Posts Tagged ‘Gluten Free’
Happy Friday, Dear Readers!
The weekend is here, and I have some updates to share with you on gluten free stuff. You may be interested even if you’re not doing gluten free and just eating healthier.
Of course, if you’re not eating healthy, well, reading is entirely up to you. But first, updates and articles of interest.
I’m still walking. And walking. And mostly wearing myself out. But I like walking, so I keep at it, although I may take a dip in the pool later this evening instead. I think I’m gaining weight, but Neighbor K says no. She’s nice that way.
Wanna see the HeatCageKitchen garden? The little pepper is bigger than two golf balls, there is no change in the chile pepper or Meyer lemons, and I’m getting little red franken-berries again in the basket.
My little baby, and more growing behind it.
Not really a “Hatch” chile, since it wasn’t grown in Hatch, NM. But close.
Yes, they’re strawberries, even if they don’t look to spec. And yes, I do know what that looks like.
Basil, Oh My Basil!!
By the way, that’s SEVEN stems of basil growing. Two didn’t make it after the last harvest, so I pulled them; but the rest that were cut down are now re-growing leaves. Another Pesto Saturday will be coming soon, at least one more, and my freezer will be storing it for a cold winter day. Maybe me and the GER will be enjoying a pot of Pea And Pesto Soup, and he will finally understand why I like it so much.
While this isn’t food related, I saw an interesting story today in the UK’s Daily Mail, an interesting mix of real news and the celebrity nonsense. Mixed among today’s numerous stories about the K family and the late Robin Williams was this story about a couple of sisters and their company, Sword And Plough, not only doing some great recycling, they’re making it in America and employing veterans. The kicker: one is active duty Army! If you’ve got a student going to college soon, they make some fantastic bags and things from, no kidding, military surplus fabric that would have otherwise been wasted.
Their messenger bags look fantastic, and if I were in the market for one, I’d be getting the Coast Guard Blue model. The messenger or tote bag would be a great gift for a graduate or someone just starting their first job, and the rucksack would be an awesome Christmas gift for someone who likes camping, hiking and outdoorsy stuff.
Think about it–recycling, classic well-made designs, creating jobs, helping American vets, all in one fell swoop!
Also in Today’s Daily Mail, an article about bloggers who create healthier versions of favorite treats that are supposed to do miracle things. Dunno about the miracle stuff, but they’re certainly healthier. While they do use “raw” ingredients, one I don’t know about is “Organic Greens Complex.” Never heard of it, but since I stand little chance of ever looking like Australian Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr, I’m not too worried about it. If I can find it, maybe I’ll try a couple of these recipes and let you know the results.
However–one thing I notice is the high starch content of the dates and bananas. Yes, bananas can create a great fake-me-out ice cream, but the sugar content may be higher than Blue Bell. If you’re diabetic and/or trying to lose weight, you have to pay attention.
Then again, one picture that gets passed around on Facebook has a picture similar to the one you see in the article, and it says, “What do you call vegan brownies that are raw, sugar free and gluten free? COMPOST.” I cringe when I read it, but I know that some alternative foods are not very tasty. (Skinny Cow comes to mind.)
Later I’ll give you a super-secret HeatCageKitchen healthy chocolate treat I’ve never told anyone about, not even Neighbor K. Sit tight–it has three ingredients and doesn’t take long at all.
I get a LOT of different emails, and some are health-related, while some I just don’t know how they showed up. One I get and actually read occasionally is Doug Kaufman’s Know The Cause. Kaufman and his staff of writers talk about different health topics, primarily the problem of fungus in humans and how it affects disease, including things like cancer. If you’ve read my posts on the Yeast Free Diet, you’ll be at least a bit familiar with it and the mycotoxins put into the system by Candida Albicans, you’ll understand.
This particular time, would you believe it, is a short article on Apple Cider Vinegar. No kidding, maybe I should have waited on that one. But you can click on the link and read it; not long at all. But if you’re interested in learning more about the fungus among us, Know The Cause is a great place to start.
