Kristen – Page 18 – Food Follies

Organic Toaster Pastries

I’ve liked having things like Pop Tarts around as backups for times when you run out of milk for cereal, or just want a snack in the afternoon. But at some point (a long time ago now it seems) Kellogg’s Pop Tarts changed their formula – my theory is that they added more high fructose corn syrup and deleted any remaining ACTUAL flavor – resulting in pastries that were hideously sweet yet still alarmingly tasteless. As a result we stopped buying them completely.

But this is a story with a happy ending! At Trader Joe’s we rediscovered the Toaster Pastry… ORGANIC, FROSTED TOASTER PASTRIES!!! By Nature’s Path. We got blueberry and strawberry, at the same price or even cheaper than a good price for Pop Tarts at the grocery store, and they were delicious! I KNEW they could still make toaster pastries with flavor – LOL – plus all organic ingredients, and no high fructose corn syrup. Yes! So, as you can tell, we highly recommend them – going to stock up our next trip to Trader Joe’s!
[Tags: breakfast, organic, food, pop tarts, high fructose corn syrup]

Tyson to Sell Chicken Free of Antibiotics

Tyson said it would no longer use antibiotics to raise chicken sold fresh in stores. (I guess that doesn’t apply to any FROZEN chicken products by Tyson?) Seems it will be slightly more expensive too, but probably still okay if you can’t afford to buy organic free-range chicken all the time. Anyway, it might already be in your stores, with packaging that emphasizes no artificial ingredients. Click here for the full article.
[Tags: food, chicken, antibiotics]

Virgil’s Root Beer

It’s almost a meal unto itself – one bottle of Virgil’s Root Beer is more like a dessert. It’s really not just another carbonated drink you can pound down while you’re eating a burger. It must be savored and meditated upon!

There’s so many complex flavors dancing around on your tongue everytime you take a sip, you’ll wonder how you ever drank those mass-produced, high fructose corn syrup “root beers” before at all. It’s not cheap, but if you consider it an investment like a fine wine that will raise the experience to the level it deserves to be.

[Tags: root beer, soda, drink, food]

Strawberry Waffles

It’s pretty simple. Our regular old homemade waffles, usual recipe, topped with fresh cut and cleaned strawberries that have been sprinkled with just a few teaspoons of white sugar.

Make sure you prepare the strawberries just a wee bit before (the night before works well, but at least a couple of hours) so that they create a nice amount of sweetened strawberry juice to drizzle on the waffles too. We had no whipping cream to top the strawberries, but the waffles were excellent nonetheless!

Mmmmm… strawberries and waffles!
[Tags: waffles, strawberry, fruit]

Partially Hydrogenated

All the talk of saturated and unsaturated fats, mono-unsaturated fats, and especially Trans Fats has left us all feeling just a little Partially Hydrogenated over here – how about you?

[Tags: trans fat, transfat, tshirt, food, hydrogenated, funny, humor]

Warning – Samples!

Yesterday we were in Nob Hill Foods, at the deli counter, to pick up some sliced turkey. While we were waiting for the turkey, we were offered a sample of their fajita salad, which I promptly passed off to John, since I didn’t feel like sampling. About seven minutes later, John said, “I think there was MSG in that. A LOT of it.” His mouth had gone totally dry and his head started to feel tight, like the onset of a headache. That must have been a LOT of MSG to have such a drastic effect for so little food in so little time!

In any case, we’ve learned our lesson – no samples unless we can see a list of ingredients! And luckily the feeling passed within a half hour, and never made it to the ‘itching between the fingers’ stage, which is the WORST.
[Tags: msg, monosodium glutamate, food, allergy]

Passionfish

Over the holiday weekend, we took a drive out to Pacific Grove, CA with the idea of watching the pacific ocean crash on the rocks for a while and getting a bite to eat. We arrived at our favorite spot at Pacific Grove (away from touristy crowds and the inner Monterey Bay area with its too calm water) where the waves were huge and blue-green and crashed against the rocks with much dramatic effect – ahhhhh!

