Steven Helmer Publications

  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 ...

  After slipping a bit, I've been trying to get back to being on my DASH diet . This is both because I have a physical in a couple months and because my wife's blood pressure has been a bit on the high side lately as well. As part of this, when I decided to make my skillet lasagna for dinner last night, I looked for a pasta sauce with less salt and decided to purchase a jar of Prego Lower Sodium Traditional Pasta Sauce , despite it being slightly more expensive ($2.99) than my normal brand, because the 350 mg of sodium was by far the lowest I could find on that shelf. Overall, it ended up being a decent choice. One of my biggest concerns when it comes to "heart healthy" foods is taste. In many cases, the salt that is being cut from the product was the only flavor that product had. That, however, didn't turn out to be the case with this brand. While I always doctor up jarred/canned sauces, I took the time to taste this first and it wasn't bad.  In fact, by the ...

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...

I decided to make ravioli for dinner last night and had to stop by the store for some sauce. This brand happened to be on sale for $1 per can and I ended up buying it as a result. This is not the first time I've used this sauce. In fact, even though I do try other brands, I usually end up coming back to this one. There are a few reasons for this and one of the main ones is the price. Even when the sauce isn't on sale, I can usually find it for less than $1.50 per can. While not significantly lower in price than other sauces, it's enough of a savings to consider it when my grocery budget is a bit tight. The sauce itself is also decent-enough. It has a good blend of seasonings so I don't have to spend a good chunk of time doctoring it up (as is often the case with some other bargain-priced brands). It also has a good thickness to it. It's not chunky like some other (more expensive) jarred sauces. But, it's also not watery (like most bargain brands) and ...

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...

My wife and I didn't have anything planned for dinner last night so, after a quick discussion (via text), we decided to just make spaghetti for the four of us. I had most of the stuff I needed already but we were out of pasta sauce so I ended up stopping at the store after work. Since money is a little tight at the moment until payday, I had planned on just buying the cheapest brand and attempt to doctor it up a bit. However, when I got to the store, I discovered the Prego sauces were on sale and, even though they were a little more expensive than the cheapest option, decided to try their three cheese Italian sauce instead. I picked this flavor because, being from Wisconsin, I love my cheese . And, after trying the product, I have to say I was happy with it. I've had other sauces that promised a cheese flavor. Very few of them really delivered. I'm sure they all had cheese in them. I just could not taste it in them. That was definitely not the case with ...