Posts Tagged ‘ reviews ’

If You Have to Spike Your PB&J, You Might Have a Problem

May 21, 2012
If You Have to Spike Your PB&J, You Might Have a Problem

No, make that you definitely have a problem. —————————————————— But before I get into that, first we have a giveaway winner to announce! Drumroll, please… *\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/* The winner of the OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker is Sara P. who left a comment on the Circle of Food post. Congratulations, Sara, I’ll be emailing you for your mailing address (please respond within 24 hours or I’ll have to send the shaker to someone else). Now, on with our post! —————————————————— A while back I requested a review copy of a new, fun-sounding cookbook: Never Cook Sober by Stacy Laabs & Sherri Field. I enjoy using alcohol in my recipes when the situation calls for it, and thought this book would give me some good ideas in that department. I think I got a hangover just reading through the recipes. And I hate hangovers. While I recognize the tried-and-true hangover remedy of “hair of the dog,” and I’ve had a mimosa to start a holiday morning more than once, I’m not sure dipping your morning fruit plate in 6 different spirits (Three Sheets to the Wind Vodka and Run Fruit Plate, the first recipe of the book) is a great way [...]

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New Ghirardelli LUXE Milk Chocolate

October 20, 2010
New Ghirardelli LUXE Milk Chocolate

Have you heard? Those lovely chocolatiers, Ghirardelli, have come out with a new line: LUXE. In clean, white packaging (these bags are paper instead of the traditional foiled-printed plastic) the banner touts what should be a reassuring label, “All Natural,” but what it really makes me wonder is–what wasn’t natural about the regular Ghirardelli we’ve been eating all these years? In CVS, the other day, I happened upon a display that featured bags of both the LUXE line as well as a variety of classic squares. Unfortunately, of the unfilled variety they only had a dark chocolate (which showed no additives different than the LUXE line’s soy lecithin, a common emulsifier) and the rest were filled with various goos (tasty goos, as goos go, and I don’t make a habit of turning them down when offered). This made direct comparison of milk chocolate to milk chocolate impossible. The filled chocolates (caramel was the one I examined) did show corn syrup and other ingredients that some consider unnatural, but that’s just as likely to be from the filling as the chocolate (separating the components out would have helped). Another unfortunate fact is that I’ve been unable to find a shred of [...]

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E-Mealz: a Menu Service Alternative

August 23, 2010

I’ve often recommended the Menu Mailer by Saving Dinner to folks who have trouble answering the ‘What’s for dinner’ question from week to week. It’s convenient, inexpensive, offers of variety of menu options and takes the weight off your shoulders. But it’s not the only option. (And, yes, I still sometimes kick myself for not being more entrepreneurial-minded back in ’98 when I started doing this myself every week for my husband and I.) From a blog ad I saw several weeks ago I pointed my browser to e-mealz.com (don’t forget the hyphen or the z), just out of curiosity. What I found was a site that touted money-saving, healthy menus for a mere $5 a month. They even match their menus to specific stores! Taking advantage of the weekly advertised specials without actually having the comb the flyers yourself? Nice! Sadly, I found that you can’t just try the service for a single month–at least not without paying for 2 more. That was a little disappointing (I like to give things a trial before I commit, don’t you?) but I went ahead and signed up for a 3-month subscription. And all those store/menu-style options? Yeah, you have to pick [...]

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Almost Meatless Experiment

July 26, 2010
Almost Meatless Experiment

It was my turn to cook this week and, as the cookbook testing is mostly done, it was time to find some new inspiration. In a stack of books under my bedside table was Almost Meatless by Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond. I’d picked it up as part of a book club last year, given it a cursory glance and set it aside to be completely forgotten until a week or so ago when it surfaced as I was looking for a different reference. The premise of the book is cooking with a more mindful attitude towards ingredients and less of a dependence on animal products without going strictly vegetarian–a nice compromise for us omnivores. The inside flap touts the benefits of the book as “health-, budget- and eco-conscious” eating without sacrificing flavor. Sounds good to me! We took one recipe from each chapter and worked our way through the book, beginning with Thai Coconut-Curry Soup. It’s a very light soup and I was a little concerned about the lack of body as it relied on chicken stock with just a little bit of coconut milk as a finish. In fact, this was a downside to the recipe as [...]

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