Faithful reader Aunt Kathy passed along another gluten free comic she found this week, this one from Six Chix.
Remember, of course, that I also know the GER, who says, “Oh, I love gluten!” He also loves coffee and breakfast from a gas station. One of these days, right?
Larabars now has a new version of granola, and it too is gluten free:
Granola nibbles for the gluten-free set. As you can see, I couldn’t resist trying one of them before I got home.
Out of all three, I think I like the Cocoa Coconut the best. But that’s just me, and they were all good, too. They were 10 for $10 at Kroger, but I only bought the three. Parents, this is something you can feel good about packing in your kid’s lunch bag, you know? They get a treat, and you don’t have to worry about what’s in it–particularly if s/he has allergies.
Now, if you’re health conscious, gluten conscious, or just careful about what you’re eating, you know you have to read labels, and not just once. Today’s “healthy” snack may have been changed to contain high-fructose corn syrup, and if you didn’t notice it, you’ll have a surprise if it makes you sick or you suddenly have a sugar rush you weren’t expecting.
No kidding–I once went to the grocery and asked Neighbor K if she needed anything; she asked if I would get her a bottle of honey. No problem, and she gave me a $10 or $20 to cover it. As I was picking a brand, I turned over one bottle to discover that the first ingredient was. . .HFCS. I’ve never been careless about reading labels again.
If you want to go gluten-free, I strongly suggest reading Dr. William Davis’ Wheat Belly books first. That will give you a good primer on the subject, and you’ll know what to look for. (Incidentally, Dr. Davis has another book coming out soon on total health. More if/when I get it.)
Of course, that’s a lot of work, and you have to know a little about what you’re doing, and educating yourself is key, whether you’re gluten-free or not. Now, the federal government is getting into the act, and if you’re going to call something gluten-free, you have to follow their rules.
Oh, yes, the government sticking their beaks in this one is going to help immensely, isn’t it?
Listen up: almonds are gluten free. Fruit is gluten free. Tomatoes, bell peppers, Hatch chile peppers, garbanzo and cannellini beans, coffee, Sweet ‘N Low and milk are. . .gluten free. Why? Because gluten doesn’t come anywhere near it. Ever. Do we really need rules for this? Learn what you’re doing and read the labels.
Now, many call this gluten-free thing a fad, and there are some who will call it “dangerous and unhealthy.” How can leaving something out of your diet that can cause harm be “dangerous?” If you’ve read Wheat Belly, you know exactly why–the modern GMO 42-chromosome wheat grain can cause havoc in even otherwise healthy people. Sugar is also well-documented as a harmful substance, and causes a host of health issues, including inflammation. All carbohydrates break down into sugar in the blood stream, including, but not limited to wheat, so you see why wheat can cause problems, along with a lot of other things that become, one way or another, sugar as an end product.
It’s probably not a “beer belly,” but a “wheat belly.”
Then again, like the GER, not everyone understands the whole gluten-free thing. Thanks to the esteemed Wall Street Journal, they keep on top of these kinds of things. It’s not a craze if you have that gluten allergy, trust me–I know people who have it, and they have to be careful. And I disagree–everyone can benefit from gluten-free, they just don’t know it yet. Again, starting with Wheat Belly is the way to go; Dr. Davis explains everything well.
OK, enough of that. Who wants a cupcake?
Looks tasty, doesn’t it?
I started getting Facebook feeds from Elena’s Pantry, and one day, this popped up. Made with coconut oil and flour, they’re also good for folks with a nut allergy (which, thankfully, I’ve escaped–I love just about all nuts.) With the holiday season coming soon, this may be a good recipe to have in your back pocket for parties, especially children’s parties, where allergies are more prevalent.
