Red Gold Product Review & Giveaway

Hey guys!  Guess what?  It's football season!  That means cooler weather (well, not yet), team pride, and tailgating parties/cookouts!  We all have our favorite representative colors and no matter the rivalries, we also share a love of Gameday treats.

Now, I have a confession to make.  Before last month, I didn't know there were nacho-making alternatives out there, so I have just been advocating Rotel brand Tomatoes and Green Chilies for any and all Tex-Mex type recipes.  I know, sounds crazy right?  However, Red Gold asked if they could send me a variety pack of their products to try out, and I said that I would try them and review them in an honest post.

*Disclosure: Now mind you, although Red Gold provided me with some of their products for free, my opinions here about those products are my own.  I was not asked to write a favorable review.  I always give honest and straight-forward opinions about all products, services, and restaurants on OMG, Have You Tasted This? and will not sacrifice the integrity of this blog for any reason - ever.

That being said, I have now tried several of Red Gold's products and I want to share my opinion with you about them.

First off,  I like to make chicken quesadillas a few times a month (this recipe has been revised again, I'll update it soon).  They have become a staple in my house.  I have always just grabbed and used Rotel for this recipe, but the last time I made them, I used Red Gold's "Queso Ready" Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies instead, and there was definitely a difference in quality.  When I open a can of Rotel, I usually pick out about 10-20% of the under-ripe tomatoes before adding them to my dish.  Still, the tomatoes I use that are left are rather pale, but I use them anyway, because I didn't realize there were options.  When I opened the Red Gold can, I immediately noticed the vibrancy in the color of the produce, and I didn't find but maybe one or two not-quite-ripe tomato cubes, as opposed to the large quantity in Rotel.  This already told me that the attention to quality detail was better from the Red Gold company, and that is a huge deal for me.  The Red Gold brand also contained much less sodium (380 mg vs. Rotel's 520 mg), more calcium and iron (4% vs. Rotel's 2%), and more Vitamin A (15% vs. Rotel's 8%) per serving.  The flavor of the Red Gold Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies was good, and the heat from the chilies was nicely balanced.  Based on my experience, I will be buying the Red Gold product over Rotel from now on.

Another product that I tried from Red Gold was the Petite Diced Tomatoes with Lime Juice & Cilantro.  Remember the blog post I did about the fish tacos?  Well I decided to try them at home.  I had never blackened fish, (or anything else for that matter) and I wasn't sure what to do to make a spicy/sweet pineapple salsa.  But hey, I'm all about winging it, so I read up on how to "blacken" fish and went to the store and bought a can of diced pineapple, still unsure of what I was going to do with it exactly.  I dipped the tilapia in melted butter because I am all about eating healthy that's what I thought sounded good in some of the recipes I found.  I dipped it in the creole seasoning, and fried it for about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Yay!  The fish looked right, now what about the salsa?  I looked in the cabinet and saw the Red Gold tomatoes and thought that the lime juice and cilantro might go well with the fish seasonings. So I opened the can of pineapple and dumped it in a bowl with the drained Petite Diced Tomatoes with Lime Juice & Cilantro and mixed it all up.  It tasted great!  The citrus lime flavor mixed well with the pineapple, and the tomatoes and cilantro blended out the different tones and made a great tasting pineapple salsa for my fish tacos.  I got out the flour tortillas, placed the fish on them, followed by cabbage, the pineapple salsa, shredded Monterrey jack cheese, and topped it all with sliced fresh avocado.  D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!  This would also be good in the chicken quesadilla recipe, just FYI.

Ok, one more product that stood out to me from the Red Gold family, was Mama Selita's Jalapeno Ketchup.  Yes, you read that right.  Jalapeno ketchup!  I was like, holy cow, why haven't I ever thought of this?  Genius!  Ok, so the first thing I thought that it would go well on was meatloaf.  I haven't tried it on meatloaf yet, but I surely will the next time I make it.  What I DID have it on though, was cheeseburgers.  YUM!  Seriously, this is the best thing to happen to ketchup...well, almost.   I had one problem with it - it is made with high fructose corn syrup, which is a bit of a letdown for me.  I never buy ketchup made with HFCS, or anything else if I can help it.  But, if you don't have an issue with HFCS, then by all means, try this because it does taste wonderful!  I liked it because it was different.  In my opinion, Mama Selita's Jalapeno Ketchup is very well balanced between tangy, sweet, and spicy and I really loved dipping my homemade fries in it as well.  So if you want to add kick to your eggs, beef, chicken (oh, I tried this on some fried chicken fingers too, and it was better than the bbq sauce that came with them), potatoes, or whatever else you can think of, get some of this ketchup.

Like I said before, I wanted to give an honest review about some of the products that were given to me by Red Gold.  And I can honestly say, that they have definitely made me into a buyer of their products, at least some of them, over other brands.  Their website has a really interesting family history flip book that I recommend checking out.  You can find it here, along with other information about Red Gold.  

Now through October, Red Gold is hosting the Red Gold Run To Crush Hunger Competitive 5k & Family Walk.  Click on the link to find out how you can help/participate.  Following the run, there will be a chili cook-off as well, with a cash prize for the winner! 

Want to try grilling with these products?  Here are a couple of recipes provided by Red Gold.  Give them a go - enjoy!

Spicy Tomato Burger

1 lb ground beef

1 14.5 oz can of Red Gold Tomato w/Green Chilies

Salt and Pepper

Option: Pepper Jack Cheese

Combine beef & tomatoes (drained). Form into patties. Season. Add cheese to center of each patty for an added kick. Grill.

As desired, serve on toasted bun. use Jalapeño Ketchup or Chipotle Mayo. Layer spicy peppers.

Caribbean Chicken Burger

1 lb. ground chicken

1 14.5 oz can of Red Gold Lime Juice & Cilantro

Salt & Pepper

Combine ground chicken and Red Gold tomatoes (drained). Form into patties. Season. Grill

As desired, served on Toasted bun or lettuce. Layer guacamole or avocado or roasted pineapple slice. Top with a mango chutney or fruit salsa.

Those of you who follow me on FaceBook and Twitter, heard about Red Gold's summer grill/smoker giveaway last month, right?  They also gave away 1000 aprons for their Summer Grillin' Party Sweepstakes.  That was an awesome giveaway and I hope you participated.  If you missed out on the prizes, you have another chance right now.

**The Giveaway**

I have one Red Gold grilling apron that I will gladly give away to anyone who posts the best (most embarrassing) tailgating or grilling story in the comments below.  You have until September 30th, so if you can't think of any stories to tell, get out there and make some!