This was something of an experiment and another chance to pop open a bottle of wine. While walking the Trader Joe’s isles, I noticed a section of spaghetti sauces. Since the price was only a little more than the cost of ingredients for my home-made marinara sauce, I decided to put Trader Joe’s to the test. In a nutshell, it worked pretty well, but is probably better used for a quick pasta sauce than for using in lasagna.
Archive for the ‘Recipes, food, cooking and related items’ Category
Spaghetti with Meatballs – Trader Joe’s Meatless Meatballs
02/05/2010This is an easy one and one you probably don’t need to read. However it does point back to the marinara sauce recipe which is what’s really important. With a little crusty Italian bread to soak up any excess sauce on the plate, a glass of red wine, and Billy Joel playing on the stereo, it doesn’t get much better.
Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce
02/05/2010This is an easy one and one you probably don’t need to read. However it does point back to the marinara sauce recipe which is what’s really important. With a little crusty Italian bread to soak up any excess sauce on the plate, a glass of red wine, and Billy Joel playing on the stereo, it doesn’t get much better.
Canned Soup – not the obvious
01/05/2010You might have read other recipes on this blog and noticed there’s no sin here in taking a can off the shelf, opening it and using it to make something good. There’s also no sin in using dried herbs and spices. If they’re not as flavorful as fresh herbs and spices, just use a little more. There are times when cooking may be a hobby to us, and times when cooking is a way to get food into the stomach. Most of the recipes here are of the food in the stomach variety. But food in the stomach that tastes a little better than straight out of the can or freezer and doesn’t take a weekend to gather ingredients and prepare.
Lasagna – what to do with the tomato sauce?
01/01/2010Now that we’ve mastered the art of the can opener by making the tomato sauce, the next basic skill a master chef must acquire is opening the box. Then the answer to the question, “What to do with the tomato sauce?” is, lasagna.
Tofu U – Part 1 – Italian Style
12/29/2009Margaritas tonight.
Every 2 years, another failure. That’s how often I give tofu a try, and how successful I’ve been in the past. I’m sure somewhere there’s a way to cook tofu that turns out to be actually good. Ain’t found it yet, but haven’t given up. The pictures of tofu with grill marks straight off the barbeque look great. Haven’t tried it that way, but I suspect in the end, another failure. At least by my tastes. In fact the only tofu I remember being half-way good was in a Chinese restaurant surrounded by meat and vegetables with a lot of good tasting sauce on everything. Maybe that’s the way to cook it? Go to your local Chinese restaurant and order it there. Here’s this year’s biennial challenge.
Tofurky® Roast
12/27/2009The son’s a vegetarian. Really, he just doesn’t eat meat. To call him a vegetarian would imply some sort of conviction which usually eludes him. The actual rule is, don’t eat anything with eyes. I guess potatoes would be an exception. I wonder where artichoke hearts fit in the vegetarian diet?
Basic Salsa – recipe
12/26/2009
There are tons of salsa recipes available. If you have a favorite, you’re probably not reading this. If you don’t have a favorite, then the most likely best thing to do if you know of a salsa you like is ask the person or restaurant who made it for the recipe. The worst that could happen is they won’t give you the recipe. Aside from that, here’s a simple one. I make it to find a use for my small food processor and because it’s good. (Oster 3320 150-Watt 3-Cup Food Chopper with Whisk Attachment
Cooking Utensils – Very Basic – Item 2 – Cutting Board
12/17/2009Assuming you already have a fork, spoon, knife, plates, some kind of frying pan and a basic pot of some sort, there are only 3 things that a real cook needs. This is the second. See other posts for items 1 (knife) and 3 (knife sharpener).
French Onion Soup – Like it used to be – Famous-Barr
12/07/2009It used to be that people would go to standalone department stores to shop. Call them the old downtown department stores, if you will. Some of these most likely still exist in some of the larger cities. After hours of walking around in these cavernous multi-floor stores, people naturally became hungry. It was the custom that most stores had some sort of cafeteria available where people could stop their empty stomach from talking back, rest their weary feet and most likely, to the store owner’s delight, keep them in the store. In each cafeteria, no matter how average all the other food was, there was usually one specialty that became a must for every shopping trip. This recipe is one of the musts served at the old mid-west Famous-Barr department stores.
Ain't Found A Good Title Blog 
