Continue reading »]]> On a day of exploring culinary options in Southern California, I was headed to a Vons grocery store that I knew existed on El Toro Road. However it was not there. It had been replaced by a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. This sounded a lot more appealing, so I was excited to check it out. It’s smaller than the average grocery store, so it’s good for a quick in and out. All the fresh stuff including the dairy is right at the front of the store, so you don’t have to run through the whole store just for a gallon of milk. They had a lot of reasonable priced items, like $1.99 for boneless skinless chicken breasts. These items were of better quality than chains like Aldi’s and Sav-A-Lot. They also have their own store brand products. I tried their Greek yogurt, which was delicious and for the cheapest price I have seen Greek style yogurt.

While this isn’t a store that I would do all my shopping at, it would be a great place to come for some fresh stables and some treats for the sweet tooth. I picked up a big bar of dark chocolate and Gimbal’s Honey Lovers Jellybeans (they are sweetened with honey as well as sugar). If you are in the area, stop in and check it out. They have many locations in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

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Continue reading »]]> Normally on this website I do not make any mention of restaurant food. But I am going to make an exception just this once. I do not eat out very much, only when traveling or when family is around. One thing that frustrates about sit down and fast food joints is that they don’t have sea salt. I cannot stand regular iodized table salt. To me is has a nasty flavor and just makes everything taste salty. Sea salt enhances the natural flavor of the food it touches. It doesn’t need to scream out “I am here” like table salt does. So I think restaurant food (especially fast food) would be so much better if they offered sea salt at the table or put it in the food to begin with. Last night I was happy to see a fast food company take my advice. I saw a commercial for Wendy’s advertising their new natural-cut fries with sea salt. To make the fries they slice up Russet potatoes and they leave on the skin, which I like. After frying they get a sprinkling of sea salt.

I found a coupon online for some free fries, so I headed over to Wendy’s this evening to give these fries a try. I have to say that Wendy’s now has the best fast food fries among the national chains. They don’t taste salty. The sea salt gives a punch to the flavor of the potato. So if you must have some fries, try Wendy’s new ones. I hope this is successful for Wendy’s and that other fast food joints follow suit.

To get your own coupon for free fries, visit this Wendy’s facebook link.

Continue reading »]]> There are multiple ways to cook applesauce, from the stovetop to the microwave to a slow cooker. But today I am going to talk about a another way, your favorite electric skillet. An electric skillet has the ability to act like a slow cooker. You can easily turn out a batch of applesauce by simply setting your electric skillet to it’s lowest setting. Then it’s a matter of letting the apples cook all day until they are mush. The advantage to this slow cooking method is that you are using just enough heat to make the sauce without getting an overcooked flavor.

To start your sauce, you need to pick apples that are good for sauce making. A combination is usually the best way to go. I have a list of apple combinations I have used. Click here to access that list. As for the number of apples to use, just add as many that will fit in your skillet.

Once you have your apples now it’s the question to peel or not to peel. The peels can add flavor and nutrients if you allow them to remain one through the cooking process. The only way to keep the peels on is if you have a food mill that you can use to remove the skins once the sauce is done. If you don’t have one, then you should remove the skins now. When your apples are ready, place them in your electric skillet set to it’s lowest setting. For me that is the warm setting. I like to add a little bit of liquid to get them started. 1/4 cup of apple cider (or juice) will do nicely. You could also use water, but water doesn’t add any additional flavor. Let them cook for several hours until they are very soft, and you can easily mash them with a back of a spoon. The cooking time really depends on the apples you are using. When I made sauce using Prime Gold and McIntosh apples, it took a lot longer for the Prime Gold apples to become mush.

Now if you are using a food mill run the sauce through it. Add any additional sugar if necessary and cinnamon if you like and enjoy!

Continue reading »]]> Lately I have been seeing a trend of brewing companies coming out with their own soft drinks. The latest soft drink I tried was from the Matt Brewing Company out of Utica, New York. Their line of soft drinks bare the name “Saranac 1888″. The first flavor I gave a try to was their root beer. The root beer came in a standard 12 oz brown glass bottle. Around the neck of the bottle was some information about this root beer. “In 1888, when our small brewery was founded, real rich creamy root beers were not uncommon. Thirty years ago, we brought this tradition back with the introduction of real brewery-fresh root beer on draft in our brewery’s 1888 tavern. Our Saranac root beer has been acclaimed by consumers from all 50 states and over 100 countries. We hope you’ll enjoy it too!”

I did indeed enjoy it! It has a great authentic root beer flavor with some creaminess to it. It was delicious to the very last drop. I don’t think it has the most foamy head, but that doesn’t really bother me here. It’s still among my top 5 root beers of all-time.

Where to Buy
I purchased mine at Walt Churchill’s in Maumee, OH.

You can purchase it online through the Old 52 General Store. They carry over 300 varieties of glass bottled soda. Their physical store is located in Sabin, Minnesota.

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Tomorrow night (Monday, March 21st), Alton Brown will host a brand new episode of Good Eats entitled “Don’t Be Chicken of Dumplings”. As the title would suggest he will be preparing chicken and dumplings. I am excited about this episode and will have a review of it on Tuesday morning. Tune in to Food Network at 8pm.

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For all you Good Eats fans out there that have searching the web to find out whatever happened to episode the Curious Case of Curry that was suppose to air several weeks ago: Tonight I found out that that episode will be airing on Monday, March 29th at 8pm. It is suppose to include a history of curry. I do not know of any recipes that will be included as of this time. It should be interesting.