Just Simply Holly

It’s no secret that I like to eat, but the truth is I’m a VERY picky eater! Add to that the fact that I’m a spend thrift who HATES to spend money on anything that isn’t necessary and it makes for interesting situations when hubby and I go grocery shopping. My hubby is your typical “If I want it, I’m going to buy it” type of shopper. It doesn’t matter if it’s over priced or something that we don’t need, he’s going to buy it if he wants it or he thinks it sounds good.

We went grocery shopping last night, it was more of a we “HAD to” situation than a “wanted to”, because we were getting REALLY low on the things that we eat daily. We’re going through the frozen food section of the grocery store and something caught my hubby’s eye. He told me that I’d really want to check it out because he thought it would be something I’d like to eat. When I looked at what he was talking about, I was greeted with this box(click for larger image):

Now I’ll be the first to admit that bagels and cream cheese are one of my own personal “staple foods”. I have a bagel and cream cheese every morning for breakfast as long as I have them in the house. If I don’t have them in the house, I usually don’t eat breakfast…LOL! So Bagel-fuls REALLY piqued my interest. After checking out the nutrition information

And the cooking directions

I decided to see which flavor I wanted to try first

After careful contemplation I opted for the plain bagel filled with chive cream cheese as well as the cinnamon and brown sugar bagel filled with cinnamon cream cheese. The price kind of bothered me (They were $1.92 for a box of 4, meaning each individual bagel would cost 48 cents), because I knew that I could purchase a package of bagels and a container of cream cheese at a lower cost per bagel. But I decided to go ahead and give them a try because I was sure I’d eventually be able to find coupons for them if I really liked them.

This morning I decided to give the plain bagel with chive flavored cream cheese a try. I wish I’d have read the box when I got home from the store last night because on the back it states that they are better if stored in the refrigerator, and I put them in the freezer since that’s where I had found them at in the store. But that wasn’t a big deal. I opted to put my Bagel-ful in the toaster, and since it was frozen I actually ran it through the toaster cycle 2 times. By doing that I ended up with a bagel that was just a little crusty on the outside, but the cream cheese filling was still just a little frozen. (A “problem” that I wouldn’t have had if I’d have put them in the fridge instead) But it honestly wasn’t a big deal! This is what my Bagel-ful looked like straight out of the toaster:

And so you could see exactly how the inside of them look, I cut it in half for you

Overall, I’m VERY impressed with this product! The taste is excellent, the size is actually larger than I thought it would be and I will definitely purchase them again! ESPECIALLY if I can manage to find coupons for them! If I could get the cost per Bagel-ful down to under 40 cents, I’d keep these on my “staples” grocery list! They’re not messy, they’d be something great to take in the car or pack in a school lunch or even toss in your bag for a quick and easy snack!

So, if you’re in the frozen food aisle at your grocery store and happen to see Bagel-fuls and wonder if they’re worth trying, you get a DEFINITE yes from me!

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Although I like to think that I prefer a homecooked dinner for my family, there are often times when the reality is that it’s not always possible to have the time to cook, or the desire! Unfortunately each one of my family members has completely different food tastes and likes/dislikes, so eating dinner out or grabbing take out sometimes can mean a battle or, in the case of carry out, multiple stops. The one exception to that is pizza, but once again, we have people in this house who like pizza from one place while others don’t care for that pizza place and like a totally different one. So we try to alternate so that we all get to enjoy pizza from our pizza place of choice. Our differences in choice of favorite pizza places may have come to an end with a discovery that was made last night!

For many months we’ve seen the commercials on TV for Papa Murphy’s take and bake pizzas. Although there were a few in the area, none were close enough to us to be convenient. I had to take my daughter to see her doctor last night and they had moved to a new office since the last time I had taken her, so I was driving down a road I normally don’t drive down. On the way I noticed a new strip mall with a couple of shops that I thought would be neat to check out, and in the midst of those shops was a Papa Murphy’s! I thought that maybe on our way home from the doctors office I’d ask my daughter if she felt like trying their pizza and if she said yes I’d call my husband and get his opinion. She said sure and when I called my husband, he also said sure!

I wasn’t exactly what to expect or do when I went in and when I mentioned to the young lady behind the counter that it was my first visit, she was more than happy to explain what they had to offer, what they did and told me to be free to ask any questions that I had. First, I was THRILLED to find out that they offered mine and my husbands FAVORITE pizza topping (green olives), but I was even happier to find out that they also allowed you to substitute toppings on pizzas for ones of your own choice, just as long as you didn’t go over the original amount of toppings.

For instance, they offer stuffed crust pizzas and I was considering the CHICAGO-STYLE STUFFED PIZZA™ which included Premium salami and pepperoni, Italian sausage, beef, and onion mix. Garnished with Roma tomatoes and green onions for toppings. The only thing is, I do not care for Italian sausage or ground beef, but I was told that I could subsitute those for two toppings that I did like. But I was unsure if this would be a type of pizza that my husband would like, so I just went the safe route and ordered a pepperoni pizza and added onions and green olives for he and I. For the kids it was an easy choice, I simply ordered their Hawaiian pizza with canadian bacon and pineapple, since that is both kids favorite pizza!

The young lady behind the counter as so polite and helpful and since it was my first visit she even gave me $2 off each pizza. So I ended up getting 1 family sized pizza and 1 large pizza for a few cents over $20. Let me tell you, the family sized pizza is HUGE! If I’d have known how big it was, I would have ordered two large pizza’s instead…LOL! Now the thing with Papa Murphy’s pizzas is that they do not bake them, they make them from freshly made dough and toppings, then they wrap them in plastic wrap with the baking instructions and you take them home and bake them in your own oven.

They were, without a doubt, two of the best pizzas we have EVER eaten! The did not taste like delivery pizzas, but they also did not taste like my home made ones either. It was like having the best of both worlds! So here’s to you, Papa Murphy’s take and bake pizza! This family and it’s pets give you eight thumbs and twelve paws up for one of the best pizza dinners we’ve ever had! We look forward to many more Papa Murphy’s pizzas!

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