Elegant Elena Amsterdam has written three books: one on Paleo cooking, one book on gluten free with almond flour, and another book of gluten free cupcakes made with almond and coconut flour. I do not yet have these books, but they ARE on my wish list, along with Bruce Fife’s book on coconut flour. I haven’t written about coconut flour yet, because I really don’t use it much, and it tends to be more expensive. I have a small amount in the fridge now, because I don’t use it much; usually for the cupcakes or something else from Babycakes and Babycakes Covers the Classics.
And now, for the first time ever, a healthy chocolate treat that’s easy to make has three ingredients and tastes awesome. This has been a HeatCageKitchen secret for some time, discovered by accident, but I’m releasing it now, and may include it in the cookbook, if I ever get around to writing it.
Coconut chocolate
The setup:
![IMG_0836[1]](https://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_08361.jpg)
The coconut oil is liquid because it’s on a top shelf on my pantry, which is warm in the daytime. That makes it easy to tell the weather. In the winter, it’s hard as a rock.
Incidentally, this is the kind that actually tastes like coconut oil, not the somewhat refined stuff that has the taste taken out. You want that coconut flavor in the chocolate; it’s wonderful.
So you pour out about 2.5 to 3 ounces of melted coconut oil into your container. This just happens to be a pinch bowl from Cost Plus World Market, and I just measured it with water. To the bottom rim is 3 ounces.
Melted coconut oil
To this you add about two tablespoons of cocoa powder, and gently mix with a fork:
Mix the cocoa powder in one tablespoon at a time
Now this is the subjective part–longtime readers know of my preference for SomerSweet, Suzanne Somers patented erythrytol based natural sweetener and rejection of the toxic types like Splenda and Equal/Nutrasweet. However, if you’ve got something else that works as well, like a stevia blend or something similar to SomerSweet, go for it. Two tablespoons, one at a time.
![IMG_0839[1]](https://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/img_08391.jpg)
SomerSweet also tends to clump when you add it into something, so that’s when the fork comes in handy. (That’s about the worst thing I can say about it, really.)Â After that, stash it in a safe place in the freezer for a little while and go answer your email, or walk a dog like I did. (Neighbor K’s lovable pug, of course.)
When you come back and open the freezer, this is what you get:
Ahhhh. . .chocolate.
Break it up into pieces, very carefully, either with a spoon or the point of a wide-bladed knife, so you can eat it. I recommend a spoon, because if you eat it with your hands, the coconut oil will melt at body temperature. THAT, ladies and gentleman, will be a mess beyond compare. If you don’t believe me, try it. Don’t gripe to me when you have chocolate on your keyboard, your cell phone, your doorknob, your dog and your iPad,OK? You have been warned.
Ready for some chocolate???
Here we go!!
Rich, satisfying, healthy, and oh-so-sweet.
Next post I’m planning on writing about chia seeds. . .mostly because I have a batch in the pantry to use up, so I’m going to try a recipe or two I found and report on them. If you have any questions before then, you can now email me at heatcagekitchen@gmail.com, and I’ll try to answer them in the blog post.
It’s Friday, and the weekend is here.
Enjoy!!
Hola, Amigos:
My apologies for being late again. I’ve been busy and just haven’t felt like writing. Period. But WordPress nags you if you don’t, I’d better do something.
Neighbor K introduced me to HEB’s new line of gluten free pasta, and for a while, I couldn’t get enough:
![IMG_0658[1]](https://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_06581.jpg)
No, the cat food doesn’t figure into it.
However, it’s corn and rice flour that makes this pasta, so it’s high on the carb scale. I think I bought it three times, but I had to quit. It’s not the $1.99 price tag, though–I kept eating it!
Let me give you a bit of background: back in the day (about 1991-1994) I used to walk six miles a day. After the walk, I would eat one of two things: frozen veg with some butter and salt, or boiled pasta with (ugh) Diet Parkay margarine and a small amount of Parmesan cheese. Because, after all, pasta is “healthy,” right? It’s no healthier now than it was, but nobody knew that yet. I would get one of two reactions: with the veg, I had a great evening, but with the pasta, I would fall asleep. It took forever to figure out it was the pasta putting me to sleep for 15 hours, so I cut way back on it.
