Toasting a healthy Thanksgiving: No butter, cream, antibiotics or turkey

A luxurious Wild Red King Crab Salad, dressed with Dijon mustard, extra-virgin olive oil and fresh lime juice, includes sweet peppers, red onion and diced carrots.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Red King Crab Salad I just made for Thanksgiving is chilling in the refrigerator, and the Argentine Red Shrimp I plan to grill on the stove top are defrosting next to it.

This year, we didn't make our annual trek to the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff, where we usually buy naturally raised turkey parts -- the flavorful dark meat -- instead of a whole bird.

But to satisfy the meat eaters in the family and a couple of guests I did buy a fully cooked Applewood Smoked Uncured Petite Ham from Whole Foods Market in Paramus ($7.99 a pound).

The 3.4-pound Niman Ranch ham was raised on a vegetarian diet without harmful antibiotics.

The ham is being heated in the oven now, and I've already roasted 2 pounds of fresh Brussels Sprouts with olive oil, sea salt and other seasoning.

That's not all

Meanwhile, my wife has prepared oxtail, barbecued chicken, rice with peas and cole slaw for our son, who is home from college, and two of his friends, who showed up unexpectedly and spent the night here.

I made the Red King Crab Salad from fully cooked legs my wife bought at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro on Tuesday (3.06 pounds at $19.99 a pound).

Each of the four legs, with meaty knuckles, was about 2 feet long.

If need be, we also can have baked organic sweet potatoes or mashed organic sweet potatoes with extra-virgin olive oil I made on Wednesday.

At dinner, we plan to toast our good fortune with a Bellini, a cocktail made with Prosecco and peach nectar, both from Italy.

Argentine Red Shrimp can be deveined or grilled on the stove top head and all. I plan to marinate them in fresh lime juice first.

'Healthy' pork, Starbucks' hummus and more

Putting aside the debate over whether animal fats are inherently unhealthy, you can find ham and pork ribs raised with none of the harmful additives used by factory farms, including a Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Uncured Petite Ham, above, and Homestyle Meals Pork Baby Back Ribs, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I spent hours on the road Sunday, but the rest of the family enjoyed an Easter dinner of uncured ham and antibiotic-free baby back ribs.

To beat the crowds, my wife drove the few miles to Whole Foods Market in Paramus around 8:30 on Sunday morning, and picked up an assortment of naturally raised meat and poultry.

A fully cooked Niman Ranch Uncured Petite Ham was $7.99 a pound; Homestyle Meals Pork Baby Back Ribs, also fully cooked, were $15.10.

She also bought frozen Pineland Farms Oxtails, $7.99 a pound; and frozen chicken backs and necks for soup, $1.29 to $2.99 a pound.

I missed the ShopRite sale on sweet potatoes (5 pounds for $2.99), and bought a box at the Paramus store this morning for $3.99 or about 80 cents a pound.

Starbucks' hummus

Homemade hummus in Brooklyn is a distant memory, but I still enjoy scooping up the chickpea dip with fresh pocket bread, as long as it's made with a little tahini and plenty of garlic and lemon juice.

In recent years, I have enjoyed a great substitute for my mother's hummus at Aleppo, the Paterson restaurant named after the Syrian city where my Sephardic Jewish parents were born.

On Sunday, on a road trip to Baltimore, I stopped at the Clara Barton Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike, and saw that the shortest line was at Starbucks and the longest at Burger King.

I ordered a 12-ounce Starbucks Veranda Blend coffee, and looking over the prepared food, selected a refrigerated plastic clamshell with three or four small pieces of pocket bread, cut vegetables and a small container of hummus.

My friend paid just under $20 for my coffee and hummus, and for him, a ham-and-cheese sandwich and Naked-brand smoothie.

When you're driving long distances on a major toll road, you can't be fussy.

The thick, grainy hummus, with the bread and vegetables, was filling, but not very tasty.

In other words, certainly nothing to write home about.

I noticed the cut ends of the broccoli florets were brown, then popped them into my mouth.

The Starbucks on the turnpike are franchised to HMSHost, an American subsidiary of an Italian highway and airport food-service giant, Autogrill S.p.A.

The hummus package was stamped with the day it was prepared (Saturday), and a label stating that it was for sale until 2:45 p.m. Sunday.

I baked the ShopRite sweet potatoes on parchment paper at 400 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the natural sugar oozed out of them.

Paramus ShopRite

At the ShopRite in Paramus, the 5-pound boxes had "SWEET POTATOES" written on them, but the sign said, "SHOPRITE YAMS."

Elsewhere in the store, potatoes sold loose for 99 cents a pound were labeled "sweet potatoes/yams."

Yams are usually starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.

Half-gallons of ShopRite Lactose Free 1% Milk were $3.49, and I've found this milk sweeter than Costco Wholesale's Organic Low-Fat Milk.

I don't add sugar to coffee or tea. A little sweet milk is welcome.

ShopRite's 6-ounce containers of Fruit on the Bottom Low-Fat Yogurt were 50 cents each, not the cheapest, but the yogurt blend is made with sugar, not fructose.

Fresh Atlantic cod fillets take about 10 minutes to cook in bottled Mexican green salsa with added lime juice and Aleppo pepper, above. The mildly spicy salsa also is terrific for adding a savory flavor to baked skin-on sweet potatoes, below.

The meaty cod cooks quickly in a covered, non-stick pan, and flakes beautifully. 

Cod from Costco Wholesale

I wanted to pick up fresh fish for dinner at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, but I had skipped lunch and my stomach was empty.

