Whenever you go food shopping, keep in mind GMOs are a big no-no

Look for this seal on packaging, if you want to avoid GMOs --genetically modified organisms -- in organic and non-organic food.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Millions of words have been written about genetically modified organisms in food, but many consumers still are in the dark about the dangers GMOs pose to them and the environment.

That's why it's important to buy organic or to look for the seal of the Non-GMO Project, a non-profit "committed to building and preserving sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers and providing verified non-GMO choices."

I've learned crops raised with genetically modified seeds involve the heavy use of pesticides and chemicals that are harmful to humans, as well as to farmland and the water supply.

Buying 100% organic, certified organic and USDA organic-labeled products is usually the easiest way to identify and avoid genetically modified ingredients. 

The U.S. and Canadian governments do not allow companies to label products "100%/ certified organic," if they contain genetically modified foods.

Still, the United States is not among the 61 countries that already have mandatory labeling of food with genetically engineered ingredients.

"The GMO Deception" is a book available online that promises to tell you "what you need to know about the food, corporations and government agencies putting our families and our environment at risk."

See the chart from the Non-GMO Project at the end of this post for other information on the battle against genetically modified seed and food.

Described as a GMO film thriller, "Consumed" is available on Netflix.

Dole 100% Pineapple Juice from the Costco Wholesale Business Center in Hackensack is labeled "NON GMO" by the company. The metal cans also are BPA free.

Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice carries the seal of the Non-GMO Project. The California-grown rice is available on Amazon.com.

Organic baby spinach and organic spring mix, above and below, are sold at Costco Wholesale.

Luigi Vitelli-brand Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli or spirals and other shapes are available at ShopRite in Paramus.

Two dozen organic eggs from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro are only $6.99.

Cucumber kimchi, wild red shrimp, pasta and eggs, organic brown rice

KIMCHI WITH CRUNCH: Cucumber Kimchi is a seasonal item at Arirang, 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield. A 2-pound package made with cucumbers from Korea was $12 at the source in the H&Y Marketplace shopping center.

NO MSG: Arirang kimchis are made by hand with no MSG and no artificial ingredients.

WILD AND RED: Jumbo Red Shrimp from Argentina are packed in 4.4-pound boxes and frozen. They were on sale last Sunday at H&Y, a Korean supermarket at 1 Remsen Place in Ridgefield, below. 

ON SALE: These shrimp are a good deal at the regular price of $28.99 and a great deal at $24.99.

IN THE SHELL: I prepared them in a wok with olive and sesame oils, sake and seasonings, including Chinese Five Spice Powder and ground Star Anise. They are ready to eat when they curl up, but next time we'll peel and devein them first.

COMING TO A HEAD: I boiled the heads for 20 minutes, producing a broth with a strong shrimp flavor that could be used in a noodle soup or to cook rice with seafood.

ORGANIC EGGS WITH ORGANIC PASTA: Two organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro served over organic whole wheat spaghetti from Whole Foods Market prepared in marinara sauce with sardines, anchovies and pitted black olives, below.

DINNER AND LEFTOVERS: I used 1 pound of pasta, a 40-ounce jar of marinara, one can of anchovies, four cans of Moroccan sardines and a can of pitted olives, ensuring plenty of leftovers for other meals. You can add red wine and extra-virgin olive oil, plus seasonings, to the sauce.

ORGANIC BROWN RICE: Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice from California can be found on Amazon.com, and prepared in a rice cooker with organic diced tomatoes from Costco and organic black beans from ShopRite in Paramus, where a 15.5-ounce can was only 76 cents during the Summer Can-Can Sale. Here, I served an omelet stuffed with fresh herbs, salsa and reduced-fat cheese over brown rice for breakfast.

SAUTEED SPINACH: Sauteed baby spinach is a great side dish at breakfast with organic eggs sunny side up, grated cheese, 

chopped fresh herbs and ground Aleppo pepper.

GOING WILD FOR FRESH SALMON: This week and last, Fresh Wild Sockeye Salmon was $9.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro. Above, I baked a tray of  raw salmon, organic spinach, fresh tomatoes, string beans, pitted black olives and fresh herbs in a preheated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. If you like your salmon medium to medium rare, reduce the cooking time to about 12 minutes.

