Good food that won't clog arteries or add inches

A well-balanced meal of whole Spanish Mackerel, stir-fried asparagus and quinoa with Korean seasoned vegetables. The fish was poached in a sauce of organic diced tomatoes, red wine, Dijon mustard and non-fat Greek yogurt.

The fresh-fish display at H Mart, the Korean supermarket in Englewood, where the wild-caught, silvery Spanish Mackerel were $3.99 a pound on Thursday. Fresh-water carp was 99 cents a pound, but I would have had to buy the whole fish, which looked like it weighed 20 pounds or more.

Canned-fish salad (pink salmon, yellow-fin tuna and sardines) with Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix, Sunset-brand cucumbers and Italian olives.

I added a Gala Apple, above, and diced celery, garlic and onion to the canned-fish salad, along with Dijon mustard, ground cumin and fresh lime juice, all to taste.

The crusty, butter-free baguette from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood is still only $2. I slice and freeze it for sandwiches for other members of the family, but allow myself only the "heel" or end of the loaf with a big dinner salad.

Hemp is a legal variety of cannabis (marijuana) that is grown for fiber and seeds, such as the nutty tasting Hemp Hearts I found at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack last week, above with a salad and below. A 28-ounce bag was a pricey $14.89.

Manitoba Harvest raw, shelled hemp seeds are a product of Canada, vegan and made with 100% wind power, according to the bag, and are good for sprinkling on salads, cereal and yogurt.

Wild-caught haddock from Iceland coated with a Super Spice Mixture and served with brown rice and diced organic tomatoes prepared in an electric cooker. The spice mixture is made by combining every spice and dried herb I have in the house in a large plastic container, which I keep in the refrigerator.

Salted cod fish with whole-wheat fusilli pasta in bottled sauce, above, and with onion, sweet pepper, tomato and ackee, a Jamaican fruit available in cans, below.

All of the canned, fresh and salted fish I used in these home-cooked meals came from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack or H Mart, a Korean supermarket in Englewood.

H Mart also sells 16 ounces of seasoned vegetables for bibimbap, a rice-based comfort dish, but I used them with organic quinoa and didn't add the usual ground beef (Jinga Seasoned Vegetables, $7.69).

The best 100% whole-wheat pasta I've found comes from Trader Joe's, where it is only $1.39 for a full pound and organic, too.

Organic diced tomatoes, organic brown rice, organic quinoa and Earthbound Farms Organic Spring Mix are available at Costco Wholesale. 

Imported canned ackee in brine is available at ShopRite in Rochelle Park and Hackensack Market on Passaic Street. 

 

Does anybody still eat iceberg lettuce?

Image by joana hard via Flickr

What's the attraction of iceberg lettuce? Does it have any nutritional value?

You can't miss rising produce prices, but now, ShopRite supermarkets north of Trenton are doing something about it.

The sales flier in my newspaper this morning labeled three deals with the word "WOW!" in red -- store-made Italian sausage, DiGiorno Pizza and California-grown iceberg lettuce for 99 cents a head (24 size), a price cut of 50 cents, with a store card.

Limit is 1, but before you rush out the door, the sale doesn't start until Sunday, April 3. 

Does anybody still eat iceberg lettuce? Isn't it just cheap filler used by restaurants in salads or put on the plate as decoration to hold tuna salad?

I can't remember the last time I ate iceberg. During road trips in the 1960s and 1970s, my older brother used to walk into diners and loudly demand "hearts of lettuce," meaning the best part of the iceberg, if that's even possible.

Image via Wikipedia

Romaine lettuce goes green.

Romaine lettuce is far better, but for my money, I prefer Earthbound Farms organic spring mix from Costco in Hackensack, where one pound of this delicious, multicolored salad was $4.39 on Thursday.

The price for the pre-washed salad fluctuates, and has been as high $4.99, but that's $2 less than ShopRite and other supermarkets. A one-pound package yields seven medium-size or five large salads, and the mix makes a great sandwich stuffer.

If you insist on iceberg or romaine lettuce, I am sure you can do far better than ShopRite on price for that item and others at Brothers Produce on East Railway Avenue in the Paterson Farmers' Market.