Enjoying Cinco de Mayo samples at Whole Foods Market

Around lunchtime today, Whole Foods Market employees in Paramus prepared free samples of ground beef and swordfish tacos to promote Mexican food and beer on the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Whole Foods Market in Paramus doesn't offer many free samples, compared to some other stores, but that doesn't slow down its customers.

I was standing in line today for a sample of swordfish taco with avocado sauce when the woman in front of me stretched out her left arm and grabbed a small plate with a beef-taco sample.

Employees were making tacos in large flour tortillas and cutting them into small pieces, but they didn't always hold together.

The swordfish taco was made with fresh, wild-caught fish that was selling for more than $20 a pound at the store's wonderful seafood counter.

I went to Whole Foods for more 0rganic 100% whole wheat pasta from Italy ($1.39 a pound). I picked up two boxes of shells and a package of spaghetti.

Whole Foods Market, 300 Bergen Town Center, Paramus; 201-226-1244.

The produce section of Trader Joe's in Paramus.

Trader Jose?

Trader Joe's always has a few free samples and hot coffee, but today in the crowded Paramus store, none of them had a Mexican theme.

I tried strawberry lemonade, a flat bread with mushrooms, seedless watermelon and small cups of black coffee.

I bought Garlic Chipotle Salsa ($2.99), Salsa Verde ($1.99), and a 32-ounce bottle of 100% Blueberry Juice from concentrate and another of 100% Red Tart Cherry Juice, not from concentrate ($4.99 each).

Also, a medium seedless watermelon ($3.99), a 14-ounce package of small Persian Cucumbers ($1.99); Trader Joe's uncured, preservative-free Beef Hot Dogs ($4.49) and Applegate Organic Beef Hot Dogs ($4.99).

A pound of organic 100% whole wheat spaghetti was $1.39 and meatless Vegetable Masala Burgers were $2.49 for four.

Trader Joe's, 404 Route 17 north, Paramus; 201-265-9624.

The Protein Bistro Box from Starbucks Coffee, 360 Essex St. in Hackensack, makes a great breakfast or light lunch: Cage-free egg, white Cheddar Cheese, multigrain muesli bread with honey peanut butter and fruit.  

The Protein Bistro Box costs $4.95, plus tax, but I got one for free by using rewards on my Starbucks Card, and had it at home for breakfast today.

For Cinco de Mayo, I also had Organic Wholly Guacamole from Costco Wholesale mixed with corn salsa from Trader Joe's and topped with Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce (Black Label) from Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

Sweet ShopRite deal goes sour once again

The sign on sweet potatoes at the ShopRite in Paramus clearly states you get a 20-cents-per-pound discount, if you buy more than 5 pounds, but the store's computer continues to ignore that at checkout, requiring an "override" from a supervisor, who then goes to the produce section, eyeballs the sign ("Buy Big and Save!) and gets a code to punch into the register.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss how the ShopRite in Paramus requires shoppers to jump through hoops for a discount, compare prices at ShopRite and other stores, offer suggestions for meals made with seafood from Costco Wholesale, and report on good buys at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

How long does it take to fix the computerized checkout gizmo at the ShopRite in Paramus to reflect a volume discount on 5 pounds of sweet potatoes?

In the past few weeks, I've stopped there on the way home from the gym to buy sweet potatoes for baking and mashing, and each time, I saw a sign offering a discount of 20 cents a pound for more than 5 pounds.

The first time, I got the discount automatically at checkout, but the last two times, including on Wednesday, I didn't, and the sweet potatoes rang up at the full price.

That meant a delay of 10 minutes to 15 minutes while the problem was cleared up.

On Wednesday, after all the back and forth, I was charged 69 cents a pound for 4 pounds and given the 5th pound free. The regular price was 89 cents a pound.

The Paramus ShopRrite sells peeled garlic from China for $3.39 a pound, compared to the $2 a pound I pay at Costco Wholesale for peeled heirloom garlic from the Christopher Ranch in California.

