Steven Helmer Publications

  I went to the grocery store without any idea in mind about what I wanted to make for dinner. My wife was doing some stuff at her sewing studio, and we had a small bag of ravioli that I could make for the girls so I focused on finding something I could make as a late dinner for two. I ended up purchasing Rana Chicken Alfredo Lasagna because it was on sale for a little less than $12. It was my first time trying this product and I wasn't sure what to expect but after making it last night, it is a product I wouldn't mind purchasing again. As far as meal prep goes, I couldn't ask for easier. I followed the microwave instructions, and the lasagna was ready to eat less than 10 minutes later. This was ideal because, with us already eating later than usual, I wouldn't have been a fan of anything that took a long time to make or dirtied a ton of dishes. Taste-wise, this exceeded my expectations. The sauce had a good flavor and there was quite a bit of chicken. This, in turn, al...

  I was in the mood to make some sort of pasta dish for dinner a couple evenings ago but knew my wife was getting a bit burned out on marinara and Alfredo sauces. Fortunately, I remembered seeing Prego Cheesy Bacon Cheese Sauce at one of our grocery stores and ended up picking that up as an alternative. After trying it, I have to say it was a good choice. I wound up using this as part of a fancy macaroni and cheese meal, complete with some hamburger and green peppers. The sauce gave the dinner exactly what I was hoping it would, a cheesy taste with just enough bacon to make it noticeable. Along those same lines, I appreciated having a cheese sauce that tasted like cheese and not like salt (as has been a problem in the past). The thicker sauce was also better than I would have gotten had I simply picked up a cheap box of macaroni and cheese then doctored it up while, at the same time, being less expensive (with a separate box of pasta included in this statement) than picking up a ...

  I wasn't in the mood to cook last night so, since I had to stop at the grocery store anyway, I decided to pick up a frozen lasagna as a way to keep things simple. Normally, I would just buy the one from On-Cor because, while it isn't necessarily the highest quality, it is also less than $5. However, I saw this one in the freezer section too and, even though it was about $3 more, decided to give it a try. After making it, I am convinced I should have stuck with the On-Cor brand. Just to be clear, I didn't necessarily hate this lasagna. It did, after all, succeed in giving me what I was looking for - a dinner that was convenient, filling and didn't taste terrible. I just think I spent more money on something that wasn't any better than the cheaper alternative. The very first thing I noticed about this product when I took it out of the microwave was the way it looked nothing like it did on the box. This isn't unusual. However, there was a very noticeable lack of...

Product Description: Frozen spaghetti entree from the Great Value brand, consisting of spaghetti, Romano Cheese, sauce and mozzarella cheese and prepared in the oven or microwave. My wife purchased this product at our local Wal-mart for around $6. We ended up preparing it (using the microwave) for dinner Friday night. You can read my review here: https://wizzley.com/review-of-great-value-spaghetti-pie-with-meat-sauce/

Even though I don't buy fresh pasta very often (because of the price), I do like to have it on special occasions. So, when I had an opportunity to buy this product at Costco a few days ago, I did. And, overall, I have to say I was happy with this purchase. My decision to buy this product was based partly on the price. I thought $9.99 for 6 pounds (two 3-pound packages) of fresh tortellini was a pretty good deal, especially since it normally costs me about $3.50 for a one-pound bag of frozen tortellini. But, after having it, I would purchase it regardless of price. One thing, in particular, I like about this product is the size of the tortellini. They aren't huge. But, they are definitely larger than the frozen ones we buy. This helped make them a lot more filling. Also, the tortellini were filled with cheese. This probably shouldn't have surprised me. But, I've had plenty of other similar products that promised to have a lot of cheese in them that didn't. S...

I was in the mood for spaghetti yesterday afternoon so I asked my wife to pick up some pasta sauce , both because she was already at Wal-mart and because she is much more likely to take a chance on a variety we haven't tried before. When I got home last night, I found she picked out this sauce. Even though I'm not opposed to trying new things on occasion, I did have some doubts about this sauce. This is mostly because, when I think spaghetti, I don't really think of onions and I was concerned this sauce would have too much of a pungent flavor. As it turns out, however, it wasn't too terrible. As I said before, I was hesitant to try this. But, once I did, I discovered the flavor was actually better than I was expecting. The onions blended in nicely with the garlic and the sauce, overall, had a light flavor to it that was noticeable but not overpowering. While I'm not sure if I would classify it as one of the best tasting jarred sauces I've tried, it defini...

Normally, when my wife and I make a Costco run (like we did this past Sunday), it's not unusual for me to see something interesting on the shelf and throw it into the cart as a spur-of-the-moment purchase. However, that was not the case with this particular product. Instead, I happened to see this in the monthly flyer we receive as part of our membership and, thinking it looked good, purposely looked for it when we were shopping. And, after I saw it was just $6.99 (it's normally $9.99), I decided to buy it for dinner. After having it last night, I have to say I was pleased with this decision. I'm always a little skeptical when it comes to pre-packaged meals like this one (which is found in the refrigerator section). Most offer relatively decent convenience but very few offer quality as well. This was one of the few that did offer both. When I first looked at the package, I wasn't sure if it would be as convenient as I hoped it would be because, at least from th...

When I decided to make my skillet lasagna last night, I realized I needed to run by the store to pick up some of the ingredients. This included pasta sauce. I originally planned on spending a little extra on a brand of pasta sauce I was familiar with. However, when I got to the store, I saw they had the Food Club brand on sale for just 99 cents and, realizing I probably would need two jars, I decided to pick up that brand instead. As it turns out, I probably should have just stuck with my original plan. To be fair, there were some things I did like about this sauce. One of the main ones was the thickness. This wasn't the thickest sauce I've ever purchased. But, given the lower price (especially since it was on sale), it was thick enough. And, at least when it came to that aspect, it worked just fine for what I needed it for. My problem with this sauce was the taste. It's really hard to describe but there was something that just seemed a little "off" abo...