100% Organic McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal

Friends! Readers! I've been absent for far too long, I know! But if ever there was a good excuse to be had, have I got a good one. In researching these posts, I realized that I really would like to understand the science behind what we're eating. So I decided to become a nutritionist! Thing is, getting certified as a registered dietitian (the industry term) takes a dang lot of science courses, so I have been busting my butt studying organic chemistry and the like and I haven't been posting here for you. But in the meantime, I did start another (much less time consuming) blog, thingstobring.blogspot.com, which I encourage you to check out if you have a hard time thinking of what to bring to the office for lunch!

But considering Mark Bittman's recent post on the all-around evilness of McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal, I just couldn't resist putting together this post. I really enjoyed Bittman's review, as I've long been saying essentially the same thing to anyone who tells me, "But McDonald's has oatmeal now!" At $2.16 with tax, it's overpriced (for oatmeal) and it has almost as much sugar as a can of soda. Now having bought one, I especially enjoy the advertisement for the Chipotle BBQ Bacon Angus burger on the bag -- definitely evidence that McD's wants to get you through the door with the promise of a healthy breakfast just to tempt you with it's pricier, more delicious fare.

Bittman mentions the product's "11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen," but no one seems to have yet pointed out that NOT A ONE of the 21 total ingredients has anything to do with maple syrup! I'm glad I realized this before shelling out $10 for a bottle of organic maple syrup for my recipe, but I'm still left scratching my head. It's right there in the name of the product, and the fake corn syrup version has to be practically as cheap as fountain soda, so why not include it? I'll grant that using both maple syrup and brown sugar as sweeteners would certainly be sugar overkill, but that's never stopped a fast food chain. I assume that any hint of maple comes from the ingredient named "natural flavor (plant source)," but sheesh.

While we're still on the subject of sugar (I know, you want to get to the recipe!) I just have to point out something even more hilarious than the fact that there is no maple in this product. You see, the exact oatmeal mixture you get depends on whether you order the product with or without sugar. There are two separate oatmeal listings on the ingredients PDF:

Oatmeal: Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.

Oatmeal without Brown Sugar: Whole grain rolled oats, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.

While brown sugar is obviously not an ingredient in the unsweetened version, the unsweetened version also contains an ingredient that the regular version doesn't include. It's maltodextrin -- A SUGAR!!!!!!!!!! I cannot bold this fact enough to truly emphasize how ridiculous this is. Granted, maltodextrin is used in a lot of fast food products, and its primary purpose is not always as a sweetener, but you really have to wonder why it isn't included in the sweetened version if it has some other function. It seems to me that McDonald's figured that while some people might order the product without sugar, in order to make sure that customers really like the taste and come back for seconds, they'd better throw some sugar in there in some form just to be sure. Double sheesh.

Ok, on to the organic version. As Bittman says, you can throw this together in a fraction of the time it takes to wait in line at McDonald's, and for a fraction of the cost (and with my method cleanup is minimal). But the most beautiful fact of all is that (at least in NYC) organic oatmeal from the bulk bins at Whole Foods is the cheapest sort of oatmeal you can buy; it's practically free at $1.19/lb! That's enough for over a week's worth of breakfasts.



I've only used two teaspoons of sugar in my version, but the fact that the sweetened McDonald's version has 14 grams of sugar more than their unsweetened version suggests they really use closer to four teaspoons. Two seems plenty to me, but use whatever you like. If you'd rather sweeten is with maple syrup, Whole Foods has organic maple syrup for $9.99 for 10 oz. I used half and half instead of light cream because it's what I keep in the house, but really, it's all the same. Use milk if you don't have either around.

And the results? $0.68 for a completely organic breakfast that you can prepare with about two minutes of hands-on time and throw in your bag. That's less than a third of the fast food version's price, and the recipe will certainly take you less time than stopping by McD's to order some.

So I didn't actually feed this to The Expert. He's not much of a breakfast person, and oatmeal is the last thing he'd order even if he were. But my verdict is this: The organic version is definitely not as sweet, and it doesn't quite have the "maple" taste of the McDonald's version (I use quotes because I'm really not sure what that flavor is...it's something sweet other than sugar, but it's not distinctively maple.) The homemade version is also chunkier in that you can actually see the individual oats. The consistency is similar, though, and the fruit additions taste practically identical.

