Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Chicken And Spinach Soup – Not What You’d Think – Recipe

09/11/2010

This is another one that surprises based on its simplicity and results.  This light soup will bring  pleasant comments from you and your family or guests.  But first a quiz.

(more…)

Cucumber Onion Salad – Recipe

08/14/2010

This is a pretty quick and handy dish, especially in the summer when everyone you know has a boat load of cucumbers to give away.  Plus, using your chef knife to slice through those cucumbers as if they were butter, gives you a real sense of accomplishment.

(more…)

Simple Stuff – Recipes

08/14/2010

Sometimes we cook simply because our bodies demand fuel.  Then, we cook to eat.  Here are a few simple recipes that feed that fuel demand.

(more…)

Tuna Salad Sandwich – recipe

08/14/2010

The best tuna salad sandwich I ever had, was in high school.  I could eat those every day, and often did.  Unfortunately, I don’t have that recipe.  Here’s another recipe that we use.  One of the things that’s missing here is some diced celery.  I didn’t have any at the time.  But if you do have some celery, dice up about a half of a stalk and add to the recipe.

(more…)

Spanakopita – the real thing – recipe

08/07/2010

It was a little bit ago that we reviewed Trader Joe’s Spinach Pie (Spanakopita) and found it good, but not as good as Mama used to make.  Since Mama actually never made spanakopita, that left it up to me to find a recipe and see how Mama would’ve made it, if she had.  So here’s Mama’s spanakopita recipe.

(more…)

Cleaning House – gourmet hamburger helper

07/24/2010

It might have been called pot luck in the past, but let’s call it gourmet hamburger helper now.

(more…)

Surimi Bisque Soup – Imitation Lobster/Crab Bisque

07/04/2010

Sometimes you just have to make do.  Lobster bisque is great.  But not many of us have a bathtub full of lobster ready to give up the ghost to a bowl of soup. (more…)

Trader Joe’s Eggplant Cutlets Parmigiana

06/26/2010

If I had ever looked ahead and discovered I’d eventually be taking pictures of cardboard boxes,  I never would’ve bought the camera.  But here I am again.  First it was the box of Trader Joe’s Spanakopita, and now it’s a box of Trader Joe’s Eggplant Cutlets.  But to make something good out of something bad (taking the picture of the box is bad, not the cutlets themselves), there are two very interesting things about the box.  Read on. 

(more…)

Baked Mostaccioli – Not St. Louis Style

05/29/2010

Having been raised outside of St. Louis, I had never heard of, much less tasted, Mostaccioli.  Having first experienced Mostaccioli in St. Louis, I thought it was something someone made up because it was quick and cheap and assumed it was totally unrelated to any real Italian recipe or product.  Since then, Al Gore invented the internet and Wikipedia can now educate me that Mostaccioli is simply penne pasta.   However, in St. Louis, Mostaccioli is anything but that.

(more…)

Lasagna with – Trader Joe’s Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce

05/29/2010

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.

(more…)