Salad Doesn't Have to be Borrrrriiiiiinnnng......

I have an opinion about bagged salads. Don't buy them. If you have any, throw them out--(but throw them in the compost pile, not the garbage).

Why?

Because they are overpriced and their nutritional content is questionable. Vegetables that have been cut lose their nutritional content much faster than whole vegetables.

Consider how long that bag you're thinking about buying has been banging around at the processing facility before it's even shipped. Then add shipping time and the time it takes to get it out on display after it reaches the grocery store.

Most of the time, the lettuce in the bagged salads has already started to rust before you even get it home and tear it open.

Yeah, don't waste your money. If you want "pre-made" salads so you can save time in the kitchen, you're better off preparing them yourself. Make enough for a whole week. Yes, you will lose nutritional content but not near as much as those crappy bagged salads. Plus--it's far more economical and you can create your own great vegetable combinations.

Check this one out:

This salad has: Iceberg & Leaf Lettuce, baby Bok Choy, red cabbage, carrots, seedless cucumbers, baby tomatoes, red onion and avocado (not pictured). 

Mmm, mmm, mmmmm!! So nice and fresh! Just ready to be dressed with your favorite dressing.

You can get away with lettuce, cabbage and carrots prepared ahead of time--then add the rest of the goodies when you're ready to serve it. 

Just please...do yourself and your family a favor and stay away from those nasty bagged things. 

The only time I ever make an exception with those is when I want to buy baby greens. Unless I want to drive 45 minutes to an hour, bagged baby greens or Mesclun salad are all that are available where I live.  If the bagged version is available at all. 

No separate radicchio or dandelion leaves can be found here in Tiny Town. (Well, okay--dandelion leaves can be found outside at certain times of the year, lol.)

More on salads later. Until then...Happy Eating!!! :)

I Dream of Chicken with the Light Brown Skin

Beautiful Golden Bird...supper was great on Saturday night...

Fresh from the Oven

The recipe for this incredibly moist chicken can be found at the link below:

 Beautiful Baked Chicken

 Use this recipe and your chicken will always turn out moist and beautiful. It's a good idea to truss your bird. This one had a wing which escaped from its moorings but it still turned out perfect. 

Ready for the Oven

Organic Chicken from Costco 

I feel a product review coming on! This bird was from Costco. These chickens have the neck and giblets enclosed. I remember a time when all chickens had that, but you don't see it much anymore. Mostly you just get the bird and they save the other stuff to sell separately in order to make more $$$.

I hope you have a Costco near you so you can try this chicken. Or maybe you can find it at another store. I've only seen them at Costco in our area.

At Costco, these chickens come in a 2-pack. I fabricated the other bird and put it in storage. Hmmm....we haven't had fried chicken since last month. So, the other bird may end up fried, though I did hear mutterings of Chicken Gumbo. Heh heh heh....we'll see!

Happy Eating! :)

There's a New Kid in Town

I made a great discovery while I was in Walgreen's yesterday. Hidden in the back on the painkiller aisle lies a young man's dream. He dreamed of producing a candy with all natural ingredients instead of crap. You know, all the stuff you can't even pronounce, much less guess at what the heck it might be. It's called: "Unreal Candy."

This candy should be at the front of the store. While I can appreciate the idea of candy as a painkiller, Walgreen's, this candy company deserves a more prominent place in your stores.

Unreal Candy, Candy "Unjunked"

 

 Unreal Candy #8

Unreal Candy #77

Just look at it. Doesn't it look great? Don't you want some right now? Sure you do! Go find it! Let's support this company that's offering such a quality product. We all know that candy isn't good for us but we all deserve a treat now and then. Why not make it a treat with all natural ingredients? 

You can read my review of this product here: "Unreal Candy."

Because...Bacon Cheddar Fries, That's Why!

I was cooking supper for one last night. I wasn't sure what to cook at first, but there was pepper bacon in the fridge. Hmm....what to do with that pepper bacon? I almost made bacon and eggs. Then I decided to make Bacon Cheddar Fries, even though I really didn't feel like it. I knew if I didn't, I would be plagued by the thought of them until I did. Any junkety-junk-junk from a fast food restaurant wasn't going to cut it, either. So I got busy cutting bacon and potatoes....and it didn't take long at all to do the rest.