Honestly, the McDonald's version tastes slightly better, but in the way a candy bar tastes better than a granola bar. I don't want a candy bar for breakfast, thankyouverymuch, so I don't mind the homemade version in the least. Check out the recipe, I think you'll especially like the no-cook method I've devised for quick prep.

Recipe: McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal

Recipe: McDonald's Fruit and Maple Oatmeal

100% Organic KFC Double Down

It's been a few weeks since my last post, but I promise the wait has been worth it. I present to you the ultimate in fast food re-creations: the KFC Double Down.

KFC debuted the Double Down last month to great media attention. Multiple outlets called the breadless bacon and cheese sandwich "a heart attack on a plate" and the New York Times went so far as to say it was "a disgusting meal, a must-to-avoid." And yet, when I went to KFC to pick up my fast food sample, both of the people in line ahead of me were ordering the sandwich as well. KFC is definitely on to something here, and for as much as the New York Times may disagree, I have to say that I can see why. Although The Expert ate the majority of the monstrosity you see pictured below, I ventured a bite or two (and even more of my organic version) and have to say that fried chicken, bacon and cheese are darn alluring combination, even at the steep price of $5.98 (with tax).



Now, all this is not to say that I condone eating 32 grams of fat and 1380 mg of sodium on a regular basis. If anything, I hope that my recipe for making one at home will place this meal firmly in the category of the occasional, well-deserved (after a lot of hard work in the kitchen) treat. And if you need to reduce your sodium or saturated fat levels, you probably shouldn't even think about it! Leaving out or reducing the salt probably won't help - I didn't use enough in one of my first trials and The Expert said it tasted barely seasoned (even though I used other seasonings) and was hardly worth eating. If that doesn't give you some clue into what the "secret spices" keeping droves of customers coming back to KFC might really be, I don't know what would.

Since I didn't make the full meal with potato wedges and a 20 oz. drink (if you're going to eat this, I'm pretty sure you don't need the rest of the meal too!) the ingredient list is fairly low.



(Apologies for the exposed raw chicken...I did a lot of test runs to get the flavor and frying technique right, so I didn't have/want to buy another unopened package for the photo!)

Since the weight of meat changes after you fry it, it was hard to determine exactly how much chicken to use. KFC specifies the total weight of the sandwich, but not the individual weight of the chicken breasts. In the end, I decided to go with the maximum amount of chicken that my budget of $5.98 would allow, or 165 grams.




Using 165 grams of chicken, the total weight of the finished sandwich was 230 grams. Now, KFC states that their sandwich is 241 grams, but the sandwich I picked up was 221 grams. So, 230 seems like a happy medium to me! It brings the total for the organic version to $5.97, just a penny shy of the original. However, another factor influencing the price is that I allotted $1.25 for the organic frying oil, which is the price for half a cup of oil if you don't reuse it, as I did for the fries in the Wendy's meal. If you do filter and reuse it (which I actually did do, it's pretty easy with a coffee filter), you can definitely bring the price down by at least another $0.25.

Trader Joe's sells organic versions of the two cheeses KFC claims to use on their sandwich (Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack, but they both looked more like white American cheese to me!) for $3.99. Noticing a little wiggle room in my budget, however, I decided to try out Organic NYMilk's Monterey Jack, a local product I recently discovered for $4.99 at the natural food market in my neighborhood. That's a pretty great price for a non-Trader Joe's brand product, and I was really happy to discover that it was incredibly fresh and also tasted less salty than other Monterey Jack I've tried. I believe they recently started selling at Whole Foods as well, so give it a try if you see it!



And c'mon, scroll back up and compare this picture to the first one. It may still be a heart attack on a plate, but at least it's an appetizing one! I swear I didn't try to make the first picture look bad...I literally got a new camera in the interim between the meals, but I'd even venture to say that this organic version looks more appealing than the sandwich in KFC's professional picture. But hey, enough about my opinion, let's hear what The Expert has to say.

The Expert's Verdict: It's GOOD. The chicken is less greasy and the bacon is more crisp. The sauce is spicier, but of course I like that. It got much better once you added more salt. I think I'm more likely to die of happiness from eating this than from a coronary heart attack!

Resemblance to original meal: 9
Overall deliciousness: 8.5

Before you go on to the recipe, I must warn you to proceed with caution! This may be delicious, and in my opinion, much better for you than KFC's version, but that doesn't mean it needs to become a weekly staple. I hope you'll have fun making and eating it as an occasional treat!