Comparing prices

In the produce section of the Paramus ShopRite, I noticed peeled garlic from China for $3.39 a pound, compared to $5.99 for a 3-pound bag of peeled California garlic at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

ShopRite had a bag of celery stalks for $1.49, compared to 99 cents at Hackensack Market, 120 Passaic St. 

Other sale items at Hackensack Market on Tuesday included 12-ounce bottles of Goya Malta at 5 for $3.

A 1-liter bottle of Valentina Salsa Picante (Black Label), a terrific Mexican hot sauce that doesn't obliterate the flavors of the food you're eating, was $1.99. 

At ShopRite, a 1-pound package of Olivia Organic's Spring Mix was $7.99, a dollar more than a 1-pound package of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix or Organic Half & Half (spring mix and baby spinach).

At Costco, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is $4.99 or less.  

Salted cod fish fillets from Canada is available at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack in 2-pound bags for $11.99. Here, the wild-caught fish is prepared with okra, sweet peppers, onions and garlic, and served with a leftover fish from a Korean takeout order, rear.

Canned wild-caught pink salmon in water and smoked wild sockeye salmon also are sold at Costco. A no-mayo pink salmon salad, left, includes chopped celery, sweet pepper and red onion; and Dijon mustard, fresh lime juice, ground cumin and avocado oil for moisture. The smoked salmon is sliced and ready to add to salads, right.

Salted cod fish with cabbage and sweet peppers served with baby spinach sauteed in avocado oil and chopped California garlic.

Kirkland Signature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon goes into an egg-white omelet served with leftover shrimp, organic brown rice and organic quinoa. The price of a 1-pound package of smoked wild salmon jumped more than $3 recently, to $18.89, but you'll pay about $30 a pound at other stores. 

Deals at Jerry's

I ran out of Ponti Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, but found half-liter bottles for $1.99 each on Wednesday at Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood.

I was served this balsamic vinegar at restaurants in and near Milan during a trip to Italy in 2010, and have been buying it ever since. 

It contains no added color, unlike so many other brands I see.

I also found two Jerry's Meals To Go, complete restaurant-quality dinners reduced to $5.99 from $7.99 after 4 p.m.

The dinners contained Chicken Siciliano, toasted orzo salad, string beans and artichoke salad -- ready to be plated and reheated in the microwave.

After I grabbed the last two Meals To Go in a refrigerated case, I walked around sampling Jerry's cheeses, and came across an antipasto platter with two cheeses, two styles of salami, sweet peppers and mixed olives with sun-dried tomatoes.

The 2.1-pound Messana-brand Party Platter was $6.99 or less than half price.

The Asiago and Fontina cheeses are made with part skimmed milk, meaning they are reduced fat.

Part of the antipasto platter I picked up at Jerry's for $6.99.

Costco's cabernet, Olivia's Organics and a quinoa search

The label of Olivia's Organics Baby Romaine boasts, "Proudly grown by American farmers," which seems to be a pointed reference to competitor Earthbound Farm, which uses organic greens grown in Mexico and the United States.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I finally uncorked a bottle of Kirkland Signature 2012 California Cabernet Sauvignon that I bought three months ago, and was bowled over by this deliciously complex red wine.

At $7.99, a 1.5 liter bottle -- the equivalent of two normal bottles -- was a bargain when I bought it around Thanksgiving at the Costco Wholesale in Wayne.

Check out the description of the wine on the back label:

"A classic Cabernet Sauvignon with vibrant, juicy flavors of black currant with broad, red fruit notes that linger on the palate and are surrounded by hints of spice and sweet smoke with a graceful finish of cherry and mocha."

Yes. The wine tastes that good.

Both the Kirkland Signature Champagne from France, left, and the California Cabernet Sauvignon, right, are wonderful.

Organic salad greens

Sometimes, you can find bargains in organic produce at the International Food Warehouse, 370 Essex St., Lodi.

Last week, I bought three 5-ounce packages of Olivia's Organics Baby Romaine for $1.50 each with a "best by" date that gave me four days to finish them.

