Italian Creations: Tomato & Roasted Garlic product reviews

What more to say except for YUMMMY!!! Normally I stick to the stock standard pasta sauce in a can and chuck it through my mince to make Bolognase BUT these were on special for 2 for $5 at Countdown so thought I would give it a whirl and I am glad I did.

LOADS of sauce to cover the recommended about of mince, nice tomato taste that wasn't too overpowering and a very very very subtle amount of garlic. For me personally I added in a teaspoon of crushed garlic as I like the garlic flavouring to be strong. The sauce isn't a thick sauce but it isn't runny either, in my opinion it is the perfect consistency.

I found this to be perfect for those quick "what on earth can I make with my mince" nights where you have run out of time to do much or can't be bothered. Chuck in some onions, mushrooms, packet of the sauce, mince, grated cheese and sour cream on top and hooray simple dinner.

All in all a great sauce and perfect for adding to a number of meals. Could even be good with some kidney beens and corn chips to make nachos for tea. Nice and versatile that can be used for a number of different creations. Well done Watties I am loving this new range!!

One night it was Nachos, then it was Burritos, and then it was Spaghetti Bolognaise - my kids favorite meals, especially master 13. So it seemed only fitting that master 13 should be the chef of the bolognaise night and with Watties creations packet mix in the cupboard, it would be as simple as 1, 2, 3. He is a great wee cook anyway, so I was quite happy to leave him to it, while I sat at the breakfast bar, and supervised from afar.

Brown the mince, add the sauce, add anything else you might want, or do not if you do not want to lol He chose to not add anything else, he just wanted mince and sauce. Which is perfectly fine, the sauces in these mixes are a good thick, packed full of flavor and veges sauce, that you really do not need to add anything to the mix. Within minutes he had his spaghetti pasta on, and his mince and sauce simmering away happily. The kitchen smelled so tomato-y and garlic-y it was really yummy, and so homely. We could not wait to sit down and eat. While all this was going on, he grated the cheese, and set the table with sour cream, paprika, and of course dishes and cutlery.

Thirty minutes later he called the family to dinner, and he had presented his bolognaise in a large platter bowl...it looked fantastic! Better still it smelled great and tasted even better. He was feeling super proud, and I as a mum was feeling proud of him too. The directions on the packet mean it is simple and easy to prepare. The packet mean kids are not trying to handle tin cans that can cause injuries, and parents are not tempted to take over because they are struggling with opening this or that.

The only thing I would change with these meal mixes, is I would make the packets resealable. These are a great size for standard 4-5 member families. But for smaller families or solo people, they would either end up with a lot of left overs, needing freezing, or would have to save the sauce by sealing with tape or in a jar or something. If the bags were resealable then people could use the amount of sauce they like, seal and store till the next night. I for one like to make wee mini pies and things for my kids lunch, this would be fantastic to use in these, as all three of my kids loved the flavor, but I would not use a whole pkt when making them. That aside though, the price is fantastic, and the kids love it...what more could you want?

I usually don't like using packet sauces - I love the ability to fine-tune a dish by making the sauces myself from the raw ingredients, but sometimes it's fun to put the mental recipe book back on the thought-shelf and see what's out there. This was one of those times, and I must say I liked the results.

This sauce contains two of my favourite main ingredients - tomato and garlic - traditional Italian ingredients that can make or break a meal for me. Too much garlic and it becomes hillbilly food that is lacking only a haunch of possum or squirrel, and I won't eat that, let alone the rest of my family, who all have palates with milder preferences. I was very pleased with how well balanced the flavours were - I could taste everything in the sauce, and it was all good!

I used this to make some mince with veges and rice - quick and easy food that was low-fat thanks to the way I cook mince, but still full of flavour and that fills you up. While the rice was cooking, I fried off the mince, threw in the veges and the sauce and let it simmer away for 10 minutes. By then, the rice was almost done so it got drained and thrown in as well to finish off by soaking up the last of the sauce.

