Recently I saw a commercial for Jimmy Dean Skillets. I generally ignore commercials with Jimmy Dean meat products because I am not a big fan of breakfast sausage. Well, my in-laws were in town last week and my father-in-law mentioned something about trying “that new Jimmy Dean thing for breakfast one morning.” I was going to the store anyway, so I figured I would pick up one for him.
As I was standing in the breakfast section of the frozen foods aisle, I saw the little bags of the Jimmy Dean skillets. What surprised me was that not only did they have plain sausage, but they also had a Southwest style and a ham one. Each Skillet contains diced potatoes, red and green peppers, and onions. The other ingredients are what separate them. The sausage Skillet contains sausage in addition to all of those other things, and the ham Skillet contains ham. The Southwestern Skillet has sausage, corn, black beans, and chipotle cheese. Well, the ham sounded right up my alley so I picked up a sausage one for my father-in-law and a ham one for me.
A couple of mornings later I decided that I wanted something other than cereal for breakfast. I looked in the freezer for the waffles and saw the Jimmy Dean Skillet with ham sitting there. I decided to go ahead and try it, and then I read the directions and was a little shocked! I asked my mother-in-law if she would share with me because the portions were huge! First of all, I needed six eggs! Wow! The catch was that I had to cook the skillet mix first for about seven minutes. Then, they want you to move all of that stuff to one side of the pan while you scramble the eggs which have to be beaten first, by the way. Well, due to my crummy stove provided by the apartment complex, my twelve-inch pan does not heat completely because the calrod, or heating element, tilts. Oh how I miss my mother’s flat ceramic-top stove! Anyway, I ended up cooking the eggs in a separate pan and then just mixing it all together.
Even though it smelled good while I was cooking it, I was apprehensive about tasting it. Once I was finished cooking and loaded some onto my plate, I put a little bit of everything on my fork. As I took my first bite, I decided that it wasn’t half-bad. The onions and peppers created just the right amount of flavor and the ham was nice and juicy. The potatoes were a little too soft for me, but I suppose that could be fixed just by cooking them longer. As you can see, my daughter enjoyed it as well.
If you think about it, this was actually a very well-rounded meal — and I didn’t need to cook it in oil. You have your vegetables with the onions and peppers, your starch with the potatoes, your protein with the eggs, and the serving suggestions say to try cheese, so there is your dairy. Plus, you could always drink a glass of milk with it. I think next time maybe I’ll put some fresh diced tomatoes in it, too. Yum!
Overall, the Jimmy Dean Skillet meal was to my liking. I will definitely buy it again, but I don’t know if I will buy it on a regular basis simply because I found it to be a little pricey. At the grocery store here, it is $6 for a twenty-ounce bag. Then you have to think about what you spent by providing eggs. I think that’s okay every so often. I am a little miffed that my father-in-law never ate his sausage Skillet, but such is life. I am sure that my husband will invite his buddy over one morning and take care of that!
Jimmy Dean Skillets are available in the breakfast section of your grocer’s freezer. For more information, please visit Jimmy Dean Foods.