With the gluten-free pasta, I cooked one cup, added real butter and about the same amount of cheese. I got the same delicious taste without the sudden drowsiness. However. . .I couldn’t stop eating it! So I stopped buying it. Maybe in a few months or so, but not for a while.
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Yesterday was Pesto Saturday! The basil got to close to three feet high, so it was definitely time for harvesting and pesto making.
After I picked them (and picked through them) I rinsed them and put them through the salad spinner. You don’t want WATER in your pesto, do you?
One of the best parts of pesto: pine nuts. NOTE: do not eat any of the toasted pine nuts, or you will not be able to stop eating them. Trust me on this.
Legally addicting pignoli.
These burn VERY easily, so let me tell you how I keep that from happening–I put them in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for five minutes, and keep an eye on them. When they start turning brown, turn the oven off, then carefully pour them into a COLD container, like this bowl. You know, one you just took out of the cabinet, not necessarily refrigerated. Why? If you leave them in the baking pan, the cooking process continues and they’ll burn. By dumping them into a cold bowl, you stop the cooking process and they’re perfectly toasted.
Make sure you keep the rest of them sealed in the FREEZER, or else they’ll go bad–quickly.
Once I had all the components ready, I just put the parts together.
Blend it!!
When it’s done, this is what you get.
Pesto!
You can find a good pesto recipe here at Food Network’s site, and it’s virtually the same as the one I got out of one of Giada de Laurentiis’ books. I add Parmesan cheese to mine, although that recipe says Pecorino. Really, with either one, you can’t go wrong.
If the plants will grow back and produce that much again in a few months, I could have at least one more batch of pesto to freeze for the winter. And that will be a good thing.
That, and finding SQUARE containers to freeze them in. The round containers I’ve been using take up too much room.
And why make so much pesto? You already know why–and I made some this week, too.
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Now here comes the part where I write about the infamous ex-boyfriend known as the GER. He loves it when I write about him.
You know the old saying, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth?”
Last time, I told you about the gifted tomatoes the GER gave me. He said he didn’t get a whole lot this year, but he did give me two nice ones. Take a look:
Now, because I know a bit about this, I left them on the stove for a week, so they could ripen a bit more. Ripen they did. When I cut them open, this is what they looked like:
![IMG_0653[1]](https://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_06531.jpg)
Not especially large, mind you, but, if you’ve ever been given the gift of tomatoes, you know why they are markedly different from the ones you buy at the grocery. Size really doesn’t matter once you taste one. If you just slice them and eat them, all you need is a light sprinkling of fine sea salt. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing would be a crime.
I also clipped what was growing in the lettuce pot. You know what they call “bitter greens?” That, unfortunately, was the only part of the “greens mix” that actually grew, plus some kind of parsley look-alike. Darnit. In order to actually consume this without gagging, I stopped at HEB and got a head of good old iceberg lettuce and made my own “greens mix,” which also included a few chopped up mint leaves and some of the flat-leaf Italian parsley that grows back there. That was quite a harvest, and what was it became was pretty darn good:
![IMG_0652[1]](https://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_06521.jpg)
The closest thing I could call a recipe would be one head of iceberg lettuce, a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, some chopped bitter greens, and a few–like, 5–chopped mint leaves. Don’t add more mint or that’s all you’ll taste. Much as I like mint, I know it’s not THAT enjoyable.
With two judiciously sliced fresh garden tomatoes from the GER, it became. . .salad.
A little olive oil and salt was all that was needed. I emphasize LITTLE.
And it was SO GOOD.
Summer’s here, please stay cool and enjoy what there is to enjoy.
Happy dining!