Double Down

Update 6/3/10: For one, I fixed the above link so it directs to the recipe. For two, I just discovered that I am not the only crazy fool to try and make one of these at home! Serious Eats has a version made with quality (though not organic) ingredients that calls for a little more finesse in the cooking technique than I've used, and Ate - Bit Vegan actually made a vegan version! That's gotta be better for you than the nearly 100% carnivorous original, but I doubt The Expert would like it much...

Recipe: KFC Double Down

Nomi Network Cherry Mascarpone Brownies

I hadn't planned to post this recipe for the chocolate cherry mascarpone ganache brownies (yeah, you heard that right!) that I donated as a dessert to last night's Nomi Network cocktail event, but they were such a hit that I figure I have to! Warning: they're not fast food, but that doesn't mean they're any better for you! There is a LOT of butter in this recipe (especially when you're tripling it for a crowd!) But check out the final result:

Holla!!! I truly don't consider myself a much of a baker, but put enough butter, sugar, chocolate and cheese in ANYTHING and you're bound to have people bowing at your feet. They were almost 100% organic...I haven't been able to find organic mascarpone, but the Trader Joe's mascarpone that I used is made with non rBST (bovine growth hormone) milk, so close enough. Oh yeah, and the homemade vanilla extract I used was made with regular old vodka, but the vanilla beans were organic!

And just in case you might be thinking that these are a healthy snack because they're organic (as many people in a recent study did, go figure!) perhaps this picture of all the butter I used will make you think again! These are definitely a special treat, and I cut them into such small pieces because that amount is really all you can handle at once!

Mmm! You can find the recipe at Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn - they did a great job with the directions so I won't mess with perfection. My only modifications were that I added some chopped (defrosted) frozen whole cherries right before putting the batter in the pan (I used two bags for a triple batch, so maybe use a little less than one bag if you're making a single batch) and I used the double boiler method since I don't trust that much expensive organic chocolate in the microwave!

Speaking of which, I haven't done a cost breakdown for these, but watch out because they're probably the most expensive recipe I've done so far. But hey, Nomi Network is such a great cause, it was totally worth it! Check out their new line of bags handmade from sustainable materials by survivors of and women at risk for sex trafficking. All the proceeds go straight back to the women, and they've got some really cool stuff!

And lastly, a great big shout out to the only other love of my life besides The Expert, Trader Joe's. They donated about four buckets of fresh flowers to the event and there were so many that we got to send many of the volunteers home with a bouquet at the end of the night! Also a shout out to Endangered Species chocolate for donating a huge box of organic and fair trade chocolate to the raffle as well as smaller items for the gift bags. You're lookin' at the girl who went home with the raffle prize - that chocolate just might have to show up in a recipe sometime soon!

What's in my...Pizza: Sodium

The Expert's first reaction to my version of Domino's pizza was that it was way less salty. Since sodium has been in the news a lot recently - last week, 16 food companies pledged to reduce the sodium levels of their products over the next few years - I thought it would be interesting to compare the amount of sodium in my pizza to the takeout version. After all, a recent government-commissioned report found that too much sodium may be responsible for 100,000 deaths a year in the U.S. (from sodium related health issues like high blood pressure) and most Americans consume twice the daily recommended limit!

Although the sodium levels I've listed for Domino's come from their nutritional information, the levels in my pizza were a little harder to calculate. I found varying information on how much sodium one teaspoon of salt contains, perhaps due to the amount to which the weight and volume of different types of salt varies (kosher salt weighs less than table, for example). I decided to go with the calculations of the High Queen of Nutrition, Marion Nestle, who writes on her blog that a teaspoon of salt weighs four grams, and each gram contains 400 mg of sodium. The rest of the information below is from the nutrition information printed on each product I used (except for the onions, which I found at Calorie Count).

Crust Marinara sauce Cheese Sausage Onions Total

Domino's 1190 mg 800 mg 1250 mg 1030 mg 5 mg 4275 mg

Organic 1600 mg 498 mg 862 mg 500 mg 2 mg 3462 mg

Keep in mind that these values are for the entire pizza, not just one serving! Still, assuming that you eat perhaps one third of my pizza, you've had around 1150 mg of sodium, or about half of what the American Heart Association suggests an average adult should consume per day (2400 mg). I don't think that's all that bad, personally, assuming that you're a healthy adult who eats maybe a bowl of cereal for breakfast (mine is less than 300 mg with milk) and a sandwich for lunch (somewhere less than 950 mg, hopefully!)

