If there is one thing I'm learning about looking for real food, it's that it takes time. Time to read the labels, scour the stores, and really pay attention to what's going in my shopping cart. Lately I've been trying out a store that I don't normally shop at, and I'm finding that they carry a lot of specialty items that I can't get elsewhere. Every time I go, I find something cool. What was it this week?
Chicken broth.
In the winter I make a lot of soups and stews to freeze and take for lunches. Ah, you scoff at me-chicken broth can't be that bad, right?
Yep. It can be. Normally I use Campbell's chicken broth, but I've never been happy with the sodium content and the added MSG. Even the 25% less sodium version has 420 mg per 150 ml serving. Yikes!
I don't have the time, or the space, to make my own (not to mention it can get expensive!). Every week when I have shopped, I've checked every single brand of chicken stock I could find, but they seemed all the same. Until this week, when I found...
Kitchen Basics unsalted Chicken Stock. Read these ingredients! Probably the closest I'll ever get to home made (although I wonder what "chicken flavor" is). The sodium listed on the site is even lower on the package in my cupboard, which says there's 90mg of sodium per 2/3 cup serving. Plus it tasted really good, and without all that sodium, I could just add a small amount to suit our tastes.
As I was checking out, the cashier noted that it's the most popular chicken stock that they sell, and commented that many people come to that particular store just to buy this brand.
You are probably thinking that it costs a fortune to buy, that's it's some specialty thing that is ridiculously expensive. Not so. I only paid $3.49, which is the same price as the Campbell's chicken stock. Buoyed by my find, I went home and made a kick ass broccoli cheese soup that Jake declared the most delicious ever.
Score!
Have you made any great finds this week?
(I was not contacted by the company, paid, given product, or even spoke to anyone to do with this product. Opinions are completely my own.)
(update: Notes from the Cookie Jar is up again, thanks to the lovely people at google clients, whose e-mail I had to get from eNom. Perhaps Google, you should make your email address just a bit easier to find.)
So, I'm sure all of you noticed Notes From the Cookie Jar is down.
DOWN. As in, *poof*! Oh! It's gone! Into Internet oblivion! Okay, not really. I've had some domain issues that I'm trying to sort out, and it should be back up in the next 24 hours. If you are visiting from Kid's Vancouver, Welcome!
Yes, the apple crumble recipe was over there. You must try it. So I moved the recipe over here! (see below)
About the domain thing?
Here is a tip, and heed my advice, my blogging pretties, if you want to keep your domain:
If you buy a domain through Blogger/Google, make SURE TO CHECK that little box that says "auto renew". Why? Well, because when your domain expires, just hours before, Google will send you a lovely little email saying that you still have time to renew, just click this link!
The link won't work. AND, you can't sign into your dashboard and click that auto renew button either. I tried. Lovely Kia and Jamie over at I Ate a Rainbow tried. Renewing just isn't going to happen. You will be freaking out, realizing that your site will go doooown and there's nothing you can do. You'll be worried that you will lose your domain name forever.
And then, THEN, your site will be down. Poof!
Google is no help, either. Have any of you tried to find help in Google? Even a contact number of some kind? Merry described it like going through the circles of Hell, because there just isn't any actual help there. Google, you are not user friendly. I admit that I sent you some really nasty notes in the "was this any help" part of your help pages.
Anyway, I called the lovely people at eNom directly, and they promised to fix me up after I send an email detailing what I need to do. Which I've done. Let's hope that things get fixed, shall we? (bites nails)
In the meantime, enjoy Chasing Tomatoes! There's lots of great recipes over here. This week I'm making some yummy muffins, and then a great maple pecan caramel corn so you are prepared for Halloween. There's some pumpkin tarts coming eventually, too.
Have a fantastic Monday!
(This post is re-posted from Notes From the Cookie Jar)
With a fridge full of apples from a friend with her own tree, I had been planning to make apple crisp for awhile. I've been using the same recipe for a long time and wasn't about to change.
That is, until I got my October issue of EveryDay Food. I had seen this recipe and it had piqued my interest, so tonight I took the plunge and whipped up the most buttery, delicious, BEST apple crisp that my family has EVER eaten.
So here it is!
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (the 1/2 cup is to add to the apples-I used only a few tablespoons because I prefer my apples somewhat tart)
8 tbsps (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into small cubes (I actually used salted butter and then omitted the salt
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (not the quick cooking ones)
3 lbs apples-peeled, cored, and sliced (the original recipe recommends Empire, Gala, or Braeburn)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I only used a sprinkle)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, 2 tbsps of the granulated sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into this mixture using a pastry cutter, until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the oatmeal and then work it together. Use your hands even-get right in there, squeezing the oatmeal and working it right into the flour/butter mixture. Put it in the fridge to keep it cold while you get the apples ready. This is an important step, and it's great to have clumps of the oatmeal mixture so feel free to moosh it together like that.