Happy Wednesday, Dear Readers:
As I mentioned previously, I get emails from other bloggers, many of them food bloggers, a number of them devoted to the gluten-free lifestyle. One, Nicole Hunn, writes a blog called Gluten Free on a Shoestring, and has even published three books devoted to it (I don’t have those yet, but I will, soon.)
Today, Nicole has out-done herself with a recipe for chocolate gluten free donuts made with a CAKE MIX:
Picture from Gluten Free on a Shoestring website (they’re not mine!)
No kidding, she has a little plug-it-in-the-wall doughnut maker, one of those newer specialty appliances similar to a waffle iron or countertop grill. I don’t have one of those, and I probably never will unless I find myself married to a man with children. (Don’t hold your breath on that one.)
She also has a simple frosting for these donuts, which makes me start to want some today.
Oh, I’ve got pictures of the breakfast sandwich maker to show you, but I won’t be buying one. They’re really neat, especially if you like breakfast sandwiches. Unfortunately, that thing makes me wish I’d never read Wheat Belly. Don’t worry, I’m not fallin’ off any wagon over a machine. I’ll keep looking for a suitable English muffin recipe–probably in one of Nicole’s books.
Arrowhead Mills, a great purveyor of gluten free stuff, makes the gluten free chocolate cake mix Nicole uses, which I may have passed last week during my info trip to Fresh Market. If I get some, I’ll be sure to report on it.
This is the cake mix Nicole used, and although I haven’t tried it yet myself. . .now I’m tempted. And who wouldn’t want chocolate cake? (Maybe when I get ready to start working again. That will be a good reason to make chocolate cake, won’t it?)
Nicole also points out that Arrowhead Mills gluten free mixes are lower in sugar than their regular mixes–a good thing indeed, especially if you have children or want to cut down on it. Yes, it’s some sugar, but not as much as you might normally get.
Anyway, I’ve had two interviews this week, and two more scheduled for next week, so I’m racking them up. Cross your fingers that I’m not driving 100 miles a day–but that would put me around The Woodlands, where Frost Bake Shoppe is! Then I could buy one of their delicious gluten-free cupcakes every day! I’d have it on the way home every day, because I won’t get home until 8:00 pm, and need the sugar in order to survive the traffic. Nah. . .don’t think so.
Just thought you might be interested in seeing this one on a lovely Wednesday morning.
Enjoy!
The Fresh Market is Clear Lake’s newest gourmet grocery store, open now.
Good evening, Dear Readers:
Well, I’ve had a little good blogging news this week–I have a number of new followers on WordPress! Welcome to my humble little blog, which I do little to promote at the moment. It consists of opinions, observations, recipes, and a whole lot of what I think of as wisdom. You, however, may call it something else–but please, keep it clean. This is a family blog. Swearing is reserved for driving around Houston, particularly during our long, hot summers.
The Fresh Market In Clear Lake
So today our Fresh Market opened up, and finally, we get a little more gourmet in the Houston area known as Clear Lake. We’re near the NASA facility, and up until recently, was a thriving space community. The space program is, for the most part, winding down, and the population is doing the same thing. While space program people are mostly moving away to jobs in other parts of the city, for some reason there is some serious building going on. Fresh Market is part of that. Although we have Kroger, Randall’s, and some very nice HEB stores, we have a hard time finding some gourmet items in this part of Houston–despite our diverse population.
And now, we have Fresh Market. Woo hoo! I hope they stick around.
Not The First Fresh Market
There are a couple more of these stores in Houston. Namely, the one in the Post Oak area that I have forgotten to stop into when I have been in town. It’s not exactly near the Montrose Trader Joe’s, but I could have gone once or twice. Now that ours is open, I’m glad I stopped by. I went at 8:00 pm, because I figured all the free samples would be gone and I wouldn’t be tempted, and I was right. It’s because I am trying to avoid sugar all week, in fact, completely. Well, I had some coffee and a small cup of orange juice (which I normally only drink on airplanes.)
