I recently had the opportunity to review a few different Krogrer brand foods, perfect for a family dinner. The items included a Kroger Moist & Tender Pork Tenderloin, refrigerated Kroger crescent rolls, Kroger refrigerated mashed potatoes, and Kroger Cake Mix and Rich & Creamy Frosting.
First off, I am not a great cook. I do like pork tenderloin, but I usually make it in the crock pot, and it's just OK. I guess I could probably brown it first, but it seems to be a little soggy no matter what I do. So, I decided to try Kroger's recipe for Mahogany Pork Roast. Here is the recipe (courtesy of Kroger Foods):
Ingredients:
Non-stick cooking spray
2 Moist & Tender pork tenderloins (about 1lb each)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 large clove garlic, minced
Directions:
1. Combine honey, soy sauce, and garlic in large resealable plastic food storage bag. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade and store in the refrigerator.
2. Place pork tenderloins in bag with marinade mixture. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight to marinate.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Place the tenderloins in the prepared pan side by side and discard the used marinade. Roast 30 minutes.
5. Brush reserved marinade over the pork. Continue to roast the pork until thermometer reads 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 10 minutes with a foil tent.
6. Thinly slice pork and serve with Kroger homestyle mashed potatoes, green beans, and crescent rolls.
I love the fact that there was only a few ingredients in this recipe. NOTE: be sure to follow the directions exactly and "discard the used marinade". I had my tenderloin marinating in the pan (didn't have any large Ziploc bags on hand), and I completely forgot to do this before baking the tenderloins. The marinade burned on the bottom of the pan and smelled terrible! Again, this was my fault, not the recipe's fault!
At any rate, this turned out AWESOME! It was nice and browned on the top, and super moist inside. I couldn't believe how good it was. My husband really liked it, too. And it was so easy!
Now, on to the side dishes. I honestly wasn't excited at first about the Kroger Homestyle Mashed Potatoes. Like I mentioned before, I'm not a great cook, but I can make potatoes! However, I changed my mind very quickly after heating these potatoes up in the microwave. They were buttery, fluffy, and delicious. Note to Kroger: please reconsider having the cooking instructions on the bottom of the package. I had to lift up a very hot package of potatoes above my head to see how much longer they needed to cook. Please consider printing them on the top of the package.
The crescent rolls were awesome as well. I usually do buy Pillsbury rolls, but honestly, the Kroger rolls were just as good - and cheaper! Here's a photo of my Spring Dinner:
Then, my 5-year-old and I decided to make a cake. We used Kroger's Devil's Food Cake Mix and Rich & Creamy Chocolate Frosting. The cake was pretty good; I thought it could have been slightly sweeter. The frosting was really tasty and you could not tell that it was a store brand. Both were on sale for $1 each when I purchased them - what an awesome deal! We decided to use my Pampered Chef square muffin pan to make mini-cakes. My daughter wanted to put some red sprinkles on the mini-cakes - here's the final result. YUM!
Overall, I was very happy with all of the Kroger products that I tried out. The pork tenderloin was awesome, and the crescent rolls were a great deal. I'm not 100% sure I'd spend $3.59 on refrigerated potatoes again, though - they were delicious, but it's so much cheaper to make your own mashed potatoes. I'd definitely buy the Kroger crescent rolls and cake mix/frosting again.
I love saving money on groceries, and Kroger products are a great way to have quality food at very reasonable prices.
*Disclaimer: I am a BzzAgent, and I received samples and/or coupons from BzzAgent for my review. The views and opinions on this page are completely my own.
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