The Expert argues that Domino's didn't actually change their recipe when their customers started complaining that their pizza tasted like cardboard, they just added more salt. I don't have the nutritional information for Domino's previous recipe so there's no way to tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least partially true that the new recipe includes more salt - it's a darn easy way to enhance a product's flavor on the cheap. It's also worthy to note that Domino's wasn't one of the 16 companies that has pledged to reduce sodium in their products...

But to be honest, while Domino's sausage and onion pizza does technically have more sodium than my version, it doesn't have THAT much more, especially if you're a person watching his/her sodium intake. But that's the great thing about cooking at home - you can control exactly how much salt goes into your food. A clove or two of fresh minced garlic would be a great replacement for the two teaspoons of salt in my pizza crust recipe. I also just discovered Trader Joe's Organic No Salt Added Low Fat Marinara Sauce, which has only about 33 mg of sodium in 2/3 cup, compared to the 498 mg in the tomato basil version that I used. Of course, the low sodium version has about three times more sugar, but that's a problem you're bound to run into when using pre-made low sodium (and low fat) products.

When tomatoes are in season later this summer, I'm looking forward to making organic tomato sauce from scratch, which will be a great opportunity to control the amount of salt AND sugar in the recipe. Any suggestions for what meal I should use it in? Olive Garden, perhaps?

Tomorrow's Lunch: More Pizza!

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Short of homemade pasta (and I'm definitely not going there!) any recipe I could give you that uses flour, cheese and marinara sauce is going to look suspiciously like pizza, and who wants to go through all that effort when you could just reheat some of the leftover pizza you still have in the fridge? Somehow I ended up with nearly two entire pizzas leftover, even though I fed at least 12 people at my Food, Inc. screening. The Expert and I reheated some in the oven for dinner the next day using the following method:

Organic Domino's $5.99 Medium Pizza Deal

When I decided to host a screening of Food, Inc. to promote the movie airing on PBS last week, I was wracking my brain to come up with a crowd-pleasing, affordable and easy to make meal to serve. Ordinarily, if you're having a bunch of people over to watch a movie, wouldn't you just order pizza? But considering the high mark up of organic cheese and the incredibly low cost of pizza deals like Domino's two medium pizzas for $5.99 each, I was convinced that organic pizza was going to be way too expensive. I checked out Domino's nutritional information (PDF) anyway though, and was intrigued to see that not only do they break down exactly how much of each ingredient they use on each pizza, but the cheese component is only 142 grams.



Now, I make pizza for myself and The Expert all the time, but I'm certainly not so stingy as to use only 142 grams of cheese! I usually use an entire 8 oz./227 gram package, so it had to be a mistake. But I decided to give the paltry amount a shot one night anyway, and I was shocked to find that although the amount looked questionably small before I baked the pizza, when it came out of the oven, the pizza had baked better, was much easier to handle, and seemed like it contained a perfectly reasonable amount of melted cheese. Crowd-pleasing movie night dinner problem solved!

Earlier in the week, The Expert and I ordered the above two pizzas, ham and pineapple (The Expert's fav), and sliced sweet Italian sausage with onions for $17.21. That included a $1.99 delivery charge and $3 tip, though, so let's just pretend we picked it up at the store and paid $13.22. That's $6.61 per pizza, including tax.

I know what you're probably thinking: what's pizza night without pepperoni? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down any organic pepperoni, although I know that a few brands make it from researching the product online. But sausage is likely even cheaper considering you slice it yourself, and Applegate Farms has some really interesting flavors, like spinach and feta or chicken and apple, that are way more inciting than pepperoni, if you ask me.



Everything you see here is from either Trader Joe's or Whole Foods (again...why don't I just work for their PR departments?) When you consider that I'm making three different kinds of pizza - I added a three topping veggie pizza even though we didn't order one from Domino's - the number of ingredients is actually really low.

The yeast I used isn't pictured since I've been storing my 1 lb. package of Saf Instant Yeast in an old salsa container in the fridge for the better part of a year and I didn't want to confuse anyone! It's not certified organic, but then again neither is the salt I've been using in each of these meals. When someone starts making certified organic instant yeast (or salt), I will definitely pick some up!