Pacific Ocean at Pacific Grove, California

After we’d rejuvinated our souls with the sound of surf and seagull cries, we hopped back in the car and drove down the main drag looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, it was Monday, and most every restaurant we spotted had a ‘closed’ sign in the window, although we did find two that seemed open. One had a large neon ‘OPEN’ sign, but we soon realized it was the same restaurant that we ALWAYS eat in when we come out this way. Not that there’s anything WRONG with that, but we were in the mood for something new and uncharted. The only other place we saw was an unassuming building on the corner with the sign “Passionfish” outside – we guessed it was a restaurant because there were people sitting in there at tables, and the word ‘fish’ in the sign, but it wasn’t incredibly obvious.

Passion Fish restaurant at Pacific Grove, California

It looked a little more swanky than what we’d planned, but it seemed like a good bet, so we stepped inside. First thing we noticed were all the wine racks and linen tablecloths – yup, definitely more swanky! The decoration was simple elegance and seemed to fit the place. After we were seated, we glanced at the menu and saw at the top that they only used fish caught through sustainable fishing techniques! We hadn’t been consciously looking for a ‘green’ restaurant, but it looks like we found one – yay for synchronicity!

And as I implied, the food was expensive but fantastic. The sourdough bread was very tasty and came with super-whipped and chilled butter. (I know olive oil is ‘cool’, but I still prefer butter.) I had pulled lamb and handmade noodles in a reduced oregano sauce with olives and baby spinach leaves. John ordered the Alaskan Halibut topped with a sweet red chili sauce, over Sicilian vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce. We both had water (someday we should go back just for the wines!) until we heard the server telling the people seated near us that they didn’t have fountain drinks like Coke, but instead served soft drink made with cane syrup instead of high fructose corn syrup, so we had to split a bottle, sort of as a dessert. Turned out to be Boylan’s Sugar Cane Cola which was VERY tasty – like a cream cola almost.

When our server (a friendly, down-to-earth, but professional woman) brought the bill she didn’t include mints as restaurants often do, but a small pocket guide about what kinds of seafood were fished responsibly, which were known to have mercury contaminants, etc. It was done in such a simple and unassuming way though that it wasn’t annoying at all, although usually I hate people trying to “educate” me with information they want to impart when I didn’t specifically request it.

So if you’re ever in the Monterey or Pacific Grove area of the Central Coast of California, check out the Passionfish Restaurant – at least for the amazing food, but also for their conscientious approach to cooking… and maybe also for their EXTENSIVE wine list!
[Tags: fish, food, restaurant, california, pacific ocean]

Ahi Tuna & Rice Pilaf

About 12 years ago I had a piece of broiled Ahi Tuna in a restaurant and thought it was the most fantastic piece of fish I’d ever eaten. I’d forgotten about that tasteful experience for a long time until John and I found some wonderful Ahi Tuna the other day and decided to make a special meal of it. The Ahi Tuna itself came frozen in marinade, so we defrosted it in the fridge for a day. Then when it was thawed, John melted butter in a hot frying pan, and placed the tuna in it, and poured the marinade in after. The tuna was broiled to perfection – turned from fish-red to white and was nicely brown on each side, and FULL of flavor.

We also made some wild rice and basmati rice pilaf with onions and peas as a sidedish. Oh, right, after the tuna was cooked, John threw some sliced, fresh mushrooms in the frying pan, and then covered the tuna with them.

It was all completely tasty, and just a wee bit fancier than we normally make. The spices in the marinade (mostly salt and pepper, but also some red pepper) complimented the spiced in the rice pilaf nicely! (Also, if you don’t usually like fish, such as haddock or cod, but eat tuna, I’m sure you’d like Ahi Tuna.)
[Tags: fish, tuna, food, cooking, rice]

Blogger’s Choice Nominee

WOW! Much to our astonishment and appreciation, this humble little food blog has been nominated for a Blogger’s Choice Award! If you’d like to vote for us, and don’t have anything cooking on the stove right now that you should really be paying attention to, click the following link:

(Or click here if that doesn’t work.)

Warning – you have to register before you can vote.

Special thanks to ‘Chris’ for nominating us – wow!!!
[Tags: award, Blogger’s Choice Award]

Baskin Robbins Short Change

Last time we went to Baskin Robbins (which was the first time in like ten years) the portions seemed so small that we decided it wasn’t worth the bother to go back. Turns out that their pints weren’t measuring up either.
[Tags: ice cream, Baskin Robbins]