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Posted on 04/17/2011 8:22:12 PM PDT by DemforBush
Usually, the imitation, short-cut, version just doesn’t hold a candle to the original. Consider: Spray tans. Toupees. Press-On Nails. But when it comes to food, most of us don’t have the time to make everything from scratch. So over the years I’ve scoured grocery store shelves for pre-made foods that taste as good as homemade (almost). There are not many. But when I do find a winner, I am instantly hooked. And, while it would probably be more prudent for my culinary street cred to keep my finds to myself, these products are so good, I can't help but overshare.
Do these store-bought foods give the made-from-scratch versions a run for their money? You bet your clip-in hair extensions...
(Excerpt) Read more at shopping.yahoo.com ...
Twinkies have a shelf life of 25 days.
Thanks for the recipe! I will try it this weekend. Reading the comments, some say not to brown the meat but instead to boil it. Do you follow the recipe to a “T” or adjust?
“Gold Star? Are you mad?”
Nope, just possessed of a good palate.
I know that I used cocoa powder instead of bar chocolate but it comes out so delicious and almost like velvet. I am just crazy about it. Good Luck!
It really works well. I haven’t tried Bon Ami. I looked at the ingredients on both and they’re quite different, so it might be best to have some of both around.
Keep an eye out for All-Clad at Marshall’s or TJ-Maxx. That’s where I got mine. It’s definitely worth it. I’ve only used Calphalon non-stick, which I found didn’t last well. For non-stick, I’ve had the best luck with Farberware Millenium pans. They’re cheaper and they last a lot longer for me.
“Olives. Not so sure I could make those.”
Believe it or not, curing your own olives is supposed to be fairly easy, if time consuming. “Raw” olives are very bitter, and have to be leached of the bitter compounds. Many (probably most) brands of store-bought green and black olives are quick-leached using a lye solution (and multiple fresh water soakings afterwards, naturally). Home curing using brine or dry salt cure will do the trick, too, though. Just takes a lot longer, I am told.
Me, I’ll stick to buying them at the deli or something :-)
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I’ve given thought to buying a bread machine, actually. I can do first rate simple breads - biscuits, Irish Soda Bread, and the like. I think where I go wrong with yeast doughs is A) I’m impatient and B) I like to improvise when I cook, and baking doesn’t tend to reward messing with amounts and ratios of flour, water, etc. in a recipe.
Just curious - do you use cow’s milk or goat’s for your yogurt?
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Farm lady down the road here sells them for $1,,,,
ought to live in the country,,,
ought to live in the country...
It takes 3 minutes to dress one.
As a Italian, I know how to make pasta sauce. Rao’s is ok...but it has SUGAR in it. I, when I make my Sauce, I don’t use any sweetners. I use a secret ingredent to make it sweet, but it isn’t sugar.
Marie Callender’s pot pie is ok, but I make it better. I use grilled chicken marinade with real maple syrup, white wine and some other ingredents. I lo\/e chicken pot pie.
The list is okay, but I’ll make mine homemade!!
I second that.
A moist blue scotch brite pad and a couple of drops of Dawn is all I use on my glass flat top.
I used to use that cream cleaner. What a pain.
I love to cook and can make breads with the best of them. But, I have never figured out the secret to get the pizza dough to turn tough and crusty. Mine always turns out pretty much the texture of bread. Care to share?
Also, I stick to Charlie's 45 second pizza dough recipe.
Costco.s Kirkland brand pots and pans are awesome. Top quality at a low price for both stainless steel and non-stick.
Improvisation works with types of ingredients, say replacing water with milk or sugar with honey, but ratios of liquid to dry will produce questionable results.
Plain old cow milk from the grocery store. Here's the recipe:
Microwave 5 cups of milk for 12 minutes. Milk should be 180 degrees
Let it cool down to 120 degrees (about 15 minutes)
Add 6oz of store bought greek yoghurt for the first batch, for subsequent batches you can add a container of your home made yoghurt.
Place in a yoghurt maker or on a heating pad for 10 hours.
Then place in the refrigerator.
You just made yoghurt................you can flavor it after it's made, not before. You will notice that it has whey on top, that's super healthy stuff. You can pour it out or mix it in. If it's too thin for your liking ( american yoghurt is very thick due to all the fillers they put into it) just add some powdered milk. The more fat content in the milk the thicker the yoghurt.
As I said, I use skim so it's non-fat, 60 calories and chock full of protein. I did make some with half and half because I had a half gallon that was going to go bad and honestly it was the most heavenly thing I have ever tasted.
Feel free to ask me any questions. There are a lot of forums about it as well.
What is your secret ingredient? Some Italian cooks that I know use a packet of sugar to cut the acid.
My wife uses cherry tomatoes with a high brix content to sweeten her sauces and salsas...works like a charm. NO sugar.
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