As you can see, the total varies depending on the toppings, but they're all under $6.61! And remember, that's not including any delivery charge or tip. And really, when was the last time you drove to the pizza place to pick up pizza for movie night? Sure, maybe if you're stopping by Blockbuster on your way home, but let's be serious...nobody does that anymore. When you consider the money you'll save on the delivery charges too, you can make an entire additional organic pizza!



Delicious, no? Let's see what The Expert thinks:

The Expert's Verdict: "Domino's is too salty, this tastes much more normal. The cheese and sauce amounts are really similar and the toppings are fresher. The crust is different though, not quite as soft. The butter on the crust makes it too greasy and kind of annoying to eat, but I could say that about Domino's version too."

Resemblance to original meal: 9
Overall deliciousness: 7

My Food, Inc. pot luck viewers were fans as well. "It's remarkably similar to Domino's version, except way more awesome and I didn't have to wait an hour and a half for it to be delivered!" said one happy eater. We enjoyed the movie with some local and organic brews (my guests' "pot luck" contributions) but we were glad to have eaten before we started watching the film due to some of the yuckier scenes displaying how much of our food is produced. If you still haven't seen it, PBS is streaming Food, Inc. online until midnight tomorrow, 4/28. Go, watch it now! Then come back here and make these recipes:

Dough

Pizza

Recipe: Domino's Pizza

Recipe: Domino's Pizza Dough

What's in my...? Beef: Autolyzed Yeast Extract

I can't figure out Taco Bell's nutrition website. Under the Food Allergens & Sensitivities section, the only foods that are linked to MSG (monosodium glutamate) are the Frutista Freezes, which are "prepared in common equipment" to another food that contains MSG. Putting aside the thought that I don't know what kind of equipment a fast food restaurant might use that would somehow prepare both a fruit smoothie and something that would benefit from MSG (I'm assuming I'm the only one wonky enough to use an immersion blender on my beef!) nothing else on the menu is listed as either containing MSG or being prepared on the same equipment as an MSG-containing food. My best guess is that the MSG mystery happens somewhere at Ye Olde Frutista Freeze Factory, but anyway, that doesn't change my point that much of Taco Bell's food kinda sorta does contain the bad component of MSG anyway, even though they don't mention it.

One of the ingredients in Taco Bell's seasoned ground beef is autolyzed yeast extract. Sounds okay, right? Extracts are good…peppermint, vanilla. Yeast is usually pretty good; we certainly couldn't have bread without it, although I can't really think of a reason to toss it into my ground beef. Autolyzed is…automatic? Maybe?

It turns out that autolyzed yeast extract is created by applying salt or heat to yeast, and then processing an extract out of the resulting reaction. Free glutamic acid develops somewhere along the production line. As it turns out, free glutamic acid is the precise component of MSG that many people have strong sensitivities to. But the beef doesn't technically contain monosodium glutamate (and there's no column for free glutamic acid) so Taco Bell doesn't have to flag the ingredient in the food sensitivities section. So does Taco bell use autolyzed yeast extract instead of MSG because it's the best ingredient for that authentic Mexican flavor, or because they don't have to mention MSG specifically? Considering the implied health benefit of being "MSG free," I'm going to go with the latter. If you want to find out what other Taco Bell products include free glutamates, check out this interesting article from MSG Exposed. It's in practically everything!

For now, I won't get into whether MSG is something you want to eat regularly...some people love it, but many experience extreme symptoms like headaches, numbness and shortness of breath when they consume it. I don't think I have any sensitivities to MSG personally, but since salt and spices do a perfectly fine job of flavoring food in my opinion, I tend to avoid it (in all forms!) 

Photo used under Creative Commons from caffeina.

Food, Inc. Airing on PBS this Wednesday, 4/21!

Are you a person who eats? Food? Oh good! Then you really don't want to miss the documentary Food, Inc., airing this Wednesday, 4/21 at 9 pm on PBS! The film made a splash over the summer by exposing how our food is really produced, but it wasn't a major release so it's awesome that PBS is airing it for all public broadcasting viewers to see. And the best part is that if you can't catch it on Wednesday, PBS's POV is streaming the film online for free all week starting today. Check out the trailer:



Why not invite a few friends over to watch and discuss the film? PBS is encouraging viewers to throw a potluck viewing party and discuss where the ingredients in each dish may have originated. You might even win some free gifts from PBS if you tell them about your party! I'm throwing a pizza party myself...bet you didn't think it was possible to make organic pizza at home for less than Dominos' shockingly cheap $5.99 medium pizza deal, did ya? I'll post the recipe next week!

