Review: Slow Food For Fast Lives Indian Bar

Regular readers of the blog may have noticed that I'm not posting as frequently anymore.  This is due to the fact that my real life has led me to take another job and I haven't had as much time to dedicate to the blog and have even had thoughts about walking away entirely.  But, those thoughts have not come to fruition because of a few reasons.  First, I kind of like the income that I derive from the blog and I'd probably miss that nice little "bonus" that I get each month.  Second, I sometimes get contacted by readers that have nothing but the nicest things to say (Hi Tracey P.!) and I always appreciate that and those kind words keep me chugging along.  Third, I also sometimes receive offers of new (and free!) products to try out and as a guy that loves free stuff, as I've mentioned countless times before, I love getting those opportunities.  It's one of those opportunities that leads me to the source of today's review as I take a look at this Slow Food For Fast Lives Indian Bar.  This bar is 1.4 ounces, has 180 calories, five grams of protein and is also, all natural, gluten free and vegan.

Review: Patak's Original Korma Curry Simmer Sauce

I've got to say, I've had some real successful experiences with Patak's products here on the blog. Some have been better than others, but as a whole, they've been quite good. It's those positive experiences that led me to pick up this twelve ounce jar of Patak's Original Korma Curry Simmer Sauce at Kroger for $2.99. I like reviewing these not only because I've had good experiences, but also because they help me expand my culinary experiences with Indian food, which is a cuisine that I had zero interaction with for my entire life up until these past few tears. Since this curry is cream based, it's a little higher up on the calorie scale compared to some of its brethren at 280 calories per half cup serving, but that's fine in the grand scheme of things.  If the heat of Indian food scares you, there's not much to fear here as this one score's as "Mild" on Patak's heat scale that they conveniently place on all their jars.

Review: Saffron Road Chana Saag with Cumin Rice

Saffron Road has been generous with me on the blog and has kept me well fed in several reviews as I've already covered several of their crunchy chickpeas snacks flavors.  Now, they've started sending me some of their frozen food products to try out and that leads me to this review of the Saffron Road Chana Saag with Cumin Rice frozen entree.  This one is eleven ounces of joy and clocks in at 420 calories and has twelve grams of protein.  It's Certified Halal and in case you were wondering (because I was), Chana means chickpeas and Saag means spinach.  There's our language lesson for the day.

Review: Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Simmer Sauce

When I was in the process of moving a while back, I was trying to go through my cabinets and eat as many of the things that I had stored up for reviews as possible.  Among those things, were a few jars of Patak's simmer sauce that have led to some reviews and also this most recent review with this jar of Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Simmer Sauce that I picked up at Kroger for $2.99.  Each jar is fifteen ounces and contains three servings at 130 calories per serving and clocks in at a medium on the Patak's heat scale.  My prior experiences here on the site with Patak's products have been very positive, so I had some fairly high expectations heading in.  Tikka Masala is also more popular in Great Britain than it is in India, so maybe I should consider this a new ethnicity of foods instead of classifying this as Indian like I usually would.  What do you think?

Review: Patak's Original Rogan Josh Curry Simmer Sauce

My experience with ethnic food, specifically Indian food, has been very limited here on the blog even though reviewing those types of foods was one of my original missions when I first started that blog.  Still, I have done some reviews relating to one or both of those things and it's an increased focused on that mission here in 2013 that leads me to do another Patak's review with this review of a fifteen ounce jar of there Patak's Original Rogan Josh Curry Simmer Sauce that I picked up at Kroger for $2.99.  Each jar contains three servings and each serving is a relatively budget-like (in my mind) 100 calories.  On the Patak's spice scale, this rated as a medium as well.  Rogan Josh is typically served with lamb, but I decided to use it like a lot of Indians would, meaning that I stuck to being strictly vegetarian and mixed it with plain Ramen noodles (not something a typical Indian would do).

Review: Saffron Road Bombay Spice Crunchy Chickpeas

One of the benefits of writing a highly respected blog (I say that dripping with sarcasm) is that publicity agents from food manufacturers contact you from time to time offering you free products.  It's nice because often times the products you get contacted about is stuff that you would NEVER think to buy and that's definitely the case with the subject of this review with this bag of Saffron Road Bombay Spice Crunchy Chickpeas.  Chickpeas have never really been my thing as I find them to be particularly boring, so that's why I'd have never bought these, but I do love free products, so it's worth a shot.  The resealable bag is 6.0 ounces and contains six servings at one ounce per piece.  Yep, I'm a math genius.  Each serving is 120 calories and is fairly high in protein for a snack at six grams of protein per serving.  These chickpeas are gluten free and also Certified Halal (something I had no prior knowledge of, so I've linked it for those who don't know what that means either).  The front of the bag also had a temperature scale to indicate spice and this one was classified as "Hot", so I had to prepare myself for an adventure.

Review: Patak's Original Dopaiza Curry Simmer Sauce

One of the things that I intended on doing when I started this blog was reviewing ethnic foods.  Fifteen months later, I haven't reviewed a single one (I don't consider frozen food enchiladas to be that) so that FINALLY leads me to my first review of an ethnic food, in this case Indian, with this review of Patak's Original Dopaiza Curry Simmer Sauce that I picked up at Kroger for $2.99.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert when it comes to Indian food.  I've tasted a lot of it and I've liked a lot of it, but if a person were to ask me what my favorite dish in Indian cuisine was, I would have no idea how to answer.  I just don't have the knowledge.  That said, I do have the knowledge to determine whether I think something is good or not and to somewhat accurately describe the way something tastes, so that's how we'll approach this review.  It's as much of a learning experience for me as it is for you.  By the way, this jar was fifteen ounces and has three half-cup servings at 140 calories per serving.