Recently I started eating pepper bacon as opposed to regular bacon. I don’t know why, but now I only purchase the regular if it’s the only option. Unfortunately, the store I usually shop at seems to forget my obsession and does not offer the brand that I like on a consistent basis. This has led me to try other brands through mail order, which leads me to Nueske. I tried the ham first, but also in the box were two packages of pepper bacon. You could see how lean the bacon was through the package. It’d been awhile since I had had some peppered bacon so I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into this.

The packaging for the bacon (at least this particular kind) is similar to what you would receive if you purchased the bacon in the store. The bacon comes in a vacuumed sealed package. It was placed in the same box that our ham came in, which was securely packed and kept cold to ensure the food would remain fresh.

Since we had the ham for dinner, we decided to wait for the following day for the bacon. I woke up to the marvelous and delectable smell of fresh, frying peppered bacon. It got me out of bed and as I hovered in the kitchen, my mom shooed me out to do something else until breakfast was ready. While I was looking at the bacon frying, I was surprised by how little shrinkage there was going on. Anyone that makes bacon a lot knows what I am talking about. Most bacon brands have a tendency to become much smaller than they were before frying them. This was not the case with Nueske’s peppered bacon. In fact, there was not much difference in size from uncooked to cooked bacon.

Cooking is a breeze. Making bacon is as simple as frying it up in a frying pan. Of course, if you want to avoid the grease and associated hassle of frying (if you see it as a hassle) you could use Ina Garten’s bacon method, which has you popping the bacon on a sheet pan for 15-30 minutes on 350. The bacon comes out nice and crisp and your hassle is minimal at best.

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Ham is like a family tradition in my house. Whether it is Thanksgiving or Sunday morning breakfast, ham always hits the spot and it’s something that almost every single person can agree on. Just growing up I can remember so many times when ham was on the family table. Ham and eggs, ham and cheese omelets, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, ham steak, ham with beef gravy (or without), the list goes on and on.

Buying ham in a grocery store can be a funny thing. A lot of the commercially based, store and brand name hams have a tendency to taste the same. Sure, we always buy a Virginia ham or a Smoked ham, but generally speaking you don’t find too many differences between the standard brands. Still, when I hear the term Old Fashioned Smoked Ham it sets my mouth to watering. This led me to requesting a sample of Nueske’s Old Fashioned Smoked Ham (http://www.nueskes.com/products/ham/Old_Fashioned_Boneless_Ham.cfm), which was positively the best ham I have ever had in my life!

My mother can be the biggest skeptic when it comes to anything mail order. I don’t know if she just likes making me cook (which I don’t mind) or if she thinks that most foods cannot withstand the mailing process, but she tends to have problems with most mail order foods we receive. I knew that this and the other Nueske products we receive would be a big test for her.

Most days, mom will play the role of secretary, at least when it comes to the issue of mail. As mail arrives she will open the packages and let me know what is here to test out. Normally, I won’t see too much of a reaction out of her. However, things were a little different when she opened the box for Nueske’s. She first pulled two packs of peppered bacon and some shaved beef out of the box. She sat these aside after mmm’ing at the bacon, and then she picked up the ham. She looked it over for a few minutes, as only a skeptic could, before she pulled me into the room.

She asked me if the ham in question was Spiral Ham. I told her no, knowing full well her distaste for spiral hams. She finds them to be too dry and tough no matter who cooks them or what brand they are. She asked what kind of ham it was and I let her know about Nueske’s and how this ham was applewood smoked. Thinking she would put the ham away, I went back to working on other things. Apparently, she had other plans though and opened the ham, which was cold, but not frozen, for a taste test.

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One of the perks to being a reviewer is the free gifts. Occasionally I will seek companies out that look interesting and at other times they just fall right in my lap. Kim and Scott’s was something that I sought out after seeing a spot about them on Food Network. I am normally not a big pretzel fan. It goes back to my love/hate relationship with bread. Some types I love and other types are not as popular with me. When it comes to pretzels I can go either way. However, Kim and Scott’s are anything but average. These are gourmet stuffed pretzels and in most cases they taste and look as good as they sound.