Let me iterate that I didn’t spend a lot of money this evening. I have gone to Half Price Books this week three times to sell some books, so I had some cash on me. It wasn’t a fortune, but then again, I didn’t spend too much, either–even though I could have easily spent $100 more. (Ask Neighbor K, she knows!)Â When I start working again, I might buzz over and drop $100. But I’m not in need of that much of anything right now.
Coffee, anyone?
First up: you can get a cup of coffee for $1, all day, any day. (This is great since the GER won’t go into Starbucks, and he can stop there if he wants some good coffee, not the rotgut from his local petrol station.) I had a sample of their decaf Kona, which was wonderful, but before that, a sample cup of hazelnut–which, unfortunately, was not decaf. Oops! Good thing I didn’t drink a whole 8-ounce cup. So it’s a nice place to stop for a coffee if you’re not near Starbucks or don’t want to go in with the crowd.
Fresh Market also sells their own brand of bulk coffee for $11.99 a pound, every day. The hazelnut was wonderful, and so was the Kona. They also have almond amaretto, which I think I saw in decaf. I’ve got plenty of coffee for now, and I hardly drink it, mostly I drink tea these days. But a half pound of decaf hazelnut might be on my first big trip over there.
Oh, but this is one I’m not sure I’d be trying even if I was on the regular:
And look–it’s on sale!
My favorite flavored coffee is, not surprisingly, chocolate raspberry. Non-flavored, Kenya AA and Sumatra coffees. Caramel Pear? Oh, I don’t know about that. But hey, what I think smells like Raid is going to smell like heaven to the lady standing next to me.
PG Tips And Other Teas
Speaking of tea–you’ve probably seen PG Tips tea in your local grocery store, but have you ever seen PG Tips in decaf in your grocery store? Me either, until now.
Um, no, I don’t belong to the Cuppa Club.
Fresh Market has 40-bag boxes of PG Tips Decaf tea in their regular tea section, along with most other teas you can find most places. YES!! I’ve been ordering it for 3 years now from Amazon.com. It’s so good. I grew up with Lipton tea. But I bought a box at HEB after a British lady introduced me to it. It’s very delicious tea, #1 in Britain, but the regular has so much caffeine. The decaf has all the flavor and none of the caffeine, thank heavens. Now I can get it in Clear Lake.
Salt
Another thing I got is another box of Maldon Salt, the flaky stuff from the UK that’s also enjoyed by many chefs and foodies. The box I bought three or four years ago is nearly empty, but if you go to Williams Sonoma to buy it, it’s expensive. Right now on their website, it’s $10.95 a box, but I think it’s like $12 or $13 in the store. In Fresh Market, it’s $3.99. Of course I bought some! I’ll use more of it too.
Ordinary frozen veg, but good enough for today. And nice wooden floors, too.
Limes are 2 for $1 there, but they’re high everywhere; I’ll try HEB or Food Town soon. I did get a couple of super-sized lemons and two nice grapefruit, as well as a small container of their store-brand half and half for coffee and tea. Their milk products are not treated with rBGH, but not all organic; HEB does the same thing. There is a fair amount of USDA-certified organic product, but there are also containers of Cool Whip in the freezer next to the organic frozen fruit.
I know, they have to appeal to a wide range of folks, but anybody who puts Cool Whip on organic fruit of any kind just needs to head over to Wal-Mart and stay there. (That was my snarky opinion coming out.)
Oh, and speaking of dairy, they also have their own store brand of refrigerated almond milk! I’ll try that another day.
Gluten-Free
You know I was looking for this, and sure enough, they do gluten-free.
A good selection of gluten-free products, not only here, but in the freezer case as well.
They’ve even got their own house brand of gluten-free products, and as you can see, they’re marked as such so it’s easy to find, and there are many products located in different parts of the store. However, as Dr. William Davis warns in Wheat Belly, much of it is made from corn flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, and other ingredients that have a high carb content and can give you an insulin spike. So, that’s something to take into consideration; you must read the labels.
