Tastefully Simple Parties: Nothing Simple About the Taste

I love good food. As you can tell by my other reviews, we like to dine out a lot. Well how would you like to be able to easily prepare gourmet food at home? Last week a friend of mine had invited me over for a "Tastefully Simple" party that she was planning. Well I just came back from my first "Tastefully Simple" party and now I finally grasp the concept of the name. The items that they sell taste great and are simple to make. All of the items require very few ingredients. I see this as a definite plus for unexpected guests. By having a few simple mixes on hand you can whip something up in no time.

I was amazed at all of the items you were able to sample. I have to admit I loved all of them. Some of them even had ingredients like "onions" that I don't really care for. (Example Vidalia Onion Dressing, I am not an onion fan at all but I thought this dressing was superb.) The "Bountiful Beer Bread" mix tasted like sourdough bread right out of the finest of restaurants. I was also astonished at the amount of bread that one mix made. The beer bread was on almost every plate of samples and there was a bowl of just bread, yet when I asked my friend how many loaves of bread she made for the party she told me just one. I think it is definitely worth the $4.99 asking price for the bread mix.

Our first sample was the "Creamy Wild Rice Soup Mix". It was served warm and it had a thick consistency. It was definitely restaurant quality compared to your average can of soup that you heat on the stove. Next we sampled various cheese dips and cheese balls. My favorite was the "Savory Cheese Dip" that is served warm. I thought the price of $6.99 was not that bad considering you get 2 packets of mix in the box.

The sauces were also very good and very grown-up. The "Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce" ($8.99) is only available until the end of this month. I did order a bottle of this. It had just the right amount of kick with just a hint of sweetness. (A few of the items in the catalog are seasonal and available only for a limited time.)

We also sampled a few of the desserts. The ones we tried today were the "Banana Rum Cheese Ball" mix, the "Absolutely Almond Pound Cake" mix, the "Truffle Fudge Brownie" mix and the "Nana's Apple Cake". All of the desserts were really good and of course very simple to make. The pound cake mix for example only requires you to add water and butter. (How much easier could they have made it for us busy folks?)

I have to say that the representative today was not pushy at all. I guess as with any home based parties the products seem to sell themselves. The only downside that I noticed with the products are the prices. I ordered four items and by the time shipping was added the cost was almost $40. Normally I wouldn't have spent that much, especially on mixes but they were honestly that good that it was worth the money.

You can place an order using Tastefully Simple's online site and checkout some of the recipes they have compiled using their products. If you're interested in having a party you can also receive awards based on your parties sales.