KR's Dessert Jars & Cookie Bars

Normally, this blog deals with eating out, typically in full service restaurants.  However, we all know food is everywhere in many shapes and forms.  Hence, I've intermittently included various other things like one-time pop ups to home-based operations.  Recently, I was contacted by KR's Dessert Jars & Cookie Bars based out of a commissary at Core Kitchen in Langley (available for delivery as well).   As their name suggests, their main products are dessert jars resembling trifles to cookie bars that are part cookie, part cake where a surprise filling awaits you.

I was supplied a selection of their wares including the Sneaky, Limonetta and Mr. Nutty.  Aptly named, the Sneaky cookie bar featured a chocolate chip dough with a Mars bar stuffed inside.  Suffice to say, this had some ooey gooey caramel action going on, especially if you warm it up in the microwave before enjoying.  Possibly my favourite, the Limonetta ate like a lemon loaf with lemon curd inside.  It was the most cake-like in texture being moist while the lemon curd was tangy and sweet.  As for Mr. Nutty, it was obvious what was inside the chocolate chip cookie base - Peanut M&M's.  Loved the crunch and of course the nuttiness of the peanuts.

Also based on the chocolate chip cookie dough, we had both the Chunky Monkey and the Peanut Spoon.  The Chunky Monkey would be their most basic cookie bar being essentially a large chocolate chip cookie.  Outside was slightly crunchy and chewy while the inside was soft and almost cake-like.  The Peanut Spoon added Resse's mini-peanut butter cups inside that made it peanutty and sweeter.

Consisting of triple chocolate dough, the Oozing Lava featured a chocolate ganache centre, which oozed like lava when microwaved.  Yes, it was like a lava cake, but with a much firmer exterior.  This was very rich and chocolately.

Featuring the same triple chocolate dough, the PB&J was exactly its namesake with peanut butter and jelly inside.  One might think this would be really sweet, but it really wasn't.  The dark chocolate cookie was flavourful with just the right amount of sweetness.  Also encased in chocolate chip dough, Take a Break sports Kit Kat Ganache.  It makes the cookie bar a bit sweeter and offers a light crunch from the wafers.  Finally, the Birthday Cake bar is based on a white chocolate chip & macadamia nut dough with funfetti.  Due to the ingredients, this was the sweetest one, but definitely had all the elements of a birthday cake dessert.

Onto the dessert jars, we had Strawberry Shorty, Nocciola, El Chocomello and Blue Meow.  I think of these more like jarred trifles with layers of cake, custard, compote and other things.  I personally loved the Blue Meow the most as the lemon custard helped cut through the sweetness of the blueberry compote and moist vanilla cake.  Although it looked like it would be super sweet, the Nocciola was more chocolaty and nutty with hazelnut cream, hazelnut chocolate spread, custard and chocolate cake.  The same could be said about the El Chocomello as the caramel custard was indeed sweet, but the dark chocolate cake helped balance it off.  The sweetest of them all was the Strawberry Shorty with strawberry compote, vanilla custard and vanilla cake.

I'll post one more picture of the cookie bar with the insides exposed.  This one is the Sneaky with the Mars bar.  I didn't heat this one up, so the caramel would be more liquidy otherwise.  As you can see, there is quite a bit of filling, so the cookie bar will taste like its namesake.  In fact, I really enjoyed all of the cookie bars and would definitely be ordering some more in the future.  As for the dessert jars, I enjoyed them too, except they are on the sweeter side, so you need to have a sweet tooth.  I'm glad to be introduced to these products. Wished I tried them earlier!

*Products were complimentary*

The Good:

- Loved the texture of the cookie bars, soft and cake-like but also cookie-like too

- Interesting flavours

- These cookie bars are large!

The Bad:

- Enjoyed the dessert jars, but the Strawberry Shorty was a bit too sweet for me

Chef's Plate

Seeing how I usually gather up ingredients from the supermarket to make home-cooked meals, I never really considered ready-to-cook meal kits as an option.  Maybe call it stubbornness or pride, but to me, it always seemed like cheating to go that route.  However, I was ready to see for myself as Chef's Plate came calling and asked if I wanted to give it a go.  Sure, why not, I'm always up for new things and honestly, I've been so busy with life in general, trying to go shopping and then meal plan for the week has been tough.

So I was able to pick 3 different dishes for Sunday delivery to my doorstep for the week.  The thing about these meal kits is that although all of the ingredients are included, the veggies generally still need to be cut up.  That is actually a good thing as it ensures freshness and it keeps longer.  There are some items that you will need to have on hand, but they are common - like salt, pepper, oil, butter and milk.  Otherwise, the meats and seasonings are neatly portioned for the recipe (for 2 or 4 people).  Generally, each recipe took around 30 minutes to prepare.

The first dish we tried was the Harissa Salmon with Moroccan couscous.  This was possibly one of our favourite dishes where the salmon was fresh and when cooked to the recipe's specifications, came out moist and delicious with harissa really coming through.  We felt there was probably too much couscous (but I guess more is better?).  It was fluffy and was accompanied by roasted cauliflower (with curry spice), onions, tomatoes, toasted almonds, feta and lemon juice.

Although simple in appearance, the kids loved the Bavarian Pork Chops with roasted potatoes, broccoli and remoulade.  Once again, following the instructions, I coated the pork chops with mayo and then a breading blend.  Cooked it for the time suggested and it came out moist and tender with a crispy coating.  The remoulade consisting of mayo, dijon and garlic was tangy and flavourful.  Potatoes were tender and the roasted broccoli still had a bite.

