Vodka Sauce without heavy cream, organic brown rice-quinoa combo

Victoria lists the ingredients in its pasta sauces on the front label.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm a big fan of bottled pasta sauces without added sugar, but usually avoid those made with cream, including Vodka Sauce and Alfredo Sauce.

For me, the draw is the taste of red tomatoes, not all that creamy, artery clogging saturated fat and cholesterol.

So, imagine my delight when I found a 40-ounce jar of Victoria Vodka Sauce made without heavy cream on sale at the ShopRite in Paramus.

The ingredients label on the front of the jar listed two cheeses and vodka, but no cream. 

The big jar was $3.99 or half-price, and there is enough sauce here to dress a full pound of organic whole-wheat pasta.

Unfortunately, I could find only one bottle on the shelves.

Costco Wholesale in Hackensack sells the highly rated Victoria Marinara in 40-ounce jars, but I have never seen Victoria Vodka Sauce in the warehouse store.

On the shelf at ShopRite in Paramus, a bottle of Bertolli Vodka Sauce boasts, "Now with More Cream." The label should add, "Now with More Saturated Fat and Cholesterol."

Bertolli Vodka Sauce also has added sugar and xanthan gum.

Seeds of Change organic Quinoa & Brown Rice with Garlic is already cooked, and only needs to be heated on the stove or in a microwave.

Heat-and-eat Brown Rice and Quinoa

My wife doesn't care for my habit of tossing handfuls of peeled garlic cloves into an electric cooker with organic brown rice or quinoa, even though the cloves turn out creamy.

This week, she found prepared organic Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice with Garlic at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Six 8.5-ounce pouches in a box -- a total of 3.2 pounds -- were $8.99, and each pouch yields about three servings.

It's a tasty combination of 100% whole grains, but the garlic taste isn't that evident.

The ingredients label lists brown rice first and then quinoa (say KEEN-wah), but the product is called Quinoa & Brown Rice.

Those labels are supposed to list ingredients from greater to lesser amounts.

At the Paramus ShopRite, blemishes in these organic apples might explain why they are labeled, "Manager's Special."