Fast & Easy Archives - Page 11 of 14

Easy dinner for two (or more, if you like)

February 14, 2014 Amy

Afternoon, Dear Readers:

Here in Houston, the weather has warmed up, the clouds are gone and it’s a lovely day. I say that not to make anyone jealous, but to remind you that winter always turns to spring. Eventually.

Y’all, it just dawned on me that I didn’t recommend anything for Valentine’s Day dinner. DUH.

Sure, you could go out to dinner. Have you ever tried to get a reservation for Valentine’s Day? No, I don’t mean Golden Corral. . . Jack In The Box is usually open. So is Carl’s Jr., if you have one in your area–they have sweet potato fries!

Or just go out and find a place to eat. You’ll be elbow-to-elbow with all the other star-crossed lovers. Forget that! Make dinner for your sweetie–but don’t go overboard. You need something easy that won’t take long. So here you go.

One of my newest favorite foods is cannellini beans. You know, the white kidney beans, usually from Italy. They are SOOOO good. I have a number of recipes calling for them, but my absolute favorite is, once again, from Nigella Lawson. It’s a simple white bean mash that can take the place of mashed potatoes and tastes so much better.

Thing is, you have to do it exactly as the recipe states. However, I’ve fiddled with it a bit to make it just for lunch. I’ll explain that in a minute.

Tonight, if you can get some nice little steaks and three cans of cannellini beans, (don’t forget olive oil, lemon and garlic) you’re all set–just make sure dessert is delicious, too. (It does not have to be chocolate, OK?) You make the beans first, then cook up the steaks and squeeze the lemon into the hot pan to deglaze it. The most time it takes is for making the bean mash. You can find the entire recipe here.

A steak dinner on Valentine’s Day? Of course!

Now, I have, on a couple of occasions, accidentally bought those little great white beans, or whatever they are called, because I simply grabbed the wrong can. This is easy when you buy Goya, because the cans all look alike. Darnit. They work, but are not as tasty as the cannellini.

Since my job ended on January 31, I’ve been eating white bean mash nearly every day. Why? I love it! With turkey, meatloaf, or whatever I feel like cooking up, it’s simple. And I also figured out how to make it in the microwave.

Rinse one can of beans and dump it in a microwave safe bowl; preferably one like a Grab-It with rounded sides and wide. Add to it a goodly amount of olive oil (maybe 1/8 cup, just eyeball it), and grate in a clove of garlic and some lemon zest (one small or half a large.) Microwave it until it’s hot. Take it out (put it on something heat-safe) and get a wide, flat spoon (a round wooden one works great) and mash to your heart’s content. Taste, and dd a bit of salt if you think you need it (mine always do) and mash until you get the same nubbly consistency, or it’s good enough for one person to devour.

I took that to work many times. Now that I’m not working, I just need to make sure I keep cannellini beans in the pantry.

That’s all for now.

Happy Valentine’s Day, and Enjoy!

Fast & Easy,Holidays,Ingredients,Special Occasions,What's for Dinner? beef,Dinner,fast & easy,Gluten Free,gourmet,holiday,steaks,Valentine's Day

And down we go (the rotisserie affair)

January 8, 2014 Amy

Good evening, again, Dear Readers:

After last night’s triumphant return to the blogosphere, I fell. No, not like “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” No, I’m sick. Bronchitis. Feels like two guys are in my lungs letting loose with flamethrowers every time I cough.

Someone in my current office environment was sick last week and just had to go to work, coughing, hacking, etc. How nice that one of the princes thought it would be OK to cough up a lung all day long in an open-air office.

Thanks for that.

So after an $89 visit to a local Redi-Clinic and a $19 prescription at Target for a high-potency broad spectrum antibiotic, I decided that I would get something quick to eat. After all, I’m sick, darnit, I deserve a little something else.

Note: this is how I discovered the Cranberry Bliss Bar at Starbucks many years ago. I was at Target waiting for a prescription in the winter and there it was. . .well, I’m gluten free now, but that’s how it happened.

