Chicken Tikka Masala with #myQuorn

Yesterday, I was craving some Chicken Tikka Masala but with #nospendfebruary, I couldn't go to my favorite local indian place to buy some quick and tasty take out. Instead, I remembered that the nice people at Quorn had sent me a few coupons for free product and I had a bottle of Patak's simmer sauce in my cupboards. With a few tweaks and a hot pot of steamed rice, we had a yummy vegetarian meal that would have fooled even the most die hard of carnivores.

I picked up two different Quorn chicken products. The Chik'n Tenders and the Chik'n Nuggets. The nuggets were quite good, with a great chicken like texture, flavorful breading that was a good consistency. I bet it would fool many kids into thinking it was a non-vegetarian product. It stacks up much better nutritionally too with lower fat calories, lower saturated fat, lower cholesterol and higher dietary fiber.


The Chik'n tenders were also very good. My husband, ever the critic, tried some and noted that the Quorn product was actually more tender and juicy than regular chicken breast meat. He's not a fan of white meat so that's quite a compliment. Personally, I liked that it was so convenient, closely priced to regular chicken and easy to use.

Here's my on the fly recipe.

Chik'n Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
1 bag Quorn Chik'n Tenders
1 jar Patak's Simmer Sauce Tikka Masala
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup frozen peas

Directions:
1. Saute the Chik'n Tenders in a sauce pan with olive oil until little brown toasted parts start to show.

2. Pour in the entire jar of simmer sauce, adding water if too thick.

3. Add in sour cream and frozen peas. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Serve with white rice or naan bread. Enjoy!



How do you eat your Quorn?

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Fluffy Wheat Biscuits and Baking Powder Recipe

 I'm doing this #nospendfebruary challenge, and after the doozy of November, December and January of no holds barred spending, it's a welcome change. And it's getting me back in the kitchen more often which the Hosh is definitely enjoying.

On the first day of the challenge, we ran out of dish washing detergent and it seemed silly to go to the store on the first day so I gathered up materials from around the house to make my own (I'll share the recipe in another post.) Turns out, lots of things in my house can actually be made from other things! My pantry is about to get so decluttered.

Did you know that baking power is actually made up of two things that you probably already have in your house? Mind blown.

Here's the recipe:

Baking Powder Recipe
Ingredients:
1 part baking soda
2 parts cream of tartar

Directions:
Mix well. Store in airtight container for however long the first ingredient to expire lasts.

I know that it works because I made fluffy biscuits with it. And DIY baking powder is gluten free, unlike some baking powder on the market.

But enough of the baking powder talk, let's move on to the delicious biscuits. One of the keys to not spending is apparently pre-planning. Before making these biscuits, the fats (butter and shortening) must be frozen or at the very least, very very cold. Otherwise, these are a fantastically quick bread to make since it requires no rise time and a short bake time.

My only real tips when it comes to fluffy biscuits is the use of shortening or lard (lard is better but I had none), handle the dough as little as possible and do not twist the cutter when punching out the biscuit circles. Straight down and that's it.

I am calling this a wheat biscuit recipe but the flour is relatively interchangeable between bread, all purpose and wheat. Use what is on hand in the spirit of the No Spend February Challenge.

Fluffy Wheat Biscuit Recipe
Adapted from The Purple Spoon
Ingredients:
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat all purpose flour
1  1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter cut into 1/4" pieces
3 tablespoons cold butter flavored shortening cut into 1/4' pieces
1 1/4 cup cold milk
2 tablespoons of melted butter (for brushing on top)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. Mix the dry ingredients well. Then using a pastry cutter, fork or very quickly as to not melt the fats, your hands, cut in the butter and shortening pieces. The resulting flour should be somewhat sandy with the largest pieces of remaining butter and shortening no larger than a pea.

3.  Add the milk and mix until just combined. Again, the key is to handle this as little as possible to prevent toughness. fold the dough over on itself a 3-4 times as this is what helps create the delicious layers.

4. Lightly flour a surface and place the dough on the surface under a sheet of parchment paper. Try not to add more flour to the dough as the biscuits will be harder the more flour is added. Roll the dough out to 1/2" thick.

5. Use a lightly floured round cutter to cut out the biscuits, pushing directly down with no twisting. Place onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or silicone mat. The biscuits will not spread out very much when baking but they will rise. Brush tops with melted butter.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with butter and jam, or in my favorite way, with a fried egg and a slice of bacon. Yum.

