Monday, February 15, 2010

"Chicken" Southwestern Salad and Pierogies Alfredo

Ah, it's Monday once again and the month is already halfway over! I'm not going to lie, it's nice to have these winter months go fast. We've managed to keep ourselves busy, but I need some sun! I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. We ended up having a great roast dinner with the family. Nothing outrageously romantic, but I definitely got to spend my day with the people I love!

Do you remember this little box of goodies I got last month?

Well since then I put the Alfredo sauce and salsa to good use. Here are some of the ways I've used them.

The alfredo sauce was probably the hardest for me. I'm normally not crazy about Alfredo. I always find it a bit bland, thick and well, fattening! So I actually made these Pierogies for my kids, who happily chomped them down. I just cooked some store-bought pierogie in a large skillet, and then tossed them with the Alfredo sauce until warm and slightly bubbly. The sauce is actually not bad, it has a lot of flavor and I believe would make any alredo lover happy.

My second review is the salsa. I LOVE salsa. It's one of my favorite condimints and great for parties. My favorite kind of salsa is fresh, nice and salty with a lot of fresh cilantro and just a bit of heat. The Newman's Own salsa was delicious, but a different tasting salsa than I usually seek out. It was more of a smoky-sweet flavor, but it had great chunky tomatoes in there and a nice freshness to it. I have mostly been dipping into this with tortilla chips (the multigrain ones are my favorite), but I also used it for this salad.

Have you ever mixed Ranch dressing with salsa? It's actually very delicious, and cuts the fat in half. That's exactly what I did with the dressing for this salad, I also added a squeeze of lime and some chopped cilantro. The Newman's Own salsa was perfect for the dressing and made every bite of my lunch delicious (along with my Diet Coke of course). For the salad itself, I used a spring mix, black beans, chopped cilantro and scallion, tomatoes and shredded cheddar. Corn and olives would also be wonderful, but I didn't have either this time. But my favorite part of the salad was the "chicken"...

And I wasn't even asked to review this product, but seriously, this stuff is fantastic! It's a meatless chicken patty, which normally don't leave me very impressed, but if you were to just serve this to me on a sandwich, without saying anything, I would eat every bite thinking it was chicken. It's so tasty, and has a fraction of the fat of a normal breaded chicken patty. And since I have to have some sort of meat on my salads, I am in love with these things!


And there is my review! So far I've been very happy with the Newman's Own product. Stay tuned for more reviews and have a very happy Monday!

21 comments:

Joanne said...

Excellent reviews! I have a soft spot for Newman's Own. Not a fan of storebought alfredo sauce, but their salsa looks great!

The Blonde Duck said...

I'm going to try that salsa/ ranch tip! It sounds fabulous!

Erica said...

I love Newman's Own products! I always buy their salsa and marinara sauce- both are amazing!! I use the salsa on top of all of my salads- yum! Glad you guys had a nice Vday!

Kim said...

I saw pierogies alfredo and came running over:D Great idea to put the alfredo with the pierogies. Love how you mixed the ranch with the salsa- very tasty!
Cheers to diet coke:D

Barbara said...

Interesting reviews of the Newman products; unfortunately I haven't used many of them. The salsa and dressings I love though.
Alfredo I make from scratch. Nice to hear it was a success for the kids as well!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Good to know about the alfredo sauce. I like it but haven't found a bottled version that I liked.
~ingrid

Leslie said...

I love Newmans. My dad actually used to race cars w/ Paul Newman back in the day!

Melody said...

Good to know about those chicken patties. Great reviews and how fun to get a box of goodies in the mail!

Julie said...

That salad looks delish! I never thought of mixing ranch with salsa, sounds like a great idea.

Maria said...

I am loving that salad!

theUngourmet said...

How fun! I love Newman goodies!

Yes, I do love ranch and salsa together. Yum!

Pam said...

The alfredo dish looks so delicious. The ranch/salsa combo would be tasty on that salad.

Reeni said...

I love Newman's Own - especially the light honey mustard salad dressing - good stuff! I like the sound of ranch mixed with salsa too.

Debbie said...

The ranch mixed with the salsa sounds wonderful!!! Delish!

NKP said...

Great use of you review items!

Shelby said...

I LOVE the morningstar farm chicken patties! I was brought up on veggie-meat just like this. I also love the salsa ranch mix. I am kind of like you on jarred alfredo sauce. I would much rather make my own. It might not be bad on pizza though!

Pretty Zesty said...

I loveeee pierogies! oh man, so good!

Anonymous said...

I could eat alfredo by the spoonful - yum!

I have done the salsa/greek yogurt combo for my dressings - works out great!

Rachel said...

I LOVE Newman's Own. I buy his salsa and dressings all the time. So so good. And ranch and salsa together is a great combination. I dip tortilla chips in that as well. Have you ever had Applebee's southwest salad? I worked there and the dressing is literally just ranch and salsa. Hah.

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

you did em proud.. excellent use

Katy ~ said...

Newman's Own is just one of the best. Good products and good reviews. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.