PESTO AND HERBS: Tonight, I added Costco's Himalayan Pink Salt and fresh lime juice to six portions of wild sockeye salmon, then grilled them on the stove top for 7 minutes (4 minutes with the skin side down and flipping them for 3 minutes). I took the grill off the medium-high flame and added Costco's refrigerated Basil Pesto, Aleppo pepper, and fresh basil and mint from my garden.

FOREIGN GARLIC: On my wife's last two visits to Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, she couldn't find the 3-pound bag of Christopher Ranch peeled California Garlic we have been buying for more than a year. Instead, the warehouse had a 3-pound bag of peeled garlic from Garland Food in Miami, but she passed because many of the cloves appeared to be soft. Garland said the garlic sold at Costco comes from Mexico, Argentina and Spain. Bad move, Costco.

100% LACTOSE FREE: A half-gallon of ShopRite 100% Lactose Free Milk was on sale for $2.89 during the Summer Can-Can Sale in Paramus. That's a discount of 10 cents. Cans of ShopRite pitted black olives were 99 cents each.

GREEN IS GOOD: An Asian green called Yuchoy was on sale at H Mart, 25 Lafayette Place in Englewood, for 98 cents a pound ($1.49 a pound regularly). I cut the tough stems off and sauteed the leaves in olive oil and sake, seasoning them with red-pepper flakes, salt, black pepper and ground garlic as a side dish for breakfast this morning.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Wild sockeye salmon with organic diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh herbs

Fresh wild Copper River Sockeye Salmon from Alaska was $14.99 a pound at the Costco Wholesale in Teterboro on Thursday or $2 less per pound than the week before.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A rich reduction of organic diced tomatoes, sliced garlic and red wine is delicious over grilled wild sockeye salmon fillets.

You'll need a 10-inch non-stick pan to thicken the tomato mixture and a stove-top grill for the skin-on fillets, which cook through in about 7 minutes over a medium-high flame -- less if you like them on the rare side.

A 1.65-pound fillet from Costco Wholesale yielded six serving portions -- plenty of heart-healthy fish to serve four ($24.73).

First, I sauteed thinly sliced garlic in olive oil until it was fragrant, then added a 14.5-ounce can of Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, a couple of ounces of red wine, the juice from one lime and seasonings, including red-pepper flakes and ground black pepper.

I brought that to a boil in a partially covered pan until the tomato juices and wine mostly evaporated, then grilled the salmon.

Once the fish was transferred to a platter, I added the garlicky tomato mixture and chopped herbs from my garden (mint, rosemary and basil).

If you have Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto in the refrigerator, a half teaspoon or more on top of the tomatoes would be a perfect accent.

Salmon, organic diced tomatoes, peeled garlic, pesto and seasonings are available from Costco Wholesale.

A 3-pound bag of peeled Christopher Ranch California Garlic was $7.39 at the Teterboro Costco.

My stove-top grill straddles two burners and easily accommodates six to nine pieces of salmon. I use spray oil and a medium-high flame and turn the fish in the last 2 minutes of cooking.

A platter of heart-healthy wild salmon, organic diced tomatoes and garlic.

Another use for Costco's peeled garlic is a 10-inch frittata with chopped garlic, black olives, grated cheese, fresh tomatoes and pesto, served here with sweet potatoes that were boiled with whole cloves, then mashed, using extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings, including cinnamon, curry powder, red-pepper flakes and black pepper.

Pour about 3 cups of liquid whites or whole eggs -- including plenty of chopped garlic, grated cheese and olives -- into a 10-inch pan over medium-high heat until the crust sets, then move the pan to the oven, where the top of the frittata will set and brown nicely under the broiler. Add Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and chopped fresh herbs after you take the pan out of the oven.

You can prepare whole garlic cloves, organic diced tomatoes and organic brown rice in an electric cooker. The cloves will turn creamy.

On Friday, Baby Bok Choy was on sale for 88 cents a pound or half price at the H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., in Englewood. I sauteed nearly 2 pounds with olive and sesame oils, sake and seasonings.