Condiments
If you like chutney and fancier versions of peanut butter and jelly, you’re in luck, they’ve got lots of it:
Whatever your heart desires here.
And then inspiration struck (or maybe it was the coffee.) There’s a recipe called Rapid Ragu in Nigella Express that I put off making until recently because I couldn’t find something called onion confit. I did find it a few months ago, in Central Market, but at $10 a jar, this imported French stuff that doesn’t last in the fridge too long isn’t practical to keep around (and it’s more on Amazon!)Â However, while I didn’t buy it this time, I wonder if this will do the trick, and I can get it at Fresh Market for a lot less:
A possible replacement for hard-to-find Onion Confit?
I’ll get it when I start working and I can drop the occasional $100 at the grocery store again. Not today–the recipe also calls for ground lamb, which is, shall we say, more than ground beef. I can wait for it, as well as another gluten-free cupcake from Frost Bake Shoppe.
And for the “I don’t have time to cook” crowd, a little shortcut:
Wash the jars and get rid of the labels and no one will ever know. . . .
The International Section
In addition to many familiar products, they also have a fair amount of stuff you might not see in your regular grocery store, unless your regular grocery store is Korean:
I have never had a Korean mother-in-law.
Again, as wide of a range as you can get. I think I’ve had it once, and like sushi, was quite enough. I’m not slamming anyone’s cuisine–but I’ll pass on this kind of thing. I grew up in New Orleans, lived in California in the 80’s and acquired a taste for Mexican food. I’ve been in Texas for 15 years, and love the varied cuisine, especially barbeque.
I’m just reporting it today.
Other Essentials
Don’t judge me, I only took a picture and didn’t purchase any:
I have no idea what they will do, and I don’t wanna flunk a drug test.
Another section nearby this one has olive oils left and right. But I just know everyone is waiting on pins and needles to find this.
Just in case you really, really, need to know about this stuff.
No, I didn’t buy any of this, either. Heck, I didn’t even pick it up to see if it was imported from Italy, France, Greece or Croatia. Maybe if I invite a sophisticated gentleman for dinner.
The GER couldn’t care less if it was this stuff or Wesson. He’s nice like that.
Bagging It At Fresh Market
Now, folks who know me know about my grocery bag collection–I’ve got several from East Coast chain Publix, HEB, Central Market, import store Phoenicia, Safeway, Trader Joe’s,and a bunch of other places in between. Fresh Market has some insulated tote bags like the one I got from Trader Joe’s a while back, but not as big. I passed on theirs as well as these, but I almost gave in.
Aren’t these cute?
This is, obviously, for buying bulk goods so you don’t need the plastic bags. Again, I passed on them, but there will be a day where I get a few. Not only are they reusable for shopping, there’s probably a few things I can use them for at home.
The Cat’s Gifts
Even Jezebel the step-kitty got a little something:
OK, she didn’t get any of the salt.
I’ve never bought Newman’s Own cat food. In fact, I didn’t know they had it, and I’ve never seen it. That one, as you can see on the far left of the picture, is USDA certified organic. The one on the right isn’t, not that I saw, but since it was a rabbit, I bought it as a treat for Jezebel. I put out half a can, and she went after it. I’ll give her the other half tomorrow, and save the Newman’s Own for another day.
Both, as you can see, are also grain-free, which I try to buy much as I can. I’ve also given her some cat food from Trader Joe’s that she likes, but this stuff is grain-free. Normally, it’s Fancy Feast; the vet’s office feeds that to their boarded cats.
Wish I could have given some of this to Catmandu, but he did get Blue Buffalo duck a few times. On the other hand, as fussy as he was, he might not have eaten the rabbit. Jezebel appreciates the good food. But she’s now enjoyed samples of my cooking to the point where I can’t make tea without her demanding something. She nearly climbed in my lap the other day when I was eating some chicken. My bad.
As You Check Out
Now, this is an interesting site at the checkout lane:
What a good idea for at-the-checkout!
