Review: BetterTaste.com

Review: BetterTaste.com
I love to cook and am always looking for new things to try. I recently came across an online store that sells gourmet products and gifts, BetterTaste.com. They have so many items to make memorable treats and most of the items are under $40.  If you see the white box with green logo on your doorstep, I'm sure that there is something good in it!

I had the opportunity to try their Creme Brulee kit and one of each of their non-seasonal mixes, including Original (it came in the kit), Chocolate, Key Lime, and Cappuccino.  I was also able to try some of their salt-free seasonings which come in cute containers with quadrants of seasonings.

Creme Brulee
As I mentioned above, BetterTaste.com not only has a Creme Brulee kit to get you started, but they also have mixes with fun flavors. There are three things that stand out about these mixes: (1) I was able to do all of the prep work in <10 minutes (not counting the hour that they sit in the refrigerator to set), (2) you don't have to add egg to the mix, and (3) each mix is $3.60 (or less if you purchase in larger quantities).

I've made creme brulee in the past, but when we last moved, I gave my set away to a friend. It had always been a tedious task to make it, including the steps of whisking for a long time (including eggs), using the stove-top, and using the oven. I remember filling glass baking pans with water and then putting my little creme brulee dishes into them as they baked in the oven.   It took a lot of attention and time. The new set from BetterTaste.com skips the oven steps. In fact, the mixes can be made using the stovetop or microwave!  Since it is 100+ degrees here, I decided to use the microwave method and it was super easy.

First, everything that you need comes in the kit with the exception of Butane, whipping cream, and milk.  If you have never bought Butane before, it is inexpensive and available at many grocery and drug stores. I picked mine up at Kroger for <$2. I was paranoid filling it up, but it turned out to be easy for me. 

As I mentioned, since it is hot at this time of year, the microwave method is appealing.  It takes 3 + 3 minutes in the microwave. First, I whisked the 1 cup of whipping cream and 1 cup of milk. Then I added the Creme Brulee mix and whisked for another couple of minutes. I thought about pulling out my KitchenAid mixer, but I found that it was easy enough for me to quickly do by hand.

Next, I microwaved for 3 minutes and pulled it out and mixed it for another couple of minutes.  It was very hot, so I had to be careful!

After mixing it, I put it into the microwave for another 3 minutes. Make sure that you use a large, microwave-safe dish when you do this because it really started to boil and steam, expanding to fill the entire bowl that I used!  It was fun to watch since my bowl was large enough, but it would have been a mess otherwise.

 After the second round of the microwave, I pulled it out and stirred again.  I then poured the mixture into the ramekins and put them in the refrigerator for an hour.

After an hour, I pulled them out and added the caramelizing sugar topping! I tried to pour it as evenly as I could, but then perfected it by gently shaking the ramekins back and forth to spread the topping.

I used the little torch to caramelize the sugar topping. Does it look good?! The smell of the caramelized sugar is the best!

I also want to share a picture of one that is half eaten so that you are able to see how this mix didn't stick to the ramekin much. Actually, it slid around easily which I was thrilled about because I was worried about a tough cleanup.  I love that this was relatively easy to make and easy to clean up!

Here are the same pictures, but for the Chocolate Creme Brulee! All of the mixes here use the same steps.

Mix the cream, milk, and special mix.

 Microwave for 3 minutes, stir, and microwave for another 3 minutes. (Again, look how much it expands in the second round of the microwave!) Be extra cautious removing it from the microwave.

 Carefully pour the mixture into the four ramekins.

 Let it chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour and then put the special sugar topping on.

 Carmalize it! Let cool off for a few minutes and then enjoy!

Check back soon as I will post more photos of how the other Creme Brulee flavors turned out!

Salt-free Seasonings
In preparation for this part of the review on the salt-free seasonings, I asked one of my friends for input.  I remember that we had dinner several months ago around the holidays. She lost a lot of weight and told me how she was exercising and eating better. She raved about salt-free seasonings and how she puts them on everything now in place of less healthy options. Since it has been several months, I asked if she was still using salt-free seasonings and sure enough, she is!  She likes food with flavor, but using the salt-free seasonings has given her the opportunity to have flavor to her healthier meals.

I tried a 4 (Salt Free) Seasoning  kit from BetterTaste.com that had the following four seasonings:  Garlic & Herb, Spicy Garlic, Spices & Herb, and Lemon & Herb. 

What I like about these is not only are they salt-free, but they are zesty!  They add great natural flavoring to meals. So far, I've tried mixing the Garlic & Herb into mashed potatoes and they were a hit! (My friend had recommended this as one of her favorites.) We put the spicy garlic on some toast with butter the one night and everyone loved it. I think that we'll try it on oven baked fries another time. We put the Spices & Herb on some chicken after we grilled and that was good.  We also put it on Spinach Salad (shown below). We are going to try it on baked chicken another time.

We put the Lemon and Herbs on some salmon that we then chopped up and added to a salad. That was my husband's favorite and he requested that we have this more often! We put it the Spices & Herb in lasagna and it was amazing (shown below).  

 

We also put it seasoning on the chicken (shown in the last three photos)! Delicious!

I'm excited to work these salt-free seasonings into our families meals and so are they! 
Are you surprised by how easy the Creme Brulee was to make?  Do you have a favorite Creme Brulee flavor?

Have you tried salt-free seasonings?

Learn More
Visit BetterTaste.com

I am appreciative of the free products that we received for this review. I was not monetarily compensated for this review and all opinions are honest and my own.