Great Groceries!

So, grocery store free samples work! I was taking a gander through Giant the other day. Unwisely, I always go to the grocery when I'm hungry. So, when I saw the free salsa samples with multigrain chips, I decided to try it out. The salsa was not the jarred variety, but fresh! It was excellent, and it goes really nicely in salad. It has enough spice that the salad can be lightly dressed. My second is example is a bit attenuated. I was at Whole Foods the other day and was looking for good snacks. Sometimes my parents come over to help with our house renovations, and they always complain that I have no snacks. Whole Foods was giving out samples of kettle corn. I couldn't find the brand that was being given away as samples, so bought the store brand instead. It was delicious! Sweet and salty and lowfat. Finally, on a random parting note, Welch's has a new juice 100% juice out. It's Black Cherry Concord Grape. Totally yummy!

Better Than Bouillon

I highly recommend Better Than Bouillon. It's a concentrated base that can be substituted for bouillon. It's 95% organic and works like a charm. It has no artificial additivies like MSG, is fat free, and low in sodium. I've used the chicken version to make turkey noodle soup, and it turned out deliciously! Here's a very rough recipe: Ingredients Organic chicken stock Water Carrots Celery Cooked turkey Thin straight egg noodles Salt & Pepper Directions Combine chicken stock, water, carrots, celery, and cooked turkey. Heat on the stove. When liquid is hot, add better than bouillon, salt, and pepper to taste. When carrots have softened, add egg noodles.

Comparison Shopping

So, I sang the praises of the Annie Chun's noodle bowl, which I usually supplement with protein of some sort. They're cheaper at Whole Foods than the supermarket when they're on sale ($2.19 on sale as opposed to $2.99 and up). Lately, though, they seem to be in scarce supply at the Annapolis Whole Foods. Someone from my office recommended Trader Joe's, where the udon and teriyaki (my favorites) are only $1.99.

Noodles, dressing, and revisiting

Ta da! More grocery reviews of good healthy groceries. Please don't think that I'm a lowfat healthfood nut, because I'm not. I only highlight healthier foods because to me, it's much easier for full-fat products to taste good than lowfat foods. I'll only eat healthy stuff (or any food for that matter) if I think that it tastes good. Why the disclaimer? Because I really don't trust a person's food judgment if they actually prefer the healthy stuff because they think it tastes better. C'mon. We all know that we would rather have bacon and fries and chocolate and donuts if we wouldn't gain weight and clog our arteries. On the noodles front (note how I am adhering to the organizational structure flowing from my title), I tried Annie Chun's Teriyaki Noodle Bowl (recommended by my husband). So many good things about it. Where do I begin? First, for all of you veggies out there, it's vegan. For all of you non-vegans and carnivores such as myself, don't let the absence of meat turn you off. It's tasty and relatively filling all the same, but I'll get to that later. Second, it's pretty lowfat and low cal. 400 calories and 5 grams of fat. Not bad for a lunch entree. Third, it is all natural and does not contain any MSG or preservatices. Finally, and most important, it tastes great! Unlike the standard cup of noodles, the noodles are fresh (not dried) and vaccuum sealed. The teriyaki sauce is flavorful. The only improvement I can suggest is better veggies. They're dried out like the veggies in the standard cup of noodles. There's supposed to be tofu, but I didn't really notice it. On balance, it's pretty good. It's a bit pricey ($3 a crack), but if you order it online, you can get a bulk discount and free shipping. http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/ExecMacro/anniechun/home.d2w/report. Also, good ole Annie puts out a whole bunch of other dishes, which I have yet to try. I'll let you know when I do! Okay, on to dressing. I really like a good honey mustard. For a relatively healthy one that won't reverse the good diet effects of a salad, try Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard. You'll only intake 4 grams of fat and 70 calories for a two tablespoon serving size. It has a nice horse-radishy (my husband points out that horse-radishy is not really a word) kick even though it really doesn't contain and is nice and creamy with those pretty ground mustard seeds in it. I honestly would eat this instead of the full fat version because I think it tastes as good. Oh, the best of both worlds. Finally, revisiting. If you had nothing better to do than read my thoughts on Greek yogurt, you may recall that I reviewed Fage 2% Greek yogurt with peaches. I tried the honey 2% variety. Nice and sweet, but not nearly as good as the peach, in my opinion. See for yourself. Maybe when I start running more and don't feel like a total porker, I will try the full-fat version. Until then, I will indulge in only really unhealthy stuff -- like cake, ice cream, cookies, candy, and pie. Why waste the quota of fat on yogurt? Why, indeed?