Epicure To The Test – Party Panel of Judges

Finally Halifax was given a wink and a nudge from mother nature and she gave us a pass for Natal Day! What a beautiful day it turned out to be here yesterday. It was hubby’s 30th b-day and I was so pleased that our little “soirée” in celebration could be spent on the patio enjoying the good weather.

Before any guests arrived, I enjoyed a little sangria in the sun:

I’m definitely making sangria again this summer! Perfect!

I spent the morning baking hubby a special birthday cake. He said he wanted a “peanut butter chocolate cake with skor on top.” What hubby wants on this 30th, hubby gets:

I googled some recipes and ended up with one from Barefoot Contessa, which I lost the link for and can’t be bothered to find it again only because while the cake looks pretty, I found it to be wayyy to sweet and rich for my tastes and I think most people felt the same way. It was fun putting my KitchenAid stand mixer to use though!

So since the super generous folks at Epicure Selections sent me a super duper care package of products to sample for you guys, I thought the perfect opportunity to put many of them to the test was to make dips for our guests! While they sent me a wide variety of products, there were 6 dip mixes that we perfect for a party, so those were the ones that we sampled for this post.

The sweet:

The savory:

The spread:

There was a fruit tray & veggie tray for dipping and tortilla chips too. I apologize for the quality of the pictures. By the time we got to taste testing, it was dark and all I had to work with was patio lights and candles.

I made all of the dips exactly as the directions called for, which for the savory dips was sour cream, mayo & dip mix and for the sweet dips was sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese (for the Tiramisu) & dip mix.

I made them the night before to give them sufficient time to set. I think this one was the Cheese, Chives & Bacon:

Roasted Red Pepper:

3 Onion:

Lemon Chiffon:

In all the kafuffle, I missed a final product shot of the Summer Berry and the Tiramisu although they were caught in the spread pic.

My first reaction to looking at these jars of mixes was that they would be chalked full of artificial additives and ingredients that are not good for you. I can’t tell you how impressed I was to learn that there are “no MSG, fillers or unnecessary preservatives” in these products! (Oh and they are a Canadian company and are run by women! :-D)

The ingredients lists on some of these dips were more impressive than others. What ended up being my favourite savory dip (the 3 Onion) thrilled me when I read the ingredients list and read the NI label:

Excuse Moi?? Somebody tell the dip mix industry that you can make delicious dips that are healthy and not loaded with MSG and artificial crapola! Oh wait, they know that, but they just don’t care, so instead, buy THESE ones! :-D

Specs on the Roasted Red Pepper:

The Cheese, Chives & Bacon had a few more ingredients which includes soy. I personally am mindful of the amount of processed soy that I eat. It’s in practically everything nowadays and I still eat it, but I am mindful of the amount:

By the way, what the heck is “soy bacon”? The NI:

Summer Berry:

It does in fact contain high fructose corn syrup:

Lemon Chiffon:

Tiramisu:

More soy, but I put this one on my “worth it” list :-)

The Verdict:

After a very formal and official discussion of the panel :-D, I think we can agree that they were all “good” and especially considering most of them had a very respectable list of ingredients. We all had our favourites and ones that we didn’t especially care for. My favourites were the 3 Onion and the Tiramisu. I think Jaime was on board with me on that one. I am glad that I had other people around to taste test because while Jaime and I weren’t partial to the Roasted Red Pepper, Sarah and Amy were! I felt that the Lemon Chiffon was too “lemony” and that could be modified next time but adding some cream cheese and less dip mix perhaps.

We decided that the fruit dip mixes would be good adding to smoothies which I’m totally on board for trying that! I bet the “lemony-ness” of the Lemon Chiffon would be a star ingredient in a smoothie and the same goes for the Summer Berry.

And after we were sufficiently all “dipped” out (aka after we cleaned it all out), it was time to cut the cake:

I only ate about 2 bites and that was quite enough richness and sweetness for me!

I think it is safe to say that the first round of Epicure taste testing was a success and I look forward to putting the other products in my loot package to the test!