One salad I made included baby romaine, blueberries, cinnamon-dusted almonds and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The fruit, nuts, cinnamon and cheese all came from Costco.

The Olivia's Organics plastic tub has a hinged cover with a simple tear-away sealing strip, compared to competitor Earthbound Farm's more complex, two-piece plastic tub.


Both are triple washed, meaning they can go straight from the package to the salad bowl. 

Costco Wholesale carries only Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, but I've seen both Earthbound Farm and Olivia's Organics at ShopRite at higher prices. 

A salad made with Olivia's Organics Baby Romaine.

Quinoa search

I bought 4-pound bags of Tru Roots Organic Quinoa from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack at least three times last year, but I have struck out finding it in 2014.

I prepared my last cup of Tru Roots quinoa on Monday night, serving it with jumbo shrimp.

I found it at online retailers for about $7 to $8 a pound, but I am not willing to pay that much.

Today, I stopped at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street, and found a 12-ounce bag of Incagen-brand 100% Organica Quinua from Peru for $3.99.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a nutty tasting whole grain with fewer carbs than rice or pasta.

Jumbo shrimp with fresh garlic, ginger and thyme served over organic quinoa.

On Monday, I saw boxes of Italian organic penne and fusilli pasta at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack for $8.99 or about $1.12 a pound, a bargain compared to supermarkets. But I'm waiting for Costco to start selling organic whole wheat pasta, which I now buy at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market for $1.39 a pound.

Does a healthy diet translate into good health?

Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm is bursting with flavor, above. Wild-caught Icelandic haddock fillets cooked in Mexican Green Salsa are served over sweet potatoes mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, below.

Consumer Reports on Health says a 14-year review of more than 44,000 adults found that fewer than 2 percent achieved all of the following healthy habits:

Not smoking; staying physically fit; keeping blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol numbers in check; maintaining a healthy weight; and eating a healthy diet.

But researchers at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which did the study, say those few people experience "a 76 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a decrease in death from all cancers, when compared with those meeting only one of those health parameters."

Fresh Icelandic haddock fillets are $8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. Bottled Mexican Green Salsa is available at Hackensack Market and at most ShopRite supermarkets.

"Fortunately, there's still time to experience the lifesaving effects of being healthy," according to the June 2013 edition of the Consumer Reports newsletter.

"Adopting a good-for-you-habit -- even past your seventh decade -- can add several quality years to your life," the newsletter says.

Hothouse-grown beefsteak tomatoes from Costco Wholesale.

Cooking fresh fish couldn't be easier

Fresh wild-salmon took only 8 minutes to cook through in bottled green salsa.

The salsa moistened organic brown rice, which we made in an electric cooker.

The price of fresh wild sockeye salmon has eased by $1 to $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, where we picked up a 1.49-pound skin-on fillet for dinner on Friday.

My wife prepared the organic brown rice in an electric cooker, and I didn't start the fish until it was ready.

First, I sprinkled the salmon portions with a little salt and a lot of Aleppo red pepper. 

Then, I emptied a bottle of La Costena Mexican Salsa Verde from Hackensack Market into a large non-stick pan, covered it and brought the sauce to a boil.

I removed the cover, put in the salmon portions and covered the pan. I uncovered the pan twice more -- to poke the fish and determine whether it had cooked through by how firm it was.

It took only 8 minutes.

I spooned salmon and sauce over brown rice, garnished them with fresh chopped mint and oregano, had a second piece of fish, and followed with a lettuce salad from the garden.

The fish was hot, juicy and delicious, and the sauce had a nice kick to it.

Goya bottles the same sauce, which can be used to cook any fresh or frozen fish fillet or chicken pieces.  Bottles of salsa verde also can be found at ShopRite.

How sweet it is

These California peaches give off an intoxicating fragrance.

I added a cut-up peach to Trader Joe's Raisin Bran and milk.

A lunch of Jersey blueberries, Champagne mango, apple and sliced cheese.

