Food for Thought: Brand Names vs. Store Brands

Some interesting reading from Consumer Reports discussing the age old question, store brand or brand name?

I've always kept a close eye on the grocery bill and will usually opt for the store brand when given the choice. However, when I'm making a dish that has just a few ingredients, I like to go with the brand name; quality vs. quantity and all that.

Just a thought to keep your mind grapes from souring.

Dessert: Cream Cheese Brownies

Combining two of my favorite things, chocolate and cream cheese, these brownies really hit the spot. I took this recipe from Cooking Light and tweaked it a bit. Their recipe calls for making your own brownies, but I cheated a bit and just used brownies from a box. Probably made this not so "light," but nonetheless, they were delicious and easy to make.

For my cheaters recipe, just follow the brownie instructions on the box. For the cream cheese topping:

• 1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
• 1 large egg

And per Cooking Light: "To prepare topping, place cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add cornstarch and remaining ingredients; beat until smooth. Spread evenly over batter. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until set. Cool in pan on a wire rack."

Snacks: Yogurt Covered Pretzels

Because these are covered in yogurt, I like to think of these pretzels as being a healthy-ish snack option. I used salted pretzels, but I'm sure these would be just as good with saltless pretzels. This is an easy but slightly time consuming recipe. Using strawberry and vanilla yogurt gave me a nice Valentine's Day variety.

• 1 lbs bag of small pretzels (salted or unsalted)
• 2 cups vanilla or strawberry yogurt
• 5 cups confectioners sugar

Equipment needed:

• Wire rack
• Cookie sheet
• Tongs
  

Preheat the oven to 250. Place the wire rack on top of the cookie sheet and set aside.

Mix together the yogurt and sugar, adding the sugar 1 cup at a time until well blended. Refrigerate for about an hour. I found that the cold mixture coats the pretzels better.

Immerse a few pretzels at a time in the yogurt and sugar mixture. Using the tongs, place them on the wire rack and do not stack the pretzels for fear of soggy snacks.

Turn the oven off and place the pretzels in the oven. Apparently, the heat will help harden the frosting but keep the pretzels crunchy.

Leave the pretzels to harden, which will take 4-5 hours.

Healthy Meal: Grilled Tuna with Basil Butter and Fresh Tomato Sauce

I'm new to the fish fad, but this tuna dish has helped me see the light. This is straight from the Cooking Light recipe box, so you know it's both healthy and delicious. Admittedly, this is neither a cheap, nor easy recipe, but the effort is certainly worth it.

Basil Butter:

• 3/4 cup basil leaves
• 2 Tbs butter, softened
• 1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 minced garlic cloves

Tomato Sauce:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 3 cups of cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 Tbs capers
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley (I skipped this, but feel free to add)

Tuna:

• 4 6 oz tuna steaks
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• Cooking spray

You get to use your grill pan for this recipe, so here goes:

"To prepare basil butter, combine first 5 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth, scraping sides as needed. Set aside.

To prepare sauce, heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and 2 garlic cloves; sauté 3 minutes. Add tomatoes; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in wine, capers, vinegar, and sugar; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in parsley. Set aside.

To prepare tuna, sprinkle tuna with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place tuna on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with sauce and basil butter. Garnish with basil leaves, if desired." (from Cooking Light link above)

I served this with a side of white rice and steamed broccoli:

Weekend Meal: Chicken Enchiladas

Mexican food is easily one of my favorite to make. It's simple, usually pretty easy, and uses some great fresh vegetables. To garnish these enchiladas you can use your homemade pico de gallo or jar salsa, whichever suits your mood.

• 20 flour tortillas
• 1-2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 tsp each of: salt, pepper, paprika
  
• Shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 1 container (however big, depending on your love/hate of it) of sour cream
• Tomato, lettuce for garnish, if desired
• Cooking spray

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper, paprika. Coat a pan with cooking spray and brown. Lay out the tortillas and fill with the chicken and other desired fillings (tomato, lettuce, sour cream, beans etc).

Coat a 13x9 glass pan with cooking spray and lay out your rolled enchiladas. Top with cheese (and pico, if using) and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.

Favorite Side: Pico De Gallo

I feel pretty healthy whenever I make pico de gallo. There's nothing in it other than some fresh vegetables and a squirt of lemon juice. The official ingredient list below:

• 6 plum tomatoes, quartered
  
• 2-3 jalapeno peppers, seeded
  
• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
  
• salt and lemon juice to taste
• 2 medium sized cloves of garlic, minced

Take out your handy food processor and pulse the garlic and salt, until they are minced to your liking. Place in separate bowl.

Pulse the tomato pieces until chopped, but not too juicy. Place in bowl with garlic and salt.

Next, pulse the jalapenos and onion until they are as big/small as you want.

Mix all the ingredients together, squirt in some lemon juice and enjoy with your homemade tortilla chips.

Weekend Meal: Four Cheese Baked Macaroni

This recipe is quick, simple, and best of all, low-fat without tasting like it:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 2/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 ounces light processed cheese
  
• 6 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 3 cups uncooked)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup crushed onion melba toasts (or any flavored toasts)
  
• 1 tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine, softened

Pre-heat the oven to 375.

To make the sauce, put the flour in a pan and gradually add the milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Stir constantly until thick, then add the cheese. Stir until melted:

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the cooked macaroni. Spray a casserole or rectangular pyrex dish with cooking spray and spread the pasta mixture. Combine crushed toasts and butter/margarine and spread over the mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
All told, the ingredient total about $25, depending on the type/brand of cheese you buy. Yum!

Renters: How to Improve Your Kitchen!

So, aside from a handful of people I know who own their homes, most people rent. With renting comes home improvement limitations. Apartment Therapy has a great list of 10 thrifty improvements that won't go against your lease. Read it here: 10 kitchen improvements for renters

The Weekend Meal: Picadillo

Possibly the easiest, thriftiest meal with the most satisfying result. I've thought about making this with ground turkey instead of ground beef, but have yet to pull the trigger.

Serves 4

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 pound ground beef
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup low-salt beef broth
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• White rice
  

Heat the oil for about 5 minutes then saute the onions. Add the beef and garlic, cooking until the beef is browned. Add the broth, raisins, olives, capers, tomato paste and pepper. Stir, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over white rice.



The cost of this meal is pretty low, coming in under $25, depending on what brand of olives, raisins etc you choose.

Sandwich Night: Turkey Sausage with Peppers and Onions

For me, there's nothing better than a sandwich. Also, it's one of the easiest things you can make. This sausage and peppers/onions sandwich leaves a lot of room for improvisation. You can use turkey or any other kind of sausage that strikes your fancy.

Makes 12 sandwiches

1 package of sweet or spicy Italian sausage, halved length wise
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium Vidalia onion, sliced
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
Sandwich rolls or hero rolls

Brown the sliced sausage and do not drain the fat. Cook the sliced peppers and onions in the sausage fat and add the Worcestershire sauce. Cook until the peppers are soft and the onions are translucent.

Toast your bread and make yourself a sandwich!


This is a pretty cheap meal, with the total coming in under $20. If you get tired of making sandwiches, I love making pasta with the left over sausage and peppers.