This post is sponsored by Aldi.

I’m currently in Chicago!  I’m on a tour of Aldi’s USA headquarters with a group of other bloggers, and it’s been so much fun.  And there’s SO MUCH FOOD.  So much delicious food.

 

And so  many friends!  Look who I found – Meghann from Meals and Miles.  Meghann and I go way back to the Orlando days. Even though we’re a thousand miles apart now, we still talk every week.  But I haven’t seen her in years.

(I got those black jeans for $25 on LOFT – such a steal!  They’re not that low anymore, but they’re still 30% off.)

 

And my friend Jen from Peanut Butter Runner is here, too!  She lives in Charlotte as well so it’s fun to spend time with her in Chicago.

Jen’s standing with Shannyn from Frugal Beautiful.  I love coming to blog events because I find so many great new blogs to read.  Shannyn’s blog is about living a fun, healthy life debt-free. 

 

The tour of Aldi has actually been one of the best corporate tours that I’ve been on, simply because we’ve done so much and it’s been so varied and interesting.  I’ll sum up what I’ve learned about budget grocery shopping in another post, but for this post, I thought I’d just talk about what we did at the Test Kitchen.

First up was a side-by-side comparison of Aldi’s in-store products to national brands.  Like Trader Joe’s, Aldi has in-store brands to save money on costs.  In the Test Kitchens, Aldi chefs do blind testing to compare the products to the popular national brands, and then they tweak their recipes to get it as close as possible (for 40 – 60% less for many products!).

 

Up first:  Greek yogurt.

I didn’t like the flavor or consistency of the first yogurt in comparison to the second.  I was *sure* that Yogurt A was Aldi’s in-store brand and Yogurt B was Chobani’s…  In fact, all the bloggers thought that!  But guess what?  Yogurt B was Aldi.  And it was priced nearly 50% lower. 

We also compared Havarti cheese… 

I couldn’t tell a big difference between the cheeses (which says something!), but the bloggers leaned towards liking the cheese that turns out to be Aldi, not the $5 brand. 

(You may recognize Roni from Roni’s Weigh, Sarah from SarahFit, and Bex from BexLife.)

 

We also compared chips and crackers – that’s where the national brands beat out Aldi.  Most bloggers preferred Tositios to Aldi chips – and so did I.  But at $0.99 cents, you can’t really beat the price of the Aldi chips for a big party!

 

Up next, we were confronted with this Aldi grocery cart.  We were instructed to guess the cost of everything in the cart.  Want to take a gander?  There’s two bottles of wine, a sirlon steak, and salmon in there.

 

There was a $100 gift card on the line, so I took this contest very seriously.  And guess what?!  I WON!  Guess all my Aldi shopping has been paying off.  🙂

 

I guessed $83.50.  Here’s the real total:

Everyone else low-balled it.  Wahoo!

We listened to both a registered dietitian and food stylish (cool job!) speak – and I’ll recap them later – and then we headed back into the test kitchens to make custom smoothies.

 

We entered a room with a HUGE spread of fruits, veggies, nuts, nut butters, yogurt, milk, and a team of chefs who were prepared to help us slice and blend our creations.

There were gift cards on the line for the most delicious OR the most nutritious smoothie.  We took our recipe-making very seriously!

Our smoothies were judged by the two guest speakers.  I ended up creating an Aldi nutella, orange, and vanilla yogurt smoothie, which won for the delicious category!  I was on a lucky roll yesterday.

And last, but certainly not least, we sat down to a delicious dinner.  I really enjoyed the dinner because while we ate, we talked about the lost art of dinner parties and how people don’t host as much anymore – mainly because of the cost.  We were eating SUCH delicious food that was made with really simple, low-cost Aldi ingredients… I feel inspired to throw a dinner party now!

I wish I had plated my food a bit better – I had just heard from a food stylist, for goodness sake! – because that plate does NOT do the following recipes justice.

 

For me, the stand-out recipes were the following two delicious vegetarian side dishes. {Recipes and photos re-published with permission – you should definitely check out Aldi’s recipe page because there are a ton of great, simple dishes.}

 

Sunsational Salad

(Ingredients for 6 servings)

 

1. 1 lime, juiced and zested
2. 2 tablespoons Carlini Pure Olive Oil
3. 1 ½ teaspoons Baker’s Corner Granulated Sugar
4. ¼ teaspoon Stonemill Essentials Ground Black Pepper
5. ¼ teaspoon Stonemill Essentials Iodized Salt
6. 2 peaches, pitted and sliced
7. 2 small cucumbers, seeded and sliced
8. 1 ear fresh corn, kernels removed
9. ½ red onion, thinly sliced
10. 2 cups Little Salad Bar Spring Mix
11. 4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
12. 2.5 ounces Specially Selected Feta Cheese Crumbles

 

Directions: In a small bowl, whisk lime juice, olive oil, sugar, pepper and salt until dressing holds together. In a large bowl, toss peaches, cucumbers, corn kernels and onion with dressing. Arrange over spring mix. Garnish with lime zest, basil leaves and feta cheese.

 

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cilantro Pistachio Pesto

(Ingredients for 6-8 servings)

 

Sweet Potatoes:

1. 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
2. 1 tablespoon Carlini Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3. Stonemill Essentials Iodized Salt, to taste
4. Stonemill Essentials Ground Black Pepper, to taste
5. ½ teaspoon Stonemill Essentials Chili Powder
6. Zest of 1 lime, divided

Cilantro Pesto:

1. 1 teaspoon Stonemill Essentials Minced Garlic
2. 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed
3. ¼ cup Reggano Shredded Parmesan Cheese
4. 1 ¼ cups Southern GrovePistachios, shells removed, divided
5. 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
6. ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons CarliniExtra Virgin Olive Oil
7. Stonemill Essentials Iodized Salt, to taste
8. Stonemill Essentials Ground Black Pepper, to taste

 

Directions: Preheat oven to 400°. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet. Toss with oil, seasonings and half of the lime zest. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender and caramelized. Meanwhile, prepare pesto: In a food processor, combine garlic, cilantro, parmesan, 1 cup pistachios, lime juice and olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Roughly chop remaining ¼ cup pistachios. Toss warm potatoes with pesto. To serve, sprinkle potatoes with remaining pistachios and lime zest.

So – that was my day in the Aldi Test Kitchen!  A total blast.  And like I said – SO MUCH good food.

 

Question of the Day:  What national brand food do you truly prefer the taste of?  Are there any in-store brands that you like?  I really like Trader Joe’s hummus in comparison to Sabra hummus.  And I liked Aldi’s super dark chocolate – way better than a plain candy bar!

 

This post was sponsored by Aldi.  As always, all opinions are my own.