The Rotisserie Chicken is a wonderful thing, and can be part of a regular day. Just not too often. These babies are all cooked, nice and hot and stay hot until you get home (if you don’t live too far away from the heat case.) Much as I like to cook, and enjoy making food at home. . .once in a while, stuff like this is a BIG help.

Come to Mama. . .

One of two remaining hot rotisserie chickens in SuperTarget this evening.

You just tear the pieces off, and. . .yum. No carving required.

The step-kitty got some, too. She’s so cute, jumping up to grab my hand with her paws so she can get that chicken. I’ve posted videos on Facebook and sent them to her owner, who saw her in action at Thanksgiving (or was it Christmas?). Awww. . .I just tore off a few pieces of breast meat, small enough for her to handle, and let them cool. (Of course anytime I’m near the stove, she demands what she thinks is food; she doesn’t understand coffee or tea.)

Now, I’ve seen Giada de Laurentiis turn these into chicken salads, instead of messing around with poaching or roasting chicken herself. Big time saver, and sometimes, that’s just what you need.

The SuperTargets around here sell these same chickens the next day in the refrigerated case for $3. No kidding. Need a bunch? Get them cold, and they’re cheap. I’ve done that a few times, too.

And because I’m super-sick, what I politely call my “Sunday treat,” only it’s not actually Sunday:

Ahhhh. . .chocolate and coconut. . .

It is my current favorite. I bought two, and one will be for tomorrow. If I can wait that long. . . .

Yes, I’ll be going back on the hCG diet real soon. I bought the hCG tablets this time, let’s see if this works better than the alcohol-free liquid.

Oh, and I got another coupon tonight from Starbucks for $2 off an espresso drink. Looks like I’ll be heading over there soon.

Stay warm and dry, and please take care of yourselves. Please bring your pets and critters inside so they can be safe and warm, too. Winter isn’t over yet.

More to tell you soon.

Amy

Fast & Easy,Health & Wellness,What's for Dinner?

Good Heavens! Thanksgiving already?

November 25, 2013 Amy

Good evening, Dear Readers:

Well, I’ve been quite busy, and offer my sincerest apologies for the lack of content here. I can’t believe it’s been a month since Halloween already!! SHEEESH!!

I’ve actually got TWO drafts saved, and haven’t been back to finish them off. I hate that, but I’ll try to get back on it this week.

A big Shout-Out to the wonderful folks at Oil & Vinegar in The Woodlands–more in the next post, but I had a recent trip up there and made sure to stop in for some of my favorites. Found out that Anton & Karia Kharoufeh, the owners of the Woodlands Oil & Vinegar, regularly check out my humble blog and remember me when I go up there. Now to have more content! If you’re in The Woodlands Mall sometime, they’re located just inside the entrance by Barnes & Noble (inside the mall, not outside like Anthropologie.) REALLY, really, wonderful olive oils and delicious vinegars that you won’t find anywhere else, as well as some other great gourmet foods. If you’re truly a foodie, it’s worth the trip. And many thanks to The Kharoufehs for being readers, too.

Incidentally, there are two little tomatoes in the HeatCageKitchen garden, and as I write this, it’s been raining pretty good, and as I write this, it’s 40F outside. Well, at least the rosemary is happy. That’s another long-neglected project that might get some attention this weekend when it warms up a bit.

So, my Turkey Day will not actually involve turkey this year., and the years-long “Buddhist Thanksgiving tradition” has given way to other things, so we’re all going in different directions. That’s OK–I’m going to my friends’ K&M’s place, and K will be roasting. . .duck. DUCK! Admittedly, I’ve only had duck once, maybe twice, but I’m game. (Get it?? I’m GAME!!) Another person will be bringing brisket, and I’ll be making a big batch of the Cranberry Ginger Relish that nets me multiple emails for the recipe just about every time I make it. (I’ve made it for myself with SomerSweet instead of sugar, and it works well and tastes great.) Five ingredients including water; sherry vinegar works best at the end. Seriously, it’s easy, quick, and is always well liked. First you taste the sweet and tart, then, POW! That ginger/sherry heat hits you right in the kisser! I made some for me with SomerSweet a couple of weeks ago and it didn’t last long. I just kept going back to the fridge for a spoonful. . .yum.