For a dinner salad, I enjoy Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix with hothouse tomatoes and cucumbers -- dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar -- over reheated organic brown rice.

Why is a grain called quinoa so controversial?

Tru Roots Organic Quinoa is pre-washed and a snap to prepare in an electric rice cooker. Here, it serves as a bread substitute with a breakfast omelet of egg whites, reduced-fat Swiss cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and Aleppo pepper. You can find quinoa and most of the other ingredients at Costco Wholesale.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss organic quinoa, which tastes great and has fewer carbohydrates than organic brown rice or pasta; and other terrific ingredients from Costco Wholesale that make home-cooked meals easy to prepare and delicious.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The hardest part of buying, preparing and enjoying organic quinoa is learning how to pronounce it.

Say "KEEN-wah," not "kee-NO-ah."

Everything I know about organic quinoa can be found on the back of the 4-pound Tru Roots package I buy at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

And thanks to organic quinoa's relatively low carbohydrates, I've also been enjoying it for more than a year as part of a no-bread, no pizza diet.

I've heard some negatives about quinoa, which is grown by Andean farmers in Bolivia and Peru.

People warn that it has to be pre-washed or rinsed to remove "saponins," which supposedly give it a bitter taste.

Two readers commenting on a recent New York Times story about quinoa claimed eating the grain gave them stomach pains that lasted four to five hours.

But I have been buying organic quinoa exclusively, and Tru Roots says its product "is further cleaned and processed in the USA to ensure high quality."

The front of the package says the quinoa has been "pre-washed." Organic quinoa also is certified non-GMO, and it's gluten-free.

It also "provides all of the eight essential amino acids, creating a complete protein," Tru Roots says.

It's a substitute for bread, and organic brown rice and pasta, and can be used in salads, soups and stews. And I enjoy the nutty taste.

One-quarter cup of Tru Roots Organic Quinoa has 30 grams of carbohydrates, compared to 35 grams in Lundberg Organic Brown Long Grain Rice and 42 grams in 365 Everyday Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti from Whole Foods Market. 

Tru Roots recommends preparing 1 cup of its organic quinoa with 2 cups of water or broth.

But when I made it on Tuesday in an electric rice cooker (white-rice setting), I used a 1-to-1 one ratio, combining 4 cups of the grain with 4 cups of water or organic chicken stock from Costco.

I also added a can of Costco's Kirkland Signature Organic Diced Tomatoes, a little extra-virgin olive oil and salt. 

The only negative about delicious organic quinoa is the relatively high price (4 pounds for $18.99 at Costco).

This morning, I added bottled Mexican green salsa to leftover quinoa before reheating it for breakfast with an omelet, above. I did the same when I served it with pan-fried whole whiting for dinner on Wednesday, below. Pesto also can be added to quinoa after it is prepared or reheated.

More from Costco

In addition to organic quinoa, Costco's organic brown eggs, sweet potatoes, canned fish, organic spring mix, Alaskan salmon burgers and prepared pesto are some of the ingredients that allow me to prepare delicious meals.

Breaking organic yolks over mashed sweet potatoes, above, or organic quinoa is a great way to start the day. The brown eggs I prepare sunny side up with grated cheese and Aleppo pepper, below, are $6.99 for 2 dozen at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

Trident Alaskan Salmon Burgers are made from whole fillets of wild-caught fish. A 3-pound package was $13.99 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix was $4.79 for a 1-pound tub.

Canned pink salmon, yellowfin tuna and skinless-and-boneless sardines, all from Costco Wholesale, make a great salad or sandwich when mixed with diced Pink Lady apple and half-sour pickle, and chopped scallions or onions. The dressing is Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice, both from Costco, and ground cumin.

A wedge of sweet-potato frittata topped with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto from Costco after it comes out of the oven, served over mashed sweet potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil.

Easy meals focus on Costco fish and eggs

Fresh Icelandic haddock from Costco Wholesale cooks in about 15 minutes when added to mildly spicy bottled Mexican green salsa. Here, the fillets and sauce are served over leftover organic brown rice with organic diced tomatoes prepared in an electric cooker.