Also at Costco, my wife picked up a 6-pound box of ripe, fragrant Magenta Queen Peaches from California for $9.99 or about $1.67 a pound.

I sliced one and ate it beside a Georgia peach I bought for $1.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, and the California fruit was far sweeter and juicier.

Crossing borders 

Wild salmon with tomatoes and capers, and cabbage and saltfish.

A smoked wild-salmon omelet with guacamole and Italian olives.

An open-face omelet with stewed tofu, guacamole and radish kimchi.

What was so special about fatty bacon and eggs, the American breakfast that launched the day for decades and likely was responsible for more disease than any single meal?

For the most important meal of the day, fish, tofu and food drawn from other cultures make for a far healthier start.

One fish is good, but two are better -- as in fresh wild sockeye salmon paired with salted pollock in a Jamaica dish, cabbage and saltfish.

Instead of bread, add boiled Korean yam and green banana.

Stewed tofu from H Mart tastes great hot or cold, and goes well with eggs sunny side up or an open-face, egg-white omelet with smoked wild salmon.

Guacamole from Costco, mixed with bottled salsa; Italian olives from Jerry's Gourmet in Englewood, and radish kimchi make terrific breakfast side dishes.

No-recipe home cooking in photos

Breakfast salad: Organic spring mix with beefsteak tomato, za'atar thyme mixture, and reduced fat cheese; cabbage kimchi, olives and canned-fish salad (yellowfin tuna, pink salmon and sardines).

Small mustard greens with a bottle of Mexican green salsa.

Mustard greens plated with half of a mahi-mahi fillet cooked in spicy green salsa or salsa verde and a sweet potato made in 6 minutes in a microwave (speed-cook setting).

An egg-white omelet with reduced-fat cheese, white anchovies and coarsely ground Aleppo pepper plated with leftover sugar pea shoots.

Fresh greens


I cook greens, fresh broccoli and French green beans the same way, and they are ready in under 5 minutes.


First, cut and wash your greens, then blanch in a covered pot with boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes.


Using the cover, drain the pot and put it back on the stove with no flame under it.


You can drizzle the greens with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle on a little salt and add seasonings such as powdered garlic and black pepper.


Or, you can add a little soy sauce and sesame oil, and no-salt organic seasoning. You're done.


Fish in green sauce


Pour half of a bottle of spicy Mexican salsa verde into a large, non-stick pot and warm it up. Add any kind of wild-caught fish fillets, including frozen mahi-mahi or Alaskan salmon.


Pour the rest of the sauce over the fish and squeeze the juice of one or two limes into the pot. Cover and cook for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on whether the fish is fresh of frozen.


You also can cook a whole fish this way. Slash each side in three places with a sharp knife to help you judge when the fish is done.


You can serve fish in green sauce with a sweet potato, organic brown rice with lentils, made in an electric rice cooker; or whole-wheat pasta with bottled sauce.


I reserve the green sauce for use with omelets or eggs fried sunny side up.


Canned fish salad


Empty canned fish and oil or water into a plastic container, add chopped celery or sweet pepper and then flavor with Dijon mustard, fresh lime or lemon juice and powdered cumin to taste.


Cover and refrigerate.


Sources


H Mart or other Asian supermarkets are great sources for a wide variety of fresh greens, including spinach, collard, mustard, bok choy and Chinese broccoli.


Costco Wholesale usually has fresh wild-caught haddock, flounder and Pacific cod, but when it doesn't, I buy frozen mahi-mahi or salmon in the freezer section.


Costco also sells Kirkland Signature Organic No Salt Seasoning, a blend of 21 spices and other ingredients.


ShopRite and Hackensack Market carry Mexican green salsa from Goya and La Costena. A 16-ounce bottle is enough to prepare as much as 2 pounds of fish.

Related article

• Costco's food and prices are the best revenge

In hot sauces, don't forget to look for the black label

Valentina's spiciest hot sauce carries this black label. I tried some this morning on a sweet potato frittata and baked sweet potato, below. (Updated on Nov. 18, 2014.)

