Steven Helmer Publications

  I went to the store early this morning, before it got crowded with people who were stocking up before the winter weather hits later. Since I was there, I figured I'd pick up something easy for breakfast. I saw Dutch Farms Breakfast Bowls for less than $3 each and, figuring it was a low enough price, decided to give the Meat Lovers variety a try. Overall, I have to say it was OK. To be honest, it wasn't anything overly special, at least when compared to the other breakfast bowls that are out there. However, that was one of the things that I thought was a bonus because while it wasn't anything that stood out, it also wasn't anything that was noticeably lower quality either. I have had that with other cheaper brands in the past, buying one that promised plenty of protein from meat and egg only to be mostly potatoes. That wasn't a problem with this bowl, which had plenty of the two.  Taste wise, I thought it also was good. The breakfast sausage wasn't spicy but ha...

My wife was in the mood for BLTs tonight so, while I was at the store picking up some tomatoes, I decided to look for something to make as a side dish. This was something we had been wanting to try and I thought the cheese & bacon would be a good complement so I picked up a bag for $4.99. Overall, I have to say these were pretty good. It was probably because of the cheese, but had I not seen the bag, I probably wouldn't have known these were made from cauliflower rather than potatoes. Heck, I'm somewhat certain they would have even fooled the kids. I also thought the tots were surprisingly filling. I didn't think that would be the case because of them being made from cauliflower, but we were every bit as full as we would have been if they were made from potatoes. We even had a few leftover. I did think the tots were a bit lacking when it came to the bacon side of things. I could definitely taste the cheese, but really couldn't taste the bacon at all. In fact, had I ...

My wife decided to run to Aldi a couple days ago in an effort to pick up a few items for her and the kids (both are home for the summer). One of the items she ended up purchasing was a box of Breakfast Best French Toast Sticks. This is a product we've purchased in the past. But, mostly because we don't shop at Aldi very often (it's a little out of the way), it had been a long while since we bought a box of these. As a result of that, I couldn't remember much about them. However, after trying them again, I think it was a good purchase. Both of my daughters like French Toast Sticks and I've purchased a few different brands of them as a result. And, as is usually the case, I've learned not every brand is as good as the others. One of the first things I found I liked about this product was I was able to make the sticks in the microwave. This is my preferred method, especially on school mornings (when everyone is in a rush). However, it isn't something I...