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.

More great food from Costco

How do they get 15 avocados in "every batch"?

Editor's note: Today, I discuss more great food from Costco, and restaurant-quality takeout dinners from Jerry's in Englewood.

Every time we enjoy Wholly Guacamole from Costco Wholesale, I think of another guacamole, this one prepared at your table in Rosa Mexicano, where every dish is made from scratch.

Three pounds of preservative-free guacamole -- divided among three peel-and-serve trays -- cost $9.49 at Costco.

Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack charges $12 for its guacamole -- made with a single avocado -- but includes small corn tortillas fashioned by hand in the dining room and a couple of salsas.

At home, we add bottled salsa and serve the guacamole as a side dish at any meal, dispensing with chips or tortillas.

Extra-virgin Spanish olive oil is a new item at Costco.

Arbequina is the name of an extra-virgin olive oil from Spain with the kind of "protected denomination of origin" you usually find in wine.

Two 1-liter bottles were $11.99. Compare that to the $5.99 you'd pay for a liter of 100% Spanish extra-virgin olive oil at Trader Joe's.

The label says the small Arbequina olive is used, producing "a golden oil characterized by low acidity and a rich, fruity olive flavor with delicious apple notes."

I'm looking forward to using this oil in salads, drizzling it over fish and using it to fry eggs sunny side up.

Black is beautiful.

Black apricots are a fruit I haven't seen before, but I found them at Costco next to the traditional kind.

They are black outside and apricot-colored inside, and very sweet, though I don't agree with the label they are "the sweetest fruit you ever tasted."

A 3-pound package was $7.79.

The biggest jar of capers I've ever seen.

Capers are hand-picked from a Mediterranean bush.

I asked by wife to look for capers at Costco, and she came back with a 32-ounce jar of Paesana Non Pareil Capers for $4.99 that I expect will last us a couple of years.

Tonight, I used 2 or 3 tablespoons of drained capers  to prepare snowy Icelandic flounder fillets I bought at Costco for $7.99 a pound.

The recipe, from Mark Bittman, calls for sliced tomato, capers, chopped red onion and olive oil. I added crushed Aleppo pepper and fresh lime juice.

The Kashi bars on the left contain chocolate and seven whole grains.

In comparing labels at Costco, I found Kashi Go Lean Crunchy variety bars, which contain chocolate, have the same or fewer calories and calories from fat than Kirkland Signature Variety Nut Bars.

The Kashi bars list total fat as 5% to 8%. The Kirkland Signature bars list 15% total fat.

One or two of these and similar bars allow me to skip lunch and maintain my weight loss.

Dinner at Jerry's

Calamari Balsamico.

Grouper with Roasted Peppers.

Roasted Pork Chop.

No. I'm not getting a cut of the profits from Jerry's Meals To Go, the restaurant-quality takeout dinners that cost only $7.99 each -- $5.99 after 4 p.m.

I just think they are a delicious bargain that allows you to put a balanced meal on the table without cooking.

Plate the food, heat it in the microwave for about 2 minutes, pour a glass of wine and go to town.

I had the Calamari Balsamico dinner on Wednesday night and enjoyed the combination of tender rings and baby squid, along with pasta, vegetables and potato.

I tasted my wife's Grouper with Roasted Peppers, and it continues to be one of my favorite fish.

The Meals To Go usually go fast, but after 4 p.m. on two recent Wednesdays, I've found several in a small refrigerated case.

Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

Vegetable stew, guacamole and rising prices

Image via Wikipedia

Wholly Guacamole is packed with avocados.

I keep on discovering new items and old favorites at Costco in Hackensack that help me forget I haven't eaten meat or poultry for more than a year.

A new favorite is Stonewall Kitchen Old Farmhouse Vegetable Stew, packed with potato and carrot chunks, and peas and other veggies that are fresh-tasting and firm to the bite. The ingredient label lists 10 vegetables, plus herbs and spices.

The delicious, milky looking broth contains no dairy. Two 20-ounce portions were $7.99, and they can be frozen.

An item I tried a couple of years ago is appearing more frequently at meals after my son fell in love with the guacamole at Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack, where the appetizer is prepared table-side. The restaurant's guacamole is priced at $12, but contains only two avocados.

Costco's Wholly Guacamole claims to have 15 Hass avocados "in every batch" or five in each of the three 16-ounce portions. It's a much better deal.

Check out the ingredient list: Hass avocados, jalapeno puree, dehydrated onion, salt, granulated garlic. That's it. And it's made in Mexico. I paid $8.49, and it's enough for three meals, plus it can be frozen.

I serve the guacamole after adding a liberal amount of Goya's spicy Salsa Taquera, though you can use chunky salsa or any other hot sauce.

Image by saguayo via Flickr

Rising prices

Costo's prices are trending upward for its own Kirkland Signature brand of smoked wild salmon and 100% whole grain bread.

Now, a pound of Boskovich Farms' organic spinach has jumped to $4.49, from $3.79; and three, long gourmet cucumbers went up 20 cents, to $3.99. 

I've also noticed substantial hikes -- about $2 -- in the price of apples and other fruit sold in 4- or 5-pound packages. 

Other items, such as 2 pounds of salted pollock from China for $6.39, have held the line. Frozen Pacific cod was $14.99 for 2 pounds, just under the price for fresh fillets you sometimes find in the fish case.

Two pounds of Sunset-brand Roma and Campari tomatoes have held steady at $4.99 and $5.49, respectively.  The price is high, but the tomato taste is intense.

Guacamole, falafel and vegetable souffle

Image via Wikipedia

We've tried two more of the prepared-food items I found at Costco as I widen our choice of non-meat dishes for the five or six meals we have at home every week


Last night, we started off with a 16-ounce container of  Wholly Guacamole, a brand made from Hass avocados and spices. I spooned the thick guacamole into a bowl and, to thin it, added two chopped, herbicide-free Campari tomatoes and fresh lemon juice. We made guacamole tacos with whole-grain tortillas, also from Costco. A terrific appetizer.


A few days ago, we also tried falafel balls from Meal Mart. They're vegan and kosher. You just heat up the falafel balls. They are tasty but dense. I served them with a chopped cucumber, tomato and onion salad dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and dried mint, along with warm Syrian pocket bread and a tahini sauce (falafel, sauce and salad are stuffed into the bread).

The fully cooked Classic Cooking-brand vegetable souffle looks like a winner. (I plan to serve it tonight with soy burgers or leftover pasta and  Mexican-flavored "sausage" made with wheat gluten and soy I bought at Whole Foods Market.) The ingredients include potato, eggs, carrot, zucchini, broccoli, red pepper and spinach.