The folks over at Kim and Scott’s were nice enough to send me their Original Variety Pack of 12 Pretzels. This pack retails for just under $33 and includes the following pretzels:

Stuffed Pizza Pretzel
Stuffed Grilled Cheese Pretzel
Stuffed Spinach & Feta Pretzel
Stuffed Savory Herb & Cream Cheese Pretzel
Traditional Bavarian Pretzel
Stuffed Mixed Berry Cobbler Pretzel
Stuffed Cinnamon Roll Pretzel
Stuffed Twisted Omelette Pretzel
Stuffed Chocolate Crumb Pretzel
Stuffed Apple Cinnamon Pretzel
Stuffed Cheddar Jalapeño Pretzel
Sourdough Asiago Pretzel

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Like everyone else, I have my favorites when I peruse the grocery store aisle for some frozen pizza. Some pizzas cut it and some don’t. This goes even further with the snack portion for single person pizzas. It seems that in many cases these often are thrown together with even less regard than the bigger pizzas. However, DiGiorno has always held a bit of a soft spot in my heart.

When they first came out I remember thinking how good they tasted. They were one of the few pizzas that made it tempting to skip the commercial pizza places in the area. You could just pop in a DiGiorno and veg out with a good movie. After a while I stopped buy DiGiorno. It wasn’t because I didn’t like it. Actually, when I needed a bigger pizza, I would still go to them. It was more that I would usually buy something smaller for just myself. So, when I was made aware of the fact that DiGiorno was offering a pizza for a single person, I was in.

The folks over at DiGiorno were nice enough to send me over a sample of their For One Traditional Crust Pepperoni Pizza. Being a pepperoni lover I was more than willing to sample this pizza and will likely be looking for some more when I head out grocery shopping later this week.

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I remember the first Reuben sandwich that I ever tasted. I was waitressing in a local restaurant that is quite well known (love it or hate it) in the area. It came time for lunch and a friend of mine ordered one, so I decided to follow suit. I’d never tasted anything like it. The melting Swiss cheese, the sauce, and the warm Corned Beef all melded together perfectly to make the King of sandwiches.

I missed them more than words could say when I switched restaurants and the new place I worked did not have them. Eventually they got them and they would be one of my regular lunch options. When I quit waitressing and began working at home, I perfected my own spin on the Reuben (same ingredients, just a different sandwich building method). Needless to say, I get stuck making them a lot.

Despite living in the same state as Zingerman’s I was clueless to their existence until late one night while watching Food Network. I watched them bake bread and eventually the host went to the Deli and ate the most amazing looking Reuben I’d ever set my eyes upon. When I checked their website recently I got giddy realizing that these amazing sandwiches can be delivered right to your door. I couldn’t wait to receive a reuben, which was quite obvious as I sliced open the box like a kid in a candy store.

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Dried pasta is good in a pinch for a simple dinner. It provides a number of options from mac and cheese to more detailed diners of your choosing. There are so many different brands in my grocery store that it can be hard to keep track of them all. However, like everyone else, I tend to stick to my favorite brands unless it’s to try a new product. When the folks at Barilla wanted to send me some pasta, I gladly accepted.

Barilla is actually one of the few brands I use regularly. Of course, with the inclusion of the new Piccolini pastas, the whole grain, and the Barilla Plus, there are plenty of types that I have yet to try. Barilla was nice enough to send me one or two varieties of each and I was thrilled to give them a whirl. I decided to test out the Piccolini pastas first because not only are they suitable for the kids, they also cook faster, and the mini shapes are just amazingly adorable.

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One of the places that I am pickiest about pizza is in the grocery aisle. Frozen pizza can be an altogether awful experience if you’re not careful. While there are a couple of brands that stand out from the pack, more of them seem to provide flavorless, fat drenched experiences that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. That being said, I have been eyeing the California Pizza Kitchen pizzas for awhile now. I haven’t purchased any, but I have been checking them out.

Normally, I shop with hesitation in this area. If I buy a pizza that no one else likes, but me, then I am stuck with it and some normally gets wasted. I don’t want to waste any money, so it’s been easier to sit and wonder if they are worth it or not. Well, that was until they came out with the Pizza for One pizzas. The folks that handle the Digornio and California Pizza Kitchen lines were nice enough to send me a couple of pizzas to check out.

