gmm's Profile
Those weird things you eat when you are in your kitchen
Funny, I used to be crazy about butter when I was little. We only had it when we ate out in restaurants because my parents only kept margarine in the house. When we would go to the local restaurant on the Air Force base where we lived, the waitresses would sneak me those little pats of butter on wax paper when the folks weren't looking. Still love it and probably put more than the normal person would on rolls and bread, but not so much straight up anymore.
Another "what is this?" posting
Wish I could help you, but I'm not familiar with the product. I just came across it doing an image search for "Korean cactus syrup." I'm sure some others will chime in with some input.
Another "what is this?" posting
Found some info on it, apparently it's cactus tea.
http://www.21food.com/products/cactus-tea-255102.html
Make ahead bacon?
Personally, I'd cut it up before cooking, then fry it. It should stay fairly crisp, but you can alway put the pieces on a paper towel and throw it in the microwave for just a few seconds to recrisp if needed.
There's some info on this page that might be helpful.
http://www.kraftbrands.com/oscarmayer/bacon/prep-tips.html
Unique Pizza Toppings
My favorite pizza at Serious Pie in Seattle is topped with clams, pancetta and lemon thyme. I believe other than that it only had olive oil and parmesan on it. So good.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
+1 on the Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Mascarpone Sauce. The pasta is tender, but still with a good bite, the sauce has a nice mushroom flavor and there is a decent amount of grilled chicken . The microwave instructions call for heating covered for 4 minutes, stir, and cook for another 3 minutes uncovered. I'd recommend covering the dish with a paper towel for the second portion of cooking unless you enjoy cleaning bits of exploded mushrooms out of your microwave.
Pizza with finely ground sausage
How do you make the type of finely ground sausage that some pizza places use? I've only had it a few times, but it's not in chunks like most sausage on pizza, has almost a dry texture and seems to have a more pronounced fennel flavor, maybe just the result of the finer texture. Anyone know how achieve this texture? Double or triple grind the raw sausage? Or grind it after cooking?
Favorite unusual toppings for vanilla ice cream?
It works just fine with canned pineapple chunks too. Wish I had some right now. :) Hope you enjoyed it!
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
The frozen cannoli are a nay for me. They taste okay and even though they're coated in chocolate, they lose the crispness that makes cannoli so good.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
The mozzarella is great with their refrigerated bruschetta sauce (the one in the red/white/green tub.)
Bake sale? What should i bake?
Aside from ccc's, I'd also consider molasses spice cookies, peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles. I use the Cook's Illustrated recipes for all three and people always love them. Remove them from the oven before they look completely done if you like soft chewy cookies (which I do!)
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/molasses_spice_cookies/
http://obsessedwithbaking.blogspot.com/2009/04/snickerdoodles.html
http://theculinarychronicles.com/2010/07/27/big-super-nutty-peanut-butter-cookies/
Favorite unusual toppings for vanilla ice cream?
This is a five year old thread, but since it's come up again, recently I've been cooking fresh pineapple chunks with brown sugar until it's all thickened and adding a splash of rum at the end and serving that over vanilla ice cream.
fed up with pork....
I love the Cook's Illustrated Smothered Pork Chops recipe. No exotic ingredients, and you can easily use dried thyme and parsley in place of fresh, just cut back the amount.
http://www.partywithmepunker.com/Smothered%20pork%20chops.htm
Do you remember the first steak you had?
I remember eating at Ponderosa Steakhouse. Can't remember what city we lived in then. Either Ponderosa or Sizzler were probably the earliest steaks I can remember, and thinking that they were "good" steaks because you could cut them with a fork.
Want to make bread but don't understand ingredient. Please help!
This is the brand I have in my cupboard:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/vital-wheat-gluten.html
Grocery stores with a natural food section usually carry Bob's Red Mill. I live in a mid-sized city and my local Safeway has their products grouped together in the baking aisle.
Help! I need recipe ideas that are soy, dairy, salt and meat free.
Not a main dish, but Food and Wine has a brownie bites recipe that is soy and dairy free, and you could leave out the salt. I've made it for vegan friends and it's very good. I wasn't concerned about the gluten so I just used regular flour and left out the xanthan gum.
