Klout is one of the social networks I’m on. The main reason for being on Klout is: Sometimes you get free stuff. That isn’t why you’re supposed to want to be on Klout. You’re supposed to want to be on there to measure your social media presence against other social media junkies and get all competitive and stuff and drop Klout’s name all over the place so Klout gets all important. But I’m in it for the freebies.

So Zatarain’s, the New Orleans food packet people, offered me three boxes of their food packets, and I jumped on it like a duck on a June bug. They sent me: Jambalaya pasta, Gumbo pasta, and … Alfredo? Since when has pasta Alfredo been a New Orleans tradition? Oh, well.

The bad news is: I like rice better than I like pasta, so these were less than exciting to begin with (although: FREE!).

The box recommended adding some flavorful sausage to the mix, but we’re practically vegetarian, so that was a non-starter. I did add some chicken.

When I tasted the finished product, I was disappointed because I was expecting some zing, and the spice mix was quite mild.

The good news is: Charlie doesn’t like zingy spice, so he really likes this. He scooped some into his soup, and declared it “real good”. From him, this is an encomium.

So, if you:

• like mild spice
• like pasta
• want to make your soup even better

I can highly recommend Zatarain’s Jambalaya With Pasta. I haven’t tried the other boxes yet.

TRUTH IN BLOGGING: In case you missed it, I WAS GIVEN THIS PRODUCT FREE BY THE MANUFACTURER THROUGH KLOUT.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character gets a free product to try.

MA