Editor's note: Today, I discuss a hot sauce that won't hide the taste of food, extra-virgin olive oil from the Middle East and Costco produce that doesn't list a weight. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Valentina Salsa Picante has been made in Mexico for 50 years and I'm hoping this wonderful hot sauce will be around for another half-century.

We were almost out of Valentina when my wife picked up two 34-ounce bottles, which were $2.49 each as part of a "Manager's Special" at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

Four 12-ounce bottles of Valentina were $5, so the larger bottles were a better buy. Once opened, the hot sauce requires no refrigeration.

But my wife brought home the milder of two Valentinas, and I had to exchange the bottles for ones carrying a black label and marked "Extra Hot."

This is a thick, dark-red, spicy sauce that doesn't obliterate the taste of your food. And it's a much better deal than Tabasco, which was selling for $6.79 (12 ounces) and $3.49 (5 ounces) today at ShopRite in Englewood.

Valentina is made by Salsa Tamazula, and the ingredients list is short: water, chili peppers, vinegar, salt, spices and 0.1% sodium benzoate as a preservative.

I use Valentina on fried eggs, egg-white omelets and Jamaican ackee and saltfish, and the hot sauce can elevate an ordinary veggie burger into something you actually look forward to eating.

But even Valentina can't save Meal Mart Vegan Falafel Balls, one of the few food duds I've found at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. They are fully cooked, but extremely dry after being warmed up in the oven.

Hackensack Market, 120 Passaic St., Hackensack; 201-996-9177

Oil from Jordan

I picked up a 3-liter bottle of Nablus-brand extra-virgin olive oil at Brothers Produce in Paterson with a label that didn't specify the country of origin, so I called the importer listed, Mediterranean Expo LLC (973-553-2640).

Brothers carries more than a dozen large tins or heavy glass bottles of extra-virgin olive oil, many from Lebanon and Syria. But I was told Nablus oil is 100% Jordanian.

The price was $14.99 or about $5 a liter.

Weighing in

Labels on Costco Wholesale's premium fruits and vegetables don't always list the weight, so you don't really know the price per pound.

Today, I bought six mixed sweet peppers -- yellow, red and orange -- for $6.79, and three large seedless cucumbers for $3.99. Neither package had a weight listed.

On the other hand, 5.5 pounds of large Gala apples from Washington State were $7.99, and 3 pounds of bananas were $1.39.

Wild salmon still swimming our way

Image via Wikipedia
An amazing sockeye salmon. 

Editor's note: Today, I discuss the continued availability of wild Alaskan sockeye salmon at Costco Wholesale; brown rice that requires no soaking, and visits to H Mart and ShopRite.

The taste of fresh wild-caught salmon from Costco Wholesale is just a memory, but you can still find frozen fillets and smoked sockeye salmon from Alaska at the warehouse store.


After checking out on Monday at the Hackensack store, I asked one of the managers about a comment I received from another customer, saying Kirkland Signature's preservative-free Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon had been discontinued as of Dec. 1.


I had found a couple dozen packages on the shelf, and the manager punched in the code from the one I purchased ($15.39 for 1 pound).


He said his computer still listed it as an "active" item, not as discontinued, and that he had 600 1-pound packages in the store.


The previously frozen smoked salmon is sliced, so it's easy to use over a salad or rolled up with a slice of cheese, if you're avoiding bread to lose weight, as I am. I also put pieces of the salmon in cheese omelets.


I also picked up a 3-pound bag of Kirkland Signature frozen Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon fillets for $28.99 or about $9.65 a pound. That's more than the fresh sold for this year, and it's a dollar a pound or so more than the frozen fillets cost last year.


I've tried cooking these fillets a couple of ways, but get best results when I put them on a clear-glass plate, add lemon juice, a little soy sauce, white wine or sake, and put the plate inside a covered, 12-inch steamer I found at H Mart, the Korean supermarket.