Although Fresh Market has a collection of natural toiletries like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods does, this is a great idea. Well priced and convenient, I like this the best out of all the stores I’ve been in. I have plenty of lip balm and hand sanitizer at the moment, so I didn’t get any. But when I run low, I know where to go, because I try to keep hand cream and hand sanitizer in all my bags, including my purse, just in case. And the lip balm is less than Burt’s Bees–good, since summer isn’t waiting for anyone. Except way up north, where some of my friends report a wind chill factor this week.
More Great Things From Fresh Market
Oh, I forgot to mention the deli, bakery, meat department, and the dining area at the front of the store! DUH–and I didn’t take any pictures of those, either. Sorry about that–I should have at least glanced at their takeout. (I did see sushi.) You can get some lunch or coffee and have it at a table and chairs, much like Central Market in Houston. It’s a smaller area than Central Market’s but quite nice.
The only bad thing I can say about Fresh Market is they don’t carry those Mynts that I love from Trader Joe’s, but I think I can live with that. I’m stocked up for a while, and I’m sure I’ll be at Trader Joe’s again one day. Plus, I can order them from Amazon if I really need some.
Verdict: a pretty good gourmet place to shop!
Not A Big Store
Their store is about the size of Trader Joe’s, not really big like Central Market or Publix. Fresh Market has a fair amount of store-brand products. But they also carry a fair amount of national brands, too, along with some imported things. I can see myself spending some money in there and saving money on petrol in the future. Or at least in for some takeout or a forgotten item one day.
If you’re lucky enough to get one of these, go during their grand opening if you want to sample delicious things. If not, do what I did and wait until 8:00 pm (they close at 9:00 pm.)
Note: even The Woodlands doesn’t have one of these, although they have Trader Joe’s. But even the New Orleans area has four of them, one on St. Charles Avenue. Traffic must be a bear.
Our Fresh Market is next to the Lifeway Christian Store across from Baybrook Mall, just behind Zoe’s Kitchen. That’s another new addition to our area, which I should write a review for soon. I’ve enjoyed food from Zoe’s a few times, although not in a while. Neighbor K likes them too; she visited the one in San Antonio when they opened a couple of years ago. Heck, if you’ve got a Zoe’s in your neighborhood, you’re lucky on that one as well.
Happy Dining!!
Good morning, Dear Readers:
I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but I have to step away from blogging for a little longer while I job hunt. I have a few topics in mind, but right now, I don’t feel like writing. The words escape me.
I haven’t yet written about the grocery chain Aldi, which is growing by leaps and bounds. We have several new stores in the Houston area, including two close to me. Their new flyer indicates that they now have their own gluten free line of products. More on that later.
Also haven’t mentioned Fresh Market, another grocery chain moving into Houston. I keep forgetting to go into the one in town, but we have one opening up this week in my little neighborhood. Report when I get over there.
My garden is also doing pretty well; I’ll be getting some Meyer lemons soon, and if all goes well, limes. I buy and use them all the time–and now they cost a fortune! You’d think that a country would protect one of their cash cows, but I guess limes aren’t Mexico’s most profitable export.
So I’ll give you this picture of Jezebel the step-kitty in the garden, where I found her hanging out in the nice weather this weekend.
The new lime tree is on the left, and the Meyer lemon tree is on the right. The little green orbs will become a crop for me to pick and enjoy. Won’t be a bumper crop, but it’s a start from a paint bucket, right?
Yesterday I made Nigella Lawson’s Corsican Omelette for breakfast, and look what I got!
That rarely happens to me, but it’s nice when it does. Also used up some of the productive mint from the garden.
That’s Texas style–because I can’t fold it into thirds and end up with anything other than scrambled eggs. Then again. I didn’t learn to cook in Europe. I learned in New Orleans.
Well, anyway, I hope to be back blogging a little more soon. Cross your fingers.
Happy Dining!