Oh, BTW, a safety warning–one of my favorite celebrity chefs, Giada de Laurentiis, sliced her finger on the set of Thanksgiving Live last Saturday. I did not see this, but saw the pictures on Facebook later. Giada joins a list of celebrities who have had holiday hospital visits, including Martha Stewart and David Letterman. WARNING: please pay attention, because four years ago, I did the exact same thing with a mandoline.It’s what I get for talking to Auntie on the phone whilst slicing onions for the turkey brine. With folks walking around visiting and talking, it’s easy to lose track of what you’re doing, and you don’t realize it until you see the blood.

Nobody wants blood on the pecan pie, OK?

Now, if your Thanksgiving is a bit on the traditional side, and you have a post-dinner football game, um, Jason Gay in today’s Wall Street Journal has some sage advice. OK, it’s hilarious–go read it, along with the comments.

And finally, the preparations for a presidential pardon of the national turkey is discussed in today’s paper. No, I’m not kidding, they TRAIN the turkey to behave in front of the President. Having been turned on to Animal Planet’s show My Cat From Hell, featuring a wild-looking guy named Jackson Galaxy, I can believe that they can condition a turkey to be cool in front of the President, TV cameras, Secret Service guys with loaded weapons, and wild children all over the place.

What is this, American Turkey Idol?

I wrote a post at this time last year on My Alternate Thanksgiving, and if you missed it, check it out, there is a recipe for Leftover Turkey Chowder that is wonderful. Also included was some advice in The Tuscan Turkey and Turkey–The Big Chicken if you are in need of some help with it. Suzanne Somers no longer sells salt rubs on her site, but you can find recipes online (just do a search) or head over to Williams Sonoma and/or Sur La Table to get some already made.

Since I was spending Thanksgiving alone last year, that meant going directly to the soup, and skipping the traditional dinner. This was my choice, of course, and if you try this soup, you will understand why. SOOO good, but I’ll skip it this time and maybe make it for Christmas, unless I get invited elsewhere again.

More articles to come, and thanks for being patient.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Fast & Easy,Fruit,Holidays,Ingredients,Special Occasions

Quinoa–the sequel

September 26, 2013 Amy

Well, dear readers, once again, life gets the better of me, and I don’t quite get around to writing on this blog the way I’d like to. But here I am, and I’m looking for new topics regularly.

I’m back on the dieting thing, and have lost about 7 pounds so far. Ignoring sandwiches and a weird looking chocolate cake at the office this week helped. Well, it was not only chocolate cake, but had white icing and filling, as well as either mocha or milk chocolate filling in the center, too. Weird, and when it was cut open, the first words I thought of were “hot mess.” If you’ve ever seen a woman with way too much eye makeup on, you get the idea of what this cake looked like, despite its designer exterior. I didn’t even bother to take a picture. It was really easy to pass up, even for a chocolate lover like me. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat white bread either, so the whole lot sat right by my desk and I didn’t even look at it except in passing.

Seven pounds down, nine-hundred and twelve to go. Just kidding, it’s not that much. Just feels like it.

I also received part of an order today from Territorial Seed Company in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Two packets of what they call “City Lettuce,” some sage and Italian flat-leave parsley. The garlic bulbs will be shipped in a couple of weeks. Let’s see if I can get this stuff going again. The sage dried up earlier this year, and the parsley I had growing never really took off.

Neighbor K gave me 4 big white buckets that came from a restaurant, and they never returned to her office to retrieve them. One of them smells like garlic, so. . .guess what’s going in it? I’ll keep you posted.