Whether I make them rare for me or cooked through for the rest of the family, the fillets stay moist, and the sauce is great over white or brown rice.


Talking about brown rice, the Della-brand organic long-grain brown rice I found at Costco last week requires no soaking, a real time saver.


We've made this delicious brown rice twice in our electric cooker, and it was ready and perfectly al dente in about 30 minutes. 


The key is the recommended use of two and a half cups of water for each cup of rice, more water than other brown rices call for and more water than the rice cooker calls for. For a softer rice, the package says to use even more water per cup of rice.


Food-o-rama


Monday was a busy food-shopping day for me and my wife as we prepare for the holidays. Separately, we visited five food stores.


After an hour in the cardiac-rehab gym at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, I stopped at the Englewood ShopRite with a Lipitor $4 Co-Pay card.


While there, I picked up 4 pounds of naval oranges for $2.49 with a store card.


I went to the H Mart in Little Ferry later for prepared stewed tofu and stewed pollock, but found none on the refrigerated shelf.


To avoid a total loss, I bought a large jar of beef barbecue marinade for $3.99 or $1.50 off -- to use with the Australian grass-fed beef that's on sale at ShopRite this week.


H Mart gave me 10 cents back for my re-usable bag.


At Costco, besides the frozen and smoked salmon, I bought 5 pounds of tangerines from Florida for $3.99 and 5 pounds of lemons from Chile for $6.99. Three pounds of bananas were $1.39 and 5 pounds of crisp Jona Gold apples were $5.99.


My wife stopped at the Englewood ShopRite, Hackensack Market and Happy Fruit Market, a Korean grocer in Teaneck.


Related posts

• Wild salmon with pesto and Jersey peaches (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)
• Wild salmon with ripe mango (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)
• Holiday hits and misses at Costco (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)

Is there no end to food shopping?

Image by Sarolazmi via Flickr

Champagne mangoes.

I twisted my wife's arm to grab the Costco Wholesale coupon book and make a trip to the warehouse store in Hackensack today, but when she didn't find an item on her list, I had to run out to another store for it.


On Monday, my wife and my mother-in-law made a trip to ShopRite in Rochelle Park, as well as to Hackensack Market, but Costco was closed for the Labor Day holiday.


At ShopRite, my wife picked up cabbage, potatoes, bananas, apple sauce and condensed sweet milk.


At Hackensack Market on Passaic Street, she concentrated on Jamaican products, including 12 cans of a collard-like green called callaloo, in salted water; Grace-brand juice and pumpkin-soup base; Lasco-brand soy drink, Ting grapefruit solda, Foska oats and Excelsior water crackers.


She also bought green boiling bananas and yellow, soon-to-be-sweet plantains.


At Costco on Tuesday morning, a dozen 6-ounce cups of Stonyfield Farm organic, low-fat, fruit yogurt were $7.89 or 65 cents each; two 28-ounce loaves of 100% whole-grain Kirkland Signature bread were $4.19; and two 3-pound jars of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter with sugar were about $4.20 each.


Four pounds of red seedless grapes were $1.75 a pound. Grade A medium-amber maple syrup from Canada, in a 32-ounce bottle, was $12.99.


My wife used Costco coupons for a total discount of $9, but she couldn't find preserves without high-fructose corn syrup.


So, later in the day, I made a trip to the International Food Warehouse on Essex Street in Lodi, where I found 12- and 13-ounce jars of strawberry, plum, peach and raspberry preserves with sugar for $2.29 to $2.79 each.


I also picked up four half-liters of Capitolio organic extra-virgin olive oil from Chile for $2 each. Fresh Jersey corn were six for $2, but the four ears I bought are small and I'm not sure how sweet they are.


Taste of the islands


My wife brought home a single mango from Jamaica that was a revelation, compared to the fruit from Mexico and Brazil I've been buying in North Jersey.


The color of the flesh was close to orange and the taste was even sweeter than Champagne mangoes. 


They are sold by street vendors in Jamaica for $3 to $4 each.