Food Basics

Albertson's Goes High Tech

Albertsons Inc. is taking supermarket self-checkout to the next level by introducing handheld scanners that shoppers in Dallas can use as they move up and down the aisles, bagging their groceries as they go.
The chain is installing the technology first in the Dallas area, a key market where Wal-Mart Stores Inc. bumped it from its perch as the No. 1 grocer last year.

Called Shop ´n´ Scan, the system has been tested in several Dallas stores and will be installed in all 103 Dallas-area Albertsons stores by mid-April, the company said.Full text here.

Pasta Salads

Ever had a pasta salad at a restaurant or elsewhere that seems not to taste like anything much?

A big mistake people make when they're cooking the pasta is in forgetting to season it. You really do need that salt in the cooking water ;>) Depending on what kind of salad I'm making, I add a little garlic or onion powder, Mrs.Dash or freshly-ground pepper to the drained pasta while it's still hot, as well. This also helps soak up any water that didn't drain away.

If you're using a salad dressing as opposed to mayonnaise, try adding half the dressing while the pasta cools. This won't work with mayonnaise, since the heat of the dish will curdle your mayo, but it's a good idea otherwise, especially if you're making your salad the night before. Save the other half of the dressing to add just before serving.

Pasta tends to suck up and cancel out dressings, and that extra bit of attention can make a world of difference!

Friends to the End

I've begun posting another previously-published novel in blog form at our other blog, The DesertLight Journal. This is Friends to the End, about a male victim of domestic violence. This is a subject that seldom comes to light, due to society's resistance to the idea that a man could actually be a victim.

While it is fiction, I've been told by men who have been in this situation, that it is in fact, quite true to life.

As you're reading it, please consider making a domation to the domestic Abuse Helpline for Men at the link provided at the DLJ.

Caldo Verde Extra!

I'm pleased to report our experiment with cooking kale, rather than just using it as garnish, was an overwhelming success. My thanks to the kind soul at eGullett who suggested the recipe, and the people of Portugal. Why Portugal? Because caldo verde is apparently the national dish, much as fish and chips is (or at least was) the national dish of England.

I used it for our annual St. Patrick's Day pig-out. My husband hates green jello, or jello of any kind, for that matter, and we'd about had it with the cream cheese-and-olive horses doovers. ;>)

Of course I had to tweak the basic recipe. I added spinach and fresh basil, and used pepperoni, because out here in the desert you don't find Portugese sausage in your local Albertson's. It was great stuff, though! An absolute keeper. We're going to share some with our buddy Lock Mackay, who'd live on soup if you let him.

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Spaghetti

I hear pink is in for fashion and jewlery. Here's a pink spaghetti sauce that's quick and easy!

8 oz bratwurst or link sausage, cut in 1-inch pieces
1/2 - 14 oz container fresh tomato salsa
8 oz can tomato sauce
4 oz cream cheese

Brown sausage over medium high heat, then simmer until done, about 20 mins.
Add salsa, tomato sauce, bring to a boil and add cream cheese, stirring until cream cheese is thoroughly melted.

Serve over cooked spaghetti or spaghetti squash. Two generous servings.

Lemons

I was just given a lot (about a bushel) of the last lemons of the season. I'm open for suggestion here, if anybody's got any ideas. I've got the preserved lemon recipe, which I'm going to try.

I'll still have plenty more to experiment with! Let me know!

Carnival of the Capitalists

Hey, kids, we've got a mention at this week's Carnival of the Capitalists!

Be sure to take a look over there for other great commerce-based blogs!

Butter

The commodity often referred to as "butter" is sometimes margarine, soft margarine, and lately they have come out with a product that contains butter with added canola oil.

For baking, the "soft" or spreadable varieties of either butter or margarine will not work, since they contain liquid oils and/or water. Margarine in stick form, and real butter with nothing added works best. Shortening in a can, such as Crisco, also works well for cookies, cakes and pastries. HINT: Store brand or even name brand margarine is often cheaper than vegetable shortening, and works well in recipes calling for shortening. Just remember to reduce or leave out the salt.

I haven't tried the butter with canola, since the savings when compared to regular stick margarine isn't significant.

The Triple-Threat Chocolate Cookie Disaster

I’m a frequent watcher of TV cooking shows. I found out the hard way that sometimes details get lost in the translation; for instance the amount of something you end up with when a making a recipe in the real world.

I had a recipe for Triple Chocolate Cookies. They were chocolate cookies using both baking chocolate and cocoa with chocolate chips. I watched Marcel DeSaulnier on TV make them, and thought they were perfect to send to some friends, with enough left over for us, too.

To be on the safe side, I doubled the recipe.

I can’t tell you why I didn’t notice that this recipe would contain well over two pounds of chocolate when I was done. I was too busy checking the dollar store and my grocery store for the best deal. Early Saturday afternoon, I started mixing. I realized the bowl I was using wasn’t going to be quite big enough, so I transferred the batter to the biggest bowl I had. The hand mixer I was using started to smoke, because the heavy batter was too much for it – and I hadn’t even added the chips yet!

I got out a big, two-foot-long, metal spoon left over from my days as a banquet chef, and holding my forearm over the edge of the bowl to keep the batter from dripping out, folded in the two big bags of chocolate chips. Although I had chocolate cookie batter all over both arms, and I was trying frantically to wipe up the drips on the floor before the dogs could get to them, my problems had just begun.

I started out making individual cookies, but I soon realized I’d be in the kitchen all night at that rate. I filled up every baking pan I had with batter, and by the time I was done, every surface in the kitchen and living room in my small house was full of cooling, giant cookies in a variety of shapes. We’d just been grocery shopping, so the freezer was full, and there was no place to keep them. The box of cookies I usually mailed to my friends would hardly make a dent in the sheer mass of baked goods.

The aroma of chocolate permeated every room of the house and wafted outside. It was, in fact, the first thing my husband noticed when he came home from work that day.

What to do with all those cookies?

Well, we did what any other patriotic American couple would do – we called in the Marines.

I forget now how we packed them up, but pack them up we did. Paul turned right around and went back to work at MCAS_Yuma, where he teaches Marines to fix their cars. I’m sure many of our boys and girls in uniform had Triple-Threat chocolate cookies that night. ;>)

We’ve re-named the recipe, by the way. In the military style of describing things, they are now Cookies, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate. In the Battalion Batch and Platoon Batch.

The moral of the story is that even the most experienced cook can be dense sometimes.