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#FrostyVoxBox Reviews

The awesome folks over at Influenster sent me this free Frosty Vox Box full of winter goodies that I've been using for the past month. It was such a variety of products, I was impressed that they were exactly what I needed this winter!

Boot's No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Serum: This product was actually reviewed on the Doctors Show and already has a very loyal following for such an inexpensive product. I used it alongside my morning and evening moisturizer and immediately noticed results though I have heard that dramatic anti-aging results are seen closer to the 4 week mark. Highly recommend.

NYC Expert Last Lipcolor - Sugar Plum: I don't tend to like lip products that claim to be long lasting because they tend to be drying or result in an unflattering matte finish  but this lip color was actually moisturizing with a slight sheen. Very nice.

Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane: Since I'm still nursing my baby, this decaf green tea was perfect. The flavor is a perfect Christmasy replacement to my typical peppermint mocha.


Ecotools Styler and Smoother Agility Hairbrush: This was my favorite item in the entire Vox Box. I have used this everyday to simply brush or style my hair with a blow dryer. It is so well made and eco friendly to boot. Highly recommend.

McCormick Gourmet Collection Thyme: This thyme is extremely fragrant and perfect in soups, stews and spice rubs. This actually came in perfect time for a few dinner parties. Keeping new dried herbs is so important as the effectiveness of the herbs weakens over time but the McCormick containers definitely keep dried herbs fresh longer.

Fruit Vines Bites: I'm not the big candy eater in our family but my husband really loved the flavor and texture of this candy. It's the perfect texture for licorice, soft but with a good bite, and the flavor is intense instead of waxy.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Liner: This is an amazing waterproof liner. It doesn't smudge, applies creamy smooth, great staying power with a dark saturated color. Highly recommend.

Rimmel Gentle Eye Makeup Remover: Goodness, you need this remover if using the Scandaleyes waterproof liners! The product is not gentle on skin, however, and doesn't remove all makeup brands equally.

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Emile Noël Pumpkin Seed Oil Review

Let's talk Pumpkin Seed Oil. I posted a recipe here at the beginning of the month and shared this oil with all my foodie friends. Pumpkin Seed Oil has been a well hidden secret to all of us up to this point and based off their responses, the secret is about to be shared.

I started to look around to find out how this is typically served. It has such a lovely fatty mouth feel with an intense nuttiness I haven't experienced from any other oil. Emile Noël, creates their artisanal oils using a cold press, which is so critical in the production of nut oils because heat can dramatically change the flavor and quality of an extracted oil. Further, their oils are organic non-GMO fair trade so I consider them the standard by which all other oil millers are judged.

Popular ways to serve PSO is over vanilla ice cream which creates a delicious nuttiness. Think: the essense of nuts, a silky mouth liquid mouth feel accompanied by the creamy sweetness of ice cream. Another popular way to serve this is over greek yogurt. It is rumored to turn a delightful green color.

Aside from those ideas, PSO can be used in a similar method to truffle oil. It's not to be heated, as the health benefits dissolve with heat and the nutty flavor quickly turns to burnt. But it can be used to dress anything up with a subtle taste of the fall harvest.

Here's a quick recipe that required virtually no cooking but really impressed many of my dinner party and brunch guests. Some noted that it gave them a holistic feeling having pumpkin soup, eating the seeds and tasting pumpkin seed oil in the same bite.

Seeded Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:
2 boxes Trader Joe's Pumpkin Soup or make your own using this recipe (do not double).
4 tablespoon greek yogurt
4 teaspoon pumpkin seed oil
4 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

Directions:
1. Heat pumpkin soup in a saucepan. When heated to simmering, pour into 4 bowls.
2. Dollop each bowl with 1 tablespoon of greek yogurt. For a more formal presentation, place yogurt in a ziploc bag, cut a small hole in the corner tip of the bag, and squeeze out the yogurt in swirls.
3. Drizzle each bowl with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin seed oil over the yogurt.
4. Garnish the center of the bowl with pumpkin seeds.
5. Serve immediately.

This recipe, along with the earlier bruschetta recipe, has really made me fond of using PSO during the fall. I can imagine drizzling this over a homemade pumpkin pie ice cream, mixing with cream cheese to put into a holiday cheese ball, or just garnishing a plate of scrambled eggs.

I highly recommend adding Emile Noël's Pumpkin Seed Oil to every foodie's holiday pantry because it's such an interesting add to Thanksgiving and dishes. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta Recipe

What one word, when spoken as the summer heat starts to fade, immediately reminds you that Fall is coming? Pumpkin, of course. From lattes to microbrews, when the pumpkin is upon us, Fall has arrived.

