How 1% can make a big difference at Costco

A quick omelet made with Kirkland Signature Real Egg Product, above, and with Egg Whites, a new product that replaced it at the Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, below.

After a few minutes in a hot pan, the new product looks like this, but it pours out of the container as a thin, clear liquid, below.

100% Egg Whites pour clear and turn white as they cook.

Editor's note: Costco Wholesale has a new egg-white product, and a new mango nectar. Also today, I discuss a problem with Kirkland Signature spice bottles, an easy preparation for shrimp and how to prevent separation in Costco's Natural Peanut Butter.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Costco Wholesale's Kirkland Signature Real Egg Product contained 99% egg whites, plus color, spices, salt, onion powder and other ingredients.

Now, a new product contains nothing but 100%, cholesterol-free egg whites.

I used the new Kirkland Signature Egg Whites to make a simple cheese omelet on Monday morning, but blinked twice when I saw a clear, watery liquid pouring out of the container.

The old product had beta carotene and looked yellow, but the new one cooks up white.

The new product and carton, left.

When I ate the omelet made with 100% egg whites, I didn't miss the spices, salt and onion powder in the old one.

Other ingredients in the Real Egg Product were xanthan gum, guar gum and maltodextrin.

It's hard to compare sodium and protein in the new and old products, because different  serving sizes are listed.

Six 16-ounce cartons of Kirkland Signature Egg Whites were $9.49 at my warehouse store in Hackensack.

2% reward

I got a Costco Wholesale rebate check for $174.75 today -- a 2% reward for being an Executive Member.

The check more than covers the $110 annual fee for my Executive Membership.

That check was in addition to several hundred dollars in rebates I received earlier this year from the American Express card I use at Costco.

The American Express card gives me a 1% rebate at Costco, as well as 1% to 4% back on restaurant, gasoline, travel and other purchases.

The loosely fitting white cover with holes, left, came off and too much black pepper ended up in the ackee and salt fish my wife was preparing on Sunday morning, below.

Kitchen accident

We continue to have problems with the poorly designed or poorly manufactured perforated tops used on Kirkland Signature spice bottles.

The spices are terrific, but once in a while, the tops come off and you end up dumping too much pepper or too much granulated garlic on the food you're preparing.

Sometimes, the perforated top comes off with the screw top. At other times, it's too loose and falls off when you upend the bottle.

Mango drink

Last week, I received a comment that Brazil Gourmet mango nectar was no longer available at the Huntsville, Ala., Costco, and I haven't seen it at my Hackensack store, either.

We've been buying Langers Mango Nectar, which is 20% juice and contains filtered water, mango puree and sugar.

Two 3-liter, BPA-free plastic bottles of Langers Mango Nectar were $8.89 at the Hackensack Costco.

I've been using it to make smoothies with fresh bananas, frozen strawberries and non-fat Greek yogurt, all from Costco.

When bottled green Mexican salsa and fresh lime juice are boiling, remove the cover and place thawed and shelled Black Tiger shrimp from Costco Wholesale into the sauce. Cover and cook for a few minutes or until the shrimp curl up and turn white, below.

We had them over Della-brand Organic Brown Rice made in an electric cooker with Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, both from Costco Wholesale.

Easiest shrimp dish

Bottled Mexican green salsa, fresh limes and Costco's Black Tiger shrimp are all you need for a quick, tasty dinner that is ready in minutes.

Empty the bottle into a pan, squeeze in the juice from a lime, bring to a boil and add the thawed and shelled shrimp, which are already deveined.

Cover and cook until the shrimp curl up and turn white. 

You can eat shrimp and sauce over rice, pasta, quinoa or bulgur wheat.

I used a 16.7-ounce bottle of La Costena-brand salsa verde I found on sale last week for $1.50 at Hackensack Market.

The green salsa also can be used to cook any fish fillet.

The U-15 shrimp are farm raised in Vietnam, and cost $10.50 a pound when you buy the 4-pound package at Costco.

They are previously frozen and contain salt.

To prevent separation of the oil in the ground peanuts, you should refrigerate Kirkland Signature Natural Peanut Butter right after you purchase it. The thick, flavorful Costco product contains Valencia peanuts and salt, but none of the rapeseed, cottonseed and other hydrogenated vegetable oils added to prevent separation in national brands like Skippy, which Costco also sells.

5-minute flounder, pesto frittata, breakfast favorites

Flounder fillets in La Costena-brand Green Mexican Salsa with Della-brand organic brown rice, above, and a second helping without rice, below.

Bottled green Mexican salsa is the perfect medium for cooking fresh fillets of wild-caught fish.

The salsa then doubles as a sauce for side dishes of brown rice or whole-wheat pasta, and can be used the next day to poach an egg to eat with the leftovers.

You don't have to add anything to the medium-spicy salsa -- made from tomatillo, jalapeno peppers, onion, iodized salt and coriander -- though fresh lime juice wouldn't be out of place.

Two brands of Green Mexican Salsa or Salsa Verde are available at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street. Seasoned fish fillets go into the salsa when it starts to bubble, below.

 

Go fish at Costco

My wife picked up flounder fillets at Costco Wholesale for $7.99 a pound.

These fillets are thinner than the wild-caught cod and haddock fillets that are also sold at my Costco in Hackensack, and that means they are ready in about 5 minutes after you put them in the bubbling hot salsa and cover the pan.

You know the fillets are ready when they firm up and turn white, and they continue cooking in the covered pan after you turn off the heat.

I served them with Della-brand Organic Brown Rice with Organic Diced Tomatoes, both available at Costco, that I made separately in an electric cooker.

This frittata is made with reduced-fat cheeses, fresh and sun-dried tomato, and Costco's Basil Pesto. I served it with Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti, below.

Anytime frittata

For a pesto frittata, I mixed three whole eggs, liquid egg whites, shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, low-fat milk and Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning.

I poured the mixture into a heated non-stick pan with olive oil and added sliced and sun-dried tomatoes, two slices of reduced-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese and tablespoons of the refrigerated pesto.

I then put the pan under the broiler, on a "low" settting, for 10 minutes until the surface browned and set.  

I cut the frittata into wedges and served it with organic whole-wheat spaghetti in a sweet-pepper sauce, which I heated up in the microwave, and drizzled both with extra-virgin olive oil.

The morning after I made the flounder, I used the salsa to poach an egg in a non-stick pan and served it with leftover fish and brown rice. I ate everything with a spoon. Just wonderful, especially the taste of yolk and rice eaten together.

  

Leftover caramelized sweet plantains, above, went into my breakfast this morning, below, with flounder, stewed pollock, frittata and organic brown rice.

 

Roasted almonds dusted with tumeric, garam masala and cinnamon.

Spiced almonds

We once had a container of pistachios or other roasted nuts in our kitchen for snacks and to offer guests, but we wanted to cut down on our sodium intake.

Costco Wholesale also sells raw almonds without sodium in 3-pound bags, so I started buying them and roasting them at home (Roast/Convection Oven setting, 275 degrees, 1 hour and 15 minutes).

Now, I have started to mix the bland almonds with powdered spices, including Costco's sweet-hot Ground Saigon Cinnamon, and garam masala and tumeric from an Asian Indian grocery.

The 21-item Organic No-Salt Seasoning is coarsely ground and settles to the bottom of the almond container.