Earl Compares Three Cheese Snacks

I can't express how much I like CHEESE! It is not only good by itself, it is good as an ingredient...I can honestly say I have never found a cheese I didn't like! Of course there are some I like more than others and some that are usually out of my price range (that's what I love about grocery stores that have good cheese sections - THE SAMPLES!) It will come as no surprise then that cheese snacks are almost always in my cheese keeper (fridge). For this post I am reviewing three cheese snacks. One is the one my #1 Daughter loves, one is a favorite of my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), and one is a newcomer to the marketplace at Sam's Club, Members Mark Jack Snack Cheese.

Let me start at the very beginning...a very good place to start, with the Jack Snack. I expected this to be a knockoff, like so many store brands. In fact, I was surprised that knockoffs of Babybel hadn't happened before now, at least near me. But when I opened it and tasted it, I was pleasantly surprised. From the name, I expected it to be a Monterrey Jack, but nothing on the package identified the type of cheese, just it's components. It is a semi-soft cheese, but not like the Babybels I have tried. It was sharper and tangy-er, a bit like Swiss, but not really, and I loved it. They come in a bag of 26 and run about 29¢ each. If you like cheese, you should buy these! As you can see from my photo, they do not have a nice red coating as the Babybels do, but that really means less trash!

The next in this taste test is Mini Babybel Mozzarella style. This is Daughter #1's favorite. It's texture is semi-soft, it's flavor is VERY mild, and much like mozzarella in bricks at the store. It seems an attempt to compete with string cheese, but this is NOT string cheese. It is smooth and quite delicate. No rubbery cheese here, and of course, no strings...don't even try. I like it, even if it has no identifiable flavor profile. These run 35¢ each and are also sold in a bag of 26.

My final review is my wife's favorite of the three. Mini Babybel light. "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife) does not like cheese plain. On crackers, as an ingredient, melted on top of...fine. She likes to take one of these and mix it with her scrambled egg for lunch, or on a cracker with a Little Smokie for a game-time snack. I started buying these rather than the original to cut some fat calories from our lives. It hasn't worked, but I still have hope. These are very nice to have around. Like the mozzarella style, they are semi-soft and wrapped in plastic and red wax coating to remind you of it's heritage, coming from a French version of the Dutch EDAM cheese, which also is often red wax coated. Surprisingly, this is the most expensive of the 3, running 38¢ each, at Sam's. Not much, but if you extrapolate it to price per pound, it is more than $8/pound!

I started my taste test with trying to take a similar sized bite from each of the three. As you can tell from the photo, the Jack Snack is larger in diameter but also slightly less thick. All three weigh in at ¾ of an ounce.

I also tried them on a cracker. My cracker of choice is a Club Cracker. It's buttery goodness compliments the creamy texture and the salt kicks the flavor a bit, but my rankings remained unchanged with or without the cracker.


 My rankings are  as follows:

• First: Jack Snack—I liked the tangy element this offered, and the price is also the lowest.
• Second: Mini Babybel LIGHT—Because of the fat calories. It almost came in last because of it's added cost.
• Third: Mini Babybel Mozzarella style—This is a great snack and only came in third because I have so many other mozzarellas to chose from, I don't need another, but I may sneak one when I am at Daughter #1's!

My price comparisons were all from Sam's club, and Mini Babybels are quite a bit more at the grocery store. 

There are many more cheese snacks available, I chose these because I had them available for comparison. While I have had string cheese that wasn't stellar, mostly I would choose cheese over candy bars any day!

Earl Cooks Snak Mix Mix-Up

If you have been reading here, you may have noticed that I like Chex Mix. I learned to like it in the 60s when my mom made it from scratch, and still love the savory saltiness of the crunchy morsels and nuts. But it seems crazy for me to buy 3 boxes of cereal, bagel crisps a pretzels to make today's version. There is just the two of us and we don't eat much cereal! I decided to take what they are already giving us in the prepackaged mix and reinvent it so it TASTES like it should. And this time, I am adding another favorite - Gardetto's Snack Mix to make it that much better! These products are very similar and the bags are both about 15 oz. in the family size. The other main ingredients are deluxe mixed nuts from Sam's Club and REAL butter. 

For seasoning, the two brand name items I recommend for their consistent flavor and quality are Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce and Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Why? Two reasons, the first is,  it was in the original recipe. The second is that they are both originals too. Because the pre-made mixes have a lot of salt, I will go light on these because of their salt content.

 The final additions to the mix are ground mustard, garlic POWDER and onion POWDER (not salt). These three enhance the flavors of the seasoned salt, without the salt. The mustard gives a very light bright and fresh flavor.

Results & Conclusions 
This turned out great! I should have doubled the recipe because I liked it so well. A great replacement for the original and no leftover cereal! The steps and quantities follow:
Ingredients:
½ bag each of Original Chex Mix & Original Gardetto's Snack Mix
2 cups Deluxe Mixed Nuts
1 stick REAL butter
2 tsp Lea & Perrin's® Worcestershire Sauce 
1 tsp Lawry's® Seasoned Salt
½ tsp ground mustard (or to taste)
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder 

Steps

• In a large, oven-proof mixing bowl (I used a metal one), melt the butter in a 250℉ oven. 
• When melted, add to the butter ALL the seasonings and mix them together well. 
• Add to the butter & seasonings, the mixed nuts and make certain they are well coated.
• Now add the packaged mixes and stir everything until well coated.
• Finally, pour the mix onto a baking sheet. Bake at 250℉ until the crunch is restored and the butter & seasoning have soaked in. Store in an airtight container or zipper bag. (I put a folded paper towel in the container to absorb any humidity.

Earl Eat's "Turkey's" Snickerdoodles

If it is true, as the TV ad says "nothin' says lovin' like somethin' from the oven", then I am truly loved!

Each weekend my lovely wife "a.k.a. "Turkey" bakes up somethin' from the oven. Most often, it is her homemade bread, which I have posted about before. This weekend though, it wasn't just bread dough. (see what I did there?) Her sweet tooth took over and almost like magic, Snickerdoodles  appeared.

How can a ball of gooey flour and sugar turn into something so beautiful and tasty? I don't know because "Turkey" doesn't allow me to bake. I guess some things must remain a mystery to keep the romance alive, and I like that.

What's she baking next? Who knows, but I'm EATING it!

Earl Cooks 2 Dishes and a Snack for a Christmas Feast at Daughter #2's House - The Snack

This time of year is about holiday traditions. It is also the first Christmas since our mom's passing. My daughter #2 wanted to celebrate our mom's life this Christmas and I thought that was great!

One of those traditions from my youth was Mom making the original Chex "party mix" for a toy party she was hosting at our house in the late 60s, much like the Discovery Toys or Tupperware parties. They had the coolest toys to demonstrate, and as a young boy, I hoped one of them would be mine. It never happened, but what I do remember was watching Mom make the mix. The recipe was from the back of the 1966 Chex box. Every other “original” recipe I've found is not how it was then and not how she made it. A version is still on the boxes today, but I have always loved the original. 

The ad (pictured here) is a bit small so I will list the ingredients & Instructions here with the modification I make to enhance the flavor to match my memories, and I think it makes it closer to what mom made.
CLICK BELOW FOR RECIPE(S) and a printable version