Pumpkin Seed Oil, however, is a new one for me. Nutty in flavor, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, pumpkin oil is big on flavor and health. Why had no Fall season before informed me of this product?!

When Emile Noel offered to send me one of their non-GMO, organic, fair trade bottles of oil, I chose PSO because I had never seen it on shelves before! (Recently, I saw it at Trader Joe's, however, during the great pumpkin wave.)

Then I went to the farmer's market and the bread guy had loaves of Gilroy garlic bread. My favorite greens purveyor had beautiful arugula. My fridge had some leftover fresh mozzarella from a pizza we made the night before. A recent health kick provided some pumpkin seeds tucked away in my pantry.

This, my dear friends, is the result.

Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta

Ingredients:

8 slices of garlic sourdough

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 cups of arugula

8 slices of fresh mozarella

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 tablespoon of mustard

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds 

Look at that garlicky goodness.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a grill pan on high heat. Slice garlic sourdough in roughly the same size as the mozzarella slice. Brush each side with olive oil. When the pan is hot, place as many slices as will fit onto the grill pan. When desired darkness of grill marks is reached, about 3-5 minutes each side depending on the heat of the pan, flip each slice over and repeat. Continue until all the slices have pretty grill marks on each side. 

Grill marks for days.

2. Place all slices of garlic sourdough on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Layer mozzarella slices on each of the bread slices. When oven reaches 350 degrees, place the cookie sheet in the oven. Leave in the oven for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is slightly melted but not bubbling. 

3. While the mozzarella is melthing, whisk together the white wine vinegar, pumpkin seed oil, honey and mustard into a dressing. Throughly coat the arugula in the dressing. Top the melted mozzarella slices with the dressed arugula. 

4. Garnish the top of the toast with pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.

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Creamistry in Cerritos, CA

My little suburb has quickly become a southern California food destination where the latest and greatest in food innovations can be had in a couple of square miles.

Creamistry, a customizable made fresh with nitrogen ice cream shop, had a soft opening right around my son's first birthday. Naturally, his first bite of ice cream was going to come from this event.

Let's talk about how to order. Anyone who has ever been to Cold Stone creamery is likely familiar with the idea of making one's own ice cream flavor. First, pick a size. Second, pick a base. Then, pick the mix in and toppings. You can even make a float, ice cream sandwich, sake, whatever.

Now, many people might experience sticker shock when they see the prices on the cups. I have to bring this up because the comments on the price in the store were audible, despite the fact that it didn't stop anyone from actually ordering.  I'd like to say that you get a lot of ice cream for the price. You don't. What you get is extremely fresh ice cream, made to your flavor specifications with high end ingredients. And a reminder that ice cream is a sometimes food.

At Creamistry, there's a choice of 4 different base types. Original or Signature Premium, as they like to call it (very creamy), organic (less creamy but non-GMO), fruit sorbet (real fruit, no dairy) and wait for it... Dole. Yes, as in the same Dole that tastes exactly what goes into a Dole Whip Float at Disneyland. It's like Disney food without an entertaining way to walk off the calories.

This is where the signage is a little confusing. The creamy and nutty flavors can only be had with the Signature Premium or Organic base. The fruit flavors can be had in Signature Premium, Organic or Sorbet base. These bases are only the flavor listed and do not include any mix-ins. For isntance, the Captain Crunch base only tastes like Captain Crunch cereal but does not actually have crunchies in it... yet.

Then, for $1 each mix in or topping more, the ice cream creations begin. You can have Captain Crunch in your Captain Crunch so that you can crunch while you captain your ice cream experience. If you're more of a skipper type, there are combinations that you can just order without having to make those pesky toppings decisions.

I should also note that this method of nitrogen freezing ice cream really keeps the mix-ins crunchy, unlike premade ice cream where the mix-ins have melded and softened. Like with Oreos, or the aforementioned cereal.

I took a video to share with ya'll because the dry ice smoke is what puts the -istry in Creamistry. There is glass between the "lab" and the customers but right by the nitrogen mixers, there are gaps between the counter and the glass so that every time a mixer gets opened, the fog drifts out of the bowl, past the glass and over the counter. It is a very cool visual effect.