Tomorrow's Lunch: Taco Salad Wrap

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There are tons of meals you could make with the leftover ingredients from the Taco Bell meal - quesadillas, more tacos, taco salad, etc. I like this taco salad wrap because I love taco salad and it's a great item to take on the go. Sure, you could call it a burrito...I like to think of it as a wrap because it has a good amount of lettuce and you can eat it cold, but really, isn't all American style Mexican food just similar combinations of ingredients with different names? It's delicious no matter what you call it! If you want to use up any leftover tortillas from the first meal, you could make mini versions of this recipe and pack several for lunch.

100% Organic Taco Bell Mexican Pizza Combo

I'll admit that back in my naive days of fast food consumption, Taco Bell was my favorite. I mean, who doesn't love Mexican food? And where I hail from, there weren't many authentic Mexican establishments to enjoy, so Taco Bell might as well have been the real deal. But somewhere along the line, my perception of Taco Bell as quality fast food did a complete 180.  It may have started with the reports I've heard now and again about Taco Bell using "Grade D meat" (not true, apparently) but I'm sure what cemented it is The Expert's tale of a food-poisoning induced Taco Bell boycott that lasted the better part of a decade. Yikes! But The Bell's lure was too strong for my fast food aficionado; after eight long years, he finally gave in to his favorite, a Mexican pizza combo with two soft tacos supreme:



Mmm...yo quiero E. coli? I mean, it's a steal at $7.58. Not. I will admit that this smelled pretty good when I got it home to take the picture, but once I got up close, it had a peculiar chemical-y smell that I'm going to blame on the reduced fat sour cream. I know it's "healthier," but I'll take a dollop of the real stuff anytime if having reduced fat means I'm consuming all this:

Cream, Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Nonfat Dry Milk, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Lactic Acid, Gelatin, Guar Gum, Mono And Diglycerides, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Vitamin A, Potassium Sorbate (A Preservative), And Natural And Artificial Flavor. CONTAINS MILK

But hey, at least it CONTAINS MILK! Plus, the beef still scares the bamboozles out of me, even though it's not "Grade D." And anyway, this sort of Mexican food is so easy to make at home! To re-create this meal, I found all the ingredients at just Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.



My clerk at Trader Joe's argued that he never makes Mexican food at home because of all the little ingredients you have to buy, but I would disagree. This meal has the exact same number of ingredients as last week's chicken meal, and you could get the number even lower by using a seasoning mix like Simply Organic's Southwest Taco mix ($1.49 at Whole Foods) instead of the four spices. The real downside, though, is that it will definitely run you more than the chicken meal:



The total is pretty close to the original at $7.31, but it's a small price to pay to be food poisoning free, as far as I'm concerned! I'd hoped to have enough left in the budget to use another one of Trader Joe's organic juices to replace Taco Bell's option of Hawaiian Punch, but I had to settle for another iced tea option. This time I used Tazo Organic Apple Red Herbal Infusion (not pictured) as a fruity substitute for Taco Bell's raspberry iced tea. I used the same method to prepare the tea that I used in the Wendy's meal, so you won't find it below, but give this brand a shot even without any sugar, it's actually pretty sweet!

Speaking of things that are sweet, check out the final meal:



And The Expert agrees, he gave it the best ratings yet!

The Expert's Verdict: "The portions are much bigger than Taco Bell's. The pizza is thicker and easier to eat, but the tortillas aren't as flaky. The cheese is less greasy and the meat has more seasoning, but I like it. (note: I don't think Taco Bell uses cumin, but Mexican food without cumin is a crying shame as far as I'm concerned!) The tacos have a better division of temperature...the meat is hot, but the lettuce and sour cream are cold like they're supposed to be. The hot sauce doesn't compare to Taco Bell's fire sauce, though. It's watery and too salty! Of course, it's kind of hard to duplicate perfection."

Resemblance to original meal: 8
Overall deliciousness: 9

Confession...I let The Expert use the fire sauce from the first picture on the rest of the meal! Guess he likes what he likes, but I thought the organic brand I found (The Wizard's Organic Hot Stuff) was actually pretty good!

Check out the recipes; I've separated out the beef portion since it's used in both items.

Ground Beef

Tacos Supreme

Mexican Pizza

Recipe: Taco Bell Ground Beef