Day 281 - Chicken Marsala with Mashed Potatoes

We recently had (and really liked, though I have not finished the review yet) Trader Joe’s Chicken Picatta.  Since that went over so well at our dinner table, we decided to grab this Chicken Marsala.  Both products are pre-cooked and ready to eat – they just need to be quickly heated.  They are found in the refrigerated (not frozen) food section.

The label on this chicken marsala says it contains 2 servings.  However, when you open it up, it is one big chicken breast/cutlet.  While that is 2 servings for US (we are rather small humans), I think for many people they would not consider it big enough for 2 people.  We just cut the chicken in half and plopped it on plates. 

Here is the package - it looks better on here than it did on our plates

I think the mashed potatoes in this dish are better than the chicken.  The breading on the chicken has a lot of what tasted to me like rosemary and the strength of that overpowered the other flavors.  The sauce was good but not what I expected as “marsala”.  To be honest, my favorite thing on my plate was the left-over spinach from going out for dim sum at a Chinese restaurant earlier in the day…

David liked this product better than me.  He thought the chicken was good, the breading nice and soft.  He liked the rosemary.  He said the sauce was, “Lovely with a lot of mushroom taste in it, and the mashed potatoes that go with it are a perfect compliment, particularly with the sauce poured over the top.”

We had a discussion about the marsala sauce.  We both expected it to be more “wine-ish” and less “chicken gravy-ish”.  When I look at photos online of chicken marsala it all looks darker than the sauce that comes with this dish.  Something just didn’t taste right…

See how the sauce is sort of tan/gray and dull looking?  No marsala excitement.
And this is "one serving" - so half a chicken breast (this was before I ate any)

All of that being said, this is a very easy, convenient meal in that you just bung it in the microwave.  But Trader Joe’s sells many other quick to prepare meals that are much tastier than this one.  I would go with a different one if I were you.  

The packaging for this chicken marsala boasts that this dish “replicates a restaurant experience at a fraction of the price”.  I would concur with the “fraction of the price” part but not the “replicates a restaurant experience” part.  This doesn’t taste like something from a restaurant, not a restaurant I would return to anyway.  The box even says, “Who needs a restaurant when dining in tastes this good?”.   Well if all Trader Joe’s food tasted “this good” (which is middle of the road and sort of boring) then I WOULD need a restaurant.

David liked it better than me, so this won’t get a horrible rating.  But it won’t be in our fridge again if I do the shopping.

Price – $6.49

Rating – 3.25

Day 134 - Rosemary and Thyme Maple Toffee Sunflower Seeds

This snack wins the award for “most flavors packed into a tiny bag”.  I mean, just LOOK at the name – we have:

1.        Rosemary

2.       Thyme

3.       Maple

4.       Toffee

5.       And, what is holding it all together, sunflower seeds!

That’s a heck of a lot of flavors! 

It also wins the award for “snack that makes me sing out loud a Simon and Garfunkel tune every time I open the bag to eat some” – can anyone sing along, “Parsley, sage, ROSEMARY AND THYME….”.

Each guest had their own adorable little bowl of this treat at the party

We served these as a small “amuse-bouche” or appetizer at our Trader Joe’s dinner party (if you are new to this blog, it was a dinner party last month where we ONLY served Trader Joe’s products, and then had our guests write their own reviews and rate things 1 – 5.  It was fun!).  We hadn’t tried them before the party.

Does seeing "rosemary" and "thyme" together make you start humming, too?

One thing I will say – do not go by your first taste.  They are sort of strange at first.  So put that strangeness aside and take a few more bites.  They get better!  One blurb on the back of the package says, “Unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before”.  They got that right!  They are distinctly different.  But I like them.  They are nothing I would want to eat every day, but as a different snack they hit the spot.  If I were to rate these on my own, I would give them a 3.75.  But since this was a dinner party food, let’s look at what the other reviewers said and then average all 6 scores:

-          “Ginger?  Something burnt – flavored…  Not unpleasant in the fingers.  Satisfyingly filling, like nuts.”

-          “Unexpected flavor and fun texture.”

-          “Ok, not a big fan.  A bit bitter (over caramelized).”

-          “Great in small snackfuls but intense sweet/savory combo is too much for just a snack.  I’d love these in a salad!”

-          “Good combo of flavors.”

Price - $1.99

Rating (average of 6 people) - 4

Day 15 - Marcona Almonds with Rosemary

OH.  MAN.  You need these.  Seriously, invest in a bag.

We had never tried them until this winter.  After all, they cost $6.49 a bag – those are some pricey nuts!  But they are GLORIOUS.  They really are a perfect combination of all of the ingredients – the almonds are so rich and buttery, the salt is perfectly proportioned, and the ROSEMARY (which I normally do not like) tops it all off like nobody’s business.

This is the pricey little bag of Marcona Almonds with Rosemary - get one!

These are a great snack to put into your prettiest bowl and serve as fingerfood when you have guests over.  Warning:  make sure you eat a few before the guests get there, or you may not get any once they taste them.

Price - $6.49 (it’s only a 6 oz. bag, which is expensive but worth it)

Rating – 5 stars