It was so impressive that I felt for sure the ice cream would not be good because it looked like a huge gimmick. The ice cream, however, was surprisingly good. The vanilla was among the best I had ever had (and the best my son had ever had since he's never had any ice cream before), the Dole pinapple sorbet was as good if not better than the Dole whip found next to the Tiki Room and the coffee was just perfect.

This is definitely better than Cold Stone as the ice cream stayed extremely cold for a long period of time without being hard, while Cold Stone's ice cream is always instantaneously mushy because it's been pulverized while the mix-ins are added.

It is on par with homemade ice cream, in a fraction of the time, without having to buy all the ingredients. Even with the long lines and the long wait for the orders to be completed, it's still faster than making my own.

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Charred Bacon Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Brussels sprouts used to be a mystery to me.  Always ordered in the restaurant, never attempted at home, except for a few lackluster attempts that never lived up to the restaurant version's perfection.

What is a perfect brussels sprout? Nutty roasted with crispy charred leaves, a tender inside and no bitterness to be found.

Turns out, with this vegetable, like as is the case with so many others, less is more. Don't fuss with it too much and it'll bring its glory to the surface.

First, bacon makes every delicious. Olive oil and salt with an oven set at 400 degrees is the fool proof method. Lemon juice balances out any bitterness that might occur.  And a dusting of mizithra or other similarly hard and salty cheese rounds it all out.

Turns out, if you pick fresh brussels sprouts with tight leaves and don't cut them in half, the inside of the sprout will steam itself into soft goodness while the outside gets a nice char.

Seriously simple. 

Ingredients
1 lb of brussels sprouts
2 slices of bacon
1/4 a cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt
1 wedge of lemon
2 teaspoons of mizithra cheese


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop the stems off the bottom of the brussels sprouts and remove any yellow leaves. Rinse and let dry.
3. Slices the bacon into slivers and lightly sauté to wick off some of the fat and separate the pieces.
4. Toss the brussels sprouts and sautéed bacon in olive oil and salt.
5. Spread out the coated brussels sprouts and bacon on a cookie sheet and place in the preheated oven.  Let them bake for 30 minutes or until the outer leaves of the brussels sprouts are mildly charred.
6. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and squeeze some lemon juice over the brussel sprouts. Dust with mizithra cheese.
7. Enjoy the wonders of this amazingly simple dish.

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Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops Review

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

If I had to describe Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops, I would say it is the prepster of cough drops: Understated, classic and somewhat unexpected. And totally comfortable in Martha Stewart's home.

Which puts these drops ahead in my book because I loves me some prepster style and Martha Stewart's home.

After my review of Ricola's new cough drops, getting a sampling of three of the Pine Bros throat drops gives me the opportunity to be the Cough Guru I always dreamed of. Being the generous Guru that I am, I shared this with the Hosh and two of our friends who happen to have great taste in cough drops.

Normally, when talking about something that goes in my mouth, I would start with flavor but instead, I'm going to talk texture.  What does "softish" even mean?  It's a cross between a hard candy, gummy and a caramel. 

Once, I made caramels from scratch and let them heat up a little too hot in the sugar boiling process and ending up with a caramel that really stuck to my teeth while also standing up to a bite.  If you were one of the people I gave those caramels to, you now know the texture of Pine Bros drops.   Except they're honey, cherry or licorice flavor.

Let's talk flavor.  These don't taste anything like those in-your-face, all about the menthol cough drops.  Actually, they're pretty much like candy.  Subtle candy that takes a long time to eat and might keep some rowdy children quiet longer than the average candy. In fact, I bet that I could give these to children and they'd never know it wasn't candy.  The honey flavored is the best honey candy I've ever had.  The cherry flavored has the taste of real cherries (as opposed to the outlandish artificial cherry flavor found in so many cough drops.) 

One my aforementioned friends with great taste specifically noted that she never experienced a pronounced cherry flavor.  It was like an ebb and flow of cherry, never quite peaking in the way she had come to expect of cough drops.  I'm not sure she thought this was a good thing and I'm not going to put any words in her mouth, unless that word is PINE.  You know, because the drops have the word PINE formed on them.

The Hosh is the only one who likes licorice flavor so I let him at a whole bag, a bag that he almost completely demolished in one sitting. My thought?  Gross!  But when I tried one, it was the most pleasant licorice flavor I've had since my days of drinking Jager.  Oh, how times have changed.  He also  said this was the flavor he would most like to have if he was sick because he felt it was more effective on this throat.

Which brings me to effectiveness. My friends said that they didn't feel these drops would be effective while they had a cold.  Again, the characteristic understated nature of the drops just doesn't try to compete with the full blown medicine in the mouth experience with which the other cough drops define the industry. 