The last dish we prepared was the Pork Pomodoro Pasta with pesto pull-apart bread (we omitted the pesto since the kids didn't want it). Due to the absence of pesto, the bread was a bit plain in appearance.  It was fluffy inside though.  As for the pasta, it was fully-loaded with pork and zucchini.  Really could taste the sweetness of the onion while the Italian herb spice blend was nicely balanced.  Again, the instructions were on point with al dente pasta.  One doesn't need to be super-skilled to make this dish.

So we were quite impressed with the meal kits and I had a new appreciation for the convience of it all.  Therefore, I put in a personal order for the following week consisting of 4 different dishes.  I prepared the Creamy Beef Penne with mushrooms first.  Again, the pasta was al dente and there was more than enough beef to make it hearty. With the use of cream cheese, this was indeed rich and creamy. Interestingly, the combination of beef stock reduction and soy sauce provided just enough salty meatiness for the dish.

Something a bit familiar but with a few differences, the Breaded Pork Chops with roasted broccoli and cheesy orzo was still its own dish.  Like last time, the pork chop came out perfectly juicy and tender.  The mayo mustard dill sauce was tangy with brightness.  With an ample amount of orzo underneath, this was a filling meal.  Only thing that could've been better would be more cheese for the orzo.  Despite that, it was still plenty flavourful.

Possibly one of the plainest-looking dishes was the Chicken & Creamy Mustard Pan Sauce with garlic mashed potatoes.  However, it happened to be one of the tastiest.  The deboned chicken leg was prepared in a way that it sported appealing browning while still remaining juicy.  That pan sauce took all of the reserved chicken juices and combined it with shallots, butter, dijon, chicken stock, cream and sour cream.  Rich and full of umaminess.  Only thing is that this was the least filling of all the dishes (most are more than enough food).  Maybe use 2 chicken thighs rather than the leg?

We left the Oven-Fried Fish Tacos with avocado salsa and lime slaw til the very end.  Turned out this was another favourite with flaky fish and a crunchy (and healthy) coating.  The crunchy slaw was so refreshing and tangy.  Coupled with the ripe avocado and lime mayo, this had lots of brightness.  Really enjoyed these tacos.  In fact, there wasn't a dish we disliked amongst the 7 we had.  Chef's Plate is definitely a go-to solution if we are short on time and still want a home-cooked meal.  Usually I do the cooking, but sometimes, I'm not at home due to events I have to attend.  With everything ready-to-go, Viv ended up making dinner with these kits.  We ultimately ordered another week (I didn't take pics of those) and enjoyed those dishes too.  Will definitely order more in the future when my schedule gets hectic.

*The first 3 dishes were complimentary*

The Good:
- Fresh ingredients, portioned out for you to cook at home
- Overall, good recipes
- Delivered right to your door

The Bad:
- Most recipes are more than enough food, even for big appetites, but there are some that are not as filling, just need to choose carefully depending on your family 

 

Manna Sacred Meals

If you haven't noticed, I don't have much of a relationship with vegan eats.  In fact, vegetarian might even be a stretch for me.  However, when done right, I'm more than happy to go meatless.  Now it gets much more challenging when you take out all animal products hence I've tread very lightly when it comes to plant-based cuisine.  Recently, Manna Sacred Meals reached out to me and asked if I would try some of their meal kits.  They consists of all of the prepared ingredients sealed in bags that you either remove and bake or boil in the bag itself.

I was rather curious how one could make a "Smoked Salmon" Sushi Bake without fish.  Well, the "salmon" was actually smoked carrot slices that were indeed smoky and sweet just like salmon.  In the bake itself, there was tofu, veggies and greens. Now this ate quite well, despite not really resembling a sushi bake.  I would say it was more like a hearty vegetarian dip.  Lots of textures at play.

My favourite item was the Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps with kimchi fried rice and marinated soy curls & veggie stir fry. Loved the use of red romaine as it was more malleable so it didn't split.  The fried rice was nutty, a bit spicy and perfectly textured.  For me, I love soy curls, so the chewy texture was appealing.  There was plenty of seasoning and the unmistakable taste of shiitake.  I would've liked less bamboo shoot essence though.

I was initially worried that Truffle Wild Mushroom Pasta would be woefully overdone due to the reheating process.  To my pleasant surprise, the whole grain pasta was perfectly al dente.  There was a plethora of mixed mushroom, garlic, olive oil, herb and truffle.  In fact, we had some leftover!  Could use that with something else.  To complete the dish, there was a lemon roasted veggies and tempeh.  Compared to a regular mushroom cream pasta, this was heartier and with more body.  Just enough truffle to go with the natural woodsiness of the mushrooms.  Really tasty.

Last dish was the Portobello Mushroom Steaks stuffed with lentils and accompanied by fresh herb spaghetti squash, braised cabbage and MANNA drizzle.  I would like to use the word hearty again to describe this.  Despite the lack of meat, this was fulfilling and "meaty".  The mushroom was well-seasoned and the lentil stuffing had body yet wasn't too dense.  Absolutely loved the spaghetti squash.  Great texture and nicely seasoned while naturally sweet.  Overall, I really did enjoy the plant-based meals from Manna.  This was a convenient way to eat more healthy while being tasty at the same time.

*Food was complimentary*

The Good:

- Not lacking in flavour

- Hearty even without the meat

- Healthier

 The Bad:

 - Bamboo shoots in the lettuce wrap could be less pungent