One of those pizzas was the Pizza for One Sicilian. After checking out the entire line I had been secretly hoping this would be one of the ones that they sent. I love pepperoni, but this pizza (on the box, anyway) looks amazing. I had no idea what it would look like out of the box, or taste like even, but the box had me won over from the second I saw it. I was excited to see that one of the pizzas that showed up was the Sicilian and because I hadn’t had lunch yet when it arrived, I decided to pop it in the oven and test it out.

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One of the best things about running a food blog is getting the chance to sample foods from around the world. Mail order food has risen beyond the substandard, less than appetizing Omaha Steaks and other over-commercialized options. These days you can get just about anything and some of it arrives tasting better than you could ever imagine.

I love pizza. It’s one of my favorite foods. It’s also great because it’s one of those things where you really can’t go wrong. That being said, I can be skeptical about my toppings and picky about my crust. And if the sauce is not to my liking then the whole pizza is a wash. Mail order pizza is fun, because pizza ships fairly well and it gives you the chance to taste authentic styles from around the country.

This leads into my review of Lou Malnati’s authentic deep dish Chicago Pizza. Whenever I get the chance to sample regionally famous foods I am there. When it is pizza that I’m sampling I get even more excited. So, I was more than ready for a bite when this pizza arrived on my doorstep.

We received all four of the available Lou Malnati’s pizza options. In an effort to not repeat myself constantly I am grouping the pizzas into two reviews; one for the meat pizzas (pepperoni and sausage) and one for the no-meat pizzas (cheese and spinach). In addition to my reviews, make sure to look for picky eater reviews, as he will be writing his own spin on things, as well.

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If there is one thing I’m picky about, it’s my sandwich preferences. I don’t like certain kinds of meat. I don’t like my sandwiches made with the wrong ingredients. I’m a creature of habit, so I try to avoid change. Still, when you hear about how good the Reuben sandwiches are at Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, a little change is worth trying…at least once.

Food Network featured the Zingerman’s Reuben on its television show, The Best Of… If you have never seen this show, the premise is the hosts of the show go around the country to find the best of a particular food item. In Ann Arbor, they found the best Reuben, at Zingerman’s Deli. This Reuben features mounds of corn beef, Swiss cheese, freshly baked Jewish Rye Bread, sauerkraut and homemade Russian dressing. I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to try one of these sandwiches. They sound absolutely perfect and they’re made in the traditional Reuben way.

So, when I found out Zingerman’s would be offering a Reuben Kit in celebration of Father’s Day, I simply had to try a kit. When I found out that Zingerman’s doesn’t send out sauerkraut, I was apprehensive. In its place is sweet and delicious coleslaw. In all my OCD-ness I was worried about one little change to a traditional sandwich. How would the coleslaw differ from the sauerkraut? Would the sandwich still be as good?

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If anyone knows I’m picky it’s Ashtyn. She’s the main person I let cook for me, though she’d say she’s the only one I don’t complain about on a regular basis. Let me just say, the girl has mad skills in the kitchen and she’s quite inventive when it comes to new foods. The only thing is that I’m not very adventurous about trying new things. Needless to say, when she told me she’d be making a special new adaptation on the traditional taco salad most people (myself included) seem to love, I was apprehensive.

It’s not that I don’t think Ash can cook well, because she can. I just heard her list of ingredients and one of them made me nervous. I might be somewhat neurotic because change often scares me, especially when it comes to my very picky stomach. Ash told me we’d be having grilled chicken with Mexican spices added to give it a kick, lettuce, tomatoes, and black olives. So far so good until she mentioned the last ingredient would be her special Taco Salad sauce.

So, I waited with uneasy anticipation as delicious Mexican smelling flavors filled the kitchen. Finally, dinner was served and I was about to take my first bite. With hesitation and skepticism, I took a bite and found out I liked it. It was actually quite good, with every bite covered in Ashtyn’s special sauce. I could make out some of the flavors in the sauce and know it included sour cream, ranch dressing, a splash of salsa, some hot sauce, and I’m sure there were some spices and other stuff she wouldn’t tell me she added. It ended up being spicy chicken that was cooled down by her smooth sour cream-ranch based secret dip.

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