But maybe that's why they're called "throat drops."  I found my throat was soothed after eating a Pine Bros drop, given I wasn't ever sick or coughing while I tried these.  And it's a possibility that popping one after another just made my throat feel soothed because it was forming a thick coating of the softish sugar.

It's also worth noting that these drops had a short list of ingredients that I could actually identify if I saw them in their natural state. Things like Gum Acacia, Honey, Corn Syrup, Water, Sunflower Oil and Carnuba Wax. Elderberry Concentrate is found in the Wild Cherry flavor.  Caramel and Anise Oil can all be found in the Licorice flavor.

For those who would rather lean on all natural cough remedies, I would definitely recommend Pine Bros as honey, elderberry and anise are all known to help the immune system fight colds and flus.  Plus, they also come in these awesome pucks which would make it easier to administer to children who are feeling under the weather instead of some kind of cough syrup. They'll think it's candy.

Though I'm not entirely sure this isn't candy.  


I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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4 Ingredient Chocolate Truffle Recipe

Is there anything better than a delicious dessert that can be made with only 4 ingredients?! One of my favorite items from Trader Joe's is French truffles but after trying this recipe, I'll probably opt to make them myself.

I had a bunch of my girlfriends over and we tried our hand at making these just in time for Valentine's Day.  I have to warn you that this is messy.  Some people do buy truffle molds so they don't have to hand roll the truffles but that isn't truly "artisan" is it? (Read: Simply not glory worthy.)  The girls felt it was on the messy side but I think they liked their finished product.

Enough with the chit chat, here's the recipe:

Ingredients
12 oz. chocolate chips with 60% or more cocao
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dutch processed cocoa powder or chopped nuts to coat

Directions
1.  Heat the heavy cream on low until simmering.
2. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, like a Pyrex, on half power for 30 seconds at a time taking care to stir between each 30 second interval.
3. Pour the heavy cream into the melted chocolate and stir until fully corporated and smooth. 
4. Stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Allow to cool.
6. Use a melon baller to scoop the chocolate and roll into a ball by hand. Place on a plate or tray until all the balls have been formed.
7.  Roll the balls in the cocoa powder or chopped nuts.

Additional Notes
Make sure the cream is hotter than the chocolate.  The chocolate doesn't have to be fully melted but adding colder cream to already heated chocolate will cause the chocolate to seize and it will not melt smoothly.

You can place the chocolate in jars in a slow cooker filled with hot water to melt the chocolate and keep it at the right temperature if you are making a large amount.  Make sure no water gets into the chocolate or that will also cause the chocolate to seize.

The chocolate can be place in the freezer to speed cooling but I wouldn't recommend it.  The best tip I ever heard from a professional chocolate maker was that the slower a chocolate cools, the better the texture and flavor of the end product.

I placed each finished truffle in a mini cupcake liner and kept them in a sealed container in the fridge.  Allow to come to room temperature before eating if you place them in the fridge.

 

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Gourmet Marshmallow Giveaway!

This is not my giveaway but it is my friend Staci's over at Luker Family Tales.  Free marshmallows for my hot cocoa while gathered with my family and friend around the Christmas tree sounds amazing.  And I'm entering.  You can too. 

But just so you know, I'm rooting for myself.

Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Product Review: Ricola Extra Strength with Natural Menthol



Compare the size of the box to a 3 month old baby.

I came home to what looked like the biggest box of Ricola I had ever seen.  I could only hope it was just one big block of the herby cough drop that I could chip and gnaw at during the cold flu ridden months of winter.  I would know that spring had come when the brick was completely consumed.

Sadly, when I picked up the box, it was so light there's no way I could have been a Ricola brick.

But when I opened it, I was greeted with the Ricola yodel, a big Ricola wrapped candy and my nosy cat trying to get all up in the box.  You can see the video on instagram. (Follow me while you're there.)




Could it be the Ricola brick of my dreams?

When I unwrapped the box, there was two bags of Ricola.  The Original and the new Extra Strength with Natural Menthol. 




That blue makes it look extra mentholy.

I should preface this whole review by saying that my husband gets sick a few times a year and inevitably he asks me to get him cough drops.  Except what he really means in to get him Ricola, the Original flavor.

Early in our relationship, he asked me for cough drops and I foolishly brought home Halls and was met with a deeply disappointed sick boyfriend. Lesson learned.



Wait, that's not Ricola brown.