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/brownie-bites
Asian Market: Beverages
There's a lot of different varieties of aloe drinks, but I like the ones that taste like muscat grapes. I also like the green plum drink that comes in a little tiny can. I think it's this same drink: http://www.theasiangrocery.com/products/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=33&idcategory=4 , but the one at my local Asian grocery doesn't have any english writing on it.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
Love those as well. I must be needing the Vitamin C because I polished off an entire bag by myself in two days.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 2nd quarter 2012
Yay on the Japanese Style Fried Rice with Edamame, Tofu and Hijiki Seaweed. You can either microwave or heat on the stovetop. From the picture on the package, it looks like the tofu is the fried version, though I didn't see any noticeable pieces in the portion I heated up. A different flavor from the standard fried rice you get from a Chinese restaurant, slightly fishy, probably from the hijiki, but in a good way. My mother is Japanese and she said it was very good.
~ What are ingredients that are best to buy (semi)-prepared rather than whole to save time and effort ~
I have to agree about the chopped garlic that comes in jars, however I love the Dorot frozen minced garlic cubes that Trader Joe's sells. It doesn't have the weird flavors of the jarred stuff and it's so convenient. I always have a few packages in my freezer.
tempura bits
These are the only sites I could find that carry it online:
http://okonomiyakiworld.com/buy-okonomiyaki-online.html
http://www.marukaiestore.com/p-1240-jyu-jyu-tei-tenkasu282oz.aspx
I also think you should be able to find them at Mitsuwa. My best guess would be in the aisle that has stuff like flour and panko bread crumbs.
The Perfect Biscuit - what are your secrets to make it happen?
cstout- it doesn't sound like there was anything wrong with your technique, but there is a video for "baking perfect biscuits" on the White Lily website along with a plethora of recipes if you need ideas to use up those eight bags.
I do agree that 1/2 inch seems a bit thin though, I usually roll or pat mine out to closer to 1 inch.
http://www.whitelily.com/BakingTips/Tips_Video.aspx
Can't stand the feel of cornstarch...
Now that you mention it, baby powder doesn't bother me. But that usually only involves a dusting. If I had to stick my hand into a dish of it, I would probably have the same reaction.
Trader Joe's Yea/Nay Thread - 1st quarter 2012 [old]
dailywaffle - not a TJ's product, but have you tried the Julian's Recipe Belgian Waffles? More expensive than the TJ's waffles, but they have the little crunchy bits of sugar in them and are quite tasty.
http://juliansrecipe.com/products.html
Can't stand the feel of cornstarch...
I like to use cornstarch or a mixture of cornstarch/flour to dredge some fried foods, but the feel of cornstarch on my fingers really makes my skin crawl. I don't know quite how to describe it, kind of dry and squeaky, I guess. Anyone else have this reaction?
spokane
Americk, my story is very similar to yours, I moved back to Spokane from Seattle in July of 2010. I take care of my elderly parents, so I usually cook at home and haven't been to any of the places on your list. For sushi, I like Sushi Sakai in the Valley. I've tried Sushi.com, Wasabi, Sushi Yama and Yuzen, but I prefer Sushi Sakai to all of them. And just a block away from Sushi Sakai is my favorite Mexican joint, Abelardo's. Love the carnitas there and it's really inexpensive.
I need your creative ideas for hot dogs!
Some interesting recipe ideas on the first couple pages:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=hot+dogs&fnSearchType=site
favorite guilty snack food
Munchos and pepperoni pizza cracker Combos. The Munchos are pretty readily available in my area, so it requires some discipline to not buy them. The pepperoni pizza cracker flavor Combos I've only found at one very inconveniently located Shopko in my city, so those are easier to avoid. I also really love the lightly salted Baked Kettle Chips, even more so than regular potato chips and better for you than regular potato chips, but not so much if you eat the whole bag.
What discontinued products do you miss?
I remember seeing an article at one time that said the Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwiches (Do-Si-Dos in some areas) used to be called Gauchos and are the same cookie. I've never had them. Might be worth a try since it's Girl Scout cookie season.
Can I freeze beer to cook with later?
I don't drink beer either, but once in a while I'll buy a large bottle or can to use in beer batter. If there's a significant quantity left over, I just put a sandwich bag over it and put a rubber band around it and store it in the fridge. I'm not sure what the maximum time is, but it does seem to last quite a long time. I would think in a bread recipe, it's there more for flavor than for the carbonation, but I could be wrong. I'm sure others will provide some more feedback.