 Click below for the yummy recipe: 

Bacon-Cheddar Fries

Swift Stuffed Mushrooms

I decided to share the recipe here for the "Patriotic Mushrooms" I made yesterday. I've never used mayonnaise in a stuffed mushroom recipe but I needed a little extra moisture for the stuffing, so I used mayo as a quick binder. Everyone loved them! Click on the link under the picture to see the recipe. Enjoy! :)

Swift Stuffed Mushrooms a.k.a. Patriotic Mushrooms

July 4th Food and Fun!

Ah yes, the 4th of July...Independence Day. We celebrated with a small party of 5. The menu included Pheasant Under Glass, Duchesse Potatoes, Baby Asparagus with White Truffle Sauce, and.....

Wait a minute! Are you kidding me? We had Patriotic Food!!

Grilled hot dogs, Homemade Chili, Multi-Colored Cole Slaw and Stuffed Mushrooms. Are stuffed mushrooms patriotic? Well...they are now!

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about! Good ol' hot dogs on "white-trash" buns! Grilled some white-trash wieners, too. Why white-trash? Well, I've been accused of being white trash once or twice, so why not have a little fun with it?

Here are the stars of our show: Some Johnsonville sausages with cheddar cheese, turkey franks, white-trash wieners and really skinny pork sausages. I think the skinny sausages were made in Bellville but I can't swear to it. I didn't see the package. Four kinds of dogs to decorate our buns. Now that's "eatin' nasty!" WOO!

Here's the Johnsonville package. I wanted to post it because it has a personal pet peeve. "Beddar with Cheddar."

This is part of a big problem in America. Companies enjoy using misspelled words to sell products because they feel it is cute or catchy. Well, it contributes to the "dumbing-down" of America. That is my opinion. It may have been cute in the beginning (and that is debatable), but so many companies have resorted to this tactic that it really isn't cute anymore.

That was my only gripe of the day. I don't want to go on and on about it here, but I had to mention it. I just don't want to see America end up like the America in "Idiocracy." Ever see that movie? Sheesh!! It's more accurate than it should be!!

Have a fabulous day and as always....Happy Eating!! :)

My Cousin Suffers from "FIAS"-Food Ingredient Avoidance Syndrome

My cousin cracks me up sometimes. When it comes to food, she can be like a little kid. Remember "Mikey?" Yeah, she's like that. She hates everything. I don't dare tell her what ingredients I'm going to use. On Tuesday, everyone wanted spaghetti and meatballs for supper. My cousin asked me about the meatballs:

E.J.: "Do they have onions in them?"

Me: "Yes."

E.J.: "Ughhhh!"

Me: "...and garlic and parmesan cheese, too."

E.J.: "Ughhhhh!"

I flipped through the recipe rolodex in my mind, searching for something she may have eaten that had parmesan cheese.

Me: "Have you ever eaten Fettuccine Alfredo?"

E.J.: "Is that the stuff with the white sauce?"

Me: "Yes. It has parmesan in it. Did you like it?"

E.J.: "I guess."

Me: ".......*sigh*........well, if you cook savory food you have to use those ingredients. Otherwise, what's the point?"

E.J.: "Yeah, true."

Me: "Okay, I will leave some meatballs plain. How's that?"

E.J.: "Okay."

So I lied. I didn't leave any of them plain. And you know what? She loved them! She ate all of her meal right down to the plate bone. I asked her how many points I got. She said, "10."

I could tell she wasn't fibbing because she really ate as if she was enjoying the food, rather than forcing it down. Plus, when she doesn't like something, she'll pick it out of her food. None of that occurred. All I can say is: Yay!!

Homemade meatballs and homemade sauce. The spaghetti wasn't homemade, but it was imported from Italy. That's the next best thing to having homemade pasta. Italy knows pasta. (Yeah, I know, "DUH!")

Seriously, American pasta just can't hold a candle. Sure, you can boil the hell out of any pasta and ruin it, but Italian pasta holds together a lot better and it can take some abuse before it gives up the goat.

American pasta is processed differently and if you overcook it for even a few extra seconds, you're screwed. You have pasta earthworms. Just as well throw it out to the chickens. Always use Italian pasta. It's the "Terminator" of pastas. (If you don't know what that means, then go rent "The Terminator," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In fact, rent them all.)

Of course, we had to have garlic bread. I made some "Cheater Garlic Bread." This is the recipe I use when I want to make garlic bread faster. It's a good recipe, which uses garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. Since my back told me I was about done in the kitchen after I made the meatballs and sauce, Cheater Garlic Bread was definitely the way to go on Tuesday night.

Wednesday is the 4th of July, so have a wonderful holiday!