Some time ago I wrote about one of my favorite foods, quinoa. It’s now called a “superfood,” although I’m not sure why. I’ve been buying it for 15 years. Sure it’s nutritious, but I just like it because it’s tasty. I’ve made it for a few people, including my two beloved neighbors K and R, who have been occasional taste-testers of new recipes (or the occasional excess), but mostly I make it for myself. Two of the recipes in Giada de Laurentiis’ book Weeknights With Giada include quinoa, and both are pretty tasty. (R is the elderly neighbor lady who has also been the recipient of extra cupcakes from the office.)

I made a small amount of quinoa on Saturday, and it put me to sleep for an hour. So it does have enough carbohydrate to do that. That’s why I don’t eat it too often, and not as much of it, mostly as a side dish, always with other stuff.

I’ve discovered, though, that not everyone is as enthusiastic about quinoa as I am. Granted, not everyone likes everything. Much as I think chocolate is the food of the gods, one of my grandmothers did not like chocolate, as did a project manager I used to work with at Boeing. In fact, when it was birthday cake time, you knew who brought the cake if it was either half chocolate/half vanilla, all vanilla, or something like Italian Cream Cake (which made me taste test it more than once, because it was that good.)

So, in my favorite newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, comes this article on the backlash from quinoa’s new popularity. See, it’s trendy and popular now, much like gluten free, (plus it IS gluten free) so there are folks have become somewhat anti-quinoa from the influx of new quinoa dishes. To me, this is like being anti-tea or anti-cupcake, so I think that many of these folks haven’t had quinoa prepared correctly. That’s just my guess, as well as someone who wrote a letter to the editor on the subject. (Please, someone tell me what the heck “Quinoa Gelato” is.) But I also know it’s a matter of taste, what one person likes, and the preparation at the same time.

No, gluten-free is not a fad--especially not if you have a problem with wheat.

The article also references a fun Bud Light commercial. A man, standing over his grill, is ready to start some heavy duty tailgating at a football game when he discovers that his lovely wife has packed. . .veggie burgers made from “queen-ah”. Personally, my foodie brain wants to know how the heck you make burgers with it, but I’m sure it’s stuck together with a glue like eggs or something. (Then again, I’m always trying to figure out that kind of thing.) But he puts it on the grill anyway, despite it tasting like a “dirty old tree branch,” because his team won the last time he “accidentally” ate it. (Warning: the comments on YouTube underneath aren’t all polite. Read at your own risk.)

Lesson learned here is simple. Ladies—unless you *know* your man is a devoted vegan/vegetarian and enjoys quinoa, he wants MEAT, and he hates surprises. Don’t do that. Trust me on that one. I once brought home a six-pack of designer beer for a certain ex-boyfriend after he said, “surprise me.” He never said that again, and never trusted me with his beer.

Now, the original article is a good overview, but the comments are hilarious. All 127 of them, at this writing. OK, I get it, people get started on something and overboard with it, with soy being a good example. (I still hate soy.) I see drinks, foods and other stuff with something called acai berries, and I still don’t have any idea what they are. Will they grow in the backyard? Then there’s something called goji berries, and the gallons of juice sold by direct marketing (i.e., a neighbor down the street who’s “got a great new home business that’s gonna make me rich.”) I have tried neither of these items, but I’m told goji juice tastes like something rancid. But people who follow all the “healthy trends” consume it because it’s supposed to be “healthy.” Mold is *so* good for you. . . .

So back to the quinoa article comments. If you really need a funny, click on the link above and start reading, and read the oldest first. You’ll see comments like:

My introduction to quinoa occurred while living in the Andes of southern Peru in the 1960s. My dog loved it; I did not. Ever since, I’ve thought of quinoa as Andean kibble.

YUCK! P’TOOEY!