Served in a bowl with a grind of fresh black pepper on top and garnished with spring onions and carrot curls... and it was ready to eat. Total time from "Hey, I can do..." to "first bite" was just under 15 minutes - quite possibly one of the quickest meals I have done in ages.

Overall, this is a very tasty sauce, full marks there. However, despite it's obvious uses in Mexican and Italian foods, plus casseroles in the slow-cooker... I did find the portion of sauce in the packet a little too small to cover a meal for four. I'm not one who likes a little food with their sauce, but I don't fancy 'dry' food either and I happily would have paid a bit more for a packet that had about half as much again. Still... that can be solved by cooking for 6, using two packets, and then just freeze the leftovers for even quicker meals the next day!

Yum - tomato and roasted garlic is probably our favourite flavour combo when it comes to using tomato in dinner dishes - why just have tomato when you can have it with the added yumminess of garlic! I normally buy the Wattie's tomato and garlic pasta sauce in a tin and use it for lots of different meals so I was very interested to see if there was much difference between that and this Italian Creations pouch. We hadn't had lasagne for dinner for quite awhile so I decided this would be the perfect meal to try this sauce out with. I was aiming for a simple, delicious, easy meal and I wasn't let down thanks to the ease of this sauce!

I cooked fresh mince, carrot, spinach, mushrooms and onion in our wok before adding this sauce and leaving it to simmer for a bit. While this mixture was simmering I made a cheese sauce and then combined all of it in layers in a dish to create a lasagne. I then cooked this in the oven until the cheese on top had melted and the pasta had cooked through. Perfect - this sauce was yummy and both myself and my husband loved the dish I had made with it.

I have to say that I still think I prefer the Wattie's tomato and garlic version that is in the tin - I think this pouch didn't have as much garlic flavouring. I also found that this sauce went a little bit watery at the bottom of the lasagne once it was fully cooked in comparison to the other Wattie's sauce I use. In saying that I wouldn't hesitate to buy this product again and fully recommend it to others as well, I just prefer the other sauce I normally use more than this one. Totally personal choice or perhaps I am just stuck in my ways haha

Mmmmm...... Garlic..... yup, no problem at all with using this and writing a review for it.

I decided to make a spaghetti dish with this (though I had originally doing a potato casserole I hadn't any sausages so went with pasta). I completely forgot to take a photo but the spaghetti I cooked, I added some food colouring to the water whilst it was boiling and so ended up with a lovely shade of green spaghetti, kids loved it. I cut up a white onion, a red onion and grated some zuchinni and fried it all, then added in the sauce and a tonne of cheese.

I really like how easy the packet is to actually open up, no stress, no fuss, it ripped once, nice and easy and in one go. I love that the package design is also showcasing nice and brightly, the main ingredients in the sauce. My only gripe about the sauce is the cost and that is because I try and limit my sauces to $2 per meal. I did think at first that this wouldn't be enough sauce but it was the perfect amount, we fed eight and a half people with a sauce that says it has four servings, so I may buy one in the future and see if I can make it do two meals.

This is a really yum sauce and I do want to see if it would do two meals so will be buying again for sure.

I had a packet of spaghetti sitting in my cupboard begging to be used the other night so I decided to make a rich Bolognese sauce with this Watties Creations Tomato and Roasted Garlic sauce. Into my largest pot, I boiled some water and added a drop or two of oil and salt to help the pasta keep from sticking.

In my frying pan I browned from mince, then I opened the packet of sauce. The smell of the tomato and the roasted garlic was fantastic. You could really tell how rich and almost tomato-paste like it was. This could be used as a pizza sauce substitute too. I simmered the mince with the pasta sauce for about 20 minutes and then served in a bowl the spaghetti with the meat sauce on top.

I grated some cheese and onto my bowls of pasta and sauce, I topped these with the cheese. My children's eyes lit up as they love pasta of any kind. Needless to say the pasta and some of the meat and sauce was consumed by both children. I had to have a second helping it was so yummy. My husband said it had a good flavour considering it was tomato again. Ah well, you can't please everyone!