At breakfast the next day, leftover organic brown rice and green salsa are the perfect platform for a wedge of sweet-potato-and-pesto frittata I made over the weekend. Imported Mexican green salsa is sold in 16.7-ounce bottles by Goya, La Costena and others.

Wild-caught haddock fillets are $8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. Baby spinach with garlic, oil and inexpensive sake is a great side dish. Add the fish to hot green salsa, with optional fresh lime juice, and cook in a covered pan until the fillets firm up and flake easily.

For another breakfast, two organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale were fried sunny side up with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese and Aleppo pepper, and served with leftover garlic sweet potatoes and organic whole wheat pasta shells.

Taking comfort in more simple and delicious food

There is nothing like the comforting taste of an organic egg yolk broken over Lundberg organic brown rice for breakfast, above. I added Aleppo pepper and, using a vegetable peeler, shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as the eggs cooked. The eggs and cheese came from Costco Wholesale, as did organic diced tomatoes in the the rice, prepared in an electric cooker.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss comfort foods; good deals on extra-virgin olive oil and organic greens; and restaurant-quality takeout dinners for only $5.99.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The imported Parmigiano Reggiano cheese I buy at Costco Wholesale is good down to and including the rind, according to the package.

The Italian cheese maker says the rind shouldn't be grated, but can be diced and added to pasta sauce for flavor.

I reserved the rind and added a small dice of two or three pieces to bottled Victoria Marinara Sauce the last time I made organic whole wheat pasta with anchovies and capers, both rinsed under water to reduce the sodium in the finished dish.

The rind doesn't disappear completely even after the sauce is boiled for the 10 minutes or so the pasta takes to cook, but has a distinctive flavor and a nice chewy texture.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti with bottled marinara, canned anchovies and capers made a nice dinner with a glass of wine and a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix from Costco Wholesale.  

The whole wheat spaghetti showed up the next morning as a foil for a simple egg-white omelet with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and a little Aleppo pepper.

Food deals in Lodi

I stopped at the International Food Warehouse at 370 Essex St. in Lodi today after looking over a sales flier that came with the morning newspaper.

The store no longer has as many bargains as before, but I wanted to try a 3-liter glass jug of extra-virgin olive oil from Tunisia for $12.99 or a low $4.33 per liter.

I bought two after checking out the sturdy metal cap and closure. Plastic inserts in the cap and neck make for easy pouring into smaller containers. 

For many years, Tunisian extra-virgin olive oil has shown up in blends with oil from Greece, Italy, Spain and other Mediterranean countries.

The store is where I bought several 3-liter tins of excellent extra-virgin olive oil from the island of Cyprus.

The Alomda Extra Virgin Olive Oil is 100% Tunisian, above. Colavita blends oils from Italy, Greece and Tunisia at a higher price, below. The sale ends Dec. 17.

No deal. Pure apricot and wild blackberry juices from Serbia are a pricey $6.99 for a 24-ounce bottle, above.

Greens for less

I found another bargain in the produce section, where organic baby kale, spring mix and other combinations of greens were only 99 cents for a 5-ounce package.

I bought two packages of Earthbound Farm Organic Kale for 99 cents each, and added some to my salad of Earthbound9 Farm Organic Spring Mix at dinner tonight.

The organic spring mix is $4.49 to $4.99 for a 16-ounce package at Costco.

The label on the kale suggests adding it to smoothies and pasta recipes.

A salad with Earthbound Farm Organic Kale, dressed simply in Tunisian extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Organic greens at the International Food Warehouse.

Let Jerry cook

On Wednesday, I picked up two Meals To Go at Jerry's Gourmet & More on South Dean Street in Englewood ($7.99 or $5.99 after 4 p.m.).

Both restaurant-quality dinners included pasta, vegetable, dumplings and other items.

The main ingredients were roasted braised beef in red wine sauce and filet of sole with a crab-meat stuffing.

Stuffed filet of sole with mac-and-cheese and vegetables from Jerry's in Englewood.