My wife is into all this superfood lunacy. She fed me a “kale smoothie” last week that tasted like it was scooped from the bottom of a swamp. To hell with kale, and I hope she never finds out about quinoa.

This is my award-winning quinoa recipe: add it to a mash and feed it to a pig. Take the pig to a butcher and have him smoke the whole thing. Mmmm …. good eating.

@Charleen: I’m feeding my cows organic quinoa and getting the best quinoa cheese…well, I was until they went on strike for better work conditions…the union negotiators are meeting with management representatives in Aspen this week. I say, “Let Them Eat Cud.”

I hate cilantro too! Tastes like dish soap.

Quinoa is the “Hula Hoop” of food FADS.

Y’all fightin’ over quinoa? Jeezus.

And so much more quality writing that the Journal is known for.

So if you’re interested in trying it for yourself, here’s my favorite quinoa recipe from Suzanne Somers’ book Slim & Sexy Forever. This recipe is in the prior post on quinoa, but I’ll include it here, and add that I toss in a cube of chicken bullion to the water when it boils. REALLY good, honest.

Sauteed Herb Quinoa

1 cup dry quinoa

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 shallots, finely diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leave parsley

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the quinoa according to package directions (or see directions above.)

While the quinoa is cooking, place a saute pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and shallots; saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the cooked quinoa and the parsley and stir to combine. Season with sea salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Just because I like it doesn’t mean anyone and everyone who reads this blog is going to suddenly be completely devoted to quinoa. Sure, there are more recipes for it, now, and that’s a good thing. If you decide to try it, hey—no saying you have to eat it again, right?

However, this blog is about the funny. Quinoa optional.

So if there’s anything funny in food, it’s these comments on the WSJ’s website. Go take a look and see what some other anti-quinoa folks are saying.

WARNING: don’t drink anything while you’re reading them, or you’ll be bringing your keyboard or laptop to your local repair shop to be cleaned.

Enjoy!

Considered opinions,Fast & Easy,Health & Wellness,Ingredients,New Trends,Special considerations Quinoa

Steppin’ Out

September 5, 2013 Amy

2 Comments

Good evening, fellow Foodies:

Yes, I know it’s Thursday, but this is the first chance I’ve had to write. This past weekend was Labor Day in the US, and boy did I labor! Laundry, carpet cleaning, dusting, shredding, taking out multiple bags of trash, tidying up–you name it, I probably did it.

The closest I got to sewing anything was returning a pattern to Hancock Fabrics that I can’t use. It’s an elegant coat, but I can’t get something called loden cloth locally, and, well, since it would be about $32.50 a yard to order it from the UK, I don’t need it that bad. The coat calls for 4½ yards, and then there is shipping from the UK (Scotland, I think.) I just don’t need a new coat that bad; it’s not like I don’t have coats, I just like making one now and again. Burda patterns are designed and made in Germany for a European market, but they are easily available here. I like them, mostly, but this one was just not going to happen. Fortunately, I kept the receipt and only looked at the instructions–that’s how I realized that it was made just for loden fabric.

Ok, back to the foodie thing.

This week, my favorite newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, ran a story about how Greek yogurt is taking over--literally–and it’s getting on people’s nerves who like regular American-made yogurt. (Wonder how long it took them to come up with *that* clever headline. Get it? “Culture war?”) A couple of weeks ago I decided to try something new–Icelandic-style yogurt! YES!

Icelandic yogurt?

No kidding, you can read more about it here. If I remember correctly, it was $1.89 for that cup–not cheap, but definitely a treat. No strong yogurt taste like your regular stuff, and enough raspberry to make it pink. It has cane sugar, but not as much sugar as your usual yogurt–which usually has that poisonous high-fructose corn syrup anyway.

So, how was your Sunday?

