepared using items from one of my current BzzAgent campaigns. This particular campaign has given me the opportunity to try some of the Kroger family stores 'Private Selection' items.
Pictured to the right I enjoyed a wonderful piece of fresh Halibut caught off the Oregon coast that I coated with Private Selection Japanese Style Panko bread crumbs with my choice of seasonings. Along with it is some sliced Private Selection Harvest Grain Petite Loaf Bread that I spread with cream cheese and topped with fresh tomato and basil then placed under the broiler just until the cheese began to bubble slightly. On the side is a simple green salad with fresh tomato and fresh blueberries from my garden. This was a wonderfully light meal, thoroughly enjoyed while sitting outside on a hot summers eve. Honest Opinion:
1) Krogers Private Selection Panko Japanese Style bread crumbs are absolutely fantastic. They retain their crispy texture and being unseasoned they allow you to add your own flavors to the mix. I give it a 'thumbs up' and plan to always have some in my pantry.
2) Krogers Private Selection Harvest Grain Petite Loaf Artisan Bread, didn't rate quite as high with me. It was a nice dense loaf with a good amount of seeds and grains, but lacking in flavor. I believe what I liked the least about it was the packaging. It came in an 'open-end' wrapper. Besides the fact that the bread itself can be physically touched by numerous people prior to purchase, it also is open to the air which dries it out much faster. I purchaced it for the following day's meal and it was really dried out by then. I followed the package directions for warming the bread, and I even tried adding a small pan of water into the oven to add moisture, but to no avail. Adding the cream cheese and toppings helped some. *NOTE: I 'may' have gotten a loaf that was simply not quite fresh. On the back of the packaging Kroger 'does' offer a satisfaction guarantee, of sorts, with an offer to replace the product or refund your money if the product 'fails to meet your expectations'. I have read many other comments where people have been quite pleased with the Kroger PS Artisan Breads, so it may have simply been that I just got the less than perfect loaf. I know it happens. Knowing that they 'do' offer this guarantee I would most likely give it a try once again.
To the left I was craving some muffins....fairly quick and easy to prepare, this was an enoyable meal. I had about 7 beautiful marionberries in my freezer leftover from last summer that worked in beautifully with my Private Selection Marion Blackberry Preserves. I cut up the berries and mixed into the muffins, then after topping each muffin with an oatmeal crumb mixture I put a dallop of preserves on the top of each one before baking. Accompanied by a simple scrambled egg and some juicy green grapes.....mmmmm....delicious!
Honest Opinion:
Kroger's Private Selection Marion Blackberry Preserves have got to be some of the 'BEST' I have ever had. It is fantastic just alone on toast, waffles, pancakes, or muffins and it works really great in cooking! I will most definitely buy this in 'many' of their great flavors in the future. I give this a 'thumbs up' also!! Mmmm.....so GOOD!
At the right, I was to give my opinion of a Private Selection Rub for meats. I had never before used a rub, so this was all totally new to me. I followed the suggestions I had read and rubbed the chicken breast with a fairly generous amount of the rub, then placed it in a ziplock bag in the fridge overnight. The following day when I cooked it, I wasn't pleased with how the rub was burning on the outside of the meat. I removed the meat from the pan, rinsed it off with water, then returned it to cook. I wasn't impressed with the chicken at all. I found the rub to be 'SO' salty that I had a hard time choking it down.
( I've cut down on my salt consumption so many of the standard items....things I used to eat without a problem...I now taste the extreme amount of salt in them and it actually hurts to eat them. I don't understand why the companies feel they have to add 'so much' salt to everything! )
Accompanying the chicken there are some fresh snow peas, a simple carrot with raisin salad, and some whole wheat rotini noodles with black beans and southwestern style tomatoes.
Honest Opinion:
Krogers Private Selection Signature Rub in Citrus & Savory flavor at first try had me displeased. However after playing with it a bit, eventually (though not in this particular dish above) I found the right amount to use that worked well for me 'and' my guests. This particular flavor, the Citrus & Savory, was really great and was well liked by everyone here. My suggestion is to use a smaller amount to rub on the meat and place in a ziplock in the fridge 'at least' overnight. The length of time seemed to make a huge difference. Then before cooking I found that rinsing it off really well with water and patting it dry gave it the most wonderful flavor without an overpowering amount of salt/sodium. I would absolutely reccommend that you give this a try. Thumbs up from me!
Honest Opinion:
Krogers Private Selection Signature Rub in Citrus & Savory flavor at first try had me displeased. However after playing with it a bit, eventually (though not in this particular dish above) I found the right amount to use that worked well for me 'and' my guests. This particular flavor, the Citrus & Savory, was really great and was well liked by everyone here. My suggestion is to use a smaller amount to rub on the meat and place in a ziplock in the fridge 'at least' overnight. The length of time seemed to make a huge difference. Then before cooking I found that rinsing it off really well with water and patting it dry gave it the most wonderful flavor without an overpowering amount of salt/sodium. I would absolutely reccommend that you give this a try. Thumbs up from me!
To the left I tried the Private Selection Signature Rub Citrus & Savory, again along with some of the Panko. This time I took the chicken that had been marinading and I thoroughly rinsed it off in water. After cutting it into nugget sized portions, I coated it with Panko and cooked it in olive oil. I added no other seasoning. This turned out absolutely fantastic! I had mine with a honey mustard dip, and the ones shown here are served with a bar-b-que dip. Alongside them are fresh raspberries and blueberries and to drink is a homemade fruit smoothie shake. This was the perfect lunch on a hot day.
To the right, a different day, but muffins again. This time I threw in both marion blackberries and raspberries. There are never any leftovers when I make muffins....they go 'very' quickly. Muffins are so versatile. You can make them for breakfast, switch them up to have them with dinner, they can be sweet or savory. Every cook should learn how to make muffins.