Naturally, when he saw the blue bag, he immediately said, "I don't think I'm going to like this.  I like the mild menthol flavor of the original."

That packaging really makes the Extra Strength Menthol point.  And the candy is not Ricola's characteristic brown color.  This did not bode well.

But the Hosh is nothing if not an adventurer.  He was willing to try anyway.

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Christmas KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway

There are few things I love in my kitchen more than my KitchenAid Mixer.  I use it all the time!  I named him Duncan. After Duncan McCloud of the clan McCloud (what's up Highlander fans!), not Duncan Hines. I can see how that would be confusing. 

Here's a chance for you to either win or giveaway a KitchenAid Mixer of your very own. 

It’s Christmas Baker’s Edition Event

Organized by: Mom Powered Media

Grand Prize: KitchenAid Tilt-head Stand Mixer + accessories

Event dates: 11/18 - 12/9

Open to US + Canada

Referral prize: $25 Amazon E-Code or Paypal Cash

Bloggers: Sign Up HERE

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Restaurant Review: Thailicious in Artesia, CA

Fried Wontons - $4.95

Among the many things that changed in our lives when Baby Buckshot came into our lives was our eating habits.  Gone are those leisurely meals in those places called restaurants.

On our way back from a trip to Solvang, we were thinking about stopping in at a Ramen place with baby in tow.  By the time we were done with the 3 hour drive, we decided on delivery.

Sadly, there are only 3 kinds of foods that get delivered in Cerritos: Pizza, Thai and Mediterranean.  Since I was craving Asian flavors after a Danish weekend, we picked Thai.  I headed to the Yelp app where there's a new feature just in time for our new dine-at-home lifestyle: Eat24 and Yelp allow users to place orders directly from the Yelp app.

Thai Boat Noodles (sm) - $3.95

Thailicious was the closest restaurant that delivered using the Eat24 system and before we even got home, we had perused the whole menu, ordered and paid (including tip) all through the app!  I cannot express how excited I am about this convenience.  But if you've ever tried to order something over the phone with a screaming baby in the background, I think you can relate.

Anyway, we ordered Fried Wontons, a small order of Tom Kha Gai, Pad Thai, Boat Noodles, Red Curry and got 2 cups of Thai Iced Tea for free!

The Fried Wontons were perfectly fried and filled with a little bit of pork.  They were ok on their own but phenomenal with the sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

Thai Iced Tea - Free!

The Tom Kha Gai was the best I had ever had.  A good balance of creamy coconut milk, spice and sour flavors.  The fragrant lemongrass and galangal was just perfect.  There were also lots of chicken and mushroom bits, which I like. Hubs, who doesn't like mushrooms, said it was the best dish we ordered.

The Pad Thai was well packaged separating the bean sprouts and carrot shreds so that they could be mixed immediately before eaten keeping that fresh veggie crunch.  I'm not a huge fan of Pad Thai but the flavors were well balanced and Hubs really loved it.  He ate the whole order even after having some of everything else we ordered.

Pad Thai

Now, I'm a big fan of Boat Noodles but have only had one place do it well.  I'm constantly on the search for a good Boat Noodle restaurant and unfortunately, Thailicious doesn't deliver in this area.  They offer a small size of the dish which is ridiculously cheap at $3.95 but it just didn't hit the spot despite having all the right offal meats.  For the record, they did have the liver, tripe and I believe tendon.  This dish paled in comparison to the Tom Kha Gai.  No lie.

Tom Kha Gai - $7.95

The Red Curry was also phenomenal.  Full of bamboo shoots and chicken with a perfect red curry sauce.  Oddly, their rice had a weird texture.  It was on the soggy side and resulted in a lot of the grains sticking together instead of maintaining their individual grains.  It detracted from an otherwise perfect curry.

The Thai iced tea was also very good good and obviously made fresh.  I've been to Thai restaurants that use the bottles, which is really confusing to me because if there's one thing a Thai restaurant should be able to make, shouldn't it be the tea?

Red Curry - $7.95

The delivery was extremely quick, about 30 minutes, though they say the delivery could take 45-60 minutes to arrive. The delivery guy was also very nice.

Thailicious ranks among the top 2 Thai restaurants in the area, only topped by Sweetee Thai who doesn't offer Eat24 Yelp app ordering.

Thalicious

Address: 18902 Norwalk Blvd, Artesia, CA 90701

Phone:(562) 860-8843

Hours:

 

Monday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Friday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday	11:00 am – 9:00 pm

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