Me and my debit card, oh, we got around this weekend. See, when I go to World Peace Prayer on the first Sunday of the month, I also do some shopping if I need something, or just want something. Sometimes I come straight home–but no, this past Sunday was a shopping weekend for sure. Me and my debit card went to town, literally, in this order:

IKEA Houston (only for some catalogs, didn’t buy anything)

Snap Kitchen

Whole Earth Provision Company

Sur La Table

Crave Cupcakes (Kirby Location)

Trader Joe’s (South Shepherd location)

What a day!! I started out at about 9:00 am and didn’t get home until, oh, heck, 4? Maybe 5? Oh, it didn’t END there–I dropped everything and went to get someone’s mail, then to Super Target in League City, then to the post office to mail his stuff and ship two IKEA catalogs to friends in New Orleans. THEN I realized I’d forgotten to look for fresh tarragon after Trader Joe’s didn’t have it, so I was also at Kroger getting me some.

Are you understanding why I’m still tired on Thursday? Monday was all housework, all the time. But the cat appreciates the shampooed carpet. I guess.

I was going to have lunch at IKEA but it was way too crowded, so I kept going. I went looking for the subject of my next blog post, which I’ll share more about when I write it. But in my search, I went first to Snap Kitchen, and ended up eating lunch–by this time, I was really hungry. Know what? I’m going to go back sometime. Healthy food, freshly prepared, plus some healthy (sort of) snacks, and takeaway in BPA-free packaging you can put right into the microwave. No, I probably wouldn’t, but you get the idea.

Let me tell you, it was hot this past Sunday, so instead of an entree, I found myself at the cooler case, and this is what really hit the spot with a bottle of water:

Caprese salad was cool and delicious. Egg salad isn’t something I would normally go for, but both of these are soy free, and the Caprese is dairy free, too. The egg salad also had chickpeas and hummus in it. Pretty good, and both these small sizes were just enough.

Hit.The.Spot. Nailed it, in fact. And their menu is, according to the flier I took with me, 99% gluten free. You gotta like that.

Snap Kitchen has several locations in Houston and Austin, and you can see their complete menu here. With dishes like Grassfed Bison Quinoa Hash and Almond-Crusted Goat Cheese Cakes, well, gluten-free doesn’t have to mean taste-free. I’ll be back–and I hope they put one down in my ‘hood one day.

Next stop was Whole Earth Provision Company, an outdoor store which is right next to Trader Joe’s, but for some reason I failed to realize this. That’s OK–next was up the street to Sur la Table, where, yes, I purchased their coffee tamper for my aging cappuccino machine. Just to make sure it would fit, I brought the little grounds container from the machine and tried it out. Perfect, and the little machine seems to be working better since it’s got better pressure to make the espresso. Frothing is much improved, too. DUH. Maybe one of these days I’ll go find the instructions and finally READ them again.

I got the bug for something sweet.

Last week in the office we had mini-cupcakes from Houston’s Crave Cupcakes, and whilst I fell off the gluten-free wagon again, I am back on it. This is what somehow ended up right by my desk:

No, they are not gluten-free. The white ones were originally believed to be coconut, but they were more like vanilla. The pink were strawberry, with a drop of strawberry jam in the middle. Yes, they were worth it.

Nevermind how many I ended up eating before they were gone. The white ones were the best.I am going back on the Draconian Diet Drops again soon, so I’m enjoying what I can now.

I also brought four of the little cupcakes to my elderly neighbor, who greatly enjoyed them. (She doesn’t get out like she used to, so I bring the world to her anytime I can.) I made it a point to head over to Crave myself on Sunday and get me a gluten free model. I even used Google Maps to figure out the best location during my trip and a better way to get there and avoid Kirby’s incessant traffic on a busy Sunday. Yes, I did have a gluten free model:

They come in this Tiffany-esque box that you open VERY carefully to release the delicious cargo:

You knew it was going to be chocolate, right? They make chocolate-on-chocolate, which is what you see here, as well as vanilla-on-chocolate. I figured if I was going off the rails, I’d do it right–gluten free chocolate on chocolate.