Peel core, and slice up the apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning and toss with the cinnamon and as much sugar as you would like (up to 1/2 cup...I like far less, and the less sugar I use, the less lemon juice. You can judge!) Pour apples into a shallow 2 quart baking dish and sprinkle topping over top.
Bake for 55-65 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown. Let cool and do what we did....serve it up with big scoops of good quality vanilla ice cream.
I certainly won't be making the old recipe again!
The search continues! What's going on these days?
Last week wasn't a very successful week in the search for real vs. processed.
First, I made Oreos. Would you believe that same week, Oreos were on sale at the grocery store for $1.75 a bag? Was it worth it to make them? Yes, and no. They took a lot of time to bake, ice, there was the dishes, etc. On the other hand, they were delicious AND they don't have high fructose corn syrup in them. Also, we're finding that with the home made ones, we eat only two and we're completely satisfied.
Have you ever been able to eat only two Oreos? I could probably eat half a bag if I wasn't paying attention. That was a very interesting thought to me.
Why is it that home made Oreos are far more satisfying than processed?
I also tried making home made granola bars. Processed granola bars at the store: $2.50. My home made ones? Around $7.00 to buy all the ingredients. Plus, they completely fell apart and now I have granola crumbles and no bars. FAIL.
I think I forgot the sugar-but after spending all that cash on the nuts, fruit, seeds, etc, I'm not letting them go to waste. We're eating granola crumbles in our lunches. Actually it wasn't a complete fail, because Hubs loved them and has been eating the crumbles up in bits every day.
Awhile ago in the staff room at work someone was talking about chickens. I was so excited, thinking I could actually buy a free range, happy chicken to eat, until they broke the news to me.
If I want this chicken I'd have to kill, gut, and pluck it MYSELF. Would I do it for this project?
NO freaking way, people.
On the other hand, he did agree to sell me fresh eggs, so that is a plus. Eggs are exactly what I've been looking at, lately. What kind of eggs do you buy? Free Range? Omega-3? Organic? Straight from the farm? Brown? The cheapest you can find? I decided to take a look at eggs and see what I could find.
Awhile ago I bought Island Gold Veggie Fed Eggs by Burnbrae Farms. Curious to know exactly what "Veggie Fed" meant, I e-mailed the farm to find out. Wow, did I learn a lot about eggs and chickens!
Firstly, what does veggie fed mean, anyway?
Did you know that most hens are fed a diet of soy, multi-grains, and meat by products? Chickens are omnivores and need the nutrients from meat. Burnbrae Farms developed Veggie eggs for people who are vegetarians and who are not comfortable with the idea of chickens eating meat by products.
So in reality the veggie eggs are no "better" than the regular eggs, just different. I paid more money just for vegetarian chickens! They were delicious and the yolks were deep yellow, but the taste was pretty much the same too.
How about those chickens? Are they free range, caged...?
Remember, I was looking for happy chickens and, knowing nothing about chicken farming, the animal welfare policy sent to me by Burnbrae farms was really interesting. Did you know that the use of hormones and steroids has been illegal in the Canadian Egg Industry for over 50 years?
"At Burnbrae Farms, we prefer prevention over treatment. Our hens are vaccinated when they are very young to build defenses against diseases during their adult lives. As a result, the use of antibiotics is very rare on our farms. Medication is provided only when the birds get sick and is administered under the supervision of a veterinarian. "
As for housing, the birds that laid those veggie eggs were in traditional, or caged housing. White hens are allotted 67 square inches and brown hens, which tend to be larger, are allotted 75 square inches. The cages are in barns, and the areas are designed so they all have equal access to water, food, are in small social groups, and helps to control aggression and disease.
Free run chickens are housed in barns where they can roam, roost, and have areas where they can "nest". Organic chickens are guaranteed access to outdoors and fed an organic feed. The thing is, even though the organic chickens have access to the outdoors, the weather in some parts of Canada pretty much make it a moot point, since it's too cold outside for the chickens anyway.
You can email Burnbrae to ask for the entire Animal welfare policy over at their website, if you like. This definitely helped clear up confusion for me around eggs, and what all the different labels on them actually mean.
Do you know where your eggs come from?
Quite awhile ago I found a recipe for Spiced Honey Lemon Chicken on Crepes of Wrath, paired up with some delicious Brussels Sprouts. The chicken is just as delicious on it's own, but the other day Jake and I spotted a mango sitting on the counter and both of us had the same idea at once.
Mango salsa. On the spicy chicken.
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