Don't food shop when you're hungry, I've read, or you'll buy more than you need.

Of course, I could always try a few free food samples first before I started shopping.

When I walked into Costco around 3:30 this afternoon, I panicked -- no samples, not near the vitamins or the gum and snacks, not near the freezer cases. No cheese, no salsa, no crackers, no nothing.

I still managed to keep my purchases under $100.

A 2.26-pound package of wild Atlantic cod, long-line caught in Iceland, was $7.99 a pound.

Two 1-gallon bottles of Kirkland Signature Fresh Pressed Apple Juice were $7.99; 2 pounds of those incomparable Campari Tomatoes were $4.49; and 1 liter of Kirkland Signature Grade A Dark Amber Maple Syrup from Canada was $11.99.

Two liters of Sambazon Organic Acai Juice from Brazil -- labeled a "super food" -- were $8.99. 

A 28-ounce bag of organic, sun-dried Made in Nature Dates from Tunisia was $8.79, and a 5.5-pound bag of frozen Normandy Vegetables (organic broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) was $7.79.

After a dinner of cod prepared in bottled Mexican green salsa, with lime juice and Aleppo pepper, I had a salad of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99 for 1 pound) with crunchy, skin-on Sunset English Cucumbers (3 cukes weighing a total of 2 pounds for $3.99).

No pits, no preservatives.

This year, we're giving thanks without the turkey

The wine department at Costco Wholesale in Wayne offers some pricey bottles, above. A 3-liter bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne from France is priced at $299.99.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Our Thanksgiving menu this year offers a bounty for meat eaters and vegetarians alike, but doesn't include the traditional turkey.

A whole turkey hasn't been the centerpiece of our meal for several years, because we prefer the dark meat and usually visit Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff for naturally raised drumsticks, thighs, wings and necks.

This year, we're picking up ingredients for the holiday meal at Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale and ShopRite.

For the meat eaters, we'll serve a Niman Ranch Smoked Uncured Petite Ham from Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

This fully cooked, 3.3-pound ham -- which is vegetarian fed and raised without antibiotics or growth hormones -- was $7.99 a pound. 

We'll also serve a Kirkland Signature Frenched Lamb Rack from Australia ($10.99 a pound) that I picked up today at the Costco Wholesale in Wayne.

Kirkland Signature Champagne, left, and California Cabernet Sauvignon flanking Beaujolais Nouveau.

I drove to Wayne to shop the only Costco wine, beer and liquor department in the area, picking up Kirkland Signature Cabernet Sauvignon and Kirkland Signature Champagne (Brut).

A 1.5-liter bottle of the California wine was a bargain at $7.99. 

The champagne, from France, was $19.99, about half the price of such premium brands as Veuve Clicquot Brut (more than $40 at Costco).

I also purchased a bottle of Goerges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau for $8.39, about 60 cents less than elsewhere.

The new wine has always been overpriced, and this year is no exception.

On Wednesday, I plan to shop the Seafood Road Show at the Hackensack Costco for Alaskan king crab legs and mussels.

They will be part of my Thanksgiving seafood meal, which also may include whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, and sardines, shrimp or salted cod -- possibly all three.

For side dishes, we also have ShopRite sweet potatoes to bake or mash; and broccoli, organic spring mix and Campari Tomatoes from Costco.

As for turkey, I plan to donate a whole one to the Center for Food Action in Englewood, as I do every year.

In Englewood, don't forget the food

I headed for Palisade Avenue in Englewood yesterday to buy a Christmas present for my son, but I made sure I didn't leave the city without stopping at three of my favorite food places.

On the way there, I hit the kimchi factory on Englewood Avenue that has been my source for spicy cabbage kimchi (photo) and side dishes for about a decade. I bought a 64-ounce bottle of mahk kimchi ($9.99) and a small package of sesame leaves in a sweet-sour sauce ($3.99).

After I picked up the present, I headed down South Dean Street to Balthazar Bakery for two of their signature baguettes, still $2 each six years after the place opened, but couldn't resist an artful, 7-inch pear and hazelnut galette ($6.50) that I'll save for our Christmas dinner.

Back in the car, I continued on South Dean to Jerry's Gourmet, where the lot overflowed, so I parked on the street. I picked up three $6.99, restaurant-quality dinners for tonight. Mine had three Italian favorites in one container -- chicken francese, eggplant parmigiana and sausage with onions and peppers, plus a little pasta and string beans. What a great meal, and all it needed to make it complete was some of that great baguette and a glass of red wine.

Also yesterday, I stopped at Costco in Hackensack to get more organic spring salad mix ($4.49) and bought a boneless Australian leg of lamb, split in two, for $3.99 a pound. This lamb is free-range and grass-fed. I also picked up two loaves of  Kirkland-brand 100% whole grain bread for $3.99.

Today, I found the small Christmas ham I was looking for at Whole Foods Market in Paramus. This applewood-smoked petite ham from the Niman Ranch is vegetarian-fed and nothing but meat -- no antibiotics, no growth hormones, no preservatives ($7.99 a pound). I also got three types of organic beans ($1.09 each) and a six-pack of Red Stripe, the Jamaican beer, on sale for $6.49.

In the seafood department, wild clams from Sandy Hook Bay cooled their heels on ice, but I didn't wait around for a dozen because the single worker had several people to wait on before me. I would have been happy to select my own, if only there were plastic bags nearby.

Arirang Kimchi (Gaboh Inc.), 191 W. Englewood Ave;
Englewood, 201-503-1314.