I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the gratuitous chocolate picture:

Yum. . .that’s my camera case to the left of this delicious thing.

One thing Crave does–see that button on the top? It says “CRAVE GLUTEN FREE.” However, the ones brought to my office last week had a logo on it, and the name of the building, which was celebrating 30 years being built. (Houston is anything for a party, you hear?) Some just had the building shape in that button, some had the name of the building. All of Crave’s cupcakes have that little button with a description on them. They also have a vegan model, although I think that “non-dairy frosting” has tofu in it; I’d have to check some other time. There are actually two Houston locations, and you can see their entire menu here.

Much as I enjoyed this tasty cupcake–and I really did–I have to say I think the gluten free model I had at Frost Bake Shoppe in The Woodlands was better. I’m not sure why, and I may be comparing apples and oranges, but for some reason, I remember that one as softer, less sweet, and the icing much softer and butterier.

Is “butterier” a word? Sure, it’s a technical term.

But I got me a gluten-free cupcake. Next trip north, I’ll be hitting up Frost Bake Shoppe again, because I remember them as the best one. (I hope I’m right.)

Now, the last stop was the Trader Joe’s next door to Whole Earth, and I did that last because I was planning to buy cold stuff. You know, meat, veg, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I forgot the small insulated bag I have from Target and ended up buying one from Trader Joe’s for $6.99.

In Buddhism, we call this a ‘benefit.” Because that new bag is bigger, better insulated, and no squishing of anything. They even gave me two frozen bottles of water to keep everything cold!

I don’t know how much I spent all day (and I’m not going to add it up) but at Trader Joe’s the total was $84.95. Two bottles of regular olive oil, one EVOO, two containers of baking cocoa, some of their fluoride-free toothpaste, oh, you get the idea. Oh, and 8 tins of Myntz, which I keep in my purse so that I can read and ride the bus (at least until I doze off completely.) I discovered flying on planes that the minty things keep my stomach on an even keel–and since Metro buses have neither lavatories nor barf bags, these mints are the best solution. They’re $1.69 a tin at Trader Joe’s, and I’ve never seen them anywhere else, so obviously I stocked up for a while. (I like the vanilla ones in the yellow tin.)

I had a piece of London Broil I bought on sale, but didn’t know what to do with it. I looked in Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Foolproof and found a recipe for Mustard Marinated FlankSteak on page 126. It’s what I needed fresh tarragon for, and got some shallots at Trader Joe’s too. You let the meat marinate in the fridge in this mustard/olive oil/shallot mixture overnight, and OMG–it is SOOO GOOD!

I love having the best lunch around.

I couldn’t remember whether or not I had any Dijon mustard, so I got some at Trader Joe’s. And then I couldn’t decide which to get, so I got both:

Trader Joe’s two types of Dijon mustard. Why get just one?

Looking at my receipt, the regular Dijon on the left was $1.69, and the whole grain mustard on the right was $1.79. It’s almost like IKEA for groceries! (Almost.)

One thing I did do and wish I hadn’t got a carton of their TJ Coconut Milk. It looks just like almond milk, and with that quick glance, you’d think you were getting almond milk, too. It’s not bad, and I’ll use it in my coffee and tea, but no more, I’ll stick with either almond milk or regular dairy.

Incidentally, if you’re lucky enough to have a SuperTarget in your area as we have in the Houston metro area, Target has a new line of organic products called Simply Balanced. I’ve bought the organic skim milk for my smoothies (the subject of yet another future blog post) and while I like it, the cat doesn’t. I guess because there’s no fat in it, but she’s a fussy cat anyway.

Well, dear readers, it’s getting late and I will write again soon. Please take care, and eat good food anytime you can–unlike two of my travelers, who went to Midland, TX last week for a networking activity and had some of the worst food they could find! It was just one place, and not a slur on Midland. Just don’t make that mistake–eat good food, whatever it is.

Enjoy!

Considered opinions,